"The Facts of Life" Mentioned on VH1's "SuperSecret TV Formulas"

[Impressions]

Jo was mentioned in VH1's new series "SuperSecret TV Formulas". She was mentioned in a segment called "Gay, But Not Gay", Liz Winstead co-creator of The Daily Show quotes "Speaking of ambiguous gay characters, Jo on "Facts of Life"." With that said, they showed a clip from the episode "The New Girl Part 1" where Natalie and Blair meet Jo for the very first time, Jo having her helmet and jean jacket on, both of them assuming that she (Jo) is a 'he' because of her tomboy image, until she takes off her helmet.

[Hershey]

Yup...saw it and i think its so stupid that ppl thought her character wuz gay cuz she had BF's and she got married.

[MandieR1980]

Yup I saw that, I hate that crap who cares if someone is gay or not I find that whole part an insult even though I'm not gay myself. I never thought Jo was gay ever.

[jayman75]

Originally posted by Hershey
Yup...saw it and i think its so stupid that ppl thought her character wuz gay cuz she had BF's and she got married.

So was Anne Heche... Then she met Ellen.

At first, Jo was more butch than any character on the show. Since there was no "Will and Grace" or any gay characters on TV (except Billy Crystal on Soap), it was the stereotypical gay persona of a woman.

There's my two cents. Someone needs to make a smilie with the face throwing out two pennies... that would be cool.

[Dean Winchester]

Originally posted by Hershey
Yup...saw it and i think its so stupid that ppl thought her character wuz gay cuz she had BF's and she got married.

yea, but you have to realize in the 80's, there was no Ellen Degeneres or Rosie O'Donnell figure on television for lesbians to identify with. I know plenty of lesbians in their 30's who will admit that Jo was their fave FOL character because at the time, she was the closest thing to a lesbian character that was on national television. Same with the Cagney And Lacey characters, I know a lot of 30-something lesbians who adored that show, while both ladies were straight, they were still more "manly", "butch" or whatever than the typical female on tv at the time.