A look at queer representation throughout television history. I appreciate what this book tried to do, and it did offer a good listing of shows. However, I had a hard time getting into reading this. It held an odd mixture of casual yet academic writing style, as well as a somewhat noticeable leaning towards characters and stories that the author related more to.

The Rainbow Age of Television by Shayna Maci Warner 3 stars: Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams Press for the digital ARC. THE RAINBOW AGE OF TELEVISION by Shayna Maci Warner covers quite a bit of queer TV history and the author delivers it all in a distinctive voice. One thing I would like to counter in other reviews is this book’s leaning (or “emphasis”) on lesbian characters. So often when LGBTQIA+ characters are the focus of books, it’s mostly gay white male characters in the spotlight. Good for this author for going with where the research took them. All of that said, however, I don’t know that I’m the right audience for this book. I’ve done so much work and research on LGBTQIA+ characters in various forms of media (books, tv, movies) that nothing here felt new. If this content is new to a reader, this book is an approachable way into queer representation on tv.

Full of familiar and new information, this is such a loving history of rainbow TV and all its successes, failures, heartfelt attempts, and promising hope for the future. Not just a statement of facts, it confronts the negative (and at times positive) stereotypes around queers on TV, and the impact representation can have on those inside and outside of the community.

If you had an awakening to a tv character you’ll probably find it here. Mine was Jo on reruns of Facts of Life and I was not alone 🤣

This book was very well researched & I loved the interviews with the cast & crew members of the shows mentioned. This is the perfect book for those who enjoyed 2023's “Hi Honey, I'm Homo!”

Thank you to Netgalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

I always find rating and reviewing non-fiction difficult. I don’t have an academic background and I tend to read ones on topics or people I find interesting. So bare with me:

As the title says, this is an opinionated history of queer television and it really is. The author also mentions in the first pages that this is an incomplete history. I know it’s impossible to fit everything in one book but even in 300 pages somehow it still manages to feel light on variety. Even though I know bi/pan/ace identities are much harder to show on screen, I still felt wanting for more. Maybe more about fandoms questioning if things are queercoded.

This read very much as an academic text and was less “fun” than other non-fiction I’ve been picking up. The tone tried to be funny and engaging but it didn’t work for me, came off too dry. It also could very much benefit from infographics, changes in text sizes and charts.

I found the information on the earliest examples the most interesting. The “opinionated” part of the book really came out when she seemed to focus almost solely on modern lesbian character arcs. (I’m assuming she focused on shows and characters she is a fan of) But the further into the book I got the more repetitive and dry it felt. I found myself skimming many sections toward the end. I enjoyed the interviews with queer women who have worked in television (especially Lily Wachowski and Stephanie Beatriz) but I’m hoping the final result includes photos for reference.

The coming off as very academic and text book-ish is really what put me off the most and why I finished it feeling disappointed. I wanted a fun/funny non-fiction. I also expected more examples of modern queer relationships instead of just the few that were focused on. I am biased when I say I was disappointed Alec/Magnus from Shadowhunters, Mikey/Ian from Shameless and Castiel/Dean from Supernatural and David Rose from Schitt’s Creek weren’t touched on. But again, I’m just guessing the author isn’t a fan of those shows.

Lastly, as a reminder, even if I am part of the community (pan/demi/nb female presenting person) doesn’t mean I really know much of anything about anything!

4.5 stars and my eternal thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the eARC.

This book truly opened my eyes to how long queer characters have been on our television sets. I knew we didn't pop out of nowhere with Ellen and Will & Grace in the 90s, but seeing the history in black and white was truly wonderful. Even if the characters in question were...not ideal.

Warner takes us through the history of LGBTQIA2S+ (in my review, the umbrella term of Queer) characters in TV from someone who was never explicitly named as homosexual in 1952 to Stephanie Beatriz's Rosa Diaz coming out to her family on Brooklyn-99.

I think what fascinated me the most was how deep Warner goes into the Bury Your Gays trope, detailing a specific series of episodes from All in the Family where the Bunkers meet a "female impersonator" named Beverly. Obviously, Archie is exactly as homophobic and awful as always, but Edith is truly affected by Beverly and her subsequent death in the show. In chapter 5, Warner details so many examples of queer people, specifically queer women, are killed in TV shows over the past decades. Reading them all out in a list was a little startling, especially since some were shows I vaguely had an interest in watching.
"From this mere sampling of deaths of regular and recurring queer women characters, it almost goes without saying that one shows with primarily heterosexual ensembles and storylines, the guest-starring queer women characters had a much higher chance of being killed off than their straight guest-starring counterparts." So, not only do queer women have a hard time showing up on TV screens at all, they have a much higher chance of being killed, even if the story doesn't call for it. Granted, if you look at plain statistics, the numbers are much higher for hetero characters, only because there are more of them. Sample sizes and whatnot.

The last bit that resonated with me was the idea that we latch on to crumbs of perceived queer characters because there are so few (comparatively) we can relate to. Warner's interview with Stephanie Beatriz puts it into perspective as someone who is latina and queer and finding someone who can be a role model for her on TV was so difficult while growing up. Beatriz talks about latching on to even just dark-haired characters or female characters with short hair until she comes across real actual queer characters. She compares it to being a vegan at a buffet and trying to eat around the cheese on a cheese roll. Brilliant.

I love learning about the history and evolution of queer media, so I was excited to read this book all about LGBTQ+ television. Even with all the research I’ve already done into the topic, this book still introduced me to older TV shows, storylines, and characters that I had never heard of before, which is awesome. Shayna Maci Warner brings up nuanced conversations about representation, queer villains, bury your gays, and explicit vs subtextual queerness.

Even though I think there’s a lot of great content in the book, I did struggle a bit while reading it. I don’t think the author’s writing style really worked for me. It felt like it was trying to be fun, humorous, and conversational. But I was constantly getting confused and having to read sentences over again to understand what was being said. Also, there were so many parts of the book that were just lists of shows that had a specific trope or character type instead of offering any insight or explanation into them.

My favorite parts of the book were the interviews that the author did with different actors, filmmakers, and media personalities about their histories with queer representation on television. It was so interesting to hear their different responses for the first queer person they remember seeing on TV and their insights into their own careers with creating queer media.

Even though I have some quibbles with the book overall, I’m still glad I read it. I think if you’re someone who is super interested in the changing landscape of queer TV over the years, it’s worth checking out. It definitely covers some shows outside of the most popularly written about ones.

This is a well-researched, well-written overview of a history of queer television, peppered throughout with interviews from TV's most prominent queer figures, from actors to directors to writers. Warner talks about first examples of representation, no matter how bad they were, and walks through the cultural and political development that allowed for queer people to become recurring characters and main characters. She discusses tropes, like burying your gays, and how TV slowly started to move past that. She ends on matters of reboots and where queer TV could be heading. I really enjoyed this. Warner comes at it from a very academic standpoint and also a very readable, conversational tone. The interviews were interesting. It was all very thorough. I definitely recommend it for fans of queer history.

Abrams Press provided an early galley for review.

I was a huge television fanatic growing up (a little less so in recent years as there are so many more offerings than the old network days of three channels plus the British offerings via PBS and whatever we picked up from the Canadian channels across the border). So, I was very excited to read what Warner had to say on this particular look at TV history.

After starting off with an introduction and shows I am less familiar, I was pleased to get to the early history of queer representation on shows. This was the stuff I grew up on. From the Lear offerings (I was a faithful All In the Family, and I do remember watching episodes as they aired of Hot l Baltimore) to Susan Harris' Soap (still a huge fan of the entire run), this was the history I knew well.

As the analysis moves through the 80's, 90's and into the 2000's and beyond, I was reminded of other shows I had watched. I was also presented with details from many shows I knew by reputation and name but not by my ever viewing them. Still, Warner is able to mine many examples to illustrate the points of each chapter.

The eight "Queer and A" sessions with various queer creatives were also a nice touch. They really provided additional insights, bringing in the conversation element to the whole discussion. They set the book apart from the standard "greatest hits"/listing TV history books.

A fascinating look at the last century and TV as it applies to queer representation. The book provided a number of things to think about and was definitely worth the read.

Warner’s book is well-researched and an overall interesting read for those interested in the history of Queer television. It covers a ton of ground without devolving into a dry list of dates or accomplishments or using a ton of jargon, which makes the book approachable for everyone. Likewise, the interviews with Queer individuals involved in television will likely be of interest, both academically and to a lay audience. I thought the most interesting chapter was the one on non-fiction television, but I appreciated the effort specifically to cover lesbians and trans/gender fluid individuals.

The one potential weakness in the book, I think, is that readers may not be familiar with (or not care about) the particular series of interest discussed and/or wish for more representation. For example, I would have liked more looks at animated shows and/or more non-binary and ace-spec identities However, given that the book admits to being opinionated, no one could reasonably cover everything, and the dearth of nonbinary and ace-spec representation, I think that’s a very slight weakness.

I really enjoyed some of the stories about queer television and how it exists. In particular, I thought as a collection of interviews it was at its strongest. Hearing first hand from actors about these roles and why they are important was a nice read. I don't think this is the vigorously non-fiction account I might have wanted but I don't regret it.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC</i>

A good analysis of TV across US history from a queer perspective. I learned a lot reading this, though it was quite dense with information. I found myself putting it down between chapters to process things. However, it was enjoyable and it's likely I'll read it again!

* Thank you to the publisher Abrams Books via Netgalley for an advanced copy!

This was super interesting, and I’d recommend it to any queerTV buffs, or sociologists interested in queer representation in media!

Thank you NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for a review.

I loved the interviews in this book and I loved hearing from the author on the good and the bad of queer representation on television.

The only reason this rating isn’t higher is because I felt like the history parts were essentially a bulleted list of every queer thing on tv. Some stuff was interesting but other parts seemed to just drag.

This is an interesting, detailed examination of the queer history of television. It did seem a little strange that there were no interviews with any LGBTQ male actors or writers, but the interviews that were included were illuminating (yay, Stephanie Beatriz!). I also appreciated her breakdown of different reboots of classic queer shows and which ones worked vs what did not. The book covers a lot of ground and while the author makes it clear that she couldn't possibly fit in everyone's favorite shows I had hoped she would have mentioned the groundbreaking Heartstopper and the emotional audience reactions to it (and the toxic reactions, including the forced outing of actor Kit Connor). In general though this was a compelling read and the author seems cautiously optimistic about the state of queer representation on TV. Hopefully books like this will make Hollywood realize how much audiences crave well-written, complex queer characters on screen.

I've never been much of a television watcher until recently, so a lot of the shows talked about here were shows I've yet to watch or haven't even heard of. Which is fine, however it caused two problems for me:

1. I had a harder time connecting to bits of the book.

2. I got a lot of things spoiled for me. Hoping that Buffy spoiler just evaporates from my brain.

Warner's style is definitely one of those that keeps you interested and in the mood to learn. This is not boring nonfiction by any means. Other queer people who watch a lot of TV will probably enjoy and connect with this much more.

Rainbow Age is more academic and less lighthearted than 2023's "Hi Honey, I'm Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture," although it covers some of the same territory. In addition to retracing the history of queer TV, Warner addresses delicate issues such as cishet characters with whom queers felt a connection (Jo from The Facts of Life, Buddy on Family, and...Bugs Bunny?); whether the scarcity of queer characters requires them to be likeable; the ridiculously high mortality rate of lesbian characters; queers on reality TV; and cis actors playing trans characters.

The end of each chapter features interviews with queer actors, writers, and directors, which add a welcome jolt of energy to the book. There is a stronger emphasis on lesbians and trans TV characters than in Hi Honey! and a sobering acknowledgement that queer rep on TV is likely to decline in 2024's toxic political environment.

This book is best read one or two chapters at a time, as it is a bit dry in some parts. Shayna Maci Warner's portfolio includes articles written for both general and queer publications about the entertainment media. I recommend perusing them to determine if her voice works for you.

ARC received from Net Galley and Abrams Press in exchange for objective review.

As someone who’s not super into TV, I was happily surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I particularly appreciated the inclusion of interviews with industry insiders at the end of each chapter. I finished having learned a lot, thinking about queer representation on tv from new angles, and with a long list of shows to watch.

The Rainbow Age of Television is such an incredibly detailed and well organized compilation of queer characters and roles in the history of television, and how those roles/lack thereof relate to the real world and the struggles/growth of queer people. Wow. I'm blown away by the extent of the material in this book, so much work went into this and you can tell! As a queer person myself, I appreciate the deep dive into the LGBTQIA+ community's history in the media!
I will admit, many of the names of characters/shows were lost on me, as I have a bad habit of only watching modern television, and even so, not always the most well known TV shows... but this isn't an issue at all if you're in the same boat, thankfully! Every section is well explained and you need no prior "knowledge" going in. A very well written piece!
Such a fascinating read!