Breakthrough Gay Comedy 'It's All Relative' Cancelled
 

The first sitcom to revolve around a gay family has been killed off by ABC. "It's All Relative" given its walking papers this week after being put on hiatus by the alphabet network for a month and leaving the cast and crew in suspension.

"Since we were the first show to portray a monogamous gay couple, and the gay-marriage thing is all over the front page, I'm a little shocked," comedian Lenny Clarke said yesterday. 

"There were other shows I would've dumped before us, but the network's in fourth place, they had to do something."  

"Relative" was conceived by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the openly gay team who executive produced the Academy Award-winning Chicago and the Emmy-winning biopic “Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.” 

It was topical.  It was funny.  But it never developed a following, partly because the network played with the air dates and then put it into hiatus.

The series had a novel premise: Two families, one gay and one straight thrown together when their kids announce they are getting married.

Zadan and Meron took their time in finding the right writers for the project—so much time, that the network started to get antsy. “A lot of the writers were talking about the dads as the characters in ‘The Birdcage,’” Meron explained. “We wanted the characters to be more real.”

But one of the criticisms that was thrown at “It’s All Relative” was once again, gay men on TV were being portrayed as wealthy cosmopolitans who know how to dress and cook. 

Nevertheless, it had witty dialogue, good actors, and a positive message.

"We're very disappointed that the only series on ABC that featured recurring characters from the LGBT community is now gone," GLAAD's Stephen Macias told 365Gay.com.

"We hope that at the very least the shows that are being programmed for the fall season show a diversity from our community."

So far though, the networks have not announced any new shows featuring any gay characters.