The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV (5 page)
Read The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV Online
Authors: Stephen Tropiano
As Dr. Welby informs Marian her son has been molested, Ted slips out of the doctor’s office and returns to school. When Mr. Swanson discovers Ted is dropping his science class, he confronts him in the gymnasium locker room. “Oh, I was afraid of this,” Swanson says. “I was afraid you’d take it all wrong. Life is complicated.” He touches his student gently on the shoulder, but when Ted pushes him away, the teacher warns him to keep quiet:
SWANSON: Blakely, I thought you were ready to be a man. But I was wrong. I’ll tell you this. You are ready to keep your mouth shut. Or else — because if you talk — do I have to draw pictures for you to know what other people are going to think about you? Huh? People are not that kind, Blakely.
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Ted agrees to keep quiet, but vows to kill his teacher if he ever touches him again.
Meanwhile, Dr. Welby explains the situation to Ted’s father George (Edward Power) and stepmother Leah (Gretchen Corbett). Advised to offer his son emotional support, George admits he never bonded with the kid and has always been “tongue-tied” talking to him. When Ted sees his father, he bursts into tears. George comforts him, but then asks accusingly, “Wasn’t there something you could have done?” The guilt-ridden Ted becomes hysterical and locks himself in the bathroom.
On top of his fragile emotional state, Ted is diagnosed with acute peritonitis, requiring surgery to repair the internal injuries from the assault. Dr. Welby is equally concerned about his patient’s mental health, but Ted’s parents are so shocked and disgusted they offer little help. George admits he doesn’t even have “the guts” to listen to the details of his son’s assault.
Sergeant Buchanan (Patrick Wayne, the Duke’s son), who is assigned to the case, knows what George is
really
worried about and assures him
“there is nothing homosexual about this. It’s a case of violent child molestation. ”
Buchanan characterizes the assailant as a married, middle-aged guy with a “crummy marriage and a crummier sex-life” suffering from severe mental problems. He also makes it clear the incident is not legally considered rape because, according to the penal code, rape is defined as a male assaulting a female. “I call it an outrage,” Buchanan declares, “and that’s why I’m here.”
really
worried about and assures him
“there is nothing homosexual about this. It’s a case of violent child molestation. ”
Buchanan characterizes the assailant as a married, middle-aged guy with a “crummy marriage and a crummier sex-life” suffering from severe mental problems. He also makes it clear the incident is not legally considered rape because, according to the penal code, rape is defined as a male assaulting a female. “I call it an outrage,” Buchanan declares, “and that’s why I’m here.”
While Ted is recovering from surgery, Swanson is arrested on Venice Beach for attempting to molest a child. When Ted wakes up after surgery, he finally admits Swanson molested him and agrees to speak to a psychiatrist. Dr. Welby informs him the police already have his teacher in custody and he has been sent, by his own request, to a mental hospital. Everyone is relieved and, in a final moment, George affirms his son’s masculinity: “Ted, you’re a heck of a guy. You went through a nightmare, but you thought for yourself.
You acted like a man.”
You acted like a man.”
Before the program even aired, gay advocacy groups were the ones outraged by how the episode reinforced the stereotype of the homosexual male teacher as a child molester. In spite of statements made to the contrary, it is difficult not to think of what happened to Ted as anything but an act of violence committed by a gay man. When Ronald Gold, media director of the newly formed National Gay Task Force, received a copy of the script in July of 1974, he informed Richard Gitter, ABC’s east coast director of broadcast standards and practices, of the script’s unacceptability. Two weeks later, Gold discovered the episode had started shooting, so he spread the word to other activists around the country. He contacted Loretta Lotman, an experienced media advocate and the head of Gay Media Action, the nation’s first local gay media advocacy group, to spearhead a grass roots campaign, involving everything from letter writing to demonstrations at ABC affiliates.
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Once again, the network refused to cancel the episode, but would consider script changes. According to
The Advocate,
the first set of changes included the deletion of the scene in which a character attempts to convince Ted he is still a man despite the attack. Another scene, in which Mr. Swanson tries to molest another boy and George’s reference to the attacker as a “pervert,” were also eliminated; the latter scene does appear, however, in the syndicated version.
The Advocate,
the first set of changes included the deletion of the scene in which a character attempts to convince Ted he is still a man despite the attack. Another scene, in which Mr. Swanson tries to molest another boy and George’s reference to the attacker as a “pervert,” were also eliminated; the latter scene does appear, however, in the syndicated version.
In an article on the controversy dated September 11, 1974 (a month before the program’s airing),
The Advocate
published the following excerpt from an undated script in which Sergeant Buchanan talks to Dr. Welby and Ted’s parents:
The Advocate
published the following excerpt from an undated script in which Sergeant Buchanan talks to Dr. Welby and Ted’s parents:
GEORGE: I thought this was — the kind of thing that might happen in prison, or one of those bars — but —
BUCHANAN: Na — those “wierd [sic] bars” have got enough problems as it is — our garden variety homosexual, this isn’t his game — let me tell you something.
Even as George winces at the dreaded word; the door opens and Marian, followed by Dr. Welby, enters.
GEORGE: Here they are. Marian — this is Sergeant Arthur Buchanan, Los Angeles Police. Sergeant, my ex-wife, Marian.
BUCHANAN: How d’y’do.
MARIAN: What were you going to tell him? Do I really want to hear?
GEORGE: Probably not.
BUCHANAN : (used to this kind of strife) We were talking about how this kind of assault takes place — and who commits it. This isn’t something that happens because the assailant is homosexual — that’s not the issue. This is a guy with severe mental and emotional problems — he’s often married, middle-aged, with a crummy marriage and a crummier sex life or both.
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A copy of the revised script (dated June 27, 1974) in the International Gay and Lesbian Archives begins the same scene with Sergeant Buchanan offering George the following explanation:
BUCHANAN: — no, no, Mister Blakely, put your mind at rest. There is nothing “homosexual” about this, no homosexual involvement on your son’s part. This is a case of violent child molestation, which is a lot more than bad enough — let me tell you —
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In the syndicated version, Buchanan offers George an even briefer explanation: “No, no, Mr. Blakely, there’s nothing homosexual about this. It’s a case of violent child molestation.” Their conversation is interrupted by Dr. Welby and Marion’s entrance. Buchanan then proceeds to characterize the assailant as a “a pedophile, a child molester.”
The network believed the changes had remedied the problem. According to Gitter, ABC was standing by their decision to broadcast the episode because it “does not deal with homosexuality nor is any aspect of the program offensive in either content or viewpoint.”
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Yet, there are still gay overtones, particularly in that locker room scene where Swanson threatens Ted with public exposure.
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Yet, there are still gay overtones, particularly in that locker room scene where Swanson threatens Ted with public exposure.
In a letter to William Page of the Gay Human Rights League of Queens County, New York, Gitter, on behalf of ABC, explains the episode’s social value:
The program explores the impact upon the family and a young boy who is the victim of a forcible sexual assault, and the physical and emotional problems which result from the attack...The presentation responsibly and unsensationally relates the problem of child molestation from both a physical and emotional point of view. It is made abundantly clear that this is not a matter of homosexuality, but rather, the result of the criminal actions of a child molester, sometimes known as a paedophile; such assailants are frequently married men, and that the importance of the script is to present to the public the problems of coping with such a tragic situation by the young assaulted victim. Not only is the physical damage to be repaired, but the mental damage involved in facing the assailant after the attack, reporting the incident to his family and authorities, pursuing prosecution through the judicial system and the return to emotional stability in facing his peers and his friends.
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Gay activists did not agree with the network’s position. In a letter to legislators and a second addressed to all ABC affiliates, Dr. Bruce Voeller, Executive Director of the National Gay Task Force, explained how “The Outrage” reinforces the “greatest myth behind the fear and hatred of homosexuality...despite the fact that such a manifestation is statistically almost non-existent.”
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Legislators were encouraged to contact Elton Rule at ABC, while affiliate station managers were urged not to run the program:
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Legislators were encouraged to contact Elton Rule at ABC, while affiliate station managers were urged not to run the program:
In urging you not to run this particular program we are not attempting in any way to censor you. As an oppressed minority in our society we would be the last to take such a position. What we
are
doing is trying to point out to you the incalculable damage that this program will do to the self-image and civil rights of millions of Americans.“
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are
doing is trying to point out to you the incalculable damage that this program will do to the self-image and civil rights of millions of Americans.“
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Activists indeed had reason to be concerned. “The Outrage” was scheduled to air around the time several gay rights bills were being considered by legislators around the county. The episode also foreshadowed the battle soon to be waged in California over the Briggs Initiative, which aimed to prohibit gays and lesbians from teaching in public schools. California voters defeated it in 1978 by a larger margin than had been expected.
Fortunately, the campaign gay activists launched against ABC was supported by the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO, and the American Psychiatric Association. Several major advertising sponsors — including Colgate-Palmolive, Shell Oil, Lipton, American Home Products, Breck, Sterling Drug, and Gillette — refused to buy time on the program.
52
A total of seventeen ABC affiliates, including two in major markets where gay civil rights legislation was pending in the city council (WCVB-TV in Boston and WPVI-TV of Philadelphia), refused to air the show.
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A total of seventeen ABC affiliates, including two in major markets where gay civil rights legislation was pending in the city council (WCVB-TV in Boston and WPVI-TV of Philadelphia), refused to air the show.
A statement released by the management of WPVI argued the episode was “unsuitable for airing” because it presented a “false stereotype of homosexuals as persons who pursue and sexually molest young boys.”
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Although concerned about censorship, the station management expressed an equal concern “about the additional burdens of prejudice the airing of a shallow and facile treatment of such an explosive and confused subject area will doubtless lay upon a newly emerging minority in our society.”
54
Although the show did air in most major markets, gay activists succeeded in sending a clear message to television producers and broadcasters that negative, malicious stereotypes would no longer be tolerated.
53
Although concerned about censorship, the station management expressed an equal concern “about the additional burdens of prejudice the airing of a shallow and facile treatment of such an explosive and confused subject area will doubtless lay upon a newly emerging minority in our society.”
54
Although the show did air in most major markets, gay activists succeeded in sending a clear message to television producers and broadcasters that negative, malicious stereotypes would no longer be tolerated.
THE DOCTOR IS IN (AND OUT)
Several medical programs did deal more explicitly with the subject of homosexuality. The first episode of the long-running CBS medical series
Medical Center
to tackle the subject concerns a gay research scientist who becomes the target of a smear campaign. In an attempt to save the life of a young leukemia patient, Dr. Joe Gannon (Chad Everett) asks the hospital’s permission to test a new drug developed by Dr. Ben Teverly (Paul Burke). The project is jeopardized when Dr. Gannon and Dr. Paul Lochner (James Daly), the hospital’s chief of staff, receive an anonymous letter claiming Dr. Teverly is a homosexual.
Medical Center
to tackle the subject concerns a gay research scientist who becomes the target of a smear campaign. In an attempt to save the life of a young leukemia patient, Dr. Joe Gannon (Chad Everett) asks the hospital’s permission to test a new drug developed by Dr. Ben Teverly (Paul Burke). The project is jeopardized when Dr. Gannon and Dr. Paul Lochner (James Daly), the hospital’s chief of staff, receive an anonymous letter claiming Dr. Teverly is a homosexual.
“What kind of mind would put a lie like that on paper?” Dr. Gannon asks.
“A sick mind,” Dr. Lochner explains. “Somebody out to get revenge.”
The rumor spreads quickly around the hospital and, as a result, the medical staff refuses to approve the use of Teverly’s experimental drug. Even Dr. Teverly’s own supervisor, Dr. Oliver Garson (Andrew Duggan), gives it a thumbs down.
Dr. Gannon continues to defend both the scientist’s drug and his heterosexuality, until Dr. Teverly verifies the rumor. “What does it take to get through to you?” he declares. “Why don’t you face it? It’s a fact!
I am a homosexual!
”
I am a homosexual!
”
After getting over the initial shock, Dr. Gannon takes the liberal “I-don’t-care-what-you-do-in-your-personal-life” attitude and continues to push for the drug’s approval. When Dr. Gannon confronts Dr. Garson about his lack of support, the doctor explains how his “daughter’s life was ruined because of one of those
deviants
...because of my limp-wristed son-in-law, my daughter has been in analysis for over a year!”
deviants
...because of my limp-wristed son-in-law, my daughter has been in analysis for over a year!”
When a second vote is taken, Dr. Garson once again opposes the drug. Dr. Gannon manages to get the extra vote he needs by delivering a passionate speech about the danger of allowing bigotry to undermine treatment:
DR. GANNON: You’re willing to shelve a possible step toward the cure of leukemia just to satiate your own bigotry. Ollie [Dr. Garson], where does that leave us as human beings? Where does it leave us as doctors? Tomorrow, I tell a patient, “I can’t treat your arthritis, you’re psychotic.” Or “Set your own broken arm Charlie, you’re a junkie.” “Sorry about your liver, Mac, but I’m against guys who booze it up.” “Pardon me while I go dynamite the Sistine Chapel, I just heard it was a
homosexual
who painted the ceiling.”
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homosexual
who painted the ceiling.”
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Dr. Gannon’s speech exemplifies a common contradiction of the era’s medical dramas. Gannon doesn’t believe homosexuality is an illness, although he equates it with psychosis, drug addiction, and alcoholism. He reprimands his colleagues for spreading “the sickness of intolerance,” yet he pities the homosexual lifestyle.
“Look, I’m not defending homosexuality,” Dr. Gannon admits privately to Dr. Garson. “I’ve seen it cause too much sadness.”
Dr. Teverly is one of 1970s television’s “safest” representations of a male homosexual: a straight-acting, hard-working, closeted professional, who’s neither neurotic, psychotic, or, in Dr. Garson’s words, “limp-wristed.” The producers also play it safe, however, by ducking the “gay” aspects of his personal life. The consequences of his “outing,” particularly how it triggers Dr. Garson’s homophobia — which, in turn, endangers Dr. Gannon’s patient — suggests that it might have been better for everyone if Dr. Teverly had spent the rest of his career locked away with the labcoats.
“A straight-acting, hard-working, closeted professional:”
Medical Center
guest star Paul Burke as gay research scientist Dr. Ben Teverly.
Medical Center
guest star Paul Burke as gay research scientist Dr. Ben Teverly.
Whether Dr. Teverly can actually be classified as a “closet case” is, however, debatable. Dr. Lochner reveals that Dr. Teverly admitted he was gay during his job interview because he was forced to resign from his last job after being outed. On the other hand, Dr. Teverly has been “playing it straight” by dating a colleague, Dr. Abby Whitten (Salome Jens). She has refused to believe the rumors, but when her attempt at seducing him fails, he finally tells her the truth.
“I’m a homosexual. Oh, not the
obvious
Kind,” he explains, “and for that I’m thankful.” Dr. Whitten is angry, but not only because he lied. She considered him husband material — the last salvation for a successful doctor who, at her age, couldn’t possibly have a fulfilling life without a ring on her finger. “Don’t you see? I’m 36
years old
!” she declares, “I’m alone! I saw an end to all this loneliness!”
obvious
Kind,” he explains, “and for that I’m thankful.” Dr. Whitten is angry, but not only because he lied. She considered him husband material — the last salvation for a successful doctor who, at her age, couldn’t possibly have a fulfilling life without a ring on her finger. “Don’t you see? I’m 36
years old
!” she declares, “I’m alone! I saw an end to all this loneliness!”
Dr. Teverly wasn’t the only member of the
Medical Center
staff outed during the series’s seven-year run. “Impasse” features Lois Nettleton as psychiatrist Dr. Annie Claymor, who assists Dr. Gannon with an emotionally disturbed heart patient, Tobi Page (Jamie Smith Jackson). When Tobi fails to take her heart medicine and refuses to have a life-saving heart operation, Dr. Claymor tries to figure out why she’s lost her will to live. Tobi continues to have seizures, which seem to be triggered by phone conversations with her friend Sarah.
Medical Center
staff outed during the series’s seven-year run. “Impasse” features Lois Nettleton as psychiatrist Dr. Annie Claymor, who assists Dr. Gannon with an emotionally disturbed heart patient, Tobi Page (Jamie Smith Jackson). When Tobi fails to take her heart medicine and refuses to have a life-saving heart operation, Dr. Claymor tries to figure out why she’s lost her will to live. Tobi continues to have seizures, which seem to be triggered by phone conversations with her friend Sarah.
Meanwhile, Dr. Gannon, unaware that Dr. Claymor plays on a different team, puts the moves on her. She seems interested, though slightly distant. When Tobi’s boyfriend Sam (Tim McIntire) discovers Dr. Claymor is a lesbian, he becomes convinced she is trying to “convert” his girlfriend. “Tobi doesn’t need that kind of help,” he tells Dr. Gannon, “Now if anybody needs help, she [Dr. Claymor] does!” When Dr. Gannon confronts Dr. Claymor about what he thinks is a “dirty, rotten, malicious lie,” she tells him the truth. As with Dr. Teverly, Dr. Gannon refuses to believe her.
“Why not?” Dr. Claymor asks, “because I didn’t bite you on the ankle when you asked me for a date? Because I let you kiss me and I enjoyed it?”
Dr. Gannon explains how her behavior is incompatible with being a lesbian because, as everyone knows, they hate men. “Oh, what an ignorant assumption. Who says I do?” she responds, “Listen, I put up with you, don’t I?” Here we take a time-out so Dr. Claymor can clarify for Dr. Gannon and the viewers at home some of the common misconceptions about the sisters of Sappho:
DR. CLAYMOR: I am a person. I am a woman. I am a psychiatrist. And I am a homosexual. And we are not all the same anymore than heterosexuals are all the same. I am not — I am not repelled by the opposite sex. But on a deeper level, any fulfillment comes with other women, that’s all. Is that so hard to understand?...You think you are an enlightened man? Free of all prejudice. But somewhere, somewhere in your mind, there’s a sneaking notion that a lesbian can’t be trusted to live up to her professional vows and treat a patient of the same sex without pouncing on her....Lesbians are not a bunch of harridans consumed by a hatred of the opposite sex. Some are, yes, but that’s too bad for them. People who hate whole chunks of the human race are sick, no matter what mode, what sexual preferences.
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Dr. Gannon gets the message, but he’s still disappointed there won’t be anything more between them than “just a good night kiss.”
When Sam informs Tobi that Dr. Claymor is a lesbian, she phones her friend Sarah, who invites her to come over to “talk.” A hysterical Tobi heads for the hospital roof, but Dr. Claymor and Dr. Gannon manage to talk her down to safety. Tobi finally admits she’s afraid of being a lesbian (or of having the “disease” as she calls it) because after breaking up with Sam, Sarah “comforted” her. “We talked, she made me feel good, and I never had that kind of feeling with Sam,” she explains to Dr. Claymor, who assures her she’s not a lesbian, just confused because her sexual promiscuity contradicts what she really wants out of life:
TOBI: I want to fall in love with one man! Be his wife! Have his children. I want to be his woman and nobody else’s. And I want him to love me. And not want to be anything but what I am. It was just a dream.
DR. CLAYMOR: Tobi, that’s a dream that most women have. But you sold out, that’s why you’re so confused. Those aren’t the words of a lesbian. Or a swinger. Or a fool. That’s just the real Tobi Page. You don’t have to pretend to be anyone but yourself. A sweet, honest, healthy girl with honest, healthy ideals. You don’t have to hide them from yourself or anyone else. Don’t you understand that?
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Just as Cory Melino is cured by understanding homosexuality is a choice, Tobi is on the road to recovery when she realizes one sexual experience with a woman doesn’t qualify her as a lesbian. Her heart is now literally ready to be repaired.
In a variation on the themes explored in “Impasse,” a 1972 episode of
The Bold Ones
entitled “A Very Strange Triangle” examines a young woman struggling with her sexual identity. Dr. Marty Cohen (Robert Walden) is excited when he’s reunited with his former girlfriend, Valerie DeMarco (Donna Mills), a nurse who, unbeknownst to him, is in a lesbian relationship with an older woman, Eleanor (Hildy Brooks). Marty tries to rekindle their relationship, only to discover his competition wears a dress. He freaks out, because, as he explains to Dr. Paul Hunter (David Hartman), he had no idea Valerie was,
you know.
“I didn’t have a single clue that anything was wrong until I took her home the other night and this lesbo [Eleanor] opens the door and tells me what the score is.”
The Bold Ones
entitled “A Very Strange Triangle” examines a young woman struggling with her sexual identity. Dr. Marty Cohen (Robert Walden) is excited when he’s reunited with his former girlfriend, Valerie DeMarco (Donna Mills), a nurse who, unbeknownst to him, is in a lesbian relationship with an older woman, Eleanor (Hildy Brooks). Marty tries to rekindle their relationship, only to discover his competition wears a dress. He freaks out, because, as he explains to Dr. Paul Hunter (David Hartman), he had no idea Valerie was,
you know.
“I didn’t have a single clue that anything was wrong until I took her home the other night and this lesbo [Eleanor] opens the door and tells me what the score is.”
Reacting to the “L-word,” Dr. Hunter is surprised how “unenlightened” his colleague is. Marty insists he has no problem with homosexuals, but admits Valerie’s sexuality poses a threat to his masculinity (“If I can’t spot a lesbian when I’m about to propose to her, what kind of shape am I in?”). The so-called liberal-minded, enlightened Dr. Hunter replies, “I would hope you’d think of it as a threat to her femininity.”
“Triangle” subscribes to the myth that a homosexual chooses a same-sex partner to remedy his/her dysfunctional relationship with one or both parents. The older Eleanor is clearly a surrogate for Valerie’s absent mother, a wealthy, alcoholic, self-involved actress. “Eleanor put it all together for me,” Valerie explains. “I was finally able to break with my mother.” According to Valerie, Eleanor not only helped her through nursing school, but increased her confidence level and cured her fear of being alone. Conveniently, Eleanor is earning her degree in clinical psychology and will soon be qualified to be Valerie’s round-the-clock, presumbably free-of-charge therapist.
During a session with her current shrink, Valerie discusses her feelings for Marty, whose first attempt at a reconciliation soured when he insisted Valerie leave Eleanor. “You mean you’d be willing to date me,” he asks, “and live in the same place as
that
?” Marty then tries to win Valerie back by arriving unannounced at Eleanor’s apartment to declare his love. Sounding more like a psychiatrist than a lover, Eleanor accuses Marty of destroying all the “good” her therapy accomplished by resurrecting Valerie’s “guilts and doubts and fears.” Recognizing the strong emotional hold Eleanor has over Valerie,, Marty offers the nurse a chance to live a “normal” life:
that
?” Marty then tries to win Valerie back by arriving unannounced at Eleanor’s apartment to declare his love. Sounding more like a psychiatrist than a lover, Eleanor accuses Marty of destroying all the “good” her therapy accomplished by resurrecting Valerie’s “guilts and doubts and fears.” Recognizing the strong emotional hold Eleanor has over Valerie,, Marty offers the nurse a chance to live a “normal” life:
ELEANOR: What is
normal,
doctor? What do you mean exactly?
normal,
doctor? What do you mean exactly?
MARTY: Something that isn’t unnatural.
ELEANOR: That’s exactly what I thought you meant. And you are going to introduce her to your normal way of life. And show her the error of her sick and perverted ways. Will you forgive her past sins doctor? Will you make her feel dirty and ashamed for the life she’s lived with me? Huh?
MARTY: You’re really going to slug it out, aren’t you?
ELEANOR: No.
MARTY: I only want what’s best for Val.
ELEANOR: As do I. We just disagree about what that is.
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The next day, Valerie moves out of Eleanor’s house because she can no longer handle Marty and Eleanor fighting over her like a prize. She gives her resignation to the head of the hospital, Dr. Craig (E.G. Marshall), who, addressing her more like a patient than a nurse, attributes the hospital’s failure to solve her personal problems to their failure to treat Valerie’s mother’s medical and psychological problems. Before leaving, Valerie tests the heterosexual waters for the first time by sleeping with Marty, but the next morning she admits the earth didn’t move. “I think I just wanted to prove that I can do it,” Valerie confesses. “I didn’t make love to Marty Cohen last night. I made love to a man.” Confused, yet knowing she has to be honest with herself, Valerie says goodbye to both Marty and Eleanor and leaves town to start a new life.
First telecast the night before the premiere of the groundbreaking made-for-TV movie
That Certain Summer,
“Triangle” caught the attention of the critics, who found its treatment of lesbianism both ridiculous and ambiguous.
The New York Times’s John
O’Connor suggested that if “taboo subjects” were going to be used on television “for little more than injecting titillation into inane plots, they should be left taboo.”
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While the episode thankfully doesn’t subscribe to the myth that all a lesbian needs is one tumble with a man to straighten her out, it also plays it safe by never resolving the Valerie/Eleanor/Marty triangle. Instead, Valerie drives alone up the California coast in search of her sexual identity. Let’s hope she stops in San Francisco.
That Certain Summer,
“Triangle” caught the attention of the critics, who found its treatment of lesbianism both ridiculous and ambiguous.
The New York Times’s John
O’Connor suggested that if “taboo subjects” were going to be used on television “for little more than injecting titillation into inane plots, they should be left taboo.”
59
While the episode thankfully doesn’t subscribe to the myth that all a lesbian needs is one tumble with a man to straighten her out, it also plays it safe by never resolving the Valerie/Eleanor/Marty triangle. Instead, Valerie drives alone up the California coast in search of her sexual identity. Let’s hope she stops in San Francisco.
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