Newsflash: Lesbians have evolved into people!

Well what do you know? Hot damn, I've always wanted to be a real person.

Whilst surfing the AfterEllen website during my lunch-hour (like all my other hours sitting here, just with less work and a horrible habit of answering the phone with my mouth full) when I noticed a new post on the AfterEllen blog. It had the header "Showtime: "The L Word" no longer about lesbians, but "people"." Well goodness golly gosh (no, really), I thought, you mean lesbians aren't people? Who keeps the toaster oven business alive then? Who buys tank-tops and Subarus? And has anyone told Ellen this yet?

I know, I know, I'm going overboard. I agree with the AfterEllen blog poster, who started the article: "In a blatent attempt to woo emmy voters...". This is a blatent attempt to de-gay a show in order to win votes. It's sad. For all it's faults, The L Word is a lesbian show. It's, in a way, our show. Foolish, foolish me for thinking that they would try and protect their status as a much-beloved (or at least, much talked about) show that stands as a mile-stone for lesbian entertainment rather than selling out for award kudos.

Another thing that bothered me about the ad that proclaims the de-lesbianising (not a word, I know) of The L Word (reproduced on the AfterEllen blog) is the quote from the Chicago Tribune. "No longer a show about lesbians, "The L Word" has evolved into a show about people."

Evolved? I get what they were trying to say. A show should evolve; as the actors get more comfortable in their roles; as the crew learn the methods involved for that particular show and studio; as the directors and writers find their voices and solidify their vision, yes, a show should evolve. It should evolve into something greater than that which it was at the start.

No, I just have a problem with the quote itself. It started off as a lesbian show, and now it's evolved into a show about people? To me, the word evolution has always been synonymous with the idea of betterment. Something evolves into something else: something bigger, stronger, smarter, better. The quote, to me, seems to suggest that the lesbian show was inferior and that it has evolved into something less gay, therefor better. Me picking at straws or unconscious homophobia? Boredom driving me to pick fights or a sad indication of how, even now, 'straight' television is seen to be something preferable to 'gay' television? You decide, because I can't: I'll freely admit that I don't know whether my argument is justified or whether it's me.

Anyway, back to work. Speaking of, what did I do? What did I do that people keep ringing me to complain about the state of the company? I'm just keeping an eye on a small regional show-room, I'm nothing to do with head office and I don't even really work here! And yet 'my' company is a disgrace? Your company is a disgrace! And do you really think I'd be sitting here if this were my company? Somehow, I like to think that if this were my company, I'd be out swaning around in a silk suit (why not?), driving my hellishly expensive Subaru (of course) and seducing poor little rich girls with my money-laden charm (why not indeed?), not sitting in a showroom which no-one ever visits all by myself, drinking so much tea my hands shake and using the very expensive display furnite to play Lesbian Tea Party (no, no Lucy, you sit next to Elizabeth: Angelina, have you met Clea?).

Anyway, I suppose I'd best get back to work.