Our favourite gay characters on television

With Pride week this past week in Mumbai and everything you know, we realised we hadn’t ever acknowledged our favourite gay characters on television. No time like the present though! Whether it’s for their style, wit, humour or personality, we really really dig these guys. Here are our ten best.

Kima Greggs from The Wire: So Kima has been on about five different lists on Project Small Fry and that should prove our eternal fandom. She’s awesome! Not only is she a well-written, nice rounded of character, her no-nonsense, let’s get down to work attitude is downright kick ass.

Omar from The Wire: President Obama called Omar the most interesting character on television. Word. Not only is he the Robin Hood of Drugs in Baltimore, but he carries his sexual identity with pride. Omar comin!

Ian Gallagher from Shameless: We become aware that Ian was gay in the pilot episode of Shameless and we’ll admit it, the moment we saw his pretty face we felt a horrible sense of doom. Would he be written off as a caricature? But hells to the no! Ian trains in JROTC, can shoot straight, can punch out (and then get with) the meanest bullies ever and has a kind, kind heart (remember what he did for Mandy Milkovitch?)

Cameron from Modern Family: Cameron, the more flamboyant of the gay couple in Modern Family simply takes the prize for being interesting. I mean, the man used to be a clown, he won prizes for fishin and huntin, he sings, he dances, he has “reactions” and he loves his mama. Yay Cameron!

Sam from How I met your mother: Though he’s barely on the show, Barneys gay brother, made a great impact. This brother got the Stintson swag, well tell you that much AND he’s about as funny as Barney, which really say a lot. Also, do you remember the style on his kid?

Kurt from Glee: Kurt is a brave teenager and the only openly gay person in his town. He’s dealt with way too much bullying and had way too many slushies thrown in his face and he stays true to who he is. He and Blaine make a perfect couple (We are assuming they are still together. We gave up on Glee some time ago).

Max from Happy Endings: Max is sloppy, gross, funny and kind of hot. He is exceptionally un-cheesy and has no grandiose ideas of romance. He is constantly plotting crazy things and he keeps himself pretty entertained. And his taste in guys is superb.

Callie from Grey’s Anatomy: Callie, of course takes a while to realize she loves women. She is briefly married to George and sleeps with Mark Sloane and has his baby but she is strong and funny and so good at her job. Even this season, when Arizona is being pretty darn difficult (we don’t blame her really. She doesn’t have her legs anymore), Callie is a pillar of resilience.

Oscar from The Office: That episode where Steve Carell attempts to kiss Oscar to prove that he is not homophobic was so tough to watch and we weren’t surprised when Oscar decided to quit (but a paid vacation changed his mind). But post that, Oscar has became a fun, a bit of a know-it-all but very likable.

Jack Mcfarlane from Will and Grace: Just Jack. *Jazz hands*

Our favourite Proposition Joe moments

There are a lot of great characters on David Simon’s The Wire. As you get drawn into the world of drug slinging Baltimore and everything that comes with it, you tend to identify with the characters. When we heard that Robert Chew, the actor who played Proposition Joe on the show passed away, we called back all those moments spent analysing characters and discussing plots. This is a list of our best Prop Joe moments. A businessman, a dealer and a manipulator with wisdom and cunning that made him come alive.

Our first glimpse of Prop Joe was at the famed Eastside vs Westside basketball game in the projects. We were impressed with his cool nonchalance, which came off as even cooler next to Avon Barksdale’s cussing and angry stomping. When Avon asked him why he was wearing a suit, acting like Pat Riley and carrying a fake clipboard when he couldn’t even read a playbook, Prop Joe uttered his fist lines in the show. “Look the part, be the part, motherfucker.” Epic stuff.

This moment is from The Wire prequels shot after the series. The short reel shows us a much younger Joe’s crafty manipulation with his teacher. A school test, money and a teacher he tries to bribe. It was the makings of a Joe who would later be in charge of selling product in East Baltimore and a lifetime of making propositions that slyly benefit him.

Season 5. Herc, cop turned lawyer, met Prop Joe in lawyer Maury Levy’s office. They both sit down and grab a paper. Ervin Burrel, the police commissioner has finally been given the big goodbye by the Mayor and Joe casually remarked that Burrel was a year ahead of him in school. Herc looks like he’s dying of curiosity and he finally spits out, “I gotta ask…” “Stone stupid,” Prop Joe confirmed coolly.

Every single moment that Prop Joe held meetings with the players in Baltimore. He commanded the room with his drawling voice and he had organisational skills that genuinely kicked ass. A born leader and a crafty old dog, Joe kept things simple and well oiled…for a while.

Prop Joe got his name by giving propositions to people he slyly wanted to control. He perceived quicker than anyone else that Marlo was just biding his time with this whole round table deal and so he decided to take the young man under his wing and lead him to a lawyer who would clean his drug money up. He figured, you help, you get saved, and you can practically hear the cogs in motion when he approaches Marlo and tells him how one dealt with the world.

“Who you tellin’? I got motherfucking nephews and in-laws fucking all my shit up all the time and it ain’t like I can pop a cap in their ass and not hear about it Thanksgiving time. For real, I’m livin’ life with some burdensome niggers.”

The way Prop Joe faced and accepted death and betrayal. It always struck us as awesome that the big Baltimore players were always ready to accept the code of the game. “Its all in the game, yo,” said Omar in season one and this how they faced defeat and death. But no one accepted his fate more than gracefully than Joe, who closed his eyes and waited for the bullet. There’s a deadly tenderness in the way Marlo says, “Joe relax. It won’t hurt none.” That scene was the most powerful one in the season.

“Wanna know what kills police more than bullets and liquor? Boredom. They just can’t handle that shit. You keep it boring, String. You keep it dead fucking boring.”

Godspeed Robert Chew. You made a character feel real.

Television’s whiny wives

Skyler White from Breaking Bad:

First of all, oh my goodness that jaw. Secondly, we never really understood the word bellyaching till we became acquainted with Mrs White. Nag about this, threaten about that, stick jaw out upto Canada for the other…..Geez. It’s a wonder Walter didn’t start doing meth already. Let him be the bad ass he was always destined to be, you stupid woman.

Jessica Brody from Homeland:

At first, we really liked the svelte Mrs Brody. She had our sympathy in the first half of season one but her descent into society Congress wife really irked us. And sorry, her speech at the fundraiser wasn’t all that great. We all know they clapped because she was hot. She also managed to show her supreme ignorance when she advised Brody to “tell the CIA to back off”. It’s the CIA, lady! Not a classroom bully.

Marla Daniels from The Wire:

For the first two seasons, Marla lived vicariously through her husband’s life because she didn’t have one of her own. “Oh honey, take the bar, screw all this police shit.” Don’t you get that he’s the best lieutenant in all of Baltimore? Then finally, when she decides to get her own career, suddenly he has to pander to her ridiculous husband and wife play acting? Bitch alert.

Betty Draper from Mad Men:

So pretty and so damn annoying. Betty Draper is a classic whiny women who doesn’t know what she wants and when she does, throws a fit about it. She suspects her husband of having affairs but can’t stand up to him about it and usually just ends up yelling at her kids instead. Although we are glad she finally leaves Don, (who leaves Don Draper, who?) her shrill squeak is something we can never get rid off.

Carrie from King of Queens:

Most family-based sitcoms have crazy wives (Modern Family, Everybody loves Raymond, My wife and kids) and husbands who stand by them and love them anyway. But Carrie is a downright bitch. She is mean, awful and super bossy with Doug and it defintely stems from the fact that she thinks she is way out of his league. Just one of these days, I would love to see Doug pick her up and snap her into two.

The wives on Desperate Housewives:

While we have lost track of this show and who’s married to who and who’s having an affair with who, they were all pretty damn bossy, self-centered and needy wives (except Lynette. Felicity Huffman 4 eva) which is of course what led to the aforementioned affairs.

Louis CK to appear on SNL and other stories

Louis CK, aka AWESOME KING OF COMEDY, (the caps lock was intentional to indicate roaring) will be hosting Saturday night live for the first time ever. Apparently, it’s because his show Louie, is taking a bit of a breather. We’re not complaining (we are complaining a little bit. Get Louie back!). Louis CK on the worlds craziest sketch show? Gimme!

Ever since Joan Holloway sashayed into the Sterling Cooper office (Oh, the good old days of season one) she made every other woman on Mad Men look like a steaming heap of horse manure. Well, with the possible exception of Betty Dra- wait no, I take it back. Joan, played by Christina Hendricks is a lovely all woman mass of lovely loveliness, enough to make me forget how to be articulate. If I had a body like that I’d probably make a statue of myself at first and worship it, but no, Hendricks would rather get miffed at someone who called her full-figured. It was a compliment, Joan.

Speaking of Mad Men, here are some beautiful pictures of John Hamm and Jessica Pare shooting for Season 6 in Hawaii.

Ohhhhhh nooooo. Chevy Chase, why do you always fuck up? Apparently, the Community star got all up in the writers shit, about how Pierce Hawthorne’s racism is not cool anymore. Of course his rant would have held more weight if he didn’t just go around saying words that shouldn’t see the light of day. Here, you should just read the initial report. I mean, Damn son!

Quick, what’s more depressing than the depressing life of Amy Winehouse? Answer: A dramatic production of the depressing life of Amy Winehouse. We should have seen this coming – The life of Amy Winehouse on stage at last. Let’s think about the last celebrity who’s short life spiralled downward into a tragic substance induced end. Elvis of course, then Marilyn, Whitney Houston….This is a play I won’t recommend.

What wouldn’t I give to be a fly on the wall, when Omar met Marlo stanfield in a Brooklyn restaurant? No, it actually happened! Micheal Williams who plays Omar on legendary television show The Wire was with Anthony Bourdain who was eating out for an upcoming episode of No Reservations when Jamie Hector who plays Marlo came up to say hi.

– Sheena