October 2021: What’s New, Gay and Streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Peacock and Apple TV – Autostraddle
Well it’s October, a spooky little month for us all to stare at our television and say “where are the gay things? If I turn on Netflix, what will I find there? Or Amazon?!?!?!! Or HULU!?!?! What about HBO Max?? I am here to tell you!
Netflix Content for Gals, Gays and Theys in October 2021
The Baby-Sitters Club: Season 2 – October 11
Season Two of this sweet lil family series based on the YA novels that inspired lesbian entrepreneurship worldwide will be offering a lot more queer representation than the first but I cannot tell you exactly how yet. On a somehow unrelated note, Mallory and Jessie are finally joining the BSC. But with the new school year you can anticipate “booming business, new relationships, personal journeys and important lessons.”
Shameless: Season 11 (Showtime) – October 11
The final season of this program, which managed to end its run with more LGBTQ+ female characters than any non-LGBTQ-focused television program ever, took place right in the gut of the pandemic and saw our lesbian lead Debbie make a series of absurd and frustrating choices! We also got a lot of gay Sandy Milkovich though, so.
In the Dark: Season 3 (The CW) – October 14
“In the Dark’s third season giveth – in the form of a new queer character, Leslie played by Marianne Rendón from Imposters – and it taketh away – by way of resident lesbian Jess being sidelined right off the bat. It’s a bonkers show with a band of problematic faves but it does technically have queer characters, so. Here we are.” – Valerie
Sex, Love and Goop: Limited Series – October 21
It appears that one of the six couples who have signed up to talk to Gwyneth Paltrow about their sex lives is a lesbian couple, and I wish them all the best.
Sex Unzipped – October 26
Saweetie is hosting a comedy special that focuses on “sex positivity” while featuring sex experts, horny puppets of “all sex and sexualities that exist in real life” and talking heads. Special guests include Dominique Jackson, Mae Martin, Sam Jay and Trixie Mattel.
Wentworth: Season 8B/Season 9 (Foxtel) – October 27
The final ten episodes of our beloved Wentworth, named Wentworth: The Final Sentence, will find Joan recovered her memory and assuming the identity of Kath Maxwell while attempting to control her desire to seek vengeance against Vera, Will and Jake. Allie returns to Wentworth and queer characters Marie Winter and Ruby Mitchell will also exist.
Gay Content on Amazon Prime Video for October 2021
My Name is Pauli Murray (2021) – October 1
Non-binary Black Lawyer, Episcopal priest, poet and American Civil Rights Activist Pauli Murray — whose most significant romantic relationships were with women — was instrumental in arguing the equal protection cause of the 14th amendment outlawed sex-based discrimination. Analyzed in retrospect, Murray was aided in this perspective by their gender “in-betweenness,” and this amazing human is the focus of this special documentary.
Hightown: Season One (Starz) – October 1
Monica Raymund’s Jackie Quiñones is a hard-drinking and womanizing Provincetown townie who gets pulled into a drug-related murder investigation when she finds a body on the beach — another victim of Cape Cod’s opioid epidemic. This “funny, exciting, sexy crime drama” also sees Jackie on her own journey towards sobriety.
Leverage: Redemption: Season 1B (IMDB TV) – October 8
Eight new episodes bring the crew back together in a world where it’s gotten easier and more legal than ever for the rich to get richer and the powerful to destroy dissent. Aleyse Shannon plays Breanna Casey, a lesbian with skills in the realm of computers, robotics and getting into trouble.
I Know What You Did Last Summer: Season One – October 15
This mystery thriller series is based on the same 1973 Lois Duncan novel that inspired the iconic 1997 film. A year after a fatal car accident that haunted their graduation night, a group of teens bound together by a dark secret reunite for the summer to find that somebody knows what they did and wants to kill some goats and people about it. I did spend the first three episodes wondering if the lesbian tongue kiss between the popular/doomed Lennon (Madison Iseman) and influencer Margot (Brianne Tju) in the trailer was just a party trick, but in Season Four we confirm that it was indeed more than that!
Fairfax: Season One – October 29
This animated series is centered on a pre-teen group of stylish pals who dream of becoming influencers. The series’ title refers to the street in Los Angeles where long lines of humans regularly assemble for the latest drop at Supreme. In Fairfax, Supreme is Latrine, Canter’s becomes Schwimmer’s, and one of the kids engaging in madcap adventures is aspiring model-slash-activist Derica, who sports a big gay rainbow sticker on her bike helmet and is determined to save the planet in style. She’s voiced by Kiersey Clemons!
Hulu LGBTQ+ Content for October 2021
Grey’s Anatomy: Season 18 Premiere (ABC) – October 1
Season 18 will pick up in an alternate universe where COVID has been dealt with and is now gone and IDK that sounds pretty nice huh.
Station 19: Season 5 Premiere (ABC) – October 1
The premiere of Station 19 is gonna be a crossover with Grey’s Anatomy! I’ve never seen this show but I think it is about fire !!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday Night Live: Season 47 Premiere (NBC) – October 3
Our favorite Kate McKinnon show returns in October! There’s also featured player Punkie Johnson, returning once again to the cast. The second episode features bisexual musical guest Halsey and the October 23 episode has got Brandi Carlile playing gay music for you.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (2016) – October 3
Fox’s “hesitant mashup of the stage and film versions that somehow manages to extinguish the spark of both” stars Laverne Cox as Doctor Frank N. Furter, whose portrayal “isn’t near the queer revelation it oculd be.”
Dopesick: Limited Series – October 13
This eight-episode series based on the non-fiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America looks at the opioid crisis on a micro, macro and opulent level: its impact on a distressed Virginia mining community, the DEA investigation and the accumulated wealth of the Sacklers, the family behind Purdue Pharma. Cleopatra Coleman will play Grace Pell, described as “brash and funny” and “an out lesbian who isn’t afraid to be herself amongst the world of the coal miners.”
Queens: Season One Premiere (ABC) – October 20
Queens stars Eve, Naturi Naughton, Nadine Velasquez and Brandy as four former hip-hop legends in their 40s who come back together for a chance to recapture the fame they possessed in the 90s. Naughton plays Jill “Da Thrill,” who traded stardom and drugs for a quiet Catholic life in Montana but has now found herself embroiled in an affair with another woman!
Queer Shows and Films Joining HBO Max in October 2021
Pariah (2011) – October 1
One of the best lesbian films of all time, Dee Rees’ first feature tells the story of Alike (Adepero Oduye), a 17-year-old Black lesbian coming into her identity and exploring her first love while struggling with an intolerant family.
The Hours (2002) – October 1
Three women of different generations played by Julienne Moore, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman are interconnected through their relationship to Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway in this film based on Micheal Cunningham’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Topics include getting the flowers yourself, suburban ennui, suicide, AIDS and art. Great soundtrack!
Tully (2018) – October 1
This comedy-drama from Diablo Cody follows the strange developing friendship between an exhausted (bisexual!) mother of three, Marlo (Charlize Theron), and her new night nanny, Tully (Mackenzie Davis).
The Republic of Sarah: Season One (The CW) – October 6
After an incredibly valuable mineral is found under the ground of a small town in New Hampshire, a mining company swoops in to make a buck and is blocked by “rebellious high school” teacher Sarah Cooper, who ends up turning the town into its own nation. Nia Holloway plays AJ Johnson, a lesbian having an affair with the mayor’s wife.
15 Minutes of Shame: Limited Series – October 7
Roxane Gay and Kara Swisher are amongst the talking heads in this Monica Lewinsky produced docuseries about what happens to the Cancelled, the bullied and the shamed — and how tech companies are ultimately the entity that benefits most from social media pile-ons.
The Truth of Dolores Vázquez: Limited Series – October 26
Dolores Vázquez spent 519 days in jail for the murder of her ex-partner’s child in 1999 — and was handily convicted mostly ’cause there was a media circius and she was easy to villainize as a “dominant” lesbian, not because there was anything actually tying her to the crime. This six-part docuseries tells her story, which many may recognize from Netflix’s Murder by the Coast.
In The Heights (2021) – October 28
The film adaptation of the musical returns to HBO Max in October, with a key adjustment from the original: “Carla is also re-developed as Daniela’s romantic partner with quiet, lived-in moments across the week of one block’s summer heatwave.”
Love Life: Season 2 – October 28
Season One followed a millennial New Yorker played by Anna Kendrick (but it did include some gay stuff too!) and Season 2 centers on Marcus Watkins, a freshly divorced single Black man in his 30s navigating the New York dating scene. The preview suggests a threesome but more importantly, Marcus’s sister is played by SNL’s first out Black lesbian cast member Punkie Johnson.
Peacock’s New LGBTQ+ Stories for October 2021
Unidentified with Demi Lovato: Limited Series – September 30
This unscripted series follows Lovato, their BFF Matthew and their sister Dallas as they search for extraterrestrial life and UFO phenomena and investigate eyewitness encounters, secret government reports and UFO hotspot tests.
Home Sweet Home (NBC) – series premiere October 15
NBC shows premiere next-day on Peacock for Peacock premiere customers
Ava DuVernay’s unscripted series follows 18 families from diverse backgrounds who have signed up to swap lives with another to experience the world beyond their own upbringing. The premiere episode shows a Greek Orthodox family exchanging their home with a lesbian couple with kids who are “diblings” to their friends’ kids (siblings who are biologically related through the same donor) and LGBTQ+ representation is featured “across the series.”
The Girl in the Woods: Season One – October 21
Our heroine Carrie, a resident of Oregon, is attempting to escape the mysterious, cultish colony that guards the world from the monsters hidden behind a secret door in the woods. Non-binary actor Misha Osherovich plays Nolan, a charcter navigating their gender identity throughout the season and the trailer shows Carrie (Stefanie Scott) locking lips with Tasha, played by Sofia Bryant of I Am Not Okay With This.
Apple TV+ Queer Offerings for October 2021
Invasion: Season One – October 22
One of the network’s most anticipated series follows five people across the globe as Earth is visited by an alien species that threatens the future of humankind. Shioli Kutsuna plays Mitsuki Yamato, an aerospace engineer hiding a same-sex relationship with an astronaut.
The Maybe Gays of October:
I have invented this new section of the monthly streaming guide to inform you of shows that ping but unfortunately I could not confirm their queerness.
Maid: Season One – Netflix – October 1
There are two production stills that intrigued me: one includes a twentysomething girl with like a hot pink mohwak sitting in a support group, and the other (from episode 106) has two women, Vivian and Sasha, walking together in a position that suggests a history of lesbian romance. I do not intend to watch this program so if someone could just let us know. Furthermore there are a lot of social workers in this program and social work is a gay profession.
Guilty Party: Season One — Paramount+ — October 14
Kate Beckinsale’s real-life friend Asia Kate is wearing latex and licking Kate’s feet in the teaser, but the reason I think somebody has to be gay in this dark comedy about a privileged journalist trying to get a woman out of prison for a murder she didn’t commit is because when this many women in a trailer are seen without men at their sides, one of them has to be gay! That’s math.
Night Teeth – Netflix – October 20
This is about female vampires and Megan Fox and Sydney Sweeney are involved. Are they vampire girlfriends? Will the “all vamps are pansexual” rule apply here? We’ll find out!
Roaring Twenties: Season One – Netflix – October 22
This is a reality show about eight twentysomethings “looking to live the best years of [their] lives in the biggest, boldest way possible” and it was casting in August in Austin, Texas; there’s no info anywhere about this program’s participants but are they really gonna shoot an entire show in Austin without any bisexuals, that feels unlikely!
