Fun Friday: Character Demographics This Season

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

For seventeen years now, GLAAD has been tracking the number of LGBT characters in scripted programming. You can see their entire report here, which is full of fantastic facts and figures. I wanted to share some highlights, though, as the numbers are pretty interesting.

Their estimate for the 2012-2013 television season (defined as any show premiering 6/1/12-5/31/13) is that 4.4% (of 701, meaning 31) of all regular characters (on new shows and returning shows) on the five major networks are LGBT. An additional 19 recurring characters are LGBT as well. Cable adds another 35 regulars and 26 recurring.

Where We Are On TV 2012-2013 Season
http://www.glaad.org/files/whereweareontv12.pdf

For comparison, they counted only 1.1% of all regular characters on network programming being LGBT in 2007.

Some other facts from the report that stood out to me:

- Women make up 45% of television characters this season.

- Of the network LGBT characters, 61% are gay men, 20% are lesbian women, 14% bisexual women, and 4% bisexual men. On cable, 49% are gay men, 27% are lesbian women, 15% are bisexual women, and 8% are bisexual men. Of the cable LGBT characters, 4% are transgender, a category not addressed yet this year on network TV.

- Glee and True Blood tie for the highest number of LGBT characters at six each!

- Showtime has 12 regular LGBT characters, the highest of any cable network.

- The CW only had one LGBT character at the start of the 2011 season, but now they have four. Speaking of The CW, 83% of their characters are white. (For comparison 72% of NBC's characters are white.) Latinos are specifically under-represented, with only 4% of the characters on network programming being Latino, despite the US being 16% Latino!

- Last year, only five LGBT characters were "people of color," (POC) but this year there are 14.

- The only network shows this year to have LGBT POC are Bones, Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23, Emily Owens, MD, Glee, The Good Wife, Grey's Anatomy, The LA Complex, Malibu Country, The Office, Smash, and Suburgatory. Four are Latino, three are Asian/Pacific Islander, and seven are Black.

- On cable, LGBT POC can be found on Anger Management, Army Wives, Enlightened, House of Lies, Major Crimes, Pretty Little Liars, Single Ladies, Superjail!, Teen Wolf, True Blood, and White Collar.

- The number of disabled characters (a population we've looked at before) decreased this year, to just four - one on each of the four largest networks. GLAAD counts characters with "non-apparent disabilities such as cancer or HIV/AIDS" (as does the ADA). [Because the number is so low, I'll name them for those interested: Dr. Robbins on Grey's Anatomy is an amputee, CSI has a character using prosthetic legs, Parenthood has a character with Asperger's, and Artie on Glee uses a wheelchair. Dr. Robbins will be one of only two LGBT characters with disabilities, the other is the diabetic Thor on Nurse Jackie.]

How do these numbers compare with what you thought they were or where you think they should be? 

For starters, I know that I was surprised to see there were shows featuring six LGBT characters, and I'm surprised at how many of the depicted LGBT characters are white.  

News Roundup: Mostly Scheduling & Casting Updates

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Renewals, Cancellations, & Scheduling:
Revenge for Real will air on ABC March 7th and 14th at 10pm ET/PT. This is a limited series from ABC News.

After this week's (3/8) The Finder on FOX, it will move from Thursday nights to Friday nights, airing on April 6th in the 8pm ET/PT slot.

USA's Fairly Legal (season2) and In Plain Sight (season 5) are back on Friday, March 16th.

Unchained Reaction, a show that has people building a series of mechanisms across five days, will premiere on the Discovery Channel on Sunday, March 18th at 10pm ET/PT

La-La's Full Court Life (season 2) and Styled by June (season 1) will be airing on VH1 starting Monday, March 19th.

My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding returns to TLC on Friday, March 23rd at 10pm ET/PT.

MTV's Savage U begins Tuesday, April 3rd at 11pm. This docuseries will follow Dan Savage "as he travels to college campuses across the country, talking to students and offering them a creash course on relationships, responsibility, sex, and love."

BBC America's No Kitchen Required, an outdoor cooking competition series, will begin airing on Tuesday, April 3rd, at 10pm ET/PT.

USA's Common Law will premiere on Friday, May 11th at 10pm ET/PT.

Anger Management, the FX series starring Charlie Sheen, will premiere on Thursday, June 28th at 9pm ET/PT.

Cast & Plot Updates:
Leonard Nimoy will provide a voice in the March 29th episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Looks like we're in for less girls like Amber and Catelynn on future episodes of 16 and Pregnant. MTV seems to only want to cast mothers who don't have "train wreck" backgrounds. It also seems that many of the upcoming girls are from affluent families and are quite attractive - two cheerleaders and two models are among the teens.

Matthew Perry will star as a sportscaster on the NBC comedy pilot, Go On, where he is part of a mandated group therapy session.

Dane Cook will star in the new NBC comedy Next Caller Please, which will revolve around a DJ and his co-host at a radio station.

Phylicia Rashad will be part of the NBC drama, Do No Harm, where she will play a doctor who works with a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde character.

Jesse Spencer will star in NBC's new drama, Chicago Fire, where he'll play a firefighter who is in the process of separating from his wife.

So long as Pan Am doesn't get renewed, Karine Vanasse will be a clothing designer on ABC's Scruples, a drama based on the 1978 book.

Leah Remini will star in ABC's new comedy, White Van Man.

Amy Smart has joined the cast of Bad Girls, an NBC drama where she'll play a "Barbie-type who was busted for stealing and running up her friend's credit card."

Shows in Development & Other Fun Stuff:
If you're interested, Timothy Omundson will be available to answer questions during the Eastern airing of Psych this Wednesday, March 7th, at 10pm ET.

If you'd like to be on The X-Factor, there are open auditions coming up... Kansas City on March 14th, Austin on March 22nd, San Francisco on April 20th, Greensboro, NC on May 1st, and Providence on May 10th. You only have to be twelve years old, but to read about the other requirements, check it out online.

ABC's Shark Tank has gotten an expansion of two episodes, bringing the season total to fifteen.

Lifetime has picked up Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp as a ten-episode docuseries.

The Hub has four new original series coming in the 2012-2013 season, including Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot, Littlest Pet Shop, Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters, and Spooksville (this one is live-action). They'll also begin airing The Facts of Life, Mork & Mindy, and Sabrina, The Teenage Witch.

The Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week will have an exclusive first look at the Game of Thrones online game, which is planned to be free to play.

Canadian animation company Cuppa Coffee Studios has a new, 20-episode program coming up in April that will focus on the Osbourne family... The F'n Osbournes.

News Roundup: Left Behind & Fraggle Rock Movies; Hulu & Netflix Deals; More Game Shows

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Renewals, Cancellations, & Scheduling:
Tomorrow night, catch Steve Jobs - One Last Thing on PBS.

Bob's Burgers now has an order for a 22-episode second season, rather than the 13 it was scheduled for.

FX renewed American Horror Story for a second season.

FOX has canceled In the Flow with Affion Crockett, after six episodes on Sunday nights. [yeah, I've never heard of this show...]

ABC is premiering a new game show, You Deserve It, on Monday, November 21st. Contestants play for someone they think deserves the money... by buying clues to solve puzzles.

NBC has a new game show coming December 19th. Who's Still Standing? will run for a week before moving to its regular slot on Monday, December 26th. It alerady runs in Spain and Hungary, and has eleven people answering trivia questions... when you get one wrong, you fall through a trapdoor. [NBC Entertainment Press Release]

TLC's Long Island Medium [nope, I've never heard of it, either] got renewed for a second season of 12 half-hour episodes premiering in March 2012.

Cast & Plot Updates:
Jennifer Coolidge will be a recurring cast member on 2 Broke Girls, playing a neighbor to Max and Caroline.

The Sister Wives family had their 17th child.

Shows in Development & Other Fun Stuff:
In 2012, Oxygen will have two new series, LA Style - behind-the-scenes of runways and red carpets, and The Eva Marcille Project - a "docusoap" about four female BFFs - a model/actress/producer, an actress, an interior designer, and a talent/brand manager. Both are working titles. [Oxygen Media Press Release]

Want to vote for X-Factor via twitter? Starting tomorrow, you can.

FX has ordered ten episodes of Anger Management, to star Charlie Sheen. If it does well, they will order NINETY MORE EPISODES.

NBC is going to do a Wiseguy reboot.

New Regency now has the rights to a Fraggle Rock film.

In Spring 2012, In Living Color will return to FOX for two half-hour specials, featuring new talent. If it does well, an entire season may be picked up.

FOX and DirecTV reached an agreement after a rough ten days.

The nine current CW shows are going to be licensed to Hulu for a five-year agreement. FOX, ABC, and NBC already do so.

Speaking of ABC-Disney, they've now got a deal with Netflix as well... episodes of new seasons from Disney-ABC shows will be available for Netflix streaming 30 days after the last episode of the season airs.

While it's more movie-related than television-related, I wanted to point out that Left Behind is returning to the theaters, but this time with a $15,000,000 budget and without Kirk Cameron.

Casting News; Comic-Con Tips; Cancellations and Renewals

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

- Farrah from Teen Mom may be the next Charlie's Angel.

- Mike Vogel is taking on a lead role in PanAm.

- Kal Penn, who notably left his role on House to pursue a non-entertainment career for the Obama administration, is returning to television on How I Met Your Mother. I am not thrilled. It's also looking like Season 8 (2012-2013) will be the finale for the show. I'm okay with that.

- on a related note, Neil Patrick Harris is going to be a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance.

- Speaking of House, Cuddy's been out, but Chase has re-signed. Thirteen is still up in the air.

- Tons of giveaways happen at Comic-Con, one of which are these bags from the WB. Um, and they're giving away a car.

- And, if you can't be at the Con, watch what you can on G4!

- If I wasn't going to the Con, I might've been heading to the San Francisco casting call for The Price is Right contestants! (it's way out in the middle of nowhere and not in the city though!) Other cities follow.

- Netflix won't be streaming any more episodes from NBC.

- Aubrey from 16 and Pregnant was caught shoplifting some makeup.

- Wall $t. Wives is seeking cast members.

- TNT canceled Men of a Certain Age.

- Teen Wolf was renewed. So was Single Ladies.

- The Gosselins went to Mount Rushmore... maybe that'll be seen on a future episode of Kate Plus Eight.

- Season 4 of Merlin will be on SyFy in 2012.

-FX picked up American Horror Story, to premiere in October with 13 episodes.

- Charlie Sheen will be in a show called Anger Management, based on the 2003 film. No network is attached yet.

- And, as a reminder, Doug will be returning to television. I'm excited.