Writer & YouTuber, sharing stories of pop culture history. He/him.
I've moved to Bluesky: https://t.co/9CuLGobyWD
May 24, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
There's an extremely silly reason for this weird stand-too-close behavior that's not uncommon in pre-2000 TV shows, and once you notice it you can't help seeing it EVERYWHERE... 🧵 (1/6)
It's the aspect ratio. When TV was a boxier 4x3, actors were sometimes made to stand bizarrely close so they could fit in the frame. It was so common on TV, viewers (mostly) accepted it as normal, even though if someone did this IRL you'd be like "uhhh could you back up" (2/6)
Mar 28, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
So interesting to hear Nathan Lane remember how Robin Williams swooped in to protect Nathan from being outed before he was ready during the promo tour for The Birdcage in 1996. Here's the moment when it happened, and Nathan reflecting on it almost 30 years later:
The context is that Nathan was out to friends & family (and had been for years) but there was a big difference between than & talking about it in front of millions of strangers. So for awhile, he talked around the issue, like in this interview. But then...
Mar 24, 2023 • 12 tweets • 6 min read
This ep of All in the Family really is breathtaking -- a culmination of a 3-year (!) storyline involving a rare recurring queer character (!!) in the mid-70s (!!!). I got to interview Norman Lear about the making of those episodes & he talked about how proud he still is of them.
Lear saw the performer (Don McLean/Lori Shannon) at a drag show in San Francisco in 1974, and decided to put her on TV, essentially playing herself. Here's her introduction in 1975:
