Family

[antonzap]

I always thought Willie was gay.

[rickhatch1]

@antonzap --I wish! He was always so cute, and sensitive!

[nauort23]

@rickhatch1 LOL!!!! hahaha! I came here just to see my 7th grade crush! Yeah, if ONLY! (Willie was gay). I can't believe how much better this 30+ year old show deals with this issue than any prime time show in the past 10 years, even the "gay" ones. I'm so lucky I grew up in the 70's.

[rabbitfish63]

@nauort23 My 7th grade crush, too! lol. And this is the only video I could find of him. I had no memory of an episode dealing with gay issues and I'm amazed how ahead of its time it is! But then, that was family.

[gymnastix]

@nauort23 This episode was very well-done. I remember it distinctly when it first aired. I wish the whole episode was uploaded here, or somewhere on-line. I am going to do a torrents search for this series.

[gymnastix]

@nauort23 Another early (for television) program that dealt with homosexuality was one of the early "ABC Movie Of The Week" films, "That Certain Summer," with Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen as a male couple, Holbrook's character trying to help his son (from a previous, heterosexual marriage) deal with the issue.

The son was portrayed by Scott Jacoby, a very popular child and teen actor on television in the 1970s.

[gymnastix]

@nauort23 Jacoby grew up to portray "Michael Zbornak," the son of Bea Arthur's character ("Dorothy Zbornak") on the NBC sitcom "The Golden Girls."

Incidentally, Scott Jacoby's brother, Billy, portrayed the grandson of Rue McLanahan's character of "Blanche Devereaux" on "The Golden Girls."

[gymnastix]

@nauort23 Then, too, there was the short-lived Norman Lear sitcom, "Hot L Baltimore," which had a couple of male homosexual characters among its series regulars.

[gymnastix]

@nauort23 In all but "coming out," the two most notoriously gay men on TV of that era were beloved game show regulars--Charles Nelson Reilly, the upper-right panelist on "Match Game," and the center square of the original "Hollywood Squares," Paul Lynde.

Many younger folks think "gay" on TV began with "Will & Grace." But we who grew up inthe 1960s and '70s know better, don't we?

[nauort23]

@gymnastix Yeah..., but like the characters on Will & Grace, Chas. N. Reilly and Paul Lynde were presented as objects of derision and contempt. They always played characters of no morals/integrity. They were used by Hollywood/tvLand to equate gay men with something negative in the minds of the viewers. Gay people as they are portrayed in the media are currently at the same place Black Americans were when George Jefferson was nearly the only prime time Black--for white people to laugh at.

[skewlboypin]

Wow, this episode helped me when I was a confused adolescent. The idea that not all straight folks were gay haters, that was a revelation to me.

[wheresthebeeph]

I was in LOVE with Willie! He was a hottie back then. lol

[jkweddingentrancesux]

i wish they showed the circle jerk between willie and zack !

:)

[ErikBWalker]

@jkweddingentrancesux Will someone please post the ending to this?

[tommiej3]

Great episode!! I watched this in reruns Sept. 1984

[pete0969wi]

What the hell!!! Something stinks in Uptight-ville..

[ThePaddyjoejr1]

This show should be on TV Land!

[terencecorkery]

Usually people who protest loudly about gay people are hiding the same feelings that they are screaming against but don't have the moxy to admit it to themselves or others.

[IrisMG]

@terencecorkery Bishop Long, case in point, I guess...

[terencecorkery]

@IrisMG  yes, he is a prime example, as are a number of those Ministers who got caught with young men in comprimising positions. A prime example of what I wrote 2 weeks ago.

[DeutscheGesinnung]

@terencecorkery That's complete bullshit!! Rantings of another homo who deep down hates himself, but tells himself he's "proud" of it, like being queer is really something to be proud of. I suppose if you tell yourself often enough, you might begin to believe your own delusions.People who speak out against perverted, abnormal sexual behaviors are not homo themselves.That's trumped up by the homo community, where you are all "strong" and "proud", but only in large numbers, and where freedom rings

[terencecorkery]

@DeutscheGesinnung Adolph...you are a complete MORON! Crawl back into your biggoted hole and rot.

[Shawnster65]

@DeutscheGesinnung

Well just the fact that Perez Hilton was able to derail the Miss America pageant with his loaded question shows you that "trumping up" is alive and well.

It was what he wanted to hear, and not the answer given, and as usual, it had the usual results. An honest answer turned into deliberate propaganda to paint someone as a hater. Same with the ones who accuse all Obama disagree-ers as "racists".

Lay the bait, feed the reaction. God bless the media......

[ajb1776]

An important episode concerning that it was the late 70's. Bless James Broderick's mature performance and understanding.

[mteaseven]

I met Gary Frank in person on the set of "Family". What a down to earth man! Made us feel like the stars.

[mtzxple]

What the hell are these guys talking about? They actually had crushes of other men. What the hell is with father saying it is normal at a young age? I never had no crush on no other man in ny whole life. I hope to god they were joking.

[MattFrame]

Mtzxple, many young str8 people experience same-sex attraction or emotional bonding during adolescence. It's a very common, normal part of a person's exploring & discovering who he is, before settling into the heterosexual lifestyle.. Just like many gay teens experiment with heterosexuality, before ultimately realizing that being gay is the way God made them. Sexuality and emotional connections are not set in stone, and many folks have a variety of experiences in their lifetimes.

[mtzxple]

@MattFrame Okay that may be true for some people but that never happened to me.

Nor did it ever happen to any other off my friends. I am just saying.

[MattFrame]

Mtzxple, well everybody is different. Perhaps your friends would not bring up or admit such feelings to you, seeing your negative reaction to them.

[ErikBWalker]

@mtzxple You said "I never had no [sic] crush on no [sic] other man in ny [sic] whole life." And thank goodness for that. You desperately need a remedial English course -- the kind they give mentally challenged grammar school students -- before you're allowed to breed with anything. Imagine the inferior genes that could be floating around otherwise!

[vixlad]

I wonder whoever uploaded this clip neglected to include Wilie's encounter with his best friend Zeke at he airport. It would have been a great finish. but, this was thoughtful though.

[tommiej3]

@vixlad yes upload the airport scene!!

[berlygirl123]

I just want to understand...why is that people that are not accepting of homosexuality are close minded"? Isn't close mindedness about not seeing the other person's viewpoint?? So, one group's opinion is accepted, but another group's opinion is not????

[CARDMAN365]

this is why this show was very good they did not talk about people being gay back then on tv.

[somewhatlongdong]

wow, this is a heavy topic for 1977

[vixlad]

wish the conclusion was added, so as to know what happened b/w gary frank and his friend. I remember watching the series as a small child. How time flies. thanks a lot for uploading this clip. Much love

[sibie1]

Series 'season 1 & 2' are out on DVD and this episode is included. It is indeed wonderfully written.

[acdeucee]

This dude played a maniac on a HArt to HArt episode.

[378904]

he 'gary frank' also played a maniac on a early episode of TJ hooker!!! check it out....first or second episode.he probable really enjoyed getting the hell away from his serious willie role.ha ha

[acdeucee]

yeah your right this Guy Played a great maniac. He has sinister eyes. This seriously was one of my favorite shows back in the day. Wish they would reair it.

[tippymugs]

Gary Frank sort of disappeared from acting, didn't he? I haven't seen him in any other shows--

[cestevens100]

This ep is from season 1 and it's very poignant and just a touch bizarre. There is one scene where Kate says she's "never thought about it (homosexuality) much really," as though it's some entirely new concept. Meanwhile, Doug and Willie are upstairs, each getting in touch with their inner gay.

[MRMETHOS1]

LOL!!!  That's so true! I always thought that Kate and Doug were too square to even be believable. When I was a kid watching the show, I used to wonder how they had any kids, because that requires sex. In real life, with parents as out of touch (no pun intended)as they were, all their kids would've been on drugs or screwed up in some other way.

[gymnastix]

This "Family" episode was not the first time TV dealt with homosexuality--"An American Family" on PBS viewed the subject through one American family, the Louds, a few years before this, with the ABC-TV film That Certain Summer (starring Hal Holbrook & Martin Sheen as lovers) airing around the same period.

I watched them both at the time, though still clueless from a personal standpoint.

And I saw this episode when it first aired, too.

[gymnastix]

Norman Lear's "Hot L Baltimore," not "Will & Grace" or "Ellen," was the first series, certainly the first sitcom with recurring, out," gay characters, a male couple who lived at the titled residence.

A few years after that, in NBC's Love Sidney, Tony Randall played an older, gay man living as an older brother/uncle figure to a soap actress (played by then-upcoming Swoozie Kurtz) and her young daughter

[gymnastix]

It was toned down for the series, but the pilot outed Sidney Shorr, making that the first, prime time TV series & sitcom with a gay male lead, however unspoken..

Also, back in the mid-1950s, a regularly broadcast TV variety series was hosted by the flamboyant pianist with candelabra perched atop his Steinway, a man called Liberace.

[gymnastix]

Serious classical critics scoffed at Lee's keyboard style, but "he cried all the way to the bank," a catchphrase he also coined for one adept at making lemonade from lemons.

Now there was a man who knew his fruits! And the blue-rinsed, old ladies loved him as if he was their own son.

And speaking of touching one's 'inner gay," I always thought McNichol's "Buddy" wanted to "touch" Billie Jean King. She had that vibe, anyway.

[sitalianfemale]

this is awesome!

[2nicks]

Excellent episode and a superb series!

[gymnastix]

Yes, and Sada Thompson & James Broderick were terrific actors with obvious stage training. One may see its at least partly in the genes for Matthew Broderick, based just on his dads excellent work on this series.

And Kristy McNichol was a surprisingly good newcomer, a smart (& smart-mouthed), tomboyish girl as Buddy Lawrence.

[gymnastix]

Also, the always-great Meredith Baxter-Birney, whom I had then already known best from the mixed marriage-themed (Catholic & Jewish) sitcom, "Bridget Loves Bernie."

Meredith's mom, Whitney Blake, was "Mrs. B" on the sitcom about everybody's favorite maid and busybody, "Hazel." Blake was also one of the first women creative producers (after Lucy) of a regular TV series, "One Day At A Time."

[gymnastix]

So Baxter-Birney had beauty & brain in her genes too, and here on her second series before playing "Alex P. Keaton's" (Michael J. Fox's) mom, "Elyse," on "Family Ties" almost a decade later.

And, all right, since I know in which direction my boat floats now, but kept it more under wraps then, I admit I thought Gary Frank was kinda cute on this show.

[simo3300]

any additional clips from this episode? i don't remember this episode.

[33Mark221]

I remembered this episode of "Family" whenever I came out to "friends." None of them had the compassion or empathy that Doug expressed, and none of them made the effort to build alliances as Willie did at the end, meeting Zeke at the gate of his plane. More often than not, they cut me off forever, which shows what "friendship" means to many heterosexuals who believe homophobia is a good character trait.

[irongirl181]

I'm sorry this happened to you 33Mark221. You deserved better.

[33Mark221]

Thanks for being cool. You're sweet to write back and say something kind and nice!

[2nicks]

33Mark221, I am sorry your coming out wasn't a better experience. I guess you find out who your real friends are, right?. Hang in there I am sure things are getting better for you or I hope they are.

[WARDMAN3]

It's funny because I had a totally different view of the ending. I did't find Willie to be that sincere and I felt Zeke looked right though the BS and therefore shrugged him off and boarded his plane.

[gymnastix]

My father literally shut himself in the bedroom for the weekend when I told him about my homosexuality, after initially saying, "so you're a f----n' queer, what can I do about it?"

If only he'd really thought as he first spoke.

But when he finally re-grouped, it was "off to the shrink" to be cured, as if . . .

But that at least gave me an intelligent person with whom to talk about how archaic my father's & stepmother's thoughts on the subject were.

[gymnastix]

Actually, my "coming out" wasn't voluntary, only told my father because my stepmother blackmailed me, said she'd tell him if I didn't. And I only told her because I panicked after the parents of a student, about whom I wrote a love poem that was published in the college paper, threatened me with legal action.

[gymnastix]

I had thought the poem to be cloaked in enough subtext and symbolism that only he would have gotten the message, but I was obviously wrong and a mini-scandal broke out at the school. So I needed someone with whom to talk in my family, I thought.

I don't know why, to this day, I never called my sister, because she never had a problem with it, But I think it was a period when we were out of touch, and she wasn't living at home anymore.

[gymnastix]

So first I talked with my aunt (my Dad's one, remaining sister, to whom I'd been fairly close all my life), but her Catholicism made her unable to handle the subject, and it was she who advised me to tell my stepmother

Anyway, the dean of students at my college spoke to my stepmother, tried to persuade her to let him come over and the three of us talk in person. When she perceived him being on my side, she accused the dean, a married, heterosexual man, of being gay.

[gymnastix]

The dean concluded my stepmother was on a mission, and though not ideal, told me I 'd be better off telling my Dad than letting her have that power over me.

Over the years, my Dad mellowed on the subject, The wedge my stepmother tried to drive between he & I didn't stay in place, although I think my Dad was always disappointed.

[gymnastix]

Still, he was more worried about my not having enough financial security & stability than anything, and on a few occasions told me anecdotes that made me realize, in his own way, he "accepted," even if not "approving" of my lifestyle.

I didn't have a lot of close friends by high school to lose to my "coming out." Of the two I did have, one was homosexual and so we just discovered another mutual interest besides punk rock/rock & roll.

[gymnastix]

But one, other friend, to whom I'd been close to all through high school, with whom I went candlepin bowling almost every Saturday night, absolutely stopped talking to me. He wasn't mean or heavy-handed about it, he just couldn't handle it and never spoke to or saw me again.

It hurt, but I realized there was nothing I could do to change his attitude, and I was moving on in life anyway, going to college, had big plans (most of which were never realized, but that's often life).

[gymnastix]

Ironic twist--about five years later, at a New Wave club's "gay night," I ran into the subject of that love poem which spiraled into my forced "coming out." He just stared at me in passing and dashed away into the crowd. But in that brief moment, he knew then that I knew what I'd known about him all along.

[gymnastix]

Looking back, I feel slightly bad about having had that poem published, not because it forced me "out," but because I may have unwittingly outed the subject of my poem.

As one matures, often one realizes it's as much one's right to keep one's life private as to shout it to the world. Only one's self really has a right to divulge the privacy of oneself.

[ladylike1980]

gymnastix -

Times are so different for gays today. No one care one way or the other. I'm sorry people gave your grief about coming out -

their problem - not yours. I hope you are happy now. You deserve to be.

[whitecubguy13]

I wish this were true. While many people are indeed more excepting and open minded then when Family aired, many are still closed minded and unexcepting. Even in places known for being havens for the gay community such as San Francisco have hate crimes, and even murders of folks in the gay lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community. What differentiates excepting parts of the country is the frequency of such crimes, the openness of discrimination, and the lack of laws to protect the community.

[stanmugs]

gary frank is a beautiful man!

[gymnastix]

Sure is.

But he seemed too old to be a high school student, or was he in college here?

Even so, its almost always older playing yonger as students; college-age guys playing high school and 30 year-olds playing college students.

Dustin Hoffman was in his 30's when he made "The Graduate."

Frank seemed incredibly mature for the character's age, anyway, and that's my point.

[amyedgington]

why didn't they use Kristy in this scene?