hat is the deal with NBC television and the transgendered lately? Several NBC sitcoms during the 1996-97 season have either dealt with or made reference to drag queens. Leave the lesbians to ABC, now that Ellen De Generes has come out on her ABC show �Ellen.� Drag is hot with the National Broadcasting Corporation. Drag isn't really new in television sitcoms. In the 70s and 80s, drag was often used, but it was limited to sight gags with the straight characters. For example, cop sitcoms like Barney Miller would have the male undercover cop posing as a woman to catch a purse-snatcher. But these men would have blonde wigs, high heel shoes and a five o'clock shadow. Then there was the episode of Happy Days when Ritchie and Potsie dressed up as girls to sneak into a girl's dormitory. Oh the comic predicament that ensued when Fonzie dropped by and took a liking to Ritchie! And who could forget Bosom Buddies, the show that launched Tom Hanks' career (as much as he probably wishes he hadn't!)? Why, the premise of the show itself depended on these two men dressing up as women in order to get an apartment in New York at a women's hotel (due to the diffuculty of getting an apartment in Manhattan). These days, it seems, drag has been rather prevalent in television sitcoms, especially with NBC. But now there is a difference. The drag comedy of the 90s derives from openly gay characters. Many of the men in drag featured in these sitcoms are presented as homosexual drag queens, rather than the straight men in drag. They are effeminate, catty, or brimming with attitude. Then there is the new spin on drag comedy - where strong, independent women are being mistaken for drag queens by the weaker or more effeminate gay men they meet. Of course, there are still the old sight gags of the straight male characters getting dressed up in women's clothing. However, in these instances, rather than being embarrassed by or hating drag, the humour comes about when these men start getting into drag just a bit more than they should, or else making too convincing a woman. So why has NBC devoted so many episodes to drag? Perhaps America�s number one network is following in the footsteps of successful major motion pictures that have dealt with drag, such as �Priscilla Queen of the Desert,� �To Wong Foo With Love Julie Newmar,� and �The Birdcage.� In any case, drag today makes for some pretty entertaining television. Won�t you join me now as together we visit some of NBC�s most popular shows, and the episodes that dealt with drag.
Third Rock From the Sun - Easily one of the funniest shows on television this year, 3rd Rock has quickly become a cult favorite with many people. This show has had not one, not two, but three episodes dealing with cross-dressing and/or the transgendered. In one episode, Dick dresses as a woman in order to infiltrate Mary's women's group. He is jealous that Mary has an activity that excludes him, so being the egotistical alien that he is, he devised a way to butt in. He chooses a tasteful ensemble, with a striped skirt because "stripes are slimming." At the women's group, Mary realizes that ithe new girl is really Dick. She is angry with him, but at the end of the meeting she and Dick make up, and kiss in front of the other women in the group (who, with the exception of Nina, do not know that this woman is Dick in disguise). "I knew it," Judith, Mary and Dick's deadpan colleague, said knowingly, inferring that they suspected Dr. Albright of being a lesbian.
The second episode that deals with drag involves Harry, the simple-minded alien who is addicted to television and goes through life with his eyes closed. In this episode he accidently gives Mrs. Dubcek, the landlady, some of the sleeping potion Tommy made for his school's production of "Romeo and Juliet," (Harry thought it was juice). Mrs. Dubcek falls into a sound sleep, just as company arrives at her apartment. Panicking, the other aliens decide that Harry must impersonate her while her company, which includes Mrs. Dubcek's ex-fiance Jimmy, is there. Sally and Tommy stall the company while Dick makes up Harry in the bathroom. They tell the company that Mrs. Dubcek hasn't been the same since the "accident," and hasn't been taking her estrogen therapy. When he emerges from the bathroom, Harry is wearing Mrs. Dubcek's leopard-print ensemble with black capri leggings and imitating her speech patterns. Her ex-fiance proclaims that he still loves her and passionately kisses Harry. Surprised at first, Harry then jumps into Jimmy's arms. Dick has to pry them apart. Harry then goes back to Mrs. Dubcek's apartment with the company while the other aliens figure out what to do about the real Mrs. Dubcek. As he is leaving Harry tells Dick "Manhandle me again and you'll answer to Jimmy!"
These two episodes dealt with the men in the show cross-dressing, with comical and unexpected results. However, one of the funniest episodes this season was the one where Sally, the alien in a woman�s body, was mistaken for a drag queen. Sally and Harry inadvertently walk into a drag bar while looking for a place to get change for the parking meter. When a drag queen in the bar tells her she looks just like a real woman, Sally replies �That was the look I was going for, although I�m having a hard time with the mood swings.� The drag queen replies �Way to commit, girl!� At the bar Sally meets the man of her dreams. The only problem is, he�s gay. Not only is Sally unaware of this, but her new boyfriend thinks that Sally is a man in drag. The fact that she�s stronger than he is and ends up leading whenever they dance together reinforces his mistaken belief. Only when her boyfriend plays fashion consultant and makes her change her clothes does he realize that Sally really is a woman. He runs out of the room, shocked, then sadly leaves her. It is only then that it dawns on a devestated Sally that some men are interested in other men. �Oh, wow,� is all she could say.
Suddenly Susan - When Luis�s gay brother comes to visit, Susan and her friends at the magazine accompany them to a country and western gay bar. While in the bar a man comes up to Susan and says �That�s the most convincing drag I�ve ever seen.� Susan replies �I don�t mean to disappoint you but I really am a woman.� �Please, � the man replies. �With those shoulders?� Luis becomes angry that Susan was insulted and hits the man. Then Susan gets mad at Luis for hitting the man and the man, fearful that Susan could beat him up, backs off.The drag mayhem continues on this show with an episode from the 1997-98 season. Tony Curtis, who first donned a dress in the fabulous movie "Some Like It Hot," plays a successful sporting-goods store owner who is interested in Susan's recently-widowed grandmother. But a chance encounter one day in a boutique reveals to Susan that her grandmother's perfect gentleman likes to dress as a woman. The funniest scene is when Tony Curtis tries to explain to Nana his reason for cross-dressing: "You like to wear pants, I like to wear panties - alot." Kudos to Tony Curtis for proving that, some 40 years later, he still looks great in a dress!
Wings - Helen and Brian, on a trip to New York City to see the hit play �Rent,� lose all their money in one of those sidewalk shell game cons. They find a drag bar that is having a contest for the best drag, with a cash prize. In order to try to win the money to get back home, Brian enters a reluctant Helen in the contest, passing her off as a man. Brian is sure that Helen, as a real woman, is a shoo-in to win the drag contest. But the drag queen hostess looks Helen over and assesses that she needs a little help. Pleased with the project, the drag queen gushes �I�m going to make you a diva.� Once made over, Helen, christened �Helena Handbasket,� walks the runway to techno music wearing a glitzy costume, sparkly tights and contrasting lipliner. After strutting her funky stuff, Helen loses the contest to a man in drag. Eventually Brian and Helen get back home.
Boston Common - I was really disappointed when this show was cancelled. I felt the cast was excellent and the show really funny. In one episode, Boyd�s car conks out on him and he has to take it to a garage. The mechanic at the garage turns out to be a post-operative transsexual with a Louise Brooks bob, heavy eye makeup, and a five-o�clock shadow, which in one scene he/she is dilligently shaving with an electric razor. In reality this would be unnecessary as hormone treatments would inhibit stubble, but the sight gag was pretty funny, though it perpetuated the misinformed stereotype of transsexuals. In one scene the garage owner, the transsexual�s father, is painting out the �and son� part of his business�s name on the garage�s sign. The transsexual mechanic is giving Boyd a hard time with his car, but all is settled when the mechanic takes a liking to the hapless Leonard. Boyd sets up the mechanic on a date with the unsuspecting Leonard to get his car back on time. In the end Boyd, Joy, Leonard and the mechanic drive off together in Boyd's car on a double date. Only then does it dawn on Leonard that something is "different" about his date.
NewsRadio Dave Foley, the star of the show, found fame as one of the Kids in the Hall, the Canadian comedy show which ran on HBO in the US for five years. One of the funniest things about the Kids in the Hall was that, being an all-male cast, they dressed in drag for the women�s roles. Foley by far made the most beautiful woman out of the cast members. But with his success in NewsRadio, a mainstream network television show, Foley refused to do drag in the Kids� movie �Brain Candy,� to the disappointment of the rest of the cast as well as the troupe�s fans. But in October, Foley appeared in drag for NewRadio�s Halloween episode. To boost the staff�s enthusiasm for Halloween, Dave reluctantly agrees to come to Jimmy James� party in the most outrageous costume he could think of. To the staff�s surprise, Dave arrives in drag. Meanwhile Matthew, the office dork, is repeatedly mistaken for one of the Village People in his construction worker costume. This is unfortunate as last year his costume, �motorcycle enthusiast,� was mistaken for a gay biker. Dave, dressed in a short dress and blonde wig, comes in second in the radio station�s the Halloween contest, but only because first place went to the old woman that Bill McNeil had been spending time with at the party (who, as Bill finds out after he broke up with her, is really a hot young woman). Nelson�s girlfriend and fellow radio staff member Lisa is jealous of Dave in drag, because he is wearing her dress and looks better in her clothes than she does.�Please,� Dave tells her, �don�t hate me because I�m beautiful.�
The Single Guy - I was never crazy about this show, so I wasn�t disappointed when it was cancelled. Towards the end they added new characters to try to revamp the show, but to no avail.
Dan Cortese, of MTV and Burger King fame, joined the cast as Jonathan�s yuppy neighbor �Dan,� and Olivia D�abo joined as Jonathan�s friend Marie. In one episode Dan and Marie switch genders on a bet. Dan gets dressed up in drag and Marie dresses up as a man. But Dan gets a bit too involved in his new role. When a guy comes on to him too strongly and keeps looking at his chest, he tells him �I�m up here!� His beauty advice? �To keep wrinkles away, slice cucumbers, put them over your eyes and leave them on for the better part of Oprah, then - lashes to die for girl!�
Caroline In The City - Caroline is so sprightly, so perky, so - what�s the word I�m looking for - annoying! But Caroline In The City had an episode dealing with cross-dressing. Her slutty neighbor Annie becomes �Manny� to practice being a man, as she was auditioning to be Julie Andrew�s understudy in �Victor Victoria.� She picks up a woman to try to see how far she can go to convince people that she is a man. Ultimately, she not only loses the part, but she finds out that the girl she was �dating� was a lesbian who knew all along that Annie was a woman.
Men Behaving Badly - This show is loosely based on the British (and much better) television show of the same name. Oddly enough, this show too had an episode in which one of the characters cross-dressed (I see a pattern here, no?). In this episode, Rob Schneider�s character Jamie, a photographer, wins an award from a woman�s group for his photograph of a jogger running past two overweight women sitting on a bench. The group sees the photograph as a statement against the standardized ideals of beauty which a male-oriented society imposes on women. Unfortunately, Jaimie only sees the photo as two fat chicks and a thin one. When Jamie learns that the group is honoring him because they think he is a woman (his name is unisex), he decides to dress up as a woman to accept the cash prize. He comes out of his room the night of the event in a short little red dress and a Louise Brooks bob (borrowed from Boston Common�s mechanic, or perhaps just the NBC wardrobe department?) At the awards ceremony when Jamie goes up to accept his award, the other women in the group think he is a woman. The problem is that the group is a lesbian organization, and they think Jamie the woman is attractive. �She looks just like k.d. Lang,� gushes one woman. In the end he gets lucky with this woman and brings her home. But she runs out of his bedroom in a fit of rage when she finds out that he is really a man.
Fired Up - This show, a mid-season replacement for the 1996-97 season, was renewed for Fall 1997. It is groundbreaking in that it features an openly gay, cross-dressing man as a recurring character. Ashley, the gay son of crusty bar owner Frank, appeared in an episode last season, and seems to be a regular on the show this year. In the season's premiere, Ashley has made his debut on the New York stage as a female impersonator. Unfortunately, the critics pan him and he gives up his career, opting instead to be a bartender in his dad's establishment. However, Ashley is unhappy. His father, who despite his appearance and gruff manner is very supportive of his son, goes to his son's idol, a famous female impersonator, for advice. The female impersonator goes to the bar and inspires Ashley to continue his career in drag. While coaching him, he tells him that "being a drag queen is no place for sissies." Ashley repeats this line while doing a Katherine Hepburn impersonation and is inspired to continue. I think this show should be lauded for showing a parent who is supportive of his child's homosexuality. In the ending scene Ashley, dressed as Nora Desmond, leaves the bar arm-in-arm with his father on the way to his show.
Frasier - Even the dignified Frasier is not immune to drag humour. In one episode we learn that Daphne has a transvestite Uncle Jackie who lives in California. In another episode from a few seasons ago, Frasier and Roz are in the radio control booth. Roz has her bridesmaid dress on a hanger, an ugly pale green ruffly thing. She talks about giving it to charity after the wedding. Frasier tells her that it would make "some Irish drag queen very happy." Later in the episode, Roz includes the dress in a box of trash and gives it to her building's superintendent. Outside her apartment, the super looks in the box and gleefully takes the dress out. The closing credits of the episode show Roz walking down the street. Her super walks by her in her green dress, and wearing a long red wig. Roz, surprised, stops and stares as he walks past. And in an episode from last season, Frasier walks into his apartment one day to find his father�s home health-care worker Daphne on the phone, making restaurant reservations in an American accent with a husky voice. �What are you doing?� Frasier asks. �I�m practicing my American,� Daphne replies. Frasier responds in his smooth manner: �Who was your tutor, a drag queen?�
Working - I don't really watch this show, as I'm not too crazy about it, but a commercial for it showed that this show, also new for the 1997-98 season, is using the tried-and-true method of cross-dressing humour. It involved a male co-worker who turns out to be a woman in disguise, and in turn Fred Savage's character is in drag.
Veronica's Closet - with Kirstie Alley's diva wardrobe, this new show for 1997-98 is a natural for some drag humour. In one draglicious episode, her character Veronica Chase is dismayed to see that a local television performer (played by a fabulous Jeffrey Karen Dior[!]) is doing a sendup of her. Veronica is upset with "Moronica Chaste," but her friend Olive loves the show. Nevertheless they go down to the studio to try to talk to the drag queen. It turns out that "Moronica", whose real name is Dennis, idolizes Veronica and promises not to make fun of her anymore. "Well I don't know," Veronica says with uncertainty. "You're still calling me Moronica." Olive then convinces Veronica to reveal a very personal story about herself when she was a child, which Moronica then proceeds to make fun of on the air. Watching the show, Veronica is upset, but Olive, always a fan of the show, thinks it's funny. That is, until "Moronica's" friend "Olive Loaf" enters the picture and together they devour a loaf of bread. "We are shutting that freak down!" Olive suddenly decides. A battle ensues, with 25 drag queens protesting outside of Veronica's latest fashion show "They are angry and they are fabulous!" Olive, ever the drag hag, exclaims). Veronica then discovers Moronica has snuck into the show. But then Veronica hurts herself in a fight with a kleptomaniac supermodel, and Moronica saves the day by stepping in to replace Veronica for the show's finale. Fooling the press, Moronica descends from a giant pink brassiere to the delight of the crowd, and it ends happily ever after.
Mimi, Queen of the Dessert
In the 1997-98 season, we see for the first time that Drew has a brother. It is the episode in which his friends are throwing him a bachelor party. Drew's parents have just come to town and they are expecting his brother to meet them at Drew's house. When his brother shows up, to the surprise of everyone (except his father, who is in the bathroom and wouldn't understand anyway), his brother arrives in drag, wearing a fashionable coat and suit ensemble. Drew and his mother convince the brother not to tell their father, and to show up at the party dressed as a man. Later at the bachelor party, which turns out to be a fiasco as Drew tells his father that his engagement is off, the obligatory giant cake is wheeled out. Expecting a stripper, everyone is surprised, especially Drew's dad, to see his brother pop out. "I'm out and I want the whole world to know!" he exclaims.
And kudos to the Fox Network, whose short-lived television series Ask Harriet featured a main character in drag. Though the character was a straight male who dressed in drag to secure a job as an advice columnist after losing his job as a sportswriter, the drag humour was not vicious or homophobic. As Harriet, the main character had a really fabulous wardrobe, and the actor (I can't recall his name - sorry) when in drag had the dignity and grace of Patrick Swayze's Vita La Boheme from To Wong Foo With Love Julie Newmar. Though the show has fallen by the wayside, it nevertheless brought television viewers the first main character in drag since the 1980s show "Bosom Buddies."
So wigs off to the television networks that gave us these hysterical episodes about drag. Now that the major television networks devoted several episodes to drag queens, what�s next? How about a sitcom about a drag queen? Maybe �Queen for a Day� starring RuPaul. Or perhaps �Miss Guy, Private Eye.� Hey NBC, are you listening?
It also looks like America's number-two network is following in the footsteps of the ratings leader. As if scoring a major coupe with lesbianism isn't enough, ABC's The Drew Carey Show aired an episode which paid tribute to drag. We all know that Drew's secretary Mimi looks like a drag queen anyway (but I just love her)! She has been the butt of several jokes regarding her liberal use of makeup and her unusual taste in clothes. In one episode Drew was carpooling with Mimi. She was driving so slow that he referred to her car as "the pace car for Wigstock." But the season finale, which aired on May 14, 1997, went all-out and did a wonderful "drag showdown" dance number. In this episode, cleverly titled "New York and Queens," Drew and his friends Kate, Oswald and Lewis get dressed up like the characters from the Rocky Horror Picture Show to go to the midnight screening. When they arrive at the theater they are shocked to see that Rocky Horror has been replaced by Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Even more shocking is that among the crowd dressed up to see the movie is Mimi, that other guy from the car pool, and their boss Mr. Wick (wearing a Hedda Lettuce flowered headdress). "Your drag is old," Mr. Wick tells them. "Our drag is new." A mock showdown dance-number ensues as the music cuts between "Time Warp" and "Shake Your Groove Thing." The crowd then flees as the police come to break it up. Mimi and Drew are arrested and driven away in the police van. The Drew Carrey Show is very cutting-edge in the fact that they use well-choreographed dance numbers that give interest to the show. The opening scen e for every episode, featuring Drew's day at work to "It's a Five O'Clock World", was originally just an one-episode dance sequence. The dueling drag sequence was also very well done and enjoyable. Not only was it sympathetic to drag, it was actually a tribute to it. In the end, the viewer can see two drag queens "fleeing" the scene hand-in-hand as the police van takes Drew and Mimi away. This was a really cute touch, and something a network television show would not have shown even ten years ago.
