Meanwhile, Zayas is looking forward to the new series furthering the conversations around race and dating the original show started a decade ago. Sheng, the only trans actor who is a series regular, told TV Guide that while "there's some slow, but happening, representation of Asian trans, masculine, nonbinary folx" on TV, in Generation Q, viewers are "going to see it in a new light." Sheng also added that he's "really excited to explore what it's like to be a trans person who loves somebody, who grows close to people, and what that looks like." The new episodes feature several trans actors in trans roles, already a marked improvement on the original show's painful-to-watch trans storylines, which were infrequent and unfortunately featured trans people as the butt of jokes.ĭiscover your new favorite show: Watch This Now! In order to showcase how the queer community is constantly evolving, Ryan focused on highlighting a broader range of perspectives to show how multiple generations can still learn from each other. there are words and conventions that evolve, and what the show is going to talk about is where we've been, where we are now, and what we're navigating." "I think there are possibly new things about queer life. " knows things that have passed me by - not altogether, but still, she's got a perspective from her generational point of view," said Chaiken, who knew Ryan from another project. I'm really delighted to have the opportunity to do so." "I think that seeing more of is one way, and it's the only way I personally know how to affect change. "There's still something wrong here, there's still a lot of shame that exists in our culture," said Ryan. Those issues, like the fact that queer teens make up 40 percent of the youth homeless population despite only being 10 percent of the population, are things that Ryan still has difficulty wrapping her mind around. The radical differences in race, gender identity, sexuality, age, and wealth disparity between the generations allowed Ryan to address many serious issues affecting the queer community that still aren't given regular airtime. Jacqueline Toboni, Leo Sheng, Arienne Mandi, Rosanny Zayas The L Word: Generation Q Hilary B Gayle/SHOWTIME Meanwhile, Micah ( Leo Sheng), their roommate, is a trans man returning to dating, and their friend Finley ( Jacqueline Toboni) is a charming PA from Alice's show who somehow ends up crashing on Shane's couch. The series' new characters include Dani ( Arienne Mandi), a determined careerist who gets pulled into Bette's orbit, and Sophie ( Rosanny Zayas), her long-term girlfriend, who produces Alice's show. The trio will act as the guiding hands for this new generation, but their stories take a bit of a backseat, allowing new ideas about queer identity to flourish. Three of The L Word's original characters - Shane ( Kate Moennig), Bette ( Jennifer Beals), and Alice ( Leisha Hailey) - are returning for the revival, joined by a new group of queer friends whose lives are quite different from theirs. The CW Has More LGBTQ Series Regular Characters Than Any Other Broadcast Network Joining shows like Poseand Tales of the City, Generation Q aims to center not just on queer characters, but the myriad ways people live queer lives. While in recent years queer representation has been higher than ever before - GLAAD reports that in 2019 there were 488 series regular and recurring queer characters across broadcast, cable, and streaming shows - Ryan pointed out that only a handful of series actually focus on the queer community and the evolutions of subcultures happening within them. Speaking with TV Guide of the decision to return to the seminal show now, Ryan said, "People keep asking me now, 'What are you going to do now that there's all these queer shows?' There really aren't actually." "So much has changed and so much hasn't," said Marja-Lewis Ryan, who took over as showrunner for series creator Ilene Chaiken, an executive producer on the revival. Now, a decade after The L Word's series finale aired, the series is returning for an eight-episode revival, The L Word: Generation Q, and it couldn't be coming at a better time. For this reason, it netted a loyal fanbase that clamored for more long after the show went off the air. But The L Word wasn't just revolutionary for the fact that it was an in-depth narrative about the modern lesbian scene in Los Angeles it also featured frank discussions about sex, love, and found family in a brutally honest way. When The L Word debuted on Showtime in 2004, it was the only show focused specifically on the queer community that didn't also center on gay men.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |