The more rampant illegitimate heterosexual acts, the more acceptable homosexual acts seem. That might be the reason a "gay vibe" TV show like Desperate Housewives resonates with heteros, but we're just speculating, in a half-baked kind of way.
We'll think about it some more. Meanwhile, here's the article that got us thinking about it: Link. Excerpts:
The ABC satire on suburbia that emerged as the runaway hit of the past TV season has a solid homosexual pedigree, even if the show's gay sensibility is more sly than overt: [Creator Marc] Cherry is gay and so are several of his writers. . .
That "Desperate Housewives" carries what one audience member called "a gay vibe" wasn't the goal, Cherry said, but he conceded the show inevitably reflects his personality.
"The moment you put a woman in an evening gown mowing the lawn, it's just gay," said Cherry, referring to a slapstick scene with actress
Eva Longoria. "It's kind of just what makes me laugh. A lot of my gay brethren get the joke."
But fans hoping to hear Cherry and his staff revel in the power of producing a hit reaching 24 million viewers might have come away disappointed. Yes, a teenage boy tried an experimental kiss with another boy and, yes, a lesbian likely will come into the mix sometime, Cherry said. . .
"My obligation, first and foremost, is to entertain," Cherry told The Associated Press. "If the stories I do have some kind of emotional resonance for the viewers or perhaps some social significance, that's great. But I don't start with that. I don't start with an agenda."
It's a position echoed by the creators of a more explicitly gay-themed show, the long-running NBC comedy "Will & Grace," which like "Desperate Housewives" pulled in 15 Emmy nominations last week to top all other series. Both will vie for best comedy at the Sept. 18 awards. . .
Ed Vitagliano, spokesman for the American Family Association, a conservative Christian group, said he recognizes "Desperate Housewives" to be well-crafted but criticized it for what he called its pervasive and misguided sexuality.
"The problem we have with programs that exploit sexuality of any variety – bisexual, heterosexual, homosexual, is simply that they are substituting sex for legitimate relationships," he told the AP. "We would have a problem with homosexuality as well as adultery. These are all signs of human brokenness."
Even producers who claim entertainment as their only goal, he said, cannot avoid implicitly portraying their view of the world. But in an article for the association, Vitagliano conceded there is a "form of morality" in the series, such as the negative light in which sexually active divorcee Edie (Nicollette Sheridan) is cast.
