« Gay Ugandan Community Steps Forward in Plea for Human Rights |
Main
| Astronomers Discover Star with Comet-like Tail »
08/17/2007
Cold Case to Re-Air Episode About Gay Cop
"Forever Blue", the much-lauded Cold Case episode that aired way back in December, is being rebroadcast this Sunday at 9pm.
Here's a little preview:
(image source)
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 3:20 PM EST by Andy in Law Enforcement, News, Television | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
I suppose anything that helps move the agenda along is a good thing. But just like the "As The World Turns" story, this is about a guy who is conflicted because of his homosexuality. It is time for mainstream stories about gay people who are happy they are gay. And they really pussied out on not having a kiss, but instead did that idiotic had holding shot. Jeez how lame!
Posted by: no kissing please | Aug 17, 2007 3:36:05 PM
uh...what 'agenda'?
as for a drama with people who are happy and in love, it doesn't really make for a good story line...there always has to be something for the lovers to struggle against, otherwise it's boring.
Posted by: peterparker | Aug 17, 2007 3:45:03 PM
This was an amazing episode, well worth watching and recommending to anyone--Except to Brokeback Mountain haters. It's almost a direct copy of the general themes and tone of BBM.
What's bad about it? It's a gay love story tragedy, and an exceedingly sentimental one at that. What's great about it? It proclaims gay love is just as real, true and holy as straight love, and it does so in ways that will touch the hearts of most of its audience.
Posted by: adamblast | Aug 17, 2007 3:53:35 PM
Regarding "no kissing please"'s complaint that "they really pussied out on not having a kiss, but instead did that idiotic had holding shot:" I have never seen an episode of "Cold Case," not even this one, but even I know that it did have a kissing scene for those two characters, and (for CBS) a fairly passionate one at that (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A6uS49CfjE). I would also like to register my disgust with your implication that cowardice and homophobia are somehow synonymous with having female genitalia.
Posted by: Thomasina | Aug 17, 2007 4:08:10 PM
I watched this clip twice and though the acting may be slightly obvious I thought it was quite inspired and pretty sexy! The hand thing! Cheesy but I totally fell for that slight tremble.
Posted by: Scott | Aug 17, 2007 4:13:41 PM
Yes there is a kiss; in part 4 of the YouTube links.
You have to see the entire episode of which you can find on YouTube of course broken into little pieces. The links are below to each of the 8 parts. Just in case you can not watch it on TV.
There are lots of stories in the world some happy and some sad. I do agree that I would prefer to see more happy ending gay stories as it would send a message of hope and respect of the love gay men do share.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGlWzUs_570
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMTTM_LTjBg
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya61wkF1bQc
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLvEr3-orFk
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNZCZGFtFQQ
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-TdghSe5wA
Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcq3EH6Uo9Y
Part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0baP2cG16O0
Click on my name and check out my blog:)
Posted by: Charles | Aug 17, 2007 4:21:18 PM
I caught this episode by accident when it first aired. I had no idea the characters were going in that direction and was very surprised to see it on network TV. There is in fact a kissing scene, which again I was very surprised by. On the whole it's a very good episode because although it is tragic, these characters are living in the 50's and play the subject just as you would expect people living in that time to. Homo's that want to get a upitty because the story doesn't go the way they think it should need to LIGHTEN THE FUCK UP! Just like the cowboys, these guys weren't going to just pack up and move to West Hollywood, that wasn't their story. It was actually told pretty well for TV, considering that most people watching probably weren't expecting to see that subject matter and wouldn't have chosen to had they known. The fact that it is airing again says a lot about changing attitudes even thought there is still a long way to go. Even within the gay community.
Posted by: JR | Aug 17, 2007 4:34:02 PM
STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!
UNLESS YOU CANNOT GET "COLD CASE" ON YOUR TV BECAUSE OF WHERE YOU LIVE PLEASE DO NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT WATCH THIS CHOPPED INTO BITS AND SHRUNK TO THE KEYHOLE-SIZED YOU TUBE WINDOW. TRUST ME ON THIS.
And, sorry, "No [Serious Thinking] Please," but if you could put down the glass of bitters for a moment you would acknowledge that 1. virtually everyone is conflicted about being gay initially, and 2. that [trying not to spoil it entirely for those who haven't seen it—which I urge anyone else thinking of posting consider] the resolution of the episode isn't like you say.
And its kiss is the hottest one on network TV I've ever seen, including "Brothers & Sisters."
Really happy you're on the fan train with me for this, Adam, but as much as I luv BBM, it's far from a copy. Ennis & Jack met as teenagers while sheepherding. These cops are in their mid 20s at least. E & J both end up married. One of these remains single.
But the cost of denying who we are and who we love is the common denominator, and, by TV standards, "Forever Blue" is a brilliantly done as BBM. Even better than the earlier "Cold Case" episode about the gay baseball player. They've also done episodes about an interracial butch/femme lesbian couple in the 30s.
So why did SAAD gave the crown to the network that serves its viewers a sociopathic gay teen and a child molester?
Posted by: Leland Frances | Aug 17, 2007 4:35:27 PM
Hey, this is Cold Case. It's a show about unsolved murders. Someone has to die in an unpleasant way for a rather unpleasant reason. Almost every gay episode of this show has involved a killer who was uncomfortable about someone's (perhaps even their own) homosexuality or gender expression. Just the way it goes. Happy gay relationships don't make for good crime drama, though I challenge anyone to come up with a way that it might. Even the interracial lesbian episode was about a conflicted white woman leaving her black butch girlfriend to drown at the bottom of a river, running off to New York and marrying a man to get rid of her lesbianism.
Posted by: Jerry | Aug 17, 2007 4:45:42 PM
I saw the original airing and was blown away by the story and the sensitivity with which it was presented. I had no complaints whatsoever.
I encourage everyone to catch it when it re-airs Sunday night.
Posted by: Zeke | Aug 17, 2007 4:49:26 PM
The DVR has been set and I'm not missing this a second time.
Posted by: lexxicuss | Aug 17, 2007 5:42:06 PM
It's a very sweet episode, ripped from the pages of BBM ("inspired by..." would be the euphemism of choice), but with an all too short 40 minutes running time. It's been easy to find (ah-hem) for those familiar with torrents, even in hi-def. One thing they do not really paint is a picture of the state of the marriage of the one cop--it seems fine until Coop shows up--there's no way of knowing. Get rid of the marriage and it would have been a really good episode.
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Aug 17, 2007 5:45:37 PM
Ok, did I say "no complaints"?
ANON just reminded me that I actually did have one complaint (surprise, surprise). Like ANON, I have an issue with all of these shows, movies, stories that seem to portray a scenario where happily married, seemingly heterosexual men are lured from their happy lives and happy marriages by home-wrecker gay men. They never seem to make it clear that these guys didn't just turn gay when they met their male love interest. That plays right into the "family values" argument that gays: 1) choose to be gay 2) can turn straight people gay 3) are predatory (especially of good, married, heterosexual men), 4) seek to destroy marriage and families and 5) tragedy always befalls married men who "turn" gay.
These messages came through loud and clear in BB Mountain and in this episode, even if those messages weren’t intended. The fundamentalist and homophobes jumped all over it.
Other than THAT one little thing I had no criticisms. :)
Posted by: Zeke | Aug 17, 2007 6:05:17 PM
Maybe I have been single for far too long and feeling a little lonely, but I was moved by their little scene. It wasn't Hemmingway, but I was impressed.
Or maybe I just thought Jimmy was hot and I'd like to hit that?
I dunno.
Posted by: Marco | Aug 17, 2007 6:35:41 PM
Hey Leland, didnt you just trash CBS in the big brother thread for caring nothing about ratings and airing racist/homophobic/anti-semite rantings???..and in this thread you're saying that they deserve the GLAAD award instead of ABC? do you have multiple personality disorder or what?
Posted by: kitkats99 | Aug 17, 2007 6:45:48 PM
No, I have the ability to look below the surface.
In this case, no pun intended, "Big Brother" is an in-house CBS-produced show, with crossover promotion with their "Early Morning Show" franchise, and hosted by the head of the network's wife. So, yes, I think they can be trashed for how they generate their money more directly while praised for broadcasting a gay-friendly show produced by someone else.
And, as much as I loathe it and it doesn't excuse it, the worst bigotry on BB is not broadcast primetime the way the homophobia generated crap on "Desperate Housewives" is.
Posted by: Leland Frances | Aug 17, 2007 8:07:37 PM
So the clip was difficult for me...I lived it. It is a lot like watching re-runs of thirty-something when you are actually 35. Very surreal!
Anyway, I missed the original, but have tivo set for Sunday. I know what it feels like to be married with kids and feel the overwhelming responsibility to NOT walk out on that. However, I had to eventually be true to myself. While I am happy now, and have the wonderful luck to be a full time parent who's kids mom is my best friend, it was the hardest time of my life!!! A time that I would not wish upon my greatest enemy. I had to decide, one day at 3am, that being a gay dad was better than being a dead one. I put the gun away and began living. My only hope is that one day, NO gay man will marry a woman. It hurts everyone too much!
Posted by: RB | Aug 17, 2007 8:39:29 PM
I for one am REALLY glad you came out the other side OK RB my friend.
I have no doubt that your courageously sharing your very personal story will spare, and probably has already spared, others from making the same mistakes you made. I salute you for passing on the lessons that you've learned the hard way in the hopes of helping others to avoid unnecessary fear, shame and pain.
They say, that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I think you're living proof that that's true.
Posted by: Zeke | Aug 17, 2007 10:09:01 PM
Wow, RB, I don't think you've mentioned that before. That sounded pretty tough. If Clay doesn't marry, maybe there's hope...
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Aug 17, 2007 11:16:40 PM
"And the greatest of these is love."
Happy for you, RB!
Leland
Posted by: Leland Frances | Aug 18, 2007 1:42:28 AM
Brokeback Mountain was not even close to being the first time a gay love was tragically ended not on film, not on novels, not on script. So stop implying it was original or groundbreaking or anything. It's a mistake just as stupid as saying : oh, that's so
The Lion King instead of saying that's so Hamlet! History does span further than your ADD minds allows you to.
Posted by: Daniel | Aug 18, 2007 1:43:37 AM
Did I miss something here Daniel?
Who here said BBM was the first time gay love was tragically ended in film, in novels or on script?
I would suggest that the biblical story of King David and Jonathan would be one of the first recorded stories that would fit the bill; and that would pre-date even Shakespeare by a few thousand years.
Posted by: Zeke | Aug 18, 2007 9:04:37 AM
Zeke: I would say the marriages in BBM were portrayed as broken when the two boys got back together, so it's clear in the film that Jack was not a house wrecker per se. I'll admit people looking for reasons to dislike the film and Jack might not see what was really going on or admit to it though. Can't please everyone...
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Aug 18, 2007 12:14:33 PM
I live in a rural area and watch WAY too much Cold Case and other shows of its ilk. Yes, gay storylines on the broadcast networks have gotten a lot more realistic which is hardly surprising considering all the gay talent behind the cameras, but all these crime/cop/law dramas have the same BIG problem: Gay characters are the victims or the perpetrators ONLY. Never the recurring hero, crimefighter or protector of society. Never. Period. Unease with gay people is always included and usually tolerated or dismissed. In the rare instance when there is a gay recurring character, they never have a private life. (mirroring, perhaps, the host's discomfort when a gay celeb is on Leno...)
In these dramas, straight characters are developed: heterosexuals all have marriage issues, boyfriend/girlfriend crises, alcoholic parents, children who are gay, a mentally challenged estranged wife, affairs with the hot DA, whatever. In the rare instance of a gay character being in a lead role, their gayness isn't even in the script until they are canned from the show. (Law and Order.) And the hot ones are shown only as asexual and you need gaydar to spot 'em. (CSI).
The broadcast networks' primetime law dramas come from two main sources: Jerry Bruckheimer and Dick Wolf. These two men are responsible for the omission and therefore the misrepresentation of gay Americans to a wide, broadcast audience.
Posted by: Teddy | Aug 18, 2007 4:51:55 PM
How come no gay media talk about "the Wire" which has some of the most interesting, well-developed gay characters on any american tv show?
Posted by: gwyneth cornrow | Aug 19, 2007 10:31:14 AM