Malcolm Gladwell

It was like the typical one would be you find out your 16-year-old son is gay, right? And so the whole family is left to deal with this intense problem. Another rule was no sex. So you can't ever see what this thing is about. It's always an abstraction. Oh, and then the last one was that the gay character cannot be the center of the narrative. They have to be peripheral to the narrative.

It was like the typical one would be you find out your 16-year-old son is gay, right? And so the whole family is left to deal with this intense problem. Another rule was no sex. So you can't ever see what this thing is about. It's always an abstraction. Oh, and then the last one was that the gay character cannot be the center of the narrative. They have to be peripheral to the narrative.

The narrative is about it. So, you know, you add these up and you get... You could watch a made-for-team movie that might be, on its face, might be quite sensitive and sympathetic to the gay character. But all of these rules are telling the audience that... This guy's off in the margins. He's on the fringes. He's incapable of participating fully in modern life. And there's a wonderful book.

The narrative is about it. So, you know, you add these up and you get... You could watch a made-for-team movie that might be, on its face, might be quite sensitive and sympathetic to the gay character. But all of these rules are telling the audience that... This guy's off in the margins. He's on the fringes. He's incapable of participating fully in modern life. And there's a wonderful book.

The narrative is about it. So, you know, you add these up and you get... You could watch a made-for-team movie that might be, on its face, might be quite sensitive and sympathetic to the gay character. But all of these rules are telling the audience that... This guy's off in the margins. He's on the fringes. He's incapable of participating fully in modern life. And there's a wonderful book.

This film scholar does a book where he looks at every single film from 1940 to 1975 or 1980 that had a gay character. And he just shows like every single one of them meets a bad end. They either are killed, commit suicide, end up in prison, or like every single one. There's like 48 characters and like every one of them.

This film scholar does a book where he looks at every single film from 1940 to 1975 or 1980 that had a gay character. And he just shows like every single one of them meets a bad end. They either are killed, commit suicide, end up in prison, or like every single one. There's like 48 characters and like every one of them.

This film scholar does a book where he looks at every single film from 1940 to 1975 or 1980 that had a gay character. And he just shows like every single one of them meets a bad end. They either are killed, commit suicide, end up in prison, or like every single one. There's like 48 characters and like every one of them.

And what happens with Will and Grace is that Will and Grace comes along and breaks every one of those rules. So Will's gayness is not a problem to be solved, right? Never. It's never perceived to be a problem. He's never, he's not seen in isolation.

And what happens with Will and Grace is that Will and Grace comes along and breaks every one of those rules. So Will's gayness is not a problem to be solved, right? Never. It's never perceived to be a problem. He's never, he's not seen in isolation.

And what happens with Will and Grace is that Will and Grace comes along and breaks every one of those rules. So Will's gayness is not a problem to be solved, right? Never. It's never perceived to be a problem. He's never, he's not seen in isolation.

He's not peripheral. He's not peripheral. He has Jack and he has boyfriends. He's part of a community. You know, go on and on and on. He's at the center of the show. He's not, and the effect of that, so if you're someone who's watched TV your whole life and all you've seen is gay characters in this very specific context where there's something deeply problematic about them,

He's not peripheral. He's not peripheral. He has Jack and he has boyfriends. He's part of a community. You know, go on and on and on. He's at the center of the show. He's not, and the effect of that, so if you're someone who's watched TV your whole life and all you've seen is gay characters in this very specific context where there's something deeply problematic about them,

He's not peripheral. He's not peripheral. He has Jack and he has boyfriends. He's part of a community. You know, go on and on and on. He's at the center of the show. He's not, and the effect of that, so if you're someone who's watched TV your whole life and all you've seen is gay characters in this very specific context where there's something deeply problematic about them,

And all of a sudden you're exposed to a show where there's a gay character and there's nothing, I mean, he has problems, but they're not problems related to his sexuality. He's just a neurotic, just another neurotic. He's like the rest of us. He's got problems, we all have, yeah. Living in an apartment in New York, which is what all sitcoms were about in those days, right?

And all of a sudden you're exposed to a show where there's a gay character and there's nothing, I mean, he has problems, but they're not problems related to his sexuality. He's just a neurotic, just another neurotic. He's like the rest of us. He's got problems, we all have, yeah. Living in an apartment in New York, which is what all sitcoms were about in those days, right?

And all of a sudden you're exposed to a show where there's a gay character and there's nothing, I mean, he has problems, but they're not problems related to his sexuality. He's just a neurotic, just another neurotic. He's like the rest of us. He's got problems, we all have, yeah. Living in an apartment in New York, which is what all sitcoms were about in those days, right?

So there's something with that show that is a revolutionary show. It completely rewrites the rules. I think it's always a fun experiment to say, what are the five most important television shows of the last 50 years? I think Will and Grace is like, I would put it, I don't know, second, third. I think it's ahead of Archie Bunker. They always say 60 minutes is one. I usually get three.

So there's something with that show that is a revolutionary show. It completely rewrites the rules. I think it's always a fun experiment to say, what are the five most important television shows of the last 50 years? I think Will and Grace is like, I would put it, I don't know, second, third. I think it's ahead of Archie Bunker. They always say 60 minutes is one. I usually get three.

So there's something with that show that is a revolutionary show. It completely rewrites the rules. I think it's always a fun experiment to say, what are the five most important television shows of the last 50 years? I think Will and Grace is like, I would put it, I don't know, second, third. I think it's ahead of Archie Bunker. They always say 60 minutes is one. I usually get three.