Different show, different network, different outcome.
On ABC's "Brothers & Sisters," Jonathan LaPaglia was cast as out attorney Kevin but the actor was skittish about gay love scenes. He was replaced after the pilot by Matthew Rhys who has won raves for his portrayal of Kevin and made legions of gay fans happy with his lip locks with cutie-pie Luke MacFarlane and sexy Jason Lewis.
But on NBC's "Heroes," the character of Zach is actually "de-gayed" because actor Thomas Dekker’s manager "didn't want him playing a gay character because it might affect Fox's interest in hiring him" to star in his own series, executive producer Bryan Fuller said recently. The manager threatened to pull Dekker from the series. So the network balked rather than immediately replace the actor who is no longer on the show anyway.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation spoke exclusively with executive producer Dennis Hammer who said: "Heroes promises to continue to be diverse, and if a character yet to be seen happens to be gay – just like in life – so be it. We're not afraid of having a gay character on the show, and the network and studio have never discouraged it."
On Wednesday, GLAAD Entertainment Media Director Damon Romine released this statement to Out In Hollywood:
“While many actors welcome the opportunity to play multi-dimensional characters, it’s extremely disappointing that the backward thinking of an actor’s representative could yield such influence on NBC and the direction of a hit television show. GLAAD hopes that the producers of "Heroes" are sincere in their promise to be inclusive and bring lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender representation to the series in the near future.”
We'll be watching...