The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV [Paperback]

Stephen Tropiano (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2002

Television history was made on April 30, 1997, when comedian Ellen DeGeneres and her sitcom alter-ego Ellen Morgan, "came out" to her close friends and 36 million viewers. This groundbreaking episode represented a significant milestone in Amerian television. For the first time, a TV series centered around a lesbian character who was portrayed by an openly gay actor. The millions of viewers who tuned in that historic night were witnesses to a new era in television. THE PRIME TIME CLOSET offers an entertaining and in-depth glimpse into homosexuality on television from the 1950s through today. Divided into four sections, each devoted to a major television genre, this unique book explores how gay men and lesbians have been depicted in over three hundred television episodes and made-for-TV films. These include medical series, police/detective shows, situation comedies and TV dramas. THE PRIME TIME CLOSET also reveals how television's treatement of homosexuality has reflected and reinforced society's ignorance about and fear of gay men and lesbians. At the same time, it celebrates programs like Ellen and Will & Grace that have broken new ground in their sensitive and enlightened approach to homosexuality and gay-related themes. This book is witty and insightful, accessible and illuminating, a look into what has become an integral part of American media culture.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557835578
• ISBN-13: 978-1557835574
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #813,923 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature & Fiction > Drama > Gay

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FAAAAAABULOUS!!!!, July 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV (Paperback)

I use the word 'faaaaabulous' for Stephen Tropiano's "The Prime Time closet" not to perpetuate a stereotypical gay word but as an homage to Tropiano's engaging, offbeat combination of camp and intelligence in presenting an incredibly accurate, exhaustive and, ultimately, extremely excellent study of the history of gays and lesbians on television. It is impressive enough that the author managed to gather hundreds of hours of television episodes and news programs (dating back to the 1950s) that featured gays and lesbians. But his analysis of where we've been, where we are and where we are going is so impressive that I'm sure it is just a matter of time before someone (hopefully Tropiano) takes this book and turns it into a historical documentary a la "The Celluloid Closet."

Tropiano fittingly pays tribute to Celluloid's author, the late Vito Russo, in the book's introduction, and then, for lack of a better word, picks up his mantle and runs with it. This is a thorough, intelligent piece of work. It's important. It's funny. It's generally readable. And, most of all, it's ACCURATE.

I'm of an age where I remember many of these episodes, yet never put them in the contextual order the author manages to. It is so clear to see that he is devoted to telling the truth about our representation - good and bad - and that he has dedicated what must have been years in order to bring this information to the general public. In fact, one of the most impressive things about this book to me is that it appeals to both gay and straight audiences, intellectuals and the general public, and men and women equally. In an age where we all seem to be ghettoized in our specific special interest groups, "Prime Time Closet" provides a bridge for all of us into the truth.

Grouping TV history by genre - medical dramas - law and order dramas - tv movies and miniseries - and comedy - was a brilliant idea because the categories really do cover most of the high (and "low") points of what is and was out there. The choice to box some episodes (a la TV Guide closeups) was hysterical as were many of Tropiano's lists towards the back of the book rating different tv episodes (check out the list of TV Variety shows rated on the Kinsey scale of most gay ("As gay as it gets," "Look Mary, a show for us," to least gay, "a touch of pink," "don't ask, don't tell." ) What I also like is that unlike so many "gay" books, Tropiano doesn't get mired in the camp. He just uses it as an occassional way to spice things up. Make no mistake about it, this is an intellectual work, and an extremely impressive one at that. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

By the way, I read a previous review of a reader chastising Tropiano for not being accurate in several places and implying the book probably has many more mistakes his "eagle" eye didn't catch. Wrong!!! Tropiano is correct in stating that the episode of "Family" (Rites of Friendship) premiered Sept. 28, 1976 because it was the opener of the season, not first aired Dec. 28, 1976 as the reviewer asserts. He also nitpicked about Tropiano leaving out minor episodes of "WKRP in Cincinnati" and "Murder She Wrote." Big deal. There are always going to be a few omissions like that in a book this large. The fact that Tropiano got about 99 and a half % of it right, is cause to be impressed and buy the book, not to take an opportunity to chastize an author that did valuable, important work. As for his criticism of Tropiano for sometimes using the term "homosexual" to refer to gay men and lesbians (he also uses the terms gays and lesbians) and likening it to calling an African American a "Negro," I don't know what to say. This author has written a compelling, authoritative survey of a subject about "homosexuality" on TV. Should he just leave out the word homosexual to be politically correct? And when did it become bad to be called a homosexual anyway??? The latter is more the sort of thing this book addresses so impressively.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coming Out of the Closets, June 21, 2003

By 

Michael S. Waren "schoeder" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV (Paperback)

Having read Stephen Capsuto's book "Alternate Channels" I was eager to read this fairly recent work by Stephen Tropiano on gay and lesbian representation on the small screen. Both books are valuable and reliable resources but I think to compare both books against each other is a little unjust to both authors. Tropiano brings to light shows and episodes that Capsuto missed or forgot to mention for one reason or another and really picks up where Capsuto's earlier work leaves off.
That being said I did have a few problems with this book.
First, Tropiano categorizes representation by genre of show. For example, early homosexual image, law and cop shows, dramas, and sitcoms. While this is a unique style that works well, it sometimes hard for the reader to grasp the social significance of a show done in the 1950's when in the next paragraph he is talking about a more recent episode and show. A chronological style would have enabled the reader to see the social connotations and historical references better, I think.
Author Tropiano does a good job of describing the episodes in detail (a little too good at times) giving the reader a full detailed summary of the individual episodes' plot with dialogue. Where I got frustrated as a reader was the fact that Tropianos goes on and on describing episode after episode; without ever giving his critical insight on why he thinks the episode(s) are significant. (Being a gay studies and popular culture critic myself this is also a familiar and dangerous trap that I have fallen into myself.)
It is nit-picky but I noticed some very oblivious typos and mis-wording and I'm usually the last person to notice such references.
Still all and all, this is highly valuable text for television and gay studies readers and scholars alike. There is no denying the depth of the research that was done here and for that I gladly applaud and say "Bravo!"

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book: Attention All Universities and Colleges, August 14, 2002

By A Customer

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This review is from: The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV (Paperback)

Stephen Tropiano's book is a ground breaking, scholarly book about a topic which has rarely received such meticulous attention. The book is well-written and a page turner. An enormous amount of research went into the book. Tropiano has created a definitive study of the history of homosexuality on television. One cannot help but be amazed at how powerful television was (and is) in defining how entire groups of people were seen ~ and judged. It was not too long ago that [homosexuals] were being defined as "a social problem" or "having an illness" on well-intentioned but blatantly off-based news programs and some of the first produced talk shows. I recommend this book highly to colleges, universities, and the general public.