Monday, August 17, 2015

The 50 Greatest Gay TV Characters

From: The Backlot
40
Leon Carp
Roseanne

Actor: Martin Mull
1991-1997
Previous Rank: N/A

Leon Carp first appeared in the third season of the ABC sitcom Roseanne. He was the uptight supervisor at Rodbell’s Diner where Roseanne was employed as a waitress. He’s a by the book, customer is always right, must punch in on time kind of manager, and that obviously leads to a lot of comic conflict with Roseanne. It’s eventually revealed that Leon is gay and while Roseanne has no problem with it, she does use that fact to her advantage occasionally. For instance, threatening to out him to his boss in order to get him to ease up on the rules at the diner. Roseanne and Leon are never exactly friends, but they do come to respect one another, and Leon eventually joins Dan’s poker circle. Leon also meets and marries the more easygoing Scott (Fred Willard) and at the end of the series they announce they are going to adopt a Romanian baby.

Leon is significant as a character because the way Roseanne meets, interacts with and comes to respect him: Through the workplace.  It was a perfect comic reflection of how much of middle America was encountering gay people for the first time, through out co-workers.

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