The Kyle XY episode, “Free to Be You and Me,” aired on July 23 with mixed reactions from viewers.  The episode had the main characters learning about discrimination against same sex couples, and although the gay and lesbian communities were pleasantly surprised with the subject matter, many other viewers posted angry entries and complaints on the show's message board.

During the TCA press tour, Kyle XY supervising producer/writer Julie Plec spoke with online magazine, AfterElton, and said that she was “really surprised and disappointed” with the negative feedback that the episode received from some of the viewers.

“I thought it was such an innocent, positive portrayal, deliberately not heavy-handed and deliberately not guest star of the week-based,” Plec said.  “Just, you know, a nice story about Kyle [Matt Dallas] who is a person without judgment, without bias, who innocently wouldn't even think anything would be any different than anybody else.  I was surprised.”

Despite the angry comments on Kyle XY's message boards, Plec did not rule out the possibility of having a prominent gay character on the show.

"I think that it's always a possibility.  I mean, I'm a big believer that what you never want to do is… just introduce a gay character for the sake of having a gay character.  You really want it to be born out of who that character is and what they're going through in life,” Plec explained to AfterElton.  “I think that as seasons go on, there's always the possibility of that, because I think a positive portrayal in television is like sort of the most important thing we can do.”

Since Kyle XY premiered last year, the story has been moved forward mainly by the actions of its central characters.  Plec said that the producers of the show want to maintain this format.  As a result, the two characters who shared a kiss on the episode were Lori (April Matson) and Hillary (Chelan Simmons), who, although both straight, are already established characters on the show.

“On a seven-day show that you're shooting on a budget, you tend not to give stories to day players and guest stars in the same way that on a bigger show, where you could have somebody come in, have a nifty little story line and go out,” Plec said.  “We rarely let other characters have moments that push our story forward, because we have so many characters that we want to service.”


-Lisa Claustro, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: AfterElton.com
(Image Courtesy of ABC Family)