LITTLE ROCK — The outfit that counts noses every year looking for gay and bisexual TV characters has released its 16th annual report.
According to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, 19 out of 647 regular TV roles this fall represent lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual (LGBT) characters on the five broadcast networks’ prime-time programs.
GLAAD reviewed 91 scripted series airing — or soon to air — on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW.
GLAAD notes this season’s 19 characters represent 2.9 percent of the total, down slightly from the 3.9 percent represented by the 23 out of 600 roles last season.
Fox has the most with eight out of 117 characters. CBS has the fewest — one out of 134 roles.
GLAAD acting President Mike Thompson said in a news release: “While the number of LGBT characters is down, some of the most popular shows with critics and viewers such as Glee, True Blood and The Good Wife weave storylines about gay and lesbian characters into the fabric of the show.
“Whether it’s the growing household of Mitchell and Cameron on Modern Family or the recent wedding of Callie and Arizona on Grey’s Anatomy, Americans expect to see the diversity of our country represented in their favorite programs and that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.”
Other shows cited by GLAAD were The CW’s Ringer and NBC’s The Playboy Club.
On cable, the total of gay and bisexual full-time characters dropped from 35 to 29. There were 25 more if you count recurring characters.
HBO has the most gay and bisexual characters, with 11 regular and recurring characters. Showtime follows with 10. HBO’s True Blood features six LGBT characters, tied with the Showtime’s Shameless.
By the numbers. GLAAD has also broken down the demographics of the 647 regular characters by race or ethnicity and sex.
Men’s roles outweigh women 367 to 280 — 56.7 percent to 43.3 percent — and 506 (78.2 percent) of all series regular characters are white.
For the second year in a row GLAAD has included people with disabilities in its overall study of diversity on the broadcast networks. This season, five series regulars will be disabled — one character fewer than last year.
The five include Artie in a wheelchair on Glee, House with a cane on House, Maw Maw with Alzheimer’s on Raising Hope, Max with Asperger’s syndrome on Parenthood and Dr. Robbins with prosthetic legs on CSI.
“GLAAD continues to call for networks to not only include LGBT characters, but ensure that the images reflect the gender and ethnic diversity that makes up our community,” Thompson said.
For the complete report, go to glaad.org.
TV TIDBITS
Piling on. Content watchdog Morality in Media is euphoric over the poor showing of NBC’s ratings-challenged Playboy Club. The new drama is averaging a paltry 4 million viewers and in contention for the first new show to have the plug pulled.
“The Playboy Club is an attempt to convince us that the culture of porn is liberating to women, when research shows that harm from pornography is at pandemic levels,” said Dawn Hawkins, Morality in Media’s executive director. “Americans aren’t falling for this porn myth.”
In my opinion, Americans simply aren’t falling for a boring TV show.
USA renewals. Cable’s USA Network has renewed the last three of its summer series. Getting 16-episode orders are Season 2 of Necessary Roughness, Season 3 of Covert Affairs and Season 4 of Royal Pains.
Previously announced renewals include White Collar, Suits, In Plain Sight and Burn Notice.
Gaga on tap. ABC has announced that Lady Gaga will appear along with Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special.
Fergie will host the Los Angeles portion of the special that kills three hours in the evening, breaks for local news, then comes back for two and a half more hours.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:
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Weekend, Pages 34 on 10/06/2011