Boob(s On Your) Tube: “Mi Familia Perfecta” Adds More Lesbians to Telemundo
Hi! Surprise, it’s me! I’m covering for Heather while she’s out!
In case you missed it, this week started with Carmen’s Vida recap, which has a delightful title. Riese made the best Killing Eve listicle ever made about how this show about an assassin and an FBI agent would be is more #relatable than we could have imagined.
Carmen sent me this link about how APPARENTLY Alison “Kinda the Worst” DiLaurentis LEAVES Emily “Pretty Much the Best” Fields in the pilot of The Perfectionists but I’m going to let Heather unpack that one when she gets back because even though I was an early Emison shipper (like I shipped their flashback selves, not their adult selves) this fills me with so much rage I can’t even form coherent thoughts. (And just to be super clear, I loved Alison as a character, I thought she was fascinating and flawed and a great villain when she was the villain, but I’m on Team Maya all the way. If you never see me here in Boob Tube Land again, it’s because Heather came back from vacation and saw what I just wrote and threw a garbage can at me.)
I’ve heard rumors that there has been some lesbian activity on Into the Badlands and that’s my beat so it’s technically my job to tell you about it HOWEVER I’m still not caught up on all of my TV post-camp and this week I was very busy writing you things like my Alex-centric Supergirl recap and a review of Natasha Negovanlis and Annie Briggs’ webseries, CLAIREvoyant, and so many more things that aren’t specifically TV related so are not currently relevant. So I’ll have a four-episode mad-cap for you in next week’s Boob Tube, I promise! I’m also behind on Westworld but I think the only queer thing that has happened there is that Evan Rachel Wood, Bisexual continues to be her badass self. I’ll report back.
Okay, that’s enough from me, let’s hear from my fellow TV Team-ers about what else went on this week.
Mi familia perfecta: Chapters 1-38
Written by Natalie
Last year, GLAAD released a report called Still Invisible that looked at programming on the three major Spanish-language broadcast networks (Univision, UniMás and Telemundo) and found a dearth of LGBT representation. Of the 698 characters on the networks’ scripted primetime series, only 19 were LGBT characters and, of those, just 6 were women. And while Spanish-language television still has a long way to go before achieving the goal of #pantallainclusiva, Telemundo has added to its ranks with Mi familia perfecta.
The show itself, which debuted back in April, is about the Guerrero family: five kids left to fend for themselves after the death of their father and the deportation of their mother. Think Party of Five but, in Spanish, with an entirely Latinx cast and with the threat of deportation always looming large. One of the Guerrero five, Marisol (Gala Montes), is a soccer savant and joins a prestigious local club team with her best friend and neighbor, Génesis (Michelle De Andrade). While a few of their new teammates are insufferable, one of the team’s captains, Megan (Estefany Oliveira), is welcoming…too welcoming for Génesis’ brother who reads Megan’s actions as flirtatious. Later, Génesis confronts Megan about her brother’s suspicions and Megan proudly acknowledges she’s gay but says Génesis shouldn’t worry…she knows Génesis isn’t gay and, even if she was, Génesis isn’t her type. Génesis seems both relieved and bothered Megan’s admission.
Some weeks later, after she intervenes to stop a fight between Megan and one of their insufferable teammates, Génesis admits that there is something between them. Megan agrees, even if its not what she intended when they started their friendship, and the two nearly kiss, but are interrupted by Génesis’ mother (Karla Monroig). The next time they’re alone together, Megan comforts Génesis over some upheaval at home and, after assuring Génesis that she can count on her for anything, Megan leans in for their first kiss. Or at least I think it was their first kiss because the show panned away before we could see their lips connect.
Listen, kudos to Telemundo for addressing a void in their storytelling. I can’t help but imagine what seeing a couple like Megan and Génesis could do for young girls, who are discovering their queer identity while watching telenovelas with their abuelas…it could be such a lifeline. That said, when Mi familia perfecta features a young lesbian couple — who are, without a doubt, the least problematic relationship on the show — but censors their moments of intimacy, they’re doing a disservice to very people who need to see that representation the most.
That said, I really do love this show and I’m hoping that we’ll see more of this adorable couple. Mi familia perfecta airs weeknights on Telemundo at 8PM and you can catch up on the entire series at telemundo.com.
Quick Hits
Queen Sugar 301 & 302: “Unto The Song” and “Of Their Sojourn Here”
Welcome back to The Queen Sugar Fan Club! We are glad to have you. The Bordelons are back together for another summer. So far nothing gay has happened in Nova’s life, but she has Rutina Wesley’s face and arms, so hey — there’s always home on the horizon. Nova’s also at the crossroads of a major career decision, leaving her life at the newspaper for the potential of a new book deal. Queen Sugar opened the season with a plot addressing the ongoing civil rights protest of kneeling during the national anthem, which feels important and newsworthy at a time when ABC wouldn’t allow blackish to air a similarly themed episode early this year. — Carmen
Legion 209: “Chapter 17”
Aubrey Plaza, though
Shout out to ‘Straddler Kristana, who gave us a heads up earlier this week that in the newest episode of Legion, Aubrey Plaza’s Lenny had sex with a woman. Exciting business! Unfortunately, no one on our team is caught up with Legion just yet (Valerie and Riese watched season one, but haven’t seen the second season), so we don’t have a lot of details to share. But I love you all, so here’s a gif from the episode of Aubrey Plaza making out with a girl on teevee. Enjoy! — Carmen
Looks like Maddie Johnson and the Bumblers may have pulled their last con, as Bravo cancelled Imposters after the second season’s penultimate episode aired last night. The show, which has, reportedly, done better on Netflix than its done on Bravo, is being shopped around to other networks. — Natalie
Boob(s On Your) Tube: “Once Upon a Time” Went and Saved the Gays For Last
Hello it is Friday and that means it is only two days until Sunday and that is Vida day! Here’s the brand new promo for this week’s episode!
And if you’re wondering how to watch Starz, Carmen has a primer on that in last week’s Boobs Tube! You can also read Carmen’s recap of the first episode right here on this very website page.
This week, Cheryl Blossom somehow managed to get even more amazing on Riverdale. Riese made you a gay Law & Order quiz. And Valerie Anne recapped a legit really, really good episode of Supergirl.
Here’s what else!
Imposters 206: “That’s Enough. Off You Go.”
Written by Natalie
Part of the cons of Imposters‘ first season was leaving every victim with a blackmail envelope — evidence of something the victim or someone close to them had done that, if revealed, would have reverberations far stronger than whatever Maddie and her con artist sidekicks had stolen — that kept the victim from going to the police. From the beginning, we’ve known that Ezra’s envelope contained proof that his father had been carrying on a 20-year affair and that he’d stolen the patents that were the basis for the family business. We’ve known that Richard threw a football game to pay for his mother’s medical treatments…a worthy cause, yes, but public knowledge of his transgression would’ve killed his career aspirations. And while there have been hints about what’s inside Jules Langmore’s blackmail envelope, we never really knew for sure, until this week: Jules plagiarized her senior thesis for art school.
“Don’t you know what you should be after/ Unless you consult the head of the table”
While a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, Jules had a roommate. She was a genius, her work always so surprising, her talent so enviable, but she suffered from bipolar disorder. The story is cloaked in euphemisms that suggest the roommate and Jules might have been something more, but the show, much to my frustration, doesn’t explore the connection; instead, only describing their relationship as intense. Sadly, the roommate committed suicide during their senior year which left Jules despondent and behind on her schoolwork.
With deadlines looming, Jules swiped her dead roommate’s project and presented it as her own, but she got caught…and just as Jules is preparing to accept whatever punishment RISD hands out, including the destruction of her art career, her family swoops in to save her. In the years since, Jules has carried the guilt of having her career built on this lie and resentment towards her family for saving her and towards herself for letting them.
But, ultimately, the thing that’s most interesting about the story that Jules tells isn’t the story itself, it’s to whom she unwittingly confesses: Lenny Cohen. Lenny Cohen, the fixer for the boss that’s been behind the con all along. Lenny Cohen, the fixer that’s been sent to track down Jules and the other imposters, and “recruit” them into con game (or, presumably, to punish them if they don’t acquiesce). Oh, and did I mention that Lenny Cohen is played by Uma Thurman?
Safe to say, Jules has a type.
Now personally, if the last girl I met at a bar had conned me, stolen all my money and propelled me into a situation where I’m running from the FBI, I might be a little more discerning about the women I meet in bars, but not Jules…she’s almost eager to unburden herself when she meets this stranger in a bar. For her part, Lenny’s remarkably honest with Jules — sure, she leaves out all the “I’ve been sent here to maybe kill you” stuff, but she’s candid about who she is — “I correct people who are in breach of contract” — and what she’s here to do. Jules is clearly charmed by Lenny’s gruffness, in much the same way she was charmed by CeCe’s when they first met, and accepts when Lenny invites herself over for dinner to meet Jules’ friends.
Jules, you in danger, girl.
Into the Badlands 303: “Leopard Snares Rabbit”
Written by Valerie Anne
This week’s episode starts with the Widow’s Butterflies showing up to the Iron Rabbit’s burrow, where Tilda and Odessa had been planning together like good little anarchy girlfriends. They were warned barely in time, and it’s really just enough to avoid a full ambush.
What do you MEAN Brooklyn Nine-Nine was cancelled?!
The fight is brutal—Tilda is forced to kill a girl she used to fight alongside, and Odessa steps in to save Tilda from the Regent, resulting is kidnapped and taken back to the Widow.
The Widow has Odessa in the cage and tries to get information from her. She wants to know who warned the bunnies in the burrow, but Odessa doesn’t budge, not even when the Widow throws in some low (metaphorical) blows, calling her “an inconsequential fling” and saying Tilda will choose her mother over Odessa someday. When she leaves her men to continue trying to extract information from her, she tells them to keep her pretty…she DOES want Tilda to forgive her eventually after all.
Tilda comes flying into Lydia’s window to seek vengeance for her girlfriend, when she’s informed that Odessa isn’t dead, just kidnapped. So Tilda marches right through the front door of the Widow’s mansion and demands an audience. Just like that.
Tilda is willing to give up her whole Iron Rabbit deal to save Odessa. And the Widow brings Odessa out, but before she’ll hand her over, she wants more than a promise that her convoys will be protected. She wants Tilda back fighting by her side. So Tilda ups the ante too: free MK.
As if on cue, MK flies in all rage and violence and Tilda talks him down in the way only Tilda can and she exchanges a knowing nod with the Widow before letting Odessa lead her out. While I’m glad they both got out of that situation relatively unscathed, and I’m glad Tilda and the Widow might work together again soon, I do fear it will be at the expense of the Tildessa relationship. Only time will tell!
Timeless 208: “The Day Reagan was Shot”
Written by Valerie Anne
Here’s the thing: If you’re not watching Timeless, you should be. I think we’ve written about it here before, so I won’t give you a full synopsis, but it’s smart and it’s fun and it’s feminist af. They don’t sugar-coat the past the way some time travel shows do, often highlighting how Lucy, a woman, and Rufus, a black man, might not have the easiest time in one decade or another. I’ve learned more about real history than anything my white/straight/male-washed history books every taught me.
And what’s more, one of the regular characters is Agent Denise Christopher, a queer woman of color. Granted, her wife (also a qwoc) isn’t mentioned much, but they made a point to let us know that Agent Christopher had a wife and kids, and even have Lucy meet them once, and making sure their timeline isn’t interrupted is always important to Denise.
This week’s episode, though, was a Big Gay Episode, and the entire plot revolved around Denise, her wife, and her gayness. Lucy and their programmer, Jiya, go back to the 80s, thinking they had to save President Reagan, but quickly realizing they actually were meant to save a young Agent Christopher. A brush with death that didn’t happen in the original timeline pushes Denise into agreeing to go through with an arranged marriage to a man, so Lucy and Jiya pretend to be a lesbian couple (appropriately named Cagney and Lacey) to try to get her to admit that being married to a man, arranged or not, wouldn’t make her happy.
FAKE LESBIANS. CREATORS OF THE CAGNEY AND LACEY REBOOT TAKE NOTE
Especially since that marriage would result in her quitting the police force, which would mean she never got recruited by the FBI, which means the time travel program they all use to save the world on the regular would probably never exist. Plus also she’d be fucking miserable.
At first, Denise is hesitant; her Indian family is very traditional. She watched her cousin get disowned for marrying a white guy, being a lesbian in 1981 wasn’t exactly going to be smooth sailing. Desperate, both to save the timeline but also to save her coworker and friend a life of misery she knows is avoidable, Lucy breaks all the rules of time travel and whips out a laptop and a flash drive and shows Denise a slideshow of her family in the future. Her wife, her two kids, their collective happiness. Denise’s eyes fill up with wonder and she asks, “Two women can get married?” Hearing that, seeing those pictures, it gave her hope. That moment, in a nutshell, is why representation is important. Sometimes all it takes to ease an anxiety is a promise that something is possible. Just knowing something has been done, or could be done, is sometimes enough to make it less scary. It can, in short, give you hope.
Anyway, whatever Lucy and Jiya do, it ends up being even better than the first time around, because not only did they get Denise to call off the arranged marriage, but somehow they got the timeline to change so that instead of being totally estranged, Denise’s mother is now a bigger part of her life. And of course, her wife and kids are still happy and healthy and having pizza night just as they planned.
REAL LESBIANS
It was a really nice change of pace to have an entire episode revolve around ensuring the lesbian character DIDN’T get shot. And Agent Christopher has worried from the start that her wife and kids might just poof from existence, so therefore that has been a worry of mine all along as well. But instead the emotional crux of this very emotional episode was giving a young police officer hope that she could be a badass FBI agent with a wife and kids someday, and helping her follow through on that plan.
Once Upon a Time 720: “Is This Henry Mills?”
Written by Carmen
Tilly’s been coerced to join Mother Gothel’s secret witch coven in order to save her father and her girlfriend, because she’s The Guardian and can hold all the dark magic in the realm without succumbing to it, which is apparently some powerful stuff (oh, man! This show! Amirite?). She’s hypnotized along with the rest of the coven; they just repeat the same spell over and over again, bringing all the world’s dark magic back to Seattle. When each member of the coven completes their job, they get turned into a tree seedlings, which means that Tilly is going to die.
This is an episode of Buffy that I’ve definitely seen before.
Her dad, the New Captain Hook (they call him “Nook”, get it?), doesn’t quite get what’s going on because he’s still cursed and thinks he’s a Seattle Police Detective. But, he knows that something isn’t right here. He gets reinforcements, first from Detective Weaver (Rumplestiltskin, who’s already awake from the curse and VERY AWARE of what is going on here), and then from Tilly’s girlfriend Margot (Robin Hood!!! Here to save the day!!!).
The trio returns to the coven in a futile attempt to either wake Tilly or break Gothel’s magical hold on her. Margot’s so nervous, her hands are shaking! Luckily, she’s a queer girl in 2018; she’s not freaked out by a little witchy activity. She slices through the coven like it’s nothing and walks right up to Tilly.
She places a gentle hand on her shoulders and looks her in the eyes. Her voice is gentle and patient, like she’s talking to small, shaking, scared cat.
“Hey there — There are a lot of people who are really worried about you, but I know that you’re just having one of your bad days. But if you come with me, maybe we can turn it into a good one. What do you say?”
From beneath her trance, Tilly cries at the sound of Margot’s voice. A single tear breaks through, rolling down her cheek. Before the power of Margot’s love can take root, the dark magic bites back. In a bright flash, Tilly turns Margot, along with the rest of the rescue party, into a scene from Honey, I Shrunk The Kids.
Yep, that’s them.
The season long curse breaks when, in the main plot of the episode, Henry and Regina Mills save the day. Back at the coven, everyone’s returned to normal size. Remembering who they are for the first time all year, Robin Hood takes off Margot’s glasses and runs into Alice’s arms.
They hold each other so tight, Alice’s hands turn red from her grasp. They whisper memories of love and and sweetness, their breath mingling in the cold air. Alice is overcome; she had promised Robin, no matter what, they would always remember each other. And she was right! The hero music swells and Robin kisses the love of her life like she never wants to stop kissing her, ever again.
Love is love is…
Love.
Gothel makes one last attempt to turn Alice to the dark side, promising that they can be a family. With her father on one side of her, and Robin on the other, clasping her hand tight, Alice faces down her wretched mother once and for all. She’s not alone anymore. She’s not an orphan, she’s no longer “a crazy girl who’s lost her way”. She never will be again. With that, she uses all her magic and the love that surrounds her and turns Gothel into a freaking tree!!!!
Side Note: This is not gay, but if you’re a fan of Regina Mills and her relationship with her son, Henry — this is the episode for you! It’s a beautiful love letter to the mother/son relationship that’s been at the heart of the show throughout the last seven seasons.
Quick Hits
Westworld 203: “Virtù e Fortuna”
Westworld still isn’t any queerer than having Evan Rachel Wood Bisexual leading the charge, but it’s still pretty fun so far, and there are a lot of women in charge of things. Dolores is going by Wyatt now and causing a ruckus as usual, Tessa Thompson took command of some soldiers, Maeve is a woman on a mission, and our girl Armistice made a surprise re-appearance. Plus we met a woman who washed up on the shores of Westworld from a safari land, and I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of her, either. — Valerie Anne
Things on the cobbles have been kind of a mess lately, but this week the writers showed that their still capable of impactful storyline as news of Aidan Connor’s suicide spread across Weatherfield (Gail’s speech was a highlight for me). Grief manifests differently for everyone and for Kate, it’s mostly anger. She’s livid at her brother, chastising him for his selfishness and promising to never forgive this transgression. Rana shows up on Friday’s episodes to comfort her girlfriend, just as Kate’s anger starts to give way to grief. — Natalie
Grey’s Anatomy 1423: “Cold As Ice”
I’m happy to report that April Kepner did not die! She did get very, very cold and almost drown. It was a sort of throwback to episode 3.17 “Some Kind of Miracle”, where Meredith almost drowns, but the hospital staff brings her back to life. Anyway, April is safe and happily back in love with Matthew — the Christian EMT that she left at the altar for Jackson all those years ago. No word yet on how she’s officially leaving the show, but I’m glad that she’s getting a (off camera) happy ending!
Ok, the gay stuff! Geena Davis came back as Dr. Herman (AKA Dr. Dottie Hinson #ALeageOfTheirOwn #NeverForget). She’s even funnier than I remember and Geena Davis is obviously always a megawatt talent. I was impressed with her acting choices and how she approached Dr. Herman’s blindness. Arizona was going to leave her neonatal surgery practice behind and go back into peds surgery as part of her big move to New York, but instead Dr. Dottie Hinson offers to open up a new maternal care research clinic in NYC with Arizona at the head! It’s going to be called the “Robbins-Herman Center for Women’s Health””. No word yet on Callie, but Arizona did mention her (using her full name Calliope! heart eyes) before getting cut off mid sentence. It sounds like Callie is excited for the move and being very supportive! AWWW, YOU GUYS!!! — Carmen
Spring/Summer 2018 TV Preview: All the Lesbian and Bisexual and Trans Women TV Characters Your Heart Requires
The time has come to talk about spring and summer teevee! Okay, the time has kind of passed to talk about spring teevee, but not by too much — all of these shows that started in spring are still airing! It’s been a pretty okay year for LGBTQ women on television so far. Very few deaths, historically speaking, and a decent amount of kissing and some critically acclaimed series filled out with queer women. Summer is always an exciting time for us because it’s when the genre shows rain down in full force and we’ve always had the most representation in sci-fi and fantasy. This spring and summer, though, there’s plenty of non-supernatural dramas too. Below is every show we know about that has a premiere date. We’ll keep this list updated as new premiere dates are announced, and you can bookmark this page or reference it from the Arts & Entertainment Menu at the top of your Autostraddle Website Page.
April 2018 Queer TV Show Premieres
It’s true, these shows have already begun — but they weren’t in our winter preview, and we want to make sure they’re on your radar!
Star, Wednesday March 29th (Fox) – Season Two
Star’s a soap opera about low income, teen girls of color reaching for the music superstar dreams. It has had an impressive slate of black QTPOC representation in front of and behind the camera — including Amiyah Scott as Cotton Brown, becoming the first trans actress to play a trans woman in a regular network TV role, and out actor Miss Lawrence as Miss Bruce. It also stars Queen Latifah and is produced by out gay producer Lee Daniels. One of the show’s lead protagonists is Simone Davis, a biracial, bisexual teen who’s in and out of foster care. She’s got an unbreakable spirit and determination to go after her goals. It wouldn’t be fair not to warn you that (SPOILER ALERT) Star buried one of its gays last winter. I still find the musical soap enjoyable, but it’s something to keep in mind. — Carmen
Siren, Thursday March 29th (Freeform) – Season One
A murder mermaid temporarily shed her tail and popped onto land for a while, learning the way humans do things and then tossing them aside to do what she wants. And sometimes that thing includes kissing a girl. The girl has a boyfriend but the boyfriend is into the mermaid too so we might have our first-ever man-woman-mermaid throuple situation heading our way on Freeform in this ten-episode series. — Valerie Anne
Famous in Love, Wednesday April 4th (Freeform) – Season Two
Bisexual actress Alexis is the star of her own reality television show this season, which means regularly negotiating the temptation to ruin the lives of everybody she knows and cares about in order to amass fame and the veneer of success! What an inspirational character for us all. — Riese
Imposters, Thursday April 5th (Bravo) – Season Two
The Bumblers, including our fave, Jules Langmore, are riding high after exacting revenge on the ex that betrayed them all but things quickly go sour and the trio are forced to regroup in Mexico. Season Two promises to delve more into Jules’ backstory, including introducing us to her sister, Poppy (Rachel Skarsten). — Natalie
Killing Eve, Sunday April 8th (BBC America) – Season One
Sandra Oh has finally booked the post-Grey’s Anatomy leading role she deserves, playing Eve, a spy tracking down a notorious bisexual assassin named Villanelle (Jodie Comer). Their obsession with each other is laced with sexual attraction. And even though it’s a spy thriller, Phoebe Waller-Bridge infuses this dark world with bits of unexpected humor that Oh and Comer bring out masterfully. Killing Eve is the sexy, queer spy thriller I’ve long craved. — Kayla (warning: due to the genre of this show, steady yourself for some gays to get buried.)
Supergirl, Monday April 16th (The CW) – Season Three
Supergirl took a hiatus to sort some stuff out and I’m really hoping that means great things for the back half of this season. Our resident lesbian, Alex, is still getting over her ex-girlfriend Maggie, so I doubt she’ll have any kind of lady love until Season Four, but hopefully the show continues to focus on her relationship with Kara, and remember that the show actually is about Supergirl, not her boring ex-boyfriend. Also if Alex wanted to go on a few bad Tinder dates just for giggles I’d be fine with that, too. — Valerie Anne
Westworld, Sunday April 22nd (HBO) – Season Two
When asked about exploring Dolores’s sexuality, Evan Rachel Wood said her character is “not either a man or a woman” and, furthermore, “All I can say is, yes, there’s going to be something. I wasn’t disappointed. I was like, ‘Yay,’ but that’s all I can say.” It is very difficult to describe Westworld at all in a little paragraph in a teevee preview — because LOL I barely understand what’s going on half the time. Still it’s some of the most exciting television on television these days, even if all the queer stuff has been either deeply buried/implied or very surface level. — Riese
Into the Badlands, Sunday April 22nd (AMC) – Season Two
Season Two came back both with and without a bang. That is to say, Tilda isn’t sporting her classic bang look anymore, but it’s because she needs her hair slicked back — the better to murder men with, my dear. It looks like she’ll be slaying enemies alongside her girl Odessa this season while she works out her mommy issues. We’ll also meet a new character who really upped the murder game; she has potential to really shake things up. — Valerie
The 100, Tuesday April 24th (The CW) – Season Five
I’ll be honest: It doesn’t matter how we do or do not write about this show, someone will get mad at us because we did or did not write about this show. So, here are the facts: The 100 still boasts a badaass bisexual leading character. The 100 also unrepentantly murdered a lesbian character that set off a chain reaction of activism that changed the landscape of queer TV forever. Whatever your relationship is to this show, it’s valid. We’re not telling you what to believe. What we’re telling you is that The 100, unlike Lexa, continues to exist.
The Handmaid’s Tale, Wednesday April 25th (Hulu) – Season Two
This show remains hella dark and chock-full of queer women — one of whom (Moira, played by Samira Wiley) has escaped to Canada where she’s dealing with Gilead-inspired trauma and another (Emily, played by Alexis Bledel) who has been sent to The Colonies to dig up nuclear waste until she dies! You can read my review of it here. — Riese
May 2018 Queer TV Show Premieres
Dear White People, Friday May 4th (Netflix) – Season Two
The black queer women supporting characters of Dear White People’s first season were super underwhelming, which personally hurts me because one of them was played by Nia Long — one of my oldest childhood crushes. Dear White People‘s based on the cult classic satire indie film of the same name about being a black student in a predominantly white university. The original film was produced by Lena Waithe and brought to screen by out gay writer/director/producer Justin Simien. Simien also helms the Netflix series and, according to the trailer, we can at least expect a Lena Waithe cameo in the second season! In her brief clip, she says “black lesbians” real slow and felt so good to my ears, I rewound it three times. — Carmen
Vida, Sunday May 6th (Starz) – Season One
I am so excited for you all to fall in love with Vida! Vida is about two Chicana sisters returning to their old neighborhood in East LA after their mother’s death. One of the sisters is queer. Both sisters are surprised to find out that, upon her death, their mother was married to a woman. Out non-binary actor Ser Anzoategui plays the butch lesbian widow. The show’s produced by an out queer Chicana, Tanya Saracho, and has a predominately queer Latinx writers room. It’s sooo, soo good y’all. It’s on Starz, which I know is not a cable channel that’s easily accessible for everyone, but I promise you that it’s going to be worth the effort to seek out! We’re going to be talking more about Vida in the upcoming weeks and helping you all find ways to support it — because we want you to have nice things!! And this is a really nice thing. — Carmen
Sweetbitter, Sunday May 6th (Starz) – Season One
Sweetbitter is the story of Tess, a 22-year-old who flees her old life for a new one in Manhattan where she immediately snags a job at an exclusive restaurant. Set in 2006, Tess serves an upscale clientele, hangs at an industry dive bar, learns a lot about food and wine and, mostly, learns a lot about people. One of her new friends is Ari, played by Eden Epstein, described as “a backwaiter by day and an adventurous lesbian and DJ by night.” The book was pretty good (although I was partial to it, having also been a young New York aspirant in 2006 and having waited tables in the city), perhaps the series will be even better! — Riese
13 Reasons Why, Friday May 18th (Netflix) – Season Two
I found Season One to be really f*cked up on just about every level including basic storytelling, and allegedly creators are taking this feedback into account with Season Two, which will shift its focus from Hannah’s suicide to a sexual assault trial. According to Netflix, “Liberty High prepares to go on trial, but someone will stop at nothing to keep the truth surrounding Hannah’s death concealed. A series of ominous Polaroids lead Clay and his classmates to uncover a sickening secret and a conspiracy to cover it up.” Furthermore, “Jessica’s recovery will also be explored as Yorkey looks to examine what it’s like to go from being a victim of sexual assault to being a survivor of sex assault.” Lesbian character Courtney Crimson will continue her role and sexually fluid Hannah will remain front-and-center.
Picnic at Hanging Rock, Friday May 25th (Amazon Prime) – Season One
The classic 1975 novel about three schoolgirls who vanish from Appleyard College for Young ladies on Valentine’s Day 1900 has been adapted before — Peter Weir’s 1975 film “certainly picked up on the erotic subtext” of the story, but the new Foxtel series “takes the sexual undercurrents rippling among the residents of Appleyard College and the local townsfolk and makes them a tad more obvious.” Somehow, a wooden dildo is involved. Regardless, we’re in. — Riese
Queen Sugar, Tuesday May 29th (OWN) – Season Three
Details are scant about what to expect from season three of Queen Sugar but with a focus on the “journey of fatherhood,” we anticipate Nova Bordelon exploring her unresolved issues with her late father, Ernest. We’re also keeping hope alive that 20gayteen brings Nova a girlfriend. — Natalie
June 2018 Queer TV Show Premieres
Humans, Tuesday June 5th (AMC) – Season 3
Here’s what we know about Season Three of Humans: “One year after the dawn of consciousness, a decimated and oppressed Synth population fights to survive in a world that hates and fears them. In a divided Britain, Synths and Humans struggle to broker an uneasy peace, but when fractures within the Synth community itself start to appear, all hope of stability is threatened.” Pansexual synth Niska will be back, but her girlfriend Astrid isn’t showing up on IMDB as part of Season Three. I hope she finds somebody else to be queer with. — Riese
Pose, Sunday June 3rd (FX) – Season One
There has never been a show like Ryan Murphy’s Pose on TV. Ever. It boasts 50+ LGBTQ characters and the largest number of trans series regulars in American TV history. MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson, Hailie Sahar and Angelica Ross are all playing trans characters, and Janet Mock and Our Lady J are producing and have both been in in the writers room. You’re about to learn a whole lot about ’80s ball culture! — Heather
The Fosters, Monday June 4th (Freeform) – Finale Event
After five seasons, the Adams Fosters clan are ready to say their final goodbye. The three episode finale mini series takes place roughly four years in the future from the main body of the show. All of the Adams Fosters children have graduated from either high school or college and the entire family is coming together to celebrate Brandon’s wedding. I don’t care about Brandon Adams Foster, ever, and the trailer for the finale does little to assuage my worries. However, The Fosters really stuck the landing of their final season. They brought back heart to their storytelling and refocused their central energy on Stef and Lena. It’s enough that to have regained my trust going into summer. — Carmen
Younger, Tuesday June 5th (TV Land) – Season 5
This is a good show and I don’t care if you believe me! Yes, there’s a straight love triangle at the center. And no, resident lesbian Maggie doesn’t get as much screentime as she should. But each season gets better and better at developing her character and bringing her into the fold and the real story here is women and their careers and their friendships. The last time we saw Maggie, she was in Ireland bedding the mother of the bride of her best friend Liza’s ex-boyfriend. She also has an on-again/off-again thing with Hilary Duff’s pansexual best friend, Lauren. — Heather
Sense8, Friday June 8th (Netflix) – Finale
AHEM: “Personal lives are pushed aside as the cluster, their sidekicks, and some unexpected allies band together for a rescue mission and BPO take-down in order to protect the future of all Sensates.” — Riese
Claws, Sunday June 10th (TNT) – Season Two
Quiet Ann and the ladies of Nail Artisans of Manatee County are back using their salon to launder money for the mob, only this time, it’s for a female-led Russian mafia. As the ladies are asked to do more, they realize their own capability — they’re criminals and they are good at it — and start to think that, maybe, it’s time they became their own bosses. — Natalie
The Bold Type, Tuesday June 12th (Freeform) – Season Two
This show ended up being one of summer’s sweetest treats last year, and I can’t wait for more romance between bisexual social media maven Kat Edison and lesbian artist and activist Adena El Amin — including, apparently, a big meet-the-parents moment. I am ready to laugh, cry, and yearn for all of Jacqueline Carlyle’s power wardrobe. — Kayla
G.L.O.W., Friday June 29th (Netflix) – Season Two
When G.L.O.W. returns for its second season we will FINALLY get what we craved throughout its homoerotic first season: Yolanda, a lesbian wrestler played by Shakira Barrera. — Riese
July 2018 Queer TV Show Premieres
Heathers, Tuesday July 10th (Paramount) -Season One
UPDATE 6/5: THIS SHOW HAS BEEN OFFICIALLY FOREVER CANCELLED AND WILL NEVER AIR
The initial debut of this program was critically panned, and consequently withdrawn allegedly on account of the Parkland shooting. If they haven’t changed anything about the show since their first go-around, we’ll probably hate it.
Harlots, Wednesday July 11th (Hulu) – Season Two
We return to my favorite show ever about sex workers to find the city’s top madams in an even more dramatic feud than they were in Season One —Violet’s future in peril, her religious fundamentalist gal pal doing what she can to save her, and a new judge determined to rid his city of what he perceives to be “vice.” Liv Tyler joins the cast as Lady Isabella Fitzwilliam, a wealthy woman with zero personal freedom who has mad sexual tension with Charlotte Wells. — Riese
UnREAL, Monday July 16th (Hulu) – Season 4
Traci Thoms returns as Fiona, a power lesbian television executive, in the very uneven final season of this “Bachelor” send-up. Your favorite lesbian, Faith, does a one-episode guest spot as a therapist brought in to mediate a conflict between several contestants.
Wynonna Earp, Friday July 20th (SyFy) – Season 3
Season 2 was full of goo, babies, time warps, demons, and so many ladies kissing. It answered a lot of questions, and asked a whole lot more. Season 3 promises more mystery (Mama Earp?!), drama (a cult?!!), and, of course, quality queer content. At a recent panel, when asked about the gayness of Season Three, Emily Andras said, “What’s the straightest show you can think of? I feel like Season 3 makes Season 2 look like that straight show.” Yee haw. — Valerie Anne
Killjoys, Friday July 20th (SyFy) – Season 4
With Lost Girl’s Michelle Lovretta behind the wheel, it wasn’t really a surprise, but definitely a welcome turn when the main big bad of Season 3 ended up in a relationship with another running antagonist. Aneela and Delle Seyah are a unique pairing, to be sure, but they’ve made it clear that they’d risk just about anything for each other. Their fates were inextricably linked with Dutch, Johnny and D’av’s in the Season 3 finale, so I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of these murder girlfriends. — Valerie Anne
Orange is the New Black, Friday July 27th (Neflix) – Season 6
Season 6 of OITNB promises, somehow, that it will get even darker than previous seasons as inmates are shipped out of Litchfield following the riot and sent to other prisons. We follow the women who end up in Max, where they try to negotiate a new set of prison gangs, divided by block, and an investigation into what happened during the riot that puts Taystee in a precarious legal position. Adrienne Moore, who plays Black Cindy, told The Hollywood Reporter, “Toward the end of season five, there were some people that were agreeing to stick together, and there were some people that were looking out for themselves. We’ll see the repercussions of those decisions in this next season.”
August 2018 Queer TV Show Premieres
Insatiable, Friday August 10th (Netflix) – Season One
The coming out story of this pretty much universally panned series is apparently its only redeeming factor!
The House of Flowers, Friday August 10th (Netflix) – Season One
A Spanish-language comedy-drama program about a dysfunctional high-class Mexican family that owns a prestigious flower shop. Juan Pablo Medina plays María José, a transgender woman who has a child with her ex-wife, Paulina, who is still carrying a torch for María.
The Sinner, August 15th (USA) – Season 2
This anthology series returns with a new case and a mostly new cast for Season 2, including Natalie Paul as Heather Novak, a black lesbian detective put on the case of a boy who murders his parents for very unclear reasons in very strange circumstances.
Mr. Mercedes, Wednesday August 22nd (Audience) – Season 2
Breeda Wool will be returning as techie lesbian Lou Linklatter, according to Den of Geek. As the first season drew from Stephen King’s book of the same name, Season Two will be drawing from a few follow-up novels. — Riese
Boob(s On Your) Tube: “Westworld” and “Into the Badlands” Return With Some of Your Favorite Murderous Women
Welcome back to another Boob(s On Your) Tube! This has been quite a week! We got our first real look at Gina Rodriguez on the set of Brooklyn Nine-Nine right on the heels of our Jane the Virgin season finale roundtable. The second season of The Handmaid’s Tale dropped and Riese reviewed it. Kayla recapped this week’s Riverdale and wrote about a deleted Choni scene from last week’s musical episode. She also reviewed Disobedience, which opens in Los Angeles and New York tomorrow. Valerie Anne recapped the latest episode of Supergirl.
And, most importantly, Natalie shared some feelings about Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer, which finally aired last night, the very day she came out as bisexual/pansexual “free-ass motherfucker” in Rolling Stone.
Here’s what else!
Imposters 204: “Andiamo”
Written by Natalie
Last we checked on Jules and her compatriots, they were hiding out in Mexico, trying to cobble money to get back to Scottsdale, Arizona to retrieve the million dollar ring that Richie unintentionally left behind. Just when they think they’ve got their path back all set — thanks to some forged passports — they discover that their timeline will no longer suffice. Max and Sally, the two cons that worked with Maddie, are holding Ezra’s family hostage and the Bumblers have to get back to the States immediately. So instead of waiting on their passports, Ezra finds a coyote that’ll take them across the border for the low, low price of $10,000. Desperate for quick cash, Jules is forced to tap her last resort: asking her family to wire her the money.
Imposters has been tight-lipped about Jules’ past but we’re getting a clearer picture of who Jules Langmore is this season. We already knew that Jules came from old money and that her family was still flush with cash, even after Maddie’s con, but we never knew what was inside the envelope Maddie used to keep the Langmores from going to the cops. Last week, we found out two things: first, there was some controversy about Jules graduating from art school — presumably her plagiarizing someone else’s work — and second, Jules was able to escape facing consequences for her actions because her family paid to make the problem go away. When Ezra asks if Jules is sure that her family will come through with the money, she admits, “let’s just say my family takes a certain delight in rescuing me.”
And, sure enough, her family comes through… only thing? Her sister, Poppy (Rachel Skarsten), opts to hand deliver the $10,000 they need. After hearing the full story about Maddie and how the FBI is looking for Richie, Ezra and Jules, Poppy offers the money she brought in exchange for a promise from Jules: she’ll come home after they cross the border back to the United States. Jules agrees quickly — far too quickly for me to believe she’s being even remotely sincere — and they board a bus with Ezra and Richie to head to meet their coyote. At a rest stop, Jules admits to Ezra that she’s found herself again in Mexico and she doesn’t want to leave.
“I found something that feels like it’s just mine too. Mexico. All of it. It’s odd, you know? I feel like I’m myself here, like I’ve come home to a place I’ve always known,” she says. Ezra encourages her to stay — it’s some consolation to him that at least someone he loves will be safe — and Jules agrees. It’s enough to make me a tad bit angry…on the one hand, Jules has been her best self in Mexico… she’s painting again, she’s flirting with attractive women and she looks AMAZING… but, on the other, the show wouldn’t be the same without Jules’ humor.
But I should know, after 14 episodes of this show, that nothing ever works out as planned. When Jules, Ezra, Richie and Poppy arrive to meet their coyote, they run into right into a swarm of Federales that have been searching for them. They scramble through an open air market and rush to find their coyote. Firm on not leaving for another hour, their coyote points them to another coyote who can take them immediately so they hop into the truck of cars — Jules and Poppy in one car, Ezra and Richie in another — being carried on a car hauler and begin their trek out of Mexico.
Quick Hits
Westworld 201: “Journey into Night”
Nothing gay to report in the first episode of the new season of Westworld except for how Evan Rachel Wood made me gayer when Dolores, in her white-and-blue outfit, rode horseback wearing an ammo sash and shooting all the men who wronged her. Also it would be an honor to be murdered by Thandie Newton, just saying. — Valerie Anne
Into the Badlands 301: “Enter the Phoenix”
Tilda dropped from the sky like a murderous angel in this week’s premiere of the third season of Into the Badlands. She goes by Iron Rabbit now and her and Odessa—presumably her girlfriend now because of the tandem slayage, though nothing ws said explicitly—are going on heists together, working against the Widow, which breaks my heart but is fun to watch. There’s also a new girl in town with some cool warpaint and some killer skills. Like, literally, she has that black-eyed rage power MK used to have but she can control it and catch crossbow bolts between her fingers and it is VERY GREAT. This season should be very, very fun. — Valerie Anne
Siren 106: “Showdown”
This week on Siren, Ryn kissed Ben in front of Maddie and he was like “uh well” and Maddie was like “yeah she does that” and then they all just moved on! They live with a mermaid who kisses them both on the mouth sometimes, is all. Treated as casually as any other thing that happens on this wild and wacky show that I am enjoying very much. I’m hoping they go full throuple soon but Ryn is a little pissed at them at the moment for not letting her go full murder-mermaid so we’ll see. — Valerie Anne
Grey’s Anatomy 1421: “Bad Reputation”
The gay in this week’s Grey’s Anatomy was mostly present around the edges of this week’s main storyline. Here’s what is most important: Sofia is depressed in Seattle, and Arizona’s going to have to do something about that — SOON. Carina’s worried that Arizona coddles her daughter too much. She may have a point (Callie voiced similar concerns back when she was still married to Arizona in season nine), but I feel very Mama Bear about Sofia Robbin Sloan Torres. So, the minute Carina critiqued one of my favorite GA children, my heart turned cold. Carina’s tough love did finally get DeLuca off of Meredith’s couch though, so there’s that! Oh, and for all my Everything Sucks! fans, Peyton Kennedy has just started a multi-episode arc on Grey’s. She’s not playing gay, but hopefully her presence can be a balm in your soul during this unfortunate time since her own show’s cancellation. — Carmen
S.W.A.T. 119: “Source”
It’s great to have a woman — and a bisexual woman, at that — on this show and, while it could surely be worse, do they have to keep putting her in mortal danger every week? Last week, Chris ends up battered and bruised after fighting with a serial killer, whom she later stops, and this week, while protecting a Russian journalist, she gets stabbed with a poisonous pen. Can’t we just give the girl a break for a bit? Maybe next week they can just have her dealing with some relationship drama — what happened to that cute reporter she went out with? — so I don’t have to spend an hour worried about her fate. — Natalie
The Daytime Emmys are this weekend and Camryn Grimes and Cait Fairbanks, the two actresses that captured our hearts in the Teriah storyline last year, are both nominated for their work. A win would be the first for Fairbanks, the second for Grimes and the second straight year the Emmys have recognized an actress in a gay storyline that had been summarily discarded by their respective shows. So, yay, daytime! — Natalie
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 518: “Gray Star Manual”
It’s been a minute since we had a solid Rosa episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but she had a rare and wonderful storyline with just Amy this week! What happened was Amy was afraid to look at or shop for wedding dresses because she has to work twice as hard as the male sergeants in the NYPD and she was afraid doing something so feminine would cause them to respect her less. But Rosa forced her into a wedding store and sat around in a teal bridesmaid’s dress while coaching her through the whole thing — until they got a call that a serial bodega robber was on the run and Amy chased him down in her wedding dress, leaping over a car and tying him up with the sash she ripped off the bodice. Rosa called her “freaking Wonder Woman.” And it was true and they both are!
“Imposters” Is a Perfect Show for Lesbians Who Love Love (And for Lesbians Who Think Love Is a Lie)
From some of the first fairy tales whispered to us by our parents, we’re left with one indelible impression: happily ever after means having someone else with whom to share our lives. Before we can even form the words, before we can even grasp the concept, love becomes the thing that we aspire to most. The characters in those stories change over time — we imagine Princess Charming, most notably — and the scripts grow far more complicated, but that feeling, that desire, to love and be loved, persists. And when you’re queer and the not-so-distant past scandalizes your love, or worse, prohibits it entirely, believing and pursuing love isn’t just about fulfilling that desire, it’s a profound act of resistance.
It’s no wonder that so many of us come to love love… hell, we even gave it its very own day. We commit ourselves to its pursuit and we relish its depictions. We invest ourselves in characters — especially the ones that remind us of ourselves — and hope that they find love. You cheer for the romance. You hope for coupledom. You scorn the person who’d dare come between them. And where those depictions fail, we craft our own, turning subtext into text and longing looks into love.
Imposters is a show about love, sort of. It’s about the different ways in which we fall in love and what that love says about us as individuals. It’s about how love becomes the answer to questions that you never even thought to pose. Imposters shows you love through three prominent lenses and, though you’ll relate more to one than the other, you’ll see part of yourself in all three.
You are not the pizza I ordered.
Ezra Bloom (Rob Heaps) has been chasing the idea of a storybook romance for his entire life and when he finds it in Ava, he clings fast to it. Upon meeting her at a local French restaurant, he’s immediately smitten, drawn in my her beauty, charmed by her accent. For years he dreamt of living in Paris and becoming a writer but those dreams are supplanted by her, as if she was the thing that he’s always wanted. It’s no surprise that he marries her quickly — he loves love almost as much as he loves her — and that, as they ease into their life together, he showers her with daily anniversary gifts. The way that Ezra loves Ava: it’s the stuff we all dream about.
Richard “Richie” Evans (Parker Young) never saw love coming. He’d been an all-county quarterback, he’d become a partner at a car dealership and he had his choice of the local women; he was content. But one day, Alice, a Sarah Lawrence-educated belle of the Upper East Side, comes into the dealership and opens up his world. She shows him a world beyond that which he’s always known and, perhaps more importantly, she convinces him that he belongs in it. Alice crafts a plan for Richard’s future — from the dealership to the US Senate — and he believes her. Richard is his best self with Alice by his side and he falls in love with that fact, as much as he falls for her. They marry just four months after they meet.
Julia “Jules” Langmore (Marianne Rendón) was scared of love. From the moment she knew she preferred the company of women, she’s been scared. But then, she meets CeCe one night at a bar, and she’s just fearless, self-assured and uninhibited — everything Jules wants to be but isn’t — and Jules is drawn to her, like a moth to a flame. Jules can’t stop herself from loving her. Loving CeCe means Jules can’t be scared of any of the other things that’ve held her back her entire life. She can’t be scared of loving another woman or of showcasing her art or of telling her parents that she’s a lesbian anymore because it’s no longer the scariest possibility. Once you’ve tasted love, the scariest thing in the world is the prospect of losing it; everything else pales in comparison.
If this whole “get our money back from our con artist ex-wife” thing doesn’t pan out, we’re thinking of forming a band.
But here’s the thing: we love love — but sometimes it doesn’t love us back. Sometimes we’re meant to love infinitely and other times, it crashes and burns so spectacularly in front of us, we spend years cleaning up the refuse. It’s devastating; if love can transform us into our best selves, heartbreak can reveal our worst impulses.
Imposters is a show about love but ultimately, showcasing that is just a means to an end: you must understand the depth of their love to grasp the extent of their heartbreak. When Ava leaves Ezra, he tries to drown his sorrows, sate his craving for her by trying to get another woman to mimic her accent and, eventually, he tries to kill himself twice (failing both times). When Alice leaves Richie, he copes by sleeping with every woman that’ll give him a passing glance. When CeCe leaves Jules, her fears resurface, she’s forced into therapy and she stops creating new art. Each of them are devastated, individually, but the moment they discover that Ava is Alice and Alice is CeCe, their pain and their quest for vengeance becomes collective.
Ezra, Richie and Jules were never loved. They were conned, lured in by the same tantalizing grifter, Maddie Jonson (Inbar Lavi). She convinced each of them that they were special, got them to marry her and then robbed them of every single dime they had. She leaves them all with a video letter, explaining what’s happened and what they should do next, and a trove of blackmail material, meant to ensure that her marks never report her actions to the police or come searching for her. Alone the contents of their blackmail files might be enough to dissuade any one person from seeking Maddie out, but Ezra, Richie and Jules are stronger together, uniting to get their money back and closure.
Maybe this will make more sense if we’re high.
“You know what all the con books say?” Ezra asks Jules, as they’re comtemplating how this could’ve happened. “For a successful con, you need a willing mark. We wanted every single lie she told us but I have to believe that someday, it’s going to catch up to her.”
As fanciful as its premise is, you never expect Imposters to resonate so much — or, at least, I didn’t — but it does because the themes of love and heartbreak are so universal. Maybe no one’s ever crafted a whole new identity to seduce you into marrying them, but we’ve all been conned in our relationship history, even if we don’t call it that. We’ve all met and fallen for someone only to wake up some days, weeks or months later, to discover that person has become a stranger.
“I don’t understand how someone can make you love them and then walk away like it was nothing,” Jules wonders aloud, echoing sentiments I’ve expressed after a few of my failed relationships. Love is universal and, it turns out, so is heartbreak.
Stepping into Jules’ marriage to CeCe — a quick elopement with none of their friends there to bear witness — feels like revisiting that first love that you have when you’re still in the closet. You’re in a bubble, where nothing else matters but you and her, and you savor every beautiful moment, never anticipating the moment when that bubble will burst. But it does burst, eventually, and you’re left to pick up the pieces, a prospect made all the more maddening by the moments that no one else can confirmed happened.
The only things keeping them apart are their secrets.
And later, when Jules meets Gina (Chastity Dotson), an immediate connection sparks between them. Flirty banter leads to a shared lunch which leads to a shared bed. But when Gina asks Jules for more, Jules can’t say yes, even when saying yes is all she wants to do. That reaction feels familiar because heartbreak doesn’t just leave you questioning who they were, it leaves you questioning yourself and your own judgement. How can you trust your feelings for this new person when the last time you felt like this you were so spectacularly wrong? You might not have had a grifter con you out of everything you had but that feeling, post-heartbreak, is universal.
Imposters is not without its shortcomings, though. In their annual guide on “Where We Are on TV,” GLAAD identifies three harmful tropes that are often used with respect to bisexual characters:
- depictions of bisexual+ characters using sex solely as a means of manipulation or transaction;
- treating a character’s attraction to more than one gender as a temporary plot device;
- depicting bisexual+ characters as inherently untrustworthy or lacking a sense of morality.
Imposters manages to hit all three. While you could chalk some of those tropes to being a side effect of the show’s overall premise, the presentation of Maddie’s sexuality leaves a lot to be desired. Imposters surprises the audience with the revelation that Maddie’s bisexual, using it as a tool to show exactly how villainous she can be, and then never grapples with her sexual identity again. Even when Jules gets her chance to confront Maddie, she doesn’t ask about it — an omission made even more glaring by how easily Jules summons her memories of CeCe.
If you see your wife in a wedding dress but she’s marrying someone else, does it still count as bad luck?
Jules’ lesbianism is, on occasion, used as fodder for Richie’s jokes — an annoyance that will cause you to hate him for the first few episodes — but, ultimately, it’s treated with respect. There’s never a real suggestion that Jules will hook up with Ezra or Richie and the trio have more of a brother/sister vibe. Among the additions to the Imposters‘ cast for its upcoming second season, is Jules’ sister, Poppy Langmore (Rachel Skarsten), so we’ll get to learn more of Jules’ backstory and find out how much of her eccentricities existed, pre-CeCe.
It’s worth noting: Kathy Greenberg serves as consulting producer and writer for Imposters. Though it’s often left out of the story that’s told about The L Word, Greenberg was one of the show’s creators and helped write its first episodes. Watching Imposters, I wondered if Jules is who Jenny Schechter might have been, had Greenberg been allowed to remain with the show.
Bravo will re-air the entire first season of Imposters on Feb. 19 or you can watch it now, streaming on Netflix. The show returns for Season 2 on April 5 at @ 10 PM.
Winter 2017 TV Preview: All The Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Women To Get Excited About
It’s a terrible time to be alive, but luckily we have our stories. You know, our shows! Our programs, our stories on the teevee. This year is chock-full of brand new and returning LGBTQ ladies (and one non-binary person!) to feast your eyes, hearts, and fanatically over-invested minds on. However, lesbian representation on network television is down from 33% of regular and recurring LGBTQ characters in 2015-2016 to 17% in the 2016-2017 season, although bisexual female and transgender representation on network TV is slightly up. “While much improvement has been made and TV remains incredibly far ahead of film in terms of LGBTQ representation,” says the GLAAD 2016-2017 Where We Are On TV Report, “It must be made clear that television – and broadcast series more specifically – failed queer women this year as character after character was killed.”
Let’s get started because the season already has, you know what I mean?
NEW! Star – ABC, January 4th
Lee Daniels’ new project has opened to relatively tepid reviews, but there are two trans female characters — Cotton Brown, the daughter of Queen Latifah’s character Carlota Brown, and Miss Bruce, another employee of Carlota’s beauty shop.
Portlandia – IFC, Thursday January 5th
Abbi Jacobson, who we all know is Carrie Brownstein’s secret girlfriend, is one of many guest stars this season — we can also look forward to guest turns from Maria Bamford, Rachel Dratch, Laurie Metcaf and Natasha Lyonne.
Nashville – CMT, Thursday January 5th
Transgender actress Jen Richards has been cast in a recurring role as Allyson, a physical therapist helping a lead character through a serious injury.
NEW! – One Day at a Time – Netflix, Friday January 6th
We’ve told you to watch this show with the most enthusiasm possible, because it’s really funny, really cute, and one of the main characters is a Latina lesbian feminist who comes out over the course of Season One. Also, Episode 11 features an Autostraddle name-drop. Go marathon this now! It’s the best! We promise!
Rosewood – Fox – Friday, January 6th
Pippy and TMI are still broken up — but they’re also still in love. Their relationship has gotten more screentime since the breakup and hopefully that trend will continue until they get back together, right?
Supergirl – The CW – Monday, January 23rd
Lesbian characters Alex Danvers and Maggie Sawyer will be back on your TV fighting the good fight very soon. I can’t tell you anything else about this show because I just started watching Season One and am afraid of spoilers.
Jane The Virgin – The CW – Monday, January 23rd
Elizabeth Rohm (who played a surprise lesbian in Law & Order) has signed on for a major recurring role in Season Three as a soft-spoken guru who starts dating Luisa.
Grey’s Anatomy – ABC – Thursday, January 26th
Jessica Capshaw will return as lesbian doctor Arizona for the second half of Season 13, which will see her character heading to a maximum security prison to see a patient who is too dangerous to be taken into the hospital.
How To Get Away With Murder – ABC – Thursday, January 26th
Season Three will continue to “fill in the rest of the blanks” in the life of bisexual professor Annalise Keating.
Black Sails – Starz – Sunday, January 29th
Eleanor is the bisexual female lead of this show about pirates that I have never seen, but I bet Season Four is gonna be a real plank-walker.
The Fosters – Freeform – Tuesday, January 31st
After Season 4A ended with a thousand drama bombs and a hospital cliffhanger, we return to deal with the fallout. Despite rumors about Stef and Lena getting divorced, the pair made it through the rain intact and will continue to deal with the inevitable challenges of love, marriage, and family. Also Brandon is still on the show for some reason.
The 100 – The CW – Wednesday, February 1st
Clarke will probably be wearing her RIP Lexa pin all season long.
NEW! Imposters – Bravo – Tuesday, February 7th
This show about a con artist who marries people and then scams them stars Marianne Rendón as Jules, an artist devastated by her wife Cece’s sudden decision to leave her. She soon figures out that her perfect marriage wasn’t all that it seemed. Inka Malovic plays the elusive bisexual protagonist.
The Mindy Project – Hulu – Tuesday, February 14th
Fortune Feimster’s character might even go on a date with another lady this season. My toes are already crossed for her.
You Me Her – AT&T/DirectTV – Tuesday, February 14th
The AT&T/DirectTV “polyromantic comedy” returns for a second season in February, telling the story of a polyamorous married couple in Portland who start a relationship with another woman.
NEW! Doubt – CBS – Wednesday, February 15th
Laverne Cox will become broadcast TV’s first transgender actress playing a transgender main character when this soapy legal procedural debuts. Her character, Cameron Wirth, is billed as “a lawyer who wants to help the underdog.”
Billions – Showtime – Sunday, February 19th
Damian Lewis as Bobby “Axe” Axelrod and Asia Kate Dillon as Taylor Mason in BILLIONS (Season 2, Episode 2). – Photo: Jeff Neumann/SHOWTIME
Another show making queer history this season is Billions, which features Asia Kate Dillon as Taylor, an intern at hedge fund Axe Capital immediately noticed by the higher-ups as a brilliant and talented asset. Dillion identifies as non-binary, and so does Taylor. “As someone who is non-binary gender identifying, I feel a particular responsibility to portray members of my community on stage and on screen,” they told The Huffington Post, “Not only as fully fleshed-out characters who are integral to the plot, but as characters whose gender identity is just one of many parts that make up the whole person.”
NEW! The Good Fight – CBS – Sunday, February 19th
A spin-off of The Good Wife finds Christine Baranski’s Diane heading into retirement when she learns her retirement account is empty due to a Ponzi scheme led by her trusted friend Henry Rindell. Henry was a mentor to Maia, a young lawyer and Diane’s goddaughter and a main character, it appears, a lady-loving lady. Her partner, Amy, is also heavily featured in the show’s initial trailers.
NEW! When We Rise – ABC – Monday, February 27th
Finally the gay rights movement gets our very own well-produced star-studded miniseries! Written by Dustin Lance Black and starring actors including Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, Mary-Louise Parker, Rachel Griffiths, Michael K. Williams, who played Omar from The Wire, and transgender actress Ivory Aquino as transgender activist Cecilia Chung; the series will tell the story of the LGBT rights movement from Stonewall to the modern era through the personal and political struggles of a diverse group of LGBTQ people who shaped and lead that movement. Dee Rees, the black lesbian director and writer of Pariah, directs parts two and three.
Empire – Fox – Wednesday, March 22nd
Bisexual singer Tiana Brown has rekindled her romance with Hakeem and Freda Gatz is out of jail and Jamal is in rehab and Andre wants to kill his father. Andre’s father is a terrible person, so.
NEW! Harlots – Hulu – Wednesday, March 29th
Samantha Morton will play Margaret Wells, an 18th-century single mom in London who runs a very successful brothel. There’s no reports yet of there being a queer female character, but if there isn’t, we will be yelling about it loudly on twitter because COME ON it’s about an 18th-century brothel. There were lesbians and bisexuals there I GUARANTEE IT.
Call the Midwife – PBS – Sunday, April 2nd
Patsy will be getting some distressing news about her father from Hong Kong in the premiere of Season 6, which we fear could mean a temporary departure from the main story.
Pretty Little Liars – Freeform – Tuesday, April 18th
The final season of Pretty Little Liars promises to watch the Paige-Ali-Emily love triangle play out.
NEW! The Handmaid’s Tale – Hulu – Thursday, April 26th
This particular debut has auspicious timing, eh? The much-anticipated adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s seminal dystopian feminist novel stars Alexis Bledel as a “subversive lesbian” and GLAAD has reported that Samira Wiley’s character on the show is also a lesbian character. This is the #1 thing I’m looking forward to in life right now.
Sense8 – Netflix – Friday, May 5th
The first episode of Season Two is already on Netflix, but you’ll have to wait ’til May for the rest. If the world still exists in May!