Alternate Channels: Queer Images on 20th-Century TV

by Steven Capsuto

Alternate Channels explores the fight for lesbian and gay visibility on 20th-century American television, as gay activists faced off with powerful, often vicious "traditional values" crusaders, with TV executives caught in the crossfire. It documents countless programs, characters, and political skirmishes, examining lesbian and gay portrayals and the few pioneering depictions of bisexual and trans people. The first edition was a semifinalist for what is now the Stonewall Book Award and has been widely used in universities. This revised edition, fact-checked from scratch, reinstates material that the original publisher cut and adds about 100 photos of TV shows from the early days to the year 2000. The author built this account of events from archival materials, a thousand broadcast recordings, and his interviews with showrunners, network and studio executives, and early activists.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, LGBT, Tv, Queer, Pop Culture

625 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2000

Reviews

[Joana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such an interesting book!! I really like getting to read the development and change in representation through the years, and to have in mind how far we've come but also how much we still need to go and how some of the conversations we're still having are the same. It's curious to learn where some of the stereotypes started and how some of them grew to change their effect on people, to see how we spoke of identities and people changed, and to see the impact characters and storylines have had on people - this book marks a story of queer generations, their icons and lack of them.
The book is also set on its own time, which the author addresses in this revisited edition, but the language and expectations used are those of the 90's, which means not always are things as we would talk about them today, but that's also the point here. The book itself talks about changing meanings and words, like of the retaking of the word "queer", which felt incredibly personal, since I, myself, struggled with it being used happily and not tainted as a slur, and nowadays is the word I'm most comfortable for myself.
But truly our history is important, and as someone who loves tv, who grew as a queer person from seeing (and mostly imagining - I'm big headcanons) queer stories, it's good to see where we come from, and our journey, and truly reading this at the TV time of Our Flag Means Death which gave us happy queer love and joy and of Killing Eve, that I didn't even watch but it's hard to ignore the finale - there's really a look at how things have changed and how they've fallen into new painful mistakes.

[Gus Casals · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoyed Visible, the series on the apple service, this is the perfect companion piece, going deeper and further on the subject of gay and lesbian representation on American TV. The book cuts off at 1999, but far from seeming too little, it actually leaves you craving for a sequel for the 2000s and beyond.

[Marsha Altman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think there exists a more thorough history of the representation of queer people on television, show by show, through the year 1999. I can't give it 5 stars just because I found it a little overwhelming, but I probably should have. If you need to start on this topic, this is probably where to start, but try to get the edition that doesn't have some of pages in the wrong order.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first became aware of this book due to a mention on a Matt Baume video on Barney Miller. That set my expectations for lots of fun stories, whereas the book was much more academic. That's fine that it is, but I had to adjust expectations.

It really is what the title says. Chapters cover different time periods, mostly chronologically, and what representation there was, and what was missing. As much fluctuation as there has been, and as much as I wouldn't have expected to know, once we got into the time period where I was alive, a lot of it was very familiar. Some of the portrayals were big news, but there are some I caught mainly through luck.

The book was published in 2000, and I was thinking at various times how he would feel about things that happened after, like complaints about killing your gays with The 100 and Killing Eve, and lots of things about Supernatural, but over the flow of the book you see that it isn't surprising. There is always that push back against any progress, like the current outrage against drag queens and similar attempts to roll back accurate accounts of race in US history. But there is also a reminder of the importance of fighting that push.

Capsuto's interest goes back to working a suicide line, and hearing from a teen that "I only know what I see on TV."

Representation matters.

[Cynthia Bemis Abrams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Capsuto provides insightful and well-researched context to the history of how LGBTQ was depicted on television since its earliest days. This is my go-to when conducting specific research for my podcast, Advanced TV Herstory. Capsuto's major update of his original 2000 version makes this an essential reference book for anyone pursuing gender studies, media studies, TV and social justice. Unparalleled!

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend this very in-depth book- television’s companion to The Celluloid Closet- to anyone interested in the history of queer censorship and representation on the small screen, the progress that’s been made, and how.

[Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating how gay activism and television together have completely changed all our lives. For a gay American, it reads like a sort of cultural autobiography, and very well-written and researched it is.