Family

Dad (James Broderick) helps son Willie (Gary Frank) process his best friend Zeke's coming out

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• TV
• Family
• Broderick
• Frank
• Gay

[jkweddingentrancesux]

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

:)

[wheresthebeeph]

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

[ErikBWalker]

@jkweddingentrancesux Will someone please post the ending to this?

[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.

[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?

[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 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 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 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.

[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.

[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.

[rickhatch1]

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