105: Brothers May Just Be the First Gay Sitcom

“You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me” (August 16, 1984)

Heads up: In this episode we use the “F” word — no, not that one, but the gay one — but only because the subject matter itself uses it.

This week, we look into Brothers, which ran for five seasons and 115 episodes on Showtime, 1984 to 1989. The show revolved around one of the three titular brothers coming out, and therefore it has a legit claim to being the first gay sitcom, and its second-ever episode featured Uncle Phil himself, James Avery, as a closeted football star.

End of episode question: What is something that you experienced because of quarantine downtime but you didn’t like?

Want to watch this episode? You can!

For Mother’s Day, buy your mom a classic “ALF Says Gay Rights” mug from our TeePublic store.

Listen to our interview with Stan Zimmerman, where we discuss his Brothers script.

Listen to the What a Cartoon episode on Get a Life.

Watch an episode of the early Fox sitcom Open House, starring Philip Charles Mackenzie and Alison LaPlaca.

Watch the Batman: The Animated Series episode with Baby Doll, voiced by Alison LaPlaca.

Watch Drew’s video compilation of every LGBT joke ever on the history of The Simpsons.

Buy Glen’s movie, Being Frank.

This episode’s outro track is “Brother Louie” by Modern Talking: Apple Music • Spotify • Amazon Music