As Becker (pg. 389, 2006) points out, “Throughout its first four decades, television virtually denied the existence of homosexuality.” The 90’s marked a huge change in the perceptions and representations of homosexual characters on television and while there was a clearly more progressive trend, Becker also argues that “network executives have incorporated gay and lesbian material into their prime-time lineups in order to attract an audience of “sophisticated, upscale, college-educated and liberally minded adults.” (pg. 389) and in turn attracting a more financially influential audience for advertisers. The 90s posed a time of immense change for gay rights which was influenced by a monumental change for the gay community though access to the internet (Rosenfield, Thomas, 2012) changing drastically the way in which gay people interacted, communicated and came together and which many gay people still require just in order to communicate secretly within countries with strict anti-homosexuality laws (Chulov, 2014).
The new HBO series Looking (2014-) has received much praise both home and away for it’s honest portrayal of gay characters living in the USA today. Some argue this show mark an important step forward in Western LGB representation (Moylan, 2015) wherein a show can have three gay central characters on prime-time while others argue that it does little to curb the already documented fact that HBO and cable networks have more freedom to produce content other mainstream networks are reluctant to approach. As Netzley's 2010 study into gay representation on television highlights,
[...] gay characters were more likely to be depicted as sexually active on cable television than they were on commercial broadcast television, and they were more likely to be relegated to guest star status on commercial broadcast television than on cable television.
HBO are, of course, a subscription based network therefor enjoy more freedoms from FCC regulations while advertising is still the largest revenue generator for the majority of networks (Accenture, 2014). Yet a chief concern for advertisers is the products they are seen to associate with (Freitas, 2007) as demonstrated by Bravo's accidental airing of Applebee's commercial during a reality TV show about gay weddings and Bravo's subsequent apology in 2003. So while networks are keen to appeal to an upmarket, liberal audience they also have to juggle the needs of advertisers who are wary about the kinds of products they are seen to support, reinforced by the slow and hesitant take up of advertising in an online, dynamic environment which is still yet to surpass that of broadcast advertising revenue (PWC, 2014).
What Looking does then is new - it doesn’t set out to be provocative and groundbreaking like Queer as Folk (1999-2000) did in the 90s but simply honest. While it would be positive to see a long running show that focused on homosexual characters either in America or in the UK on a major broadcast network, it seems that economical fear is driving increasingly more decisions within networks, something just last year David Abraham warmed UK broadcasters about (2014), and the increased competition from other sources of media has placed increasing pressure on networks and channels across the board (Accenture, 2014). The scale on which mergers and acquisitions are taking place (Brennan, 2014) (209 deals just last year totalling $74 billion) is an indication of an industry regressing back to the monopolisation and centralised system of television and in the era of searching, not catching, this economic fear and competition seems to be holding back the potential for truly socially progressive (and occasionally radical) content.
Bibliography:
Brennan, M. (2014). Huge media mergers are booming in 2014. CNBC. May 15 2014. [Online]. Available at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101676246. [Accessed: 20/02/15].
Freitas, A. (2007). Gay Programming, Gay Publics: Public and Private tensions in Lesbian and Gay Cable Channels . In S. Banet-Weiser, C. Chris and A. Freitas (Eds.). Cable Visions:
Television Beyond Broadcasting. New York, New York University Press, pp. 215- 233.
Netzley, S. B. (2010). Visibility That Demystifies: Gays, Gender, and Sex on Television. Journal of Homosexuality, 57:8, 968-986.
PWC, (2014). TV Advertising: Key insights at a glance. PricewaterhouseCoopers.
[Online]. Available at: http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/global-entertainment-
media-outlook/segment-insights/tv-advertising.jhtml
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