Add me to the bitching about every couple wanting to have kids, or hell, every woman wanting to have kids. When Scully suddenly went baby-crazy I was so so sad. 
The gay couple on Brothers and Sisters have the big, jolly, well off, loving family that would just welcome with the openest of arms a little niece/nephew/grandchild. I think on some level it’s expected of them. otherwise, wouldn’t they be living in San Francisco or Manhattan? The gay couple on Desperate Housewives live in a house right in the midst of the families of Wisteria Lane. I don’t believe for a moment that they actually want a kid, but if they had one, they would blend in better with the families ( see, if I, as a young single woman had moved to a cosmopolitan Greenwich Village or San Fran, I would have blended in with MY neighbors. I wouldn’t have driven a mini-van, wore big white sneakers and mom jeans, and whined about the slim pickin’s as far as husband material. Fish out of water, etc.)
Well, fine. But don’t whine when you aren’t treated as being normal, and are ostracized for that fact.
It’s a good thing that they are portraying gay people as normal people. And normal people on TV want kids.
Because, like it or not, the majority of people want kids, and so they want to appeal to the widest demographic.
But can’t we (childfree by choice and gay couples) have even a handful of token representatives? I know that the majority of people breed (but not as large a majority as people think); that doesn’t mean that we don’t exist at all, as you would think if you went by tv.
You got Bob Newhart, back when he was a psychiatrist. He and his wife were a great childfree couple. There was no angst over them not being parents, and Bob Newhart threatened to walk if ever they tried to introduce them. There was one dream episode about his wife being pregnant, but that was it.
I would rather not be treated as ‘normal’ based on something that has nothing to do with reality. The reality is that about 20% of gay couples have kids and about 20-30% (depending on age group) of straight married couples do not.
Yipe, that seems (uncharacteristically) harsh of you, BigT. I don’t think you meant to say that gays who don’t want kids should expect to be ostracized and treated as abnormal!
Cat Whisperer I think I mentioned this in your pit thread, but you should check out the classic British sitcom Good Life, aka Good Neighbors in the US. It’s about two attractive upper-middle-class couples, neither of whom has kids and neither of whom even mentions them, except one very very brief reference as a joke in one episode. Also, and most importantly, it’s a great show.
The same reason so many gays on TV are thin gym-a-holic fashion and decorating gurus and professionals who live in hellacool apartments in big cities and (save for on Queer as Folk) are seldom seen doing “gay stuff” beyond an occasional kiss. I can’t think of any gay cliché Will & Grace didn’t use.
There was a memorable episode of Queer as Folk when Brian read Michael the riot act about acting straight and assured them he was never going to settle down, adopt kids, and try to impress people who couldn’t stand him. While a bit extreme, the older I get the more I see his point.
I can’t tell if you’re throwing me a bone or proving my point. 
Why is not wanting children weird? And why should someone be ostracized for what is a reasonable choice?
:dubious:
I respect someone who has deliberately chosen not to have children more than someone who sucks as a parent.
Both. You have a token, but that is about it.
Children, and wanting children are opportunities for drama, comedy, and general plot changes. A program which does not have them can’t rely on a great deal of the standard plots, so writers have to do something else. Not even Shakespeare liked coming up with his own plots.
Don’t forget King of Queens! heh.
Not wanting kids isn’t weird. Weird is your word. It’s not normal, either, though. And that’s what he said.
I don’t want kids, but I recognize that my choice isn’t normal.
Uh, no. Your choice may be different from the choice of the majority, but that doesn’t make it “not normal”.
If not wanting kids counts as “not normal”, then being gay is DEFINITELY not normal, because there are a lot more people who don’t want kids than people who are gay.
And Big T seemed to have no problem with the idea that being gay is normal:
“Not normal” means “abnormal”, “weird”, etc., not just “minority”. Are black people, left-handed people, red-headed people, and Jewish people also “not normal”? They’re all minorities.
And tv shows seem to be careful to represent all kinds of minorities on their shows (I would suggest that this contributes to normalizing minorities). I’d just like to see my own particular minority show up on tv once in a while (as a normal thing, not a pathology).
Uh, yes. The biological imperative to reproduce is universal, and anyone intentionally choosing to ignore it is most definitely abnormal.
Since when do you get to decide what’s “normal”? Our childless relationship is just as “normal” as anyone else’s . . . even more “normal” than many.
And why should “appealing to the widest demographic” mean mirroring them in every respect? Do people really like to watch people just like them?
I think there are a bunch of gay couples currently on TV that haven’t mentioned baby making too:
Nurse Jackie
US of Tara
Spartacus
Ugly Betty
Gossip Girl
Entourage (I think)
Caprica (specifically addressed in a recent episode)
Heroes
Greek
Torchwood
OTOH
Flashforward has a single lesbian mommy
Grey’s Anatomy has a lesbian couple fighting because one wants kids and the other doesn’t
Also, I notice a big trend in the last few years of middle aged single characters both hetero and homo wanting to raise a child by themselves…
I don’t watch any of those shows, but glad to hear of it.
These are the only shows I watch from your list, but I think all four are terrible examples.
Nurse Jackie: Who is in a gay relationship? There are several gay characters, but we haven’t seen anything about their personal lives, much less whether or not they want to have kids.
US of Tara: Please tell me you’re not talking about one of the main character’s alternate personalities, because that personality is heterosexual. And the woman s/he’s “cheating” on her husband with had only ever been het before she met Tara/Buck. The only other possibility I can think of is the young son who just came out of the closet two episodes ago. He’s what, 16? Stunner that he isn’t swimming in baby fever.
Spartacus: Of course two gay male slaves (gladiators) from 2000 years ago weren’t trying to adopt a baby.
Heroes: The only gay relationship I kind think of offhand is Claire, who is a freshman in college. Is there another one I’m forgetting?
Ditto.
I’m sure there’s a law out there (a corollary to Godwin, perhaps) that says that every message board / forum online must be populated with more childless atheistic homosexual-friendly leftists than any other place in society (FYI, before you rail, this describes me, leftist aside ;-).
Most people have kids, or want kids. If they didn’t, no childless people (straight or gay) would exist.
Like most childless people, I get pissed off at the child-friendly world at times. The co-workers who take off for their infinite soccer practices and stuff, the tax breaks, the cultural messages.
But then I remember: hey, we’re supposed to have kids. That’s the only reason we’re here.