Cutting the Cord, Raising the Bar

The phrase "as seen on TV" has never narrowed things down less effectively than it does today. And fittingly, LGBT representation has become one of the unmistakable signposts of the historically traditionalist medium's evolution.

These days, cutting the cord practically struts hand in hand with staring down outmoded labels. Survey the latest and forthcoming offerings from the network sitcom factories and you'll find yourself calf-deep in the retro stereotypes and homosocial panic that were tired decades ago. (You know, the first time The Odd Couple star Matthew Perry played an overly defensive bachelor.) But delve into the a la carte subscription-based alternatives, where even the lines separating comedy and drama are often blurred, and you'll find characters sidestepping cliches and dismantling them outright. Nowhere has this development been more pronounced than with the twin successes of Netflix's Orange Is the New Black and Amazon Prime's Transparent. Both shows prominently feature complex transgender characters, presenting their journeys with an unprecedented level of nuance and respect that, under any old sponsor-dependent model of mass circulation, would quickly get flagged as "too risky."

But Cindy Holland, Netflix's vice president of original content, recently told The Hollywood Reporterthat the phenomenal success of OITNB, the company's most popular original program, "proves there can be quite passionate and large audiences for content that on the surface isn't mainstream at all."

It's been 42 years since stations shielded viewers from reckoning with Maude Findlay's abortion, yet the pressure not to spook affiliates persists in network programming. Free from that pressure, the new premium experience promises no limits, previously the sole province of the HBOs of the world.

"What we are trying to do is create a really unique environment where the most gifted storytellers and creators feel empowered to take creative risks," Morgan Wandell, Amazon's head of drama development, told The Washington Post. "When you get it right, like Jill [Soloway] in Transparent, you get something special."

As always, the greater the number of choices people are presented with, the likelier it is that quality will rise to the top--the one silver lining of our gorgeously flawed consumer model. And it's a sunny new day with OITNB and Transparent serving as headliners, enticing new subscribers with each Emmy nomination and Golden Globe win, and proving that realness needn't be considered a niche market.