NBC Series Rewrites Series Lead As Heterosexual!
Rise Changes Their Gay Character To Appease The Masses!
Ahh! Why did this just happen?! Today's LGBTQ community is fortunate to have so many characters they can relate to in television and film, and the number continues to grow. However, the characters we still seem to not be primary on the show, but the … you know, the best gay friend. LGBT roles are definitely changing, but it remains that the gay characters are just steps away from breaking that glass ceiling of being a lead in a series.
We did report just three days ago that Alan Cumming Becomes First Gay Lead in a U.S. Network Drama! Way to go CBS with the creation of Instinct! Was that the glass ceiling finally breaking!? What about the new NBC series Rise? There's a gay lead character there, too, right?
According to IndieWire, the series Rise, based on a true story of a teacher who is closeted, has been rewritten with a straight lead. WHY?! Jason Katims, creator of Friday Night Lights, wrote the series off of a novel surrounding a teacher who brings theater to a struggling town. Rise follows this storyline, however, the titular character of the teacher will not be a closeted homosexual at all. Allegedly, this severely confuses the plot of the entire novel, so it’s going to be a little awkward to see this unfold.
During a panel, creator Katims, proclaimed that he "changed this aspect of his main character to be able to connect with the story," but the series will indeed have LGBTQ elements – including a transgender character. So he could connect with the story? What about us connecting with the story?
Rise premieres on NBC in March, will YOU be tuning in? I’m kind of side eyeing the removal of a main gay character, but it does have Rosie Perez so…I don’t know?!
Editors note: Thanks Bryan for the great write-up, but as a former gay teacher, the original story would have been one I definitely would have tuned into. Now, I'm not so sure I want to watch GLEE Part 2.
I won’t be watching this show
I won't be watching this show. To bad they had to change the story and the original concept. Shame on NBC and the writers. Sounds like it would have been more interesting as the lead being closeted and trying to come to terms with it all.
I won’t be watching. I’m
I won't be watching. I'm tired of LGBTQ folks being mischaracterized and insulted by insensitive straight folk. They're certsinly welcome and free to produce the series and rewrite characters from the source story, happens all the time, but I can choose not to watch.
Honestly, this is nothing new
Honestly, this is nothing new for mainstream Hollywood. Remember the film "Martian Child?" This was also a biopic adaptation about a man who adopts a misfit child. John Cusack had the lead role. In the autobiographical book, his character was gay. Yet for some reason the studios felt it necessary to exclude that information and let it be implied he is heterosexual and interested in the female neighbor. Of course, the classic example is "Breakfast at Tiffany's" where Paul goes from being gay to straight and in love with Holly Golightly. I really can't wait for the studios to start making films about the civil rights era or Japanese internment from the white characters' point of view….Oh wait! They already do that!
Horrible I’d rather you just
Horrible I’d rather you just cancel the series entirely
I can see that it’s a better
I can see that it's a better investment for NBC this way.. boo! Pretty much a lead character has to have love interests, and networks don't seem ready for gay characters who are not clowns like Will and Jack to be dating.
Nothing like a straight theater queen!