Vote for as many as you like. I did nix some of the suggestions however, so these represent the options that I think would make for the best episodes. If you want to know why yours didn't make the cut, hit me up or post in the comments.
“An Old Flame With a New Wick” (March 1, 2004)
Despite the preconceptions you might have about Two and a Half Men, the fact remains that its first season features an episode centered on a trans man when few other sitcoms ever bothered to tell a story about someone who’s trans and male. In fact, the previous sitcom of note to do a trans man storyline was the previous episode we had guest Henry Giardina on for: the Golden Girls episode with Gil Kessler. In this...
2023-05-03 05:52:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Drop a suggestion in the comments!
2023-05-01 20:44:05 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a preview for the Weirdest Episode Ever about the time Darkwing Duck did a parody of Twin Peaks. The full episode is an exclusive for patrons pledging $5 or more a month, but this preview is going on the other Patreon tiers both as an enticement and also because I share some quotes from Tad Stones, creator of Darkwing Duck, about how this strange piece of TV came to be. If you want to hear the full episode, head over to our Patreon and pledge at th...
2023-04-28 05:33:03 +0000 UTC View Post
“What’s in a Name?” (February 16, 1966)
On a show all about the zany inhabitants of Hooterville, Ralph Monroe (Mary Grace Canfield) stands out because the most unusual thing about her is her name. She works as a carpenter and dresses for her work, but that name alone is enough that most Hootervillians don’t know what pronoun to use for her. As we discuss with special guest Josh Trujillo, Ralph is not a trans character, but this episode about her seeking ...
2023-04-26 06:47:04 +0000 UTC View Post
“Twin Beaks” (February 10, 1992)
At the same time, it makes perfect sense and it seems very strange that a children’s cartoon would parody Twin Peaks, but that is exactly what Darkwing Duck did, waterlogged corpse wrapped in plastic and everything. For this bonus WEE, you get not only the history of both Darkwing Duck and Twin Peaks, but also you get to hear bits of an interview about it that Drew did with Darkwing creator Tad Stones back in 2014… and have never seen the light of day until now. Let’s get Lynchian!
For a...
2023-04-23 18:30:40 +0000 UTC View Post
In case you still haven't had enough of me, I am also on the newest episode of Cinema Oblivia discussing SWITCHBLADE SISTERS, the 1975 girl gang flick. Video clip above, listen to the episode here.
2023-04-21 19:14:01 +0000 UTC View Post
“Sonny Boy” (February 12, 1981)
Is it surprising that TV’s most famous drag sitcom never dared to do anything actually gay? It shouldn’t be! And for all that could end up going wrong with this premise, this episode, concerning Peter Scolari’s character having to explain to his mother why he’s wearing a dress, weirdly (and probably accidentally) gets a lot right about coming out. It’s a story about someone saying it doesn’t matter whether anyone understands your decision. As Billy Joel once said, “I don't care what you...
2023-04-20 02:03:32 +0000 UTC View Post
I am still editing this week's episode, but if you absolutely need voices in your ears, my episode of the Teen Creeps podcast is live, and you can hear me talk to someone who is not Glen!
Listen here or also other places.
2023-04-19 17:58:08 +0000 UTC View Post
Today is my edit day, but I'm actually going to be away from my desk for a bit being a guest on a different podcast, so this week's episode won't be available until mid-Wednesday. As an apology, please enjoy the episode we're covering: the season one Bosom Buddies, titled "Sonny Boy."
2023-04-18 17:17:50 +0000 UTC View Post
“Pitfall” (April 14, 1995)
Sure, the series Biker Mice From Mars only exists because someone asked “What if Ninja Turtles, only with bikers and some other animal?” but it at least gets some bonus points for some of the most human-passible anthropomorphic animal torsos of the era. We talk about the fuckability of these cartoon heroes but also the history of biker culture and why dudes dressed up in leather gear are sometimes gay but not always.
This episode was, in fact, the result of 2023-04-16 04:24:15 +0000 UTC View Post
“Pawnee Zoo” (September 17, 2009)
Okay, fine, we did the Parks & Rec episode you asked for, but here’s the thing: The one where Leslie Knope marries gay penguins is not the pro-gay piece of TV history you think it is. Nowhere in this episode does Leslie ever say she gives a single squirt about gays or same-sex marriage. In fact, the episode never takes a position, and the fact that it won a GLAAD Media Award makes it all the more galling that “Pawnee Zoo” plays out as Leslie liking positive attention but never saying a si...
2023-04-12 05:50:18 +0000 UTC View Post
“Caught on Tape” (November 15, 2000)
John Goodman’s follow-up sitcom to Roseanne was Normal, Ohio, which only lasted seven episodes before Fox yanked it from its schedule in late 2000. Unfortunately, the take-away from its failure was that audiences wouldn’t buy a guy like Goodman playing gay, which is perhaps not one of the problems this show needed to fix? This week, special guest / homosexual academic Hollis Griffin joins us to discuss why this show didn’...
2023-04-05 05:14:59 +0000 UTC View Post
“It Only Hurts When I’m Gay” (October 25, 1985)
On paper, the idea of a sitcom taking on the subject of gay bashing seems like the worst idea, but somehow Brothers — TV’s first gay sitcom — manages to tell a real story about violence against gay people while avoiding the hokey “very special episode” tropes. We’re as shocked as anyone how good this turned out, and what’s more, it’s genuinely funny without underselling the gravity of the attack.
Listen to 2023-03-29 06:17:27 +0000 UTC View Post
The larger version of the Miss Piggy art Ian did. It's actually parodying the cover of Hollywood Babylon!
“The Child-Stealers” (January 24, 1980)
A hundred episodes and one pandemic later, we’re finally returning to the least offensive police precinct in TV history. This sixth-season episode sees the return of Marty and Daryl, the recurring homos at the center of the previous Barney Miller we covered. What results is an interesting look at how police are able and sometimes unable to intervene with homophobia keeps a parent from seeing their child.
Listen to 2023-03-22 00:01:35 +0000 UTC View Post
The episode running on the free feed this week is the I Love Lucy installment of WEE, and here's the art Ian did of Lucy being Lucy. This is all I have for now! But I am feeling less gross! So that's something!
2023-03-16 05:19:10 +0000 UTC View Post
“First Show” (May 14, 1989)
Better known by the segment title, Miss Piggy’s Hollywood, this mostly forgotten bit of TV history aired on NBC in 1989 and more or less works out to be the thing Drew and Glen dreamed into existence: The Comeback but with Miss Piggy. In this half-hour, you see Miss Piggy repeatedly try to assert herself in Hollywood, only to be knocked down every time. Gee, is there a reason gay men are drawn to this character who’s seeking acceptance from a society that refuses to give it to her?
Watch Miss P...
2023-03-15 06:21:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Hi all. I think I'm finally back on track. The next regular GEE will be on the Patreon feed this Wednesday. Also, I've paused billing for the next month, just because it's been slow on here. You essentially get a free month.
Also, during the downtime when audio editing and recording was just next to impossible to do, I finished a research / writing project about how SMB3 maybe changed pop culture's understanding of tanuki. It's LOOOONG (7,000-ish words), but if you like my style of pop culture deep dive, you might dig this non-TV, fair...
2023-03-13 19:54:52 +0000 UTC View Post
The solution for the main feed this week was to put the Weirdest Episode Ever about the Muppets on The Cosby Show on the main feed. Still not clear when we're recording next, but since it went on the feed, Ian did art of Rudy dressed up as the mean nurse. Now this is a thing that exists.
2023-03-08 07:39:38 +0000 UTC View PostWhelp, as if this week wasn't enough, I also tested positive for covid this morning. Glen is testing negative for now, and so for obvious reasons we will not be recording in the immediate future.
2023-03-05 23:14:32 +0000 UTC View PostHi. This is something I haven’t told most people, but to a degree I have a contract with you patrons, so here’s a quick explanation of why our schedule was disrupted this week and might be in the near future. I found out last week that Thurman has liver cancer, and the process of determining what can and should be done about that has taken up a lot of my time. On top of that, I also developed a weird skin rash all over the right side of my body that is painful and also super gross. It’s probably a stress reaction to the situation with ...
2023-03-04 19:26:08 +0000 UTC View PostHi. We have to take an unplanned bye this week. We will be back next week with a new GEE about Miss Piggy. It won't suck, I swear. If you're seeing this in your feed and you subscribe beneath the $5 level, you can now listen to the tenth and final installment of Weirdest Episode Ever here. That counts for something, right?
2023-03-01 04:02:01 +0000 UTC View Post
“Cliff’s Nightmare” (January 11, 1990)
How do you follow up an mpreg fantasy that also functions as a subconscious exploration of Bill Cosby’s alleged misdeeds? How about an aborted crossover intended to promote Jim Henson’s strangest TV experiment? We couldn’t get to the bottom of exactly how this Cosby Show episode came to be and then came to air, but we can safely say that we understand why Digit and Leon didn’t crossover into the larger Muppet universe.
This miniseries has been really wild to do. Thanks for list...
2023-02-27 19:58:15 +0000 UTC View Post
“Bull Gets a Kid” (November 8, 1984)
For our second look at Night Court, we opted not for the so-so trans episode “Best of Friends,” which doesn’t really improve on the “my buddy is in town and it turns out is trans” plotline done so well by The Jeffersons. Instead, we are looking at a non-gay, non-trans episode guest starring Bobby Hill herself, Pamela Adlon, as a young girl who pretends to be a boy. There’s actually a lot going on here about gender norms that makes for a more interesting talk than if we have done the ...
2023-02-22 20:14:55 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's the supercut I made of The Perils of Punky showing where poor Brandon was reacting in earnest to loud noises, screaming children and a giant spider. You can't explain to a dog that you're doing a horror this week and that it all isn't real.
RIP, Brandon.
2023-02-21 22:00:50 +0000 UTC View Post
“The Perils of Punky” (October 20, 1985)
This might be the most famous weird episode of any TV show ever, and with good reason: it is utterly inexplicable how this parade of horrors came to be. It would be weird for any sitcom to deliberately scare its viewers, much less a show that catered specifically to kids. Wait, is the shared trauma of this Punky Brewster the reason why millennials can’t stop talking about old TV? No, really — is this why???
Most of the quotes used in this piece come from 2023-02-21 07:27:40 +0000 UTC View Post
“You Can’t Win ’Em All” (February 27, 1985)
Sara is a one-season sitcom that first came to our attention via a gag on The Simpsons, the context being that it wasn’t a show worth remembering. The Simpsons was wrong, however, and this Geena Davis vehicle does a lot of what we think ’80s sitcoms don’t do. Namely, it has an out gay character who is allowed to have a sex drive. He’s also more than a set of stereotypical mannerisms but he still reads as gay. And Bronson Pinchot, who one year later would become a sitcom star a...
2023-02-16 01:11:24 +0000 UTC View Post
“Two Guys, a Girl and a Psycho Halloween” (October 28, 1998)
It didn’t want to be Friends. It really tried to give the cast real jobs, at the very least. But in the end, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place lost the workplace setting and added three more characters, essentially becoming another Friends wannabe. Along the way, however, it had some genuinely funny episodes and even did a non-canonical Halloween special that killed off the entire cast in the style of Scream-inspired 90s slasher flicks. If nothing else, give them credi...
2023-02-13 22:58:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Thought I'd share the non-cropped version of the American Dad art that Ian drew for us. I really dig it. It's a riff on the poster for the 1953 movie Glen or Glenda, and I really love the details Ian brought in from the original.
Follow Ian's SFW IG here. There's also a NSFW one...
2023-02-09 20:04:17 +0000 UTC View Post
