Panel examines 'Queers on TV'

Communications Professor Larry Gross argued at a panel discussion on "Queers on TV Talk Shows" that Rikki Lake, Jenny Jones and Oprah give members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community a chance to voice their concerns and present themselves in a positive light. But in the next breath, he said that such talk shows can also exploit these individuals. Gross moderated the discussion -- which was part of the Bisexual Gay Lesbian Transgendered Awareness Days -- at the Annenberg School for Communication last Saturday. The talk -- the Third Annual Saturday Symposium sponsored by the Philadelphia Lesbian Gay Academic Union -- featured several panelists, including Philadelphia Inquirer TV columnist Gail Shister. Josh Gamson, a Yale University sociology professor and author of the soon-to-be released book Freaks Talk Back: TV Talk Shows and Sexual Minorities, noted that talk shows featuring homosexuals are "a double-edged sword. "These shows are both funny and enjoyable, and disgusting and upsetting," Gamson said. "They give voice? and they take it away." Other panel members included Communications Professor Laura Grindstaff and Renaissance Education Association member Angela Gardner. The panelists' experiences with the talk show format range from academic research to on-air appearances to reporting. All of the speakers agreed with Gross and Gamson's basic premise -- that these shows can be both helpful and harmful. Showing video clips from Donahue, Oprah, Geraldo and Jenny Jones to illustrate his point, Gross described a gradual shift in the shows' formats and the demographics of their targeted audiences. He called the 1980s the decade of Donahue and the "predominately white middle-class audience." Talk show hosts would normally have one or two guests, and the audience would ask "polite" questions. Yet he said gay panelists were still portrayed as spectacles. In the 1990s, Grindstaff added, the focus has been on sensationalism and emotionally charged moments-- what she called "the money shot." They want that "Oooooh" from the audience, Grindstaff said. Current TV talk shows tend to book more guests with a wide variety of perspectives, according to Shister. She explained that it is customary for these shows to book many guests in order to prevent a crisis come airtime if someone backs out. But she also said having so many guests ensures controversy -- and ratings. Shister said her personal rule is never to appear on a panel with more than five guests, because otherwise "few people get heard." And Gardner said she also dislikes the disorderliness of these shows, although she noted that the publicity opportunities her appearances provide her organization are a positive benefit. "If I reached out to just one person, that's what we wanted," she said.