“Menage a Phyllis” (November 2, 1974)

In the third-season episode “My Brother’s Keeper,” Rhoda famously said the word “gay,” turning a plot about her association with Phyllis’ brother on its head. Two seasons later, Phyllis shows up in another episode that discusses gay issues but weirdly doesn’t say that word. Regardless, there’s perhaps more to be made of the newsroom’s opinions about what codes as gay, and Dan Steadman returns to discuss this and what we’ll call the “Murray Slaughter problem.”

Read Dead Buckley’s 2018 piece “Queer Coding on the Mary Tyler Moore Show”

Episodes referenced:

• Dan’s previous episode, “Mike Seaver Actually Said the Word ‘Gay’”
• Our previous Mary Tyler Moore episode, “Mary and Rhoda Meet a Homo”
• Our episode “Phyllis Dates a Homo”
• Our episode “The Dream On Guy Has a Gay Dad”

“Cousin Geri” (December 24, 1980)

Fun game for listeners: Take a shot every time Drew mentions the phrase “gigantic bitch” in connection with Lisa Welchel’s Blair, who is in rare form this episode as she shuns her disabled cousin Geri for reasons that aren’t the ones you’re probably assuming. In this discussion, we bring up why Geri Jewell is a trailblazer as far as being queer and also one other thing and also why “actress recurring on Deadwood” is lowkey code for lesbian.

Erin Fletcher, we want you back for that Saved by the Bell episode.

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And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art was designed by Ian O’Phelan.

This is a TableCakes podcast.

“Gay Bash” (November 10, 2004)

For better or worse, Drawn Together represents a very real trend in mid-2000s humor. It specifically sought out to tell the most offensive jokes it could get on air, but that’s what makes it surprising that the episode where Xandir admits he’s gay isn’t the parade of easy jokes you might expect. The B plot sucks rancid balls, to the point that we don’t even use clips from it in this discussion, but you might be surprised how this animated reality show makes its token gay a sympathetic guy.

Check out Bradley Smith’s YouTube interview with series creators Dave Jesser and Matt Silvertsein, from which we grabbed a few anecdotes about the development of Drawn Together.

Listen to our Cartoons That Made Us Gay episode about the Legend of Zelda cartoon.

Listen to the Best Movies Never Made podcast, hosted by Golan the Insatiable creator Josh Miller.

Go shop at our TeePublic store!

Follow: GEE on Facebook • GEE’s Facebook Group • GEE on Twitter • GEE on Instagram • Drew on Twitter • Glen on Twitter

Listen: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • Google Podcasts • Himalaya • TuneIn

And yes, we do have an official website! We even have episode transcripts courtesy of Sarah Neal. Our logo was designed by Rob Wilson. This episode’s art was designed by Ian O’Phelan.