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True, but on the other hand, I think there are times you could make a fairly solid case of a character being stealth gay. To take Burt and Ernie as an example. They live in the same apartment, as unrelated males. They (later on) have a child (Bort). They have no girlfriends or wives or dates, or anything else that implies an interest in women. It’s not impossible to see gayness in a set of characters in that circumstance.
it has been a long long time since I watched Sesame Street so I've missed that one. Thank God. I'm sticking with Bert being interested in pigeons only.
It was honestly from memory. Bert does have a child, but the name was Brad not Bort. And he’s a ginger too (https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/7/73/1068_Brad.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190804132642)
I had to look that one up because good grief, they've changed it all since I was twelve 😁
Brad is Bert's nephew, not his child; seems Bert has/had a brother Bart, who had a kid. Bert looks after Brad when Bart is out doing his travelling salesman work.
So while that clears up that Ernie and Bert did not adopt a gayby together, it still leaves it unclear if they are two gay puppets in a long-term committed relationship or not. And where is Brad's mother, if Uncle Bert has to look after him? Is Bart married and divorced? Is Bart gay and this is his adopted/surrogate child? Given that Bert and Bart are twins and both have dark hair, he must get his red hair from his mother. So where is Brad's red-haired mother? Is Bart the real father after all, because dark hair should be genetically dominant over red hair? Did Bart murder his wife and her lover and that is why he is a sole parent now????
I'm sticking with "Bert is only interested in pigeons" for the sake of my remaining sanity. Because speculating about the sex lives of hand puppets is getting too dang weird.
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Bort is of course the affectionate name bestowed upon him by /r/bertstrips
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Bert and Ernie are in a children's show and code as children. Children often are closely associated with other children to whom they are not married (relatives can literally be in the same apartment, but even unrelated children are forced together in social situations), and don't have girlfriends, wives, or dates.
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I always thought that Ricky and Lucy not sleeping together was gay propaganda. Why are they not sleeping together? What are they saying about him? Is this some kind of sham marriage?
While mandated by the Hayes Code for media purposes, having separate bedrooms was a common (if upperclass) behavior until it started to be stigmatized in the 1950s and 1960s.
I can vouch that I've seen separate beds for real married couples in a few period recreations and museums. The curators have always mentioned it wasn't an unusual ideal at the time. Although upper classes always get more depiction in the historic record.
Back to the original TV question, observers of modern television often note that characters have far larger and nicer apartments than their demographics should be able to afford.
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