Like “Golden Girls,” “Maude” broke fresh ground in portraying hot-button issues such as racism, addiction and ― most famously ― abortion. In the latest edition of his “Culture Cruise” video series, Baume breaks down a 1973 episode of “Maude” titled “Maude’s New Friend.” The episode focuses on Maude’s friendship with Barry Witherspoon, an author who is later revealed to be a gay man. As Baume points out, all of the regular “Maude” characters appear “eager to be friends” with Barry and are “not grossed out or scared or scandalized” by his sexuality. “That’s pretty remarkable, given the times ― in the early ’70s, when this episode aired, homosexuality was barely acknowledged on TV,” he told HuffPost. In January, “Culture Cruise” caught the eye of New York Times writer Margaret Lyons, who praised the series as a “thoughtful and thorough” look at “queer representation — the good and the bad — in pop culture.”

Source: Huffington Post June 04, 2019 23:03 UTC