Took me a minute, but glad I finally got around to this one!

An engaging and informative history of LGBTQ+ representation in television. The parallel analysis of episodes with their sociopolitical context illuminates how television both reflected and influenced cultural attitudes toward queerness. All in all, a worthwhile read.

I was in once I read the title. I really enjoyed this outlook. it was fresh and vulnerable. he's so funny and I honestly felt like I was his best friend while reading. highly recommend.

I’ve been subscribed to Matt’s YouTube channel for ages, and especially love the videos on The Nanny and cartoon allegories for queerness. Maybe little known fact, but I work in TV currently and so I’m always fascinated by insider scoops on the industry, particularly pertaining to queer history in the media. This audiobook, narrated by the author, felt like a constant “no way!” moment.

One of my guilty pleasures is Very Special Episodes, despite growing up in the UK where those weren’t really A Thing (unless you count that episode of Byker Grove where PJ was blinded by a paintball).

This quote from the introduction really resonated with me:
“Whether Americans tuned in to watch sitcoms, dramas, or the nightly news, TV reflected the prevailing belief that queer people were, at best, mincing freaks and, at worst, a public menace.”

As someone working in TV, this is a sobering reminder of what we can return to at any moment if we don’t continue to have queer people and diverse voices in the writing room. But it’s also a reminder that, for some people, no amount of fully developed character writing will ever convince them we deserve a place in the public eye. Still, after listening to this and seeing the history of where we started, what more motivation do we need to at least keep trying, if only for our own community?

I really enjoyed this one. Thank you, NetGalley for sharing this with me. I'll definitely be looking forward to reading more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the ARC of this!

This was such an interesting look at queer characters and storylines in television, the perfect non-fiction to kick off my Pride month reading! The author did a great job narrating the audiobook. The way each chapter led into the next was really well done and definitely kept my focus - the tone was not dry at all.

I absolutely loved this book!

Hi Honey, I'm Homo explores queer representation in sitcoms throughout the decades, while chronicling the queer liberation fight and how the two interacted with each other. Each chapter covers a specific television show, and it felt like listening to little podcast episodes packed with great information, humor, and insight into how monumental some of these moments were.

I've been recommending this to everyone!

This was a super interesting book commenting on LGBTQ characters, storylines and public figures throughout the early 2000s in media and pop culture. The narration and writing were both well done and this was an enjoyable book to read. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to listen to and review this book.

✨ Review ✨ Hi Honey, I'm Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture; Written and Narrated by Matt Baume

This book was such a delight! Based on his youtube series where he explores queerness and sitcoms, Baume weaves together a narrative about the ways that queerness has been represented in sitcoms in shows like Bewitched to Cheers to Friends and Will and Grace. He shows how the political and social climate of the moment impacted what was shown on air, but also how the visibility of queerness on tv impacted American's openness to queerness.

He ends with an argument about the importance of queerness in tv and other media, which really brought the whole book together. I wish he'd frontloaded some more of that discussion in an introduction to help us see what was at stake from the beginning.

He definitely brings in his expertise as a youtube creator and each chapter felt sort of like a self-contained podcast but also part of a larger whole. I really enjoyed the book and learning from his expertise throughout the book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: nonfiction, media history, lgbtq+
Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
Pub Date: 23 May 2023

Read this if you like:
⭕️ sitcoms
⭕️ queer history & advocacy
⭕️ queer representation in media
⭕️ a podcast-y vibe

Thanks to Dreamscape Media and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

This book gives a delightful inside into the industry and tells some quite amusing stories.

For someone familiar with the mentioned series this will b very entertaining.

I for myself grew up outside this sphere and as much as I appreciate the storytelling and the love to detail this book could not quite catch me - which definitely is not the books fault but due to the fact that I was not the target audience. For anyone that is I would still really recommend it!

This was a super interesting book about the role queer characters have played in sitcoms throughout the 90s and early 2000s.

<i>Hi, Honey, I’m Homo!</i> recounts the history of LGBTQ+ characters and storylines on television, including how the characters are treated by others and how they are perceived by those watching and Americans in general. It looks at how culture shaped queer TV and how queer TV helped shape culture.

I learned a lot by listening to this audiobook, and the author included a lot of good anecdotes and statistics. Baume did a fantastic job of narrating the audiobook himself. I highly recommend checking this out!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

While I may not be much of a movie person, I love sitcoms. I grew up watching reruns of classics like Bewitched and I Love Lucy on Nick at Nite. Hi Honey, I’m Homo! made me think about these beloved shows in a way I haven’t previously.

This was so well researched, not simply pointing out queer characters and queer storylines, but putting those characters and storylines in cultural context.

One of the earliest shows that author Matt Baume talks about is Bewitched, and honestly, I think I need to go back and rewatch this show to pick up on these queer characters and storylines that my young eyes missed when I watched it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced listening copy of Hi Honey, I’m Homo!

One of few times I actually wish a book was longer.

Research was really well done. Narrator kept me engaged and wanting more. Learned so much about older TV classics that I didn’t know of. Would love to read more by this author!

Would recommend to readers of LGBTQ non-fiction, memoir and biography lovers, and folx who enjoy TV programs from the 80s & 90s.

(I received this audiobook ALC via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you.)

I very much enjoyed this audiobook. It made me want to revisit shows I'd seen, and maybe check out a few that I'd missed. You don't need to have seen the TV shows written about to follow along. There was a little bit of repetition that I think an editor may have overlooked, but overall it was very engaging and I stayed entertained the entire time. The author has an excellent speaking voice (although he does talk very fast, some listeners may balk at that, but they can always reduce the speed!).

This was so interesting! I'm a millennial, and while some of the references mentioned I hadn't seen, it was really cool to see so many different shows that had queer coded characters. We're everywhere!

Also, pleased that the author's narration worked so well!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape for the audiobook galley to review!

If I could describe this book in one word, it'd be "fundamental". There are so many things in this book that I never knew about (like the origins of National Coming Out Day and how it related to TV) and so many more things that I received new clarity or perspectives on that I already knew about. Even obscure and one-off series that failed at launch are mentioned. The backgrounds of writers, actors, directors, producers--everyone who worked on these shows and how their lives were impacted by working on these shows during tumultuous times of mainstream bigotry is also discussed. I absolutely left each chapter feeling new appreciation for some aspect of each show.

The sitcoms that paved the way to today's media are thoroughly dissected to show their contributions to the queer community and identities, or in some cases their detraction (looking at you, Friends). Whole episodes are reviewed and given more context, with dialogues from key scenes added verbatim for clarity and explanations on how these scenes impacted real life. Most importantly, they are all discussed in the context of the era they were released, helping the reader to understand why they were the way they were and how collectively the medium evolved throughout the years alongside political movements and major events. TV sitcoms did so much more for queer rights than one may think! I love how this book explains how that came about.

I appreciated that Matt Baume narrated his own book for the audiobook version, as not only is he an excellent narrator and his voice is well-suited to it, he knows *how* to narrate his book. He does a great job re-enacting the scripts he has included in his dissections of each series (I must note that I was shocked by how closely he sounded like each Golden Girl, whether that was intentional or not). His writing style is interesting and I found myself chuckling often at his casual, offhand comments as he relays the history we are reading about.

This was a fascinating read. It shows how television (or media in general) has a major impact on people's perspectives and I think it deserves a spot on the queer studies shelf.

This was super interesting, well researched, and well written. It flowed nicely and really made me think about what it must be like to grow up as part of the LGBT community and not see myself represented in TV. I found The Golden Girls section particularly interesting because those women were champions for gay rights before they even became big. I also loved learning about Billy Crystal standing up for his character not being a caricature of homosexuality. There was just so much good information in here and it was really enlightening.

Special thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audio arc (alc?) of Matt Baume’s book, Hi Honey, I’m Homo, a celebration of all things, sitcom and queer. I know Matt from his projects on YouTube. He’s always been a remarkable researcher and storyteller. His book exceeded my expectations, and even for this TV loving blogger and Podcaster, as well as someone who lived through most of the shows he discussed, I learned so much from this book. Really fantastic deep dive into LGBTQ television specifically situation comedies. Such a great resource, and so much fun to listen to.

I've wanted to read this book my entire life, since before I knew this book existed. As a queer person raised by Seinfeld, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and The Golden Girls, I couldn't have loved Matt Baume's extensive look into LGBTQIAP+ sitcom history more. Expertly narrated by the author, Matt Baume's "Hi Honey, I'm Homo!" dives deep into modern queer history and pop culture through the lens of queer representation on sitcoms, from the mid-twentieth century through Modern Family.

Alongside the comprehensive deep dive into queer representation in sitcoms, "Hi Honey, I'm Homo!" presents the reader with the realities of modern queer life at every turn, from the Annual Reminders (which, thanks to this book, I learned about!) predating the Stonewall uprising through the Obama administration's endorsement of marriage equality.

Baume expertly mixes the facts of queer representation on sitcoms like Bewitched, Ellen, and Will & Grace with the realities of the U.S.'s sentiment toward queer people at the time these shows aired. I absolutely could not put this one down, and I will be recommending (and relistening!) for years to come.

We're here, we're queer, get used to it.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review!

This was a very educational and information loaded audiobook regarding the history of gays on TV. Matt Baume covered everything from the subtle hints and the "wink,wink, nudge, nudge" story lines from the early 40s.
The story behind the double meaning of the old TV show Bewitched was fascinating. I knew there were gay characters and maybe because of my then youth, I never made the connection between a mortal hiding his marriage to a witch to gay relationships. But yeah...
This books covers all the stereotypical stereotypes over the years, Ellen's coming out to Modern Family.
Yes some.shows were missing but they seemed to have been shows on cable which had more freedom then network TV.
As I telly freinda and anyone who will listen; learn your history. No matter what you are, who you are, or where your history lies. You have to know and acknowledge where you came from and those who came before you if you truly want to brace who you are.
Highly recommended and Happy Pride Y'all!
Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.