The War at Home

[Ben Varkentine]

There's a new Fox sitcom titled premiering soon called The War at Home, created and exec produced by a man named Rob Lotterstein. Lotterstein is an openly gay man (I mention that because I think it's germane) who has written in the past for Will & Grace and Ellen.

According to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer (via IMDB News),

Fox Entertainment President Peter Liguori has ordered one line to be rewritten and is considering having another line changed...War [at Home] stars Michael Rapaport and Anita Barone as parents in constant battles with their three teenage children. A story line in the pilot revolves around whether one of their two sons (Kyle Sullivan) is gay.
In one scene, his sister (Kaylee DeFer) says to the parents, "He's not gay, he's just a fag." That line set off sparks with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), which met with Fox officials. The line was changed.

Another line that might end up on the cutting room floor comes in a scene in which the mother remarks, "He's not gay. He's a normal kid. ... Well, he's not normal, but he's not gay."

Now...obviously I'll have to see the show to be sure of the full context, but as presented, those lines look funny to me. This just looks like another case of TV people making cosmetic changes that don't adress real issues, and/or gay advocacy groups going after flies with pepperspray.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but GLAAD seems to have the worst sense of what to protest against. Between Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, this show, even Basic Instinct (arguably), they've really made themselves out to be examples of Political Correctness gone too far.

Or to put it another way, if GLAAD ever said anything about Sin City, or (god forbid) , I missed it. But of course, I may be wrong, and I'd like to hear what you lot think. Sensitivity, or PC gone too far?

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12272358.htm

[maudmac]

I can't form an opinion about their freak-out over this new show, obviously, because I haven't seen it. But GLAAD seems to pick and choose, with no apparent rhyme or reason, what they target. I know many Kittens tried very hard to get them to step up and say something about W/T and if they did, I too missed it.

That's probably my biggest complaint with them and why I cannot support them as an organization - they don't follow their own mission with anything resembling consistency.

[Ben Varkentine]

Just to follow up...Ok, so I watched the pilot. Boy, was this ever much ado about nothing. While I still think the original lines were funnier, they would only have sounded self-concious surrounded by all that unfunny-ness.

This show needed all the funny they could bring. I have rarely seen a more unfunny premire of a "sitcom." You know, the more "crass" TV I see, the more affection I have for what "Roseanne," "The Simpsons" and even "Married...With Children" did at their best.

Those shows could all be pretty crass, but (again, at their best) they were well-written, cast, performed and produced series. Best of all, they were simply funny, while also proving revolutionary in their depiction of blue-collar people on televison.

"The War At Home" is none of the above. But I'm sure they thank GLAAD for the publicity.