Welcome to your weekend streaming recommendations, a.k.a. the Weekend Watch, a handy guide to the queerest film and TV content that’s just a click away!
Believe it or not, young queers, there was a time where TV didn’t feature foot and armpit play. Long before Fellow Travelers revolutionized gay sex on the small screen, these conventional mainstream series broke ground with their LGBTQ content. And we’re not even talking about premium cable shows like Queer As Folk—wholesome shows like Northern Exposure led the pack in the early ’90s.
Check out these series from the “before times” to stream this weekend.
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My So-Called Life
This beloved one-season wonder—starring young Claire Danes, Jared Leto, and out actor Wilson Cruz—is a coming-of-age teen drama from 1995 fueled by angst and kids that don’t quite fit in. Among them is Cruz’s Rickie Vasquez, an out queer kid from a broken home. Rickie doesn’t find love over the course of the show’s 19 episodes, but his personal struggles are highlighted, most notably in My So-Called Life’s Christmas special, “So-Called Angels,” which sees Rickie booted from his house.
Now streaming on Hulu. Available to purchase digitally on Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, and Apple TV.
Northern Exposure
This charming series, which ran from 1990-1995, asks: What if Twin Peaks was just a nice little show about a quirky town devoid of murder and nightmare fuel? The show stars Rob Morrow as Joel Fleischman, a New York doctor who moves to Cicely, Alaska to open a medical practice. Filled with a quirky ensemble cast, Northern Exposure often gets weird but never veers into Twin Peaks’ upsetting imagery or mystery. Northern Exposure featured a landmark gay wedding between lovely B&B-owning couple Erick (Don McManus) and Ronald (Doug Ballard), the second-ever gay marriage on primetime TV (the first was on the sitcom Roc). Check out the wedding episode “I Feel The Earth Move.”
Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Joss Whedon may have turned out to be just another problematic Hollywood creator who couldn’t keep it in his pants, but his legendary series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, which ran from 1997-2003, is often cited as a gay awakening for many! The show was queer-coded, but also had a great coming-out story for Willow (Alyson Hannigan), who eventually fell in love with Tara (Amber Benson). Check out their first kiss in the season 5 episode “The Body.”
Now streaming on Hulu. Available to rent digitally on Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, Apple TV, and Microsoft Store.
Dawson’s Creek
From 1998 to 2003, Kevin Williamson’s teen drama told the story of a group of teens in Capeside, Massachusetts, including Dawson (James Van Der Beek), Pacey (Joshua Jackson), Joey (Katie Holmes), Jen (Michelle Williams), and Jack (Kerr Smith). Jack, a jock, eventually comes out of the closet and learns to reconcile his hyper-masculine identity with being gay. In the season 3 finale, “True Love,” Jack kisses Ethan (Adam Kaufman) in one TV’s first same-sex kisses.
Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Hulu.
The Kicker…
In this classic Saturday Night Live clip from 1998, Seinfeld meets Buffy The Vampire Slayer in an insane mashup.
ZzBomb
Kerr Smith, Jonathan Brandis, and Rider Strong were my gay awakening celebrity crushes in the 90’s.
Who were yours?
xnetminder
I remember watching that episode even tho I wasn’t an avid Creek viewer and despite Kerr Smith’s response to an interviewer’s question whether “the kiss” would be repeated in further episodes: I’m sure viewers do not want to see two guys kissing all the time. I’m paraphrasing but that’s the gist of it.