Netflix: Offbeat, Heartwarming New Comedy Series 'Special'

Ryan O'Connell and Punam Patel in 'Special'

Netflix drops the official trailer for Special, an offbeat comedy series about a gay man with mild cerebral palsy.

Loosely based on the critically-acclaimed memoir by writer/actor Ryan O’Connell - I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves - the series stars O’Connell as a man who “decides to rewrite his identity as an accident victim and finally go after the life he wants.”

After years of dead-end internships, writing in his pajamas as a blogger, and communicating mainly via text messages, Ryan is hit by a car in the street. When his new co-workers assume his limp is due to the accident, he just never bothers to correct the misunderstanding.

"If you could get rid of the thing you hate most about yourself, the thing no one understands, wouldn’t you do it?"

The hilarious and heartwarming 8-episode series is being produced for Netflix by O’Connell along with Jim Parson’s That’s Wonderful Productions and Warner Bros’ Digital Networks’ Stage 13.

The series also stars Jessica Hecht, Punam Patel, Marla Mindelle, Augustus Prew, and Patrick Fabian.

O’Connell’s past writing includes being a contributor for Buzzfeed, Vice, Thought Catalog and other publications as well as serving as Executive Story Editor for the reboot of the hit NBC series, Will & Grace.

Special makes its Netflix premiere on April 12. Check out the trailer below.

That Time When The Mary Tyler Moore Show Went Gay

Cloris Leachman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Journalist, historian and all-around smart-gay Matt Baume devotes this installment of his popular Culture Cruise web series on an episode of the iconic1970s sitcom, The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

The year was 1973. Homosexuality was considered a mental illness, you could be arrested for being gay in most of the country, no openly gay or lesbian person had ever been elected to public office. And Mary Tyler Moore, America’s sweetheart, put a gay man in front of viewers for an entire episode without anyone noticing until the last minute -- and then acted like it was no big deal. When it was, in fact, a very, very, very big deal.

The episode, titled “My Brother’s Keeper,” aired on January 13, 1973. In the episode, “Phyllis” (played by Cloris Leachman) set out to set up “Mary” (Mary Tyler Moore) with her brother, “Ben.”

It turns out there’s no chemistry there, but Mary’s best friend “Rhoda” (Valerie Harper) ends up finding a connection with Ben. The problem is - Phyllis hates Rhoda, and can’t stand the idea of her brother with Rhoda.

Of course, in the end, Ben it’s revealed that Ben is gay.

What’s important here, though, is how the writers of TMTMS handled the moment. As you may remember, television (or most of America, for that fact) was not welcoming or warm-hearted when it came to ‘the gays.’

As Baume points out, if a gay person was on TV, they were usually portrayed as murderers or perverts. Note the infamous “The Homosexuals” documentary that aired in 1967 that declared “the average homosexual, if there is one, is promiscuous.”

What Baume does so well here is put what could be viewed as just another ‘gay punchline’ into perspective and gives us context on the whys and hows this was actually an important moment.

At the time the episode aired, Minneapolis (where TMTMS took place) outlawed homosexuality even though that same year saw the debut of Minneapolis first Pride event. And 1973 was the year homosexuality was removed from the list of mental illnesses.

I won’t spoil it for you, so watch the video.

Follow Matt Baume’s Culture Cruise on YouTube here, where he regularly takes a deep dive on LGBTQ themes in TV, movies, books, games and more.

FX Renews Ground-Breaking Series 'Pose' For Second Season

And the category is: Celebrate!

Ryan Murphy's ground-breaking new series Pose may have been snubbed by the Emmy Awards, but within hours of the nominations announcement FX picked up the LGBTQ-centric series for a second series.

The series examines New York City’s LGBTQ ball culture scene of the 1980s with a focus on the Black and Latinx LGBTQ communities that shaped it.

We've got amazing news, #PoseFX family! Get ready to snatch more trophies and tissues because season 2 is coming! pic.twitter.com/P8oRj8puRp

— PoseFX (@PoseOnFX) July 12, 2018

THIS IS EVERYTHING HUNTIES. Thank you to the magnificent @mrrpmurphy @fxnetworks our @poseonfx cast & crew & all of you who have supported us this far. We will continue to tell stories that challenge us as humans and inspire us to be better people. #PoseFx #season2 #PoseSeason2 pic.twitter.com/cFvXAZfzg5

— Billy Porter (@theebillyporter) July 13, 2018

TV: What To Watch This Weekend

From "Man In An Orange Shirt" on PBS Masterpiece

In cast you were wondering what to watch on TV this weekend:

The 'Fab 5' are back! Starting today all 8 episodes of Season 2 of Netflix's Queer Eye.

This season the 'make better' show expands its scope of 'mentees' including a transgender man named Skyler and a beloved church mama. Get the tissues cause I'm not crying, you're crying.

Produced to observe the 50th anniversary of when homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK, Man In An Orange Shirt chronicles two love stories sixty years apart.

In the 1940s, lovers Michael (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and Thomas (James McArdle), live under threat of jail if their affair is discovered, leading Michael to marry a woman, Flora (Joanna Vanderham).

Moving to the present, the second half of the two and a half hour movie reveals Flora (Vanessa Redgrave) as grandmother to a young gay man, Adam (Julian Morris), who is in the midst of his own sexual confusion.

TV Guide Magazine: "A powerful Masterpiece movie that bridges generations with its tale of repressed and forbidden affections."

The Boston Globe: "I was afraid the message of “Man in an Orange Shirt” would be simplistic — being gay was hard then, but it’s easy now, look how far we’ve come, etc. But the film, strewn with symbols that carry from one story to the other, has other things in mind, and they make it distinctly moving."

You can catch the film on PBS’s Masterpiece this Sunday. The DVD becomes available on June 19.

Best Rated LGBTQ Films & TV Since 2010

From the film God's Own Country

One of the top movie and television review sites, Rotten Tomotoes, has compiled lists of the ten best reviewed LGBTQ films and television shows since 2010 (so no Brokeback Mountain).

The list crosses genres from Academy Award and Emmy Award-winners to foreign language projects.

I’m going to preface the list by saying I can think of some excellent films that didn’t make the Top 10 list, but this is based on Rotten Tomatoes reviews, not mine.

Here are the lists – how many of these have you seen?

Top 10 LGBTQ Movies of the 2010’s:

1. God’s Own Country (2017) - Certified Fresh at 99%
2. Moonlight (2016) - Certified Fresh at 98%
3. BPM (2017) - Certified Fresh at 98%
4. Tangerine (2015) - Certified Fresh at 97%
5. Tomboy (2011) - Certified Fresh at 97%
6. Call Me By Your Name (2016) - Certified Fresh at 95%
7. Behind The Candelabra (2013) - Certified Fresh at 95%
8. Carol (2015) - Certified Fresh at 95%
9. Pariah (2011) – Certified Fresh at 94%
10. A Fantastic Woman (Una mujer fantástica) (2018) – Certified Fresh at 94%

The cast of Banana

Top 10 LGBTQ TV Shows of TtheE 2000’s:

1. Banana (2015) - Fresh at 100%
2. The Fosters (2013 - 2018) Fresh at 97%
3. Queer Eye (2018 - TBD) Certified Fresh at 96%
4. Pose (2018 – TBD) Certified Fresh at 96%
5. Orange is the New Black (2013 – TBD) Fresh at 91%
6. Cucumber (2015) Fresh at 91%
7. Looking (2014 – 2015) Fresh at 90%
8. Will & Grace (2017 – TBD) Certified Fresh at 86%
9. The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (2018) - Certified Fresh at 86%
10. Sense8 (2015 – 2018) Fresh at 86%

(h/t Instinct)