Tales of the City and the Battle for PBS.

The link would help.

I was in high school when the first Tales of the City was broadcast in '93 or '94. Holy shit you would've thought the world was ending the way conservatives and Republicans carried on about it. They were shocked and scandalized that a tv show featuring **gasp** GAY MEN was being broadcast for the whole country to see.

As ridiculous as this sounds now, it was hugely controversial. Anything that had to do with gay men and gay male sexuality was scandalous back in those days. And Tales of the City wasn't even terribly graphic, it was nothing you didn't see straight people doing on shows like Melrose Place which were on at the same time.

Matt makes that point too. It’s quite tame by contemporary standards.

I always thought the spotlight Helms and Co. put on ToTC and Mapplethorpe backfired in that far fewer people would had heard of them if not for all the outrage. Both would have passed largely unnoticed, I for one wouldn’t have known to watch Tales without it.

I should revisit the original Tales. I haven’t watched it since the Netflix series (controversial opinion but I liked a lot of it) and it would be comforting to slide back to an open, generally happy place like Barbary Lane.

I knew Tales was controversial but I had no idea about all the behind the scenes government stuff.

Love Matt’s channel. He covers fascinating stuff.

r3 it was NUTS. A tv show about gay men and you would've thought the world stopped turning.

He's the real deal. He was a Prop 8 activist back in the day.

I sorta find Matt low key hot

[quote] He's the real deal. He was a Prop 8 activist back in the day.

I’ve heard him talk about that on podcasts and he also mentions it in his book. He’s one of the few who’s ever been willing to call out how badly Equality California blew the messaging.

[quote] I sorta find Matt low key hot

I think he’s VERY hot. He’s got some quirky good looks and he’s obviously intelligent. It’s appealing.