I think it's good we are talking about all these things as a community. It's nice that we're doing it so civilly as Clarissa pointed out, I think.
What seems true is that we all have our opinions, like in any community, which is healthy and normal. Re: the wheelchair sketch, I loved it for the same reasons that Katherine mentioned, that it was poking fun at the stereotyp
ers and their laughable, over-the-top attempts to cover up their narrow-minded, pigeonholeing behavior.
On the other hand, I didn't like the cast plants as gay cowboys very much in the opening monologue, mostly because they were just not that funny to me. But I still believe Jake was really trying to say something about his loyalty to the gay/brokeback fanbase with the song, as I posted about earlier on page 4 of the thread.
Personally I like both
Queer Eye and
Will and Grace. Sure, Jack and Carson can get tired sometimes as stereotypes go, but I often find them both funny and talented. All comedies have to have extreme characters, and so Jack is that in the show. Ninety percent of my co-workers are gay males, and though no one is exactly like Jack, a couple of people resemble his character to a degree (if they completely resembled it, they wouldn't have a job). I love working where I hear guys calling each other "bitch" in jest, and I don't find anything wrong with W&G playing up one of the more obvious segments of the gay population for its humorous shallowness and bitchiness.
Yes, it's only one side of the community, and I agree that's too bad...but then again it's also only one show. If half the shows on TV were about gay characters I think we'd find more variety portrayed. What I loved about the show was its embrace of sexuality in general and its sheer refusal to take sexual labels and morality seriously (i.e. Karen as a selfish, shallow, alcoholic omnisexual who is nevertheless married to a man she loves even though we never see him). It also addressed important themes at times, like the one where Will was dating someone who was afraid to come out and Will ended the relationship because of it.
I guess we all have our tolerance levels; some people find things funny and others do not. All of our own convictions are rooted in our personal experiences of life, and some have experienced more pain than others where stereotypes are concerned. Still others have experienced a lot of pain due to prejudices and stereotypes and have developed either a thick skin or a way to fight back. I think that many gay men like Carson have developed their scathing and catty senses of humor as a response to all the name calling they endured while growing up.
As for SNL, it's true that its heyday is long past, but since several people have wondered if the cast is new and young, I can say that three or four members are very new, two or three have a couple or three seasons under their belts, and at least five -- Amy Pohler, Maya Rudolf, Darrell Hammond, Will Forte, and Seth Meyers -- have been on the cast for between four and six years, maybe longer.
If you want to see a great SNL skit from the relatively recent past (2 plus years ago) with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake, click on the link below. I don't think you'll be disappointed, though if you don't remember the BeeGees, it will be totally lost on you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eglacD5ujY (see below for Jane's live link which is for the same sketch)
Jenny