The short-lived series from Abby McEnany is that underdog show that, despite critical acclaim, not enough people watched (hence why Showtime canceled it after only two excellent seasons), but was a rare gem that found humor in the exhausting nightmare that is just trying to get through life. Queers In Crisis Going to Therapy is essentially “Work In Progress”. It’s a shame more people haven’t raved about “Veneno,” a show that should be hailed for its thrilling and sensitive take on both the messy and intimate details of a trans icon’s life. JEDET, Daniela Santiago, and Isabel Torres portray Cristina across three different eras of her life, each giving such moving performances it’s tough to choose a favorite. “Veneno” also does what so few series and films have failed to: casts multiple actors to depict a trans character at various stages of their life and transition. The HBO Max series jumps through time to not only tell Cristina’s life story, but parallels it with the story of Valeria (Lola Rodríguez), a young trans woman and journalist writing a book on Cristina’s life. “Veneno” is a show bursting with sizzling energy, bold color, and larger-than-life extravagance - a fitting approach to depict the life of a woman who lived on her own principles, often struggling to just survive. The Spanish limited series from creators Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo chronicles the life and death of one of the most famous trans women in Spain, Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez, better known as “La Veneno,” a sex worker who skyrocketed to superstardom in the ‘90s after appearing on a late-night talk show.
“Veneno” isn’t just one of the best LGBTQ+ shows, but one of the best damn series of the past few years, period. Below, in no particular order, are 10 series worth watching.
From series that have given us hot queer sex scenes to ones that have depicted painfully poignant yet vital pieces of queer history, and especially the ones that have given us romances we’ll continue swooning over for years, there’s a lot of queer TV to love. There’s also the fact that many of the excellent shows we have seen with authentic LGBTQ+ narratives have often not gotten the same multi-season commitments that hetero-centric series do from their networks (you’ll sadly find many examples below).īut even so, there is plenty to celebrate from the past 22 years of television. Queer and trans lives are, obviously, rich with nuance and so multitidinous that any attempt to depict them for mainstream audiences will typically fall short in some capacity.
It’s also hard to look back on the past couple decades and find many queer shows free of flaws. While the industry has made great progress, there’s tremendous work to still be be done - for one, we need more series with transmasculine and non-binary characters (leads, please and thank you!), shows that represent non-able-bodied folks in the community, more racially diverse casts and writers rooms (on shows that don’t get canceled right away) and generally just more. Such a variety of beloved shows thankfully made selecting the best ones of the 21st century a fairly easy task, but one that still comes with some caveats. 'House of the Dragon': Everything You Need to Know About HBO's Upcoming Series
'Song of the South': 12 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie 'Game of Thrones': Maisie Williams Was 'Surprised' Arya Wasn't Queer, Shocked at Straight Sex Scene Its mostly been in the latter half of the 2010s and early 2020s that we’ve really seen a rise in more dynamic and diverse LGBTQ+ storytelling, with shows hosting largely queer and trans writers rooms (as they always should have), history-making series, and ones that finally put queer and trans folks of color behind the camera and in the showrunner’s seat.Ĭhris Evans Slams 'Idiots' Who Oppose 'Lightyear' Same-Sex Kiss: They Will 'Die Off Like Dinosaurs' Back when I was a baby queer in the early 2000s, “ The L Word” was pretty much all I had to see parts of my experience on TV, save for the rare gay subplots of popular teen shows - never forget Marissa’s brief but extremely hot dalliance with Olivia Wilde on “The O.C.” The stereotyped gays of “Sex and the City” and “Will and Grace” were replaced over the years by more fleshed out and nuanced queer characters across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and, finally, we’ve seen some actually well-written trans characters played by trans performers. Queer representation on the small screen has certainly come a long way over the past two decades, not only in terms of quality but also quantity.