I absolutely loved this book!

Hi Honey, I'm Homo explores queer representation in sitcoms throughout the decades, while chronicling the queer liberation fight and how the two interacted with each other. Each chapter covers a specific television show, and it felt like listening to little podcast episodes packed with great information, humor, and insight into how monumental some of these moments were.

I've been recommending this to everyone!

This was a super interesting book commenting on LGBTQ characters, storylines and public figures throughout the early 2000s in media and pop culture. The narration and writing were both well done and this was an enjoyable book to read. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to listen to and review this book.

✨ Review ✨ Hi Honey, I'm Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture; Written and Narrated by Matt Baume

This book was such a delight! Based on his youtube series where he explores queerness and sitcoms, Baume weaves together a narrative about the ways that queerness has been represented in sitcoms in shows like Bewitched to Cheers to Friends and Will and Grace. He shows how the political and social climate of the moment impacted what was shown on air, but also how the visibility of queerness on tv impacted American's openness to queerness.

He ends with an argument about the importance of queerness in tv and other media, which really brought the whole book together. I wish he'd frontloaded some more of that discussion in an introduction to help us see what was at stake from the beginning.

He definitely brings in his expertise as a youtube creator and each chapter felt sort of like a self-contained podcast but also part of a larger whole. I really enjoyed the book and learning from his expertise throughout the book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: nonfiction, media history, lgbtq+
Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
Pub Date: 23 May 2023

Read this if you like:
⭕️ sitcoms
⭕️ queer history & advocacy
⭕️ queer representation in media
⭕️ a podcast-y vibe

Thanks to Dreamscape Media and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

This book gives a delightful inside into the industry and tells some quite amusing stories.

For someone familiar with the mentioned series this will b very entertaining.

I for myself grew up outside this sphere and as much as I appreciate the storytelling and the love to detail this book could not quite catch me - which definitely is not the books fault but due to the fact that I was not the target audience. For anyone that is I would still really recommend it!

This was a super interesting book about the role queer characters have played in sitcoms throughout the 90s and early 2000s.

<i>Hi, Honey, I’m Homo!</i> recounts the history of LGBTQ+ characters and storylines on television, including how the characters are treated by others and how they are perceived by those watching and Americans in general. It looks at how culture shaped queer TV and how queer TV helped shape culture.

I learned a lot by listening to this audiobook, and the author included a lot of good anecdotes and statistics. Baume did a fantastic job of narrating the audiobook himself. I highly recommend checking this out!

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this book.

While I may not be much of a movie person, I love sitcoms. I grew up watching reruns of classics like Bewitched and I Love Lucy on Nick at Nite. Hi Honey, I’m Homo! made me think about these beloved shows in a way I haven’t previously.

This was so well researched, not simply pointing out queer characters and queer storylines, but putting those characters and storylines in cultural context.

One of the earliest shows that author Matt Baume talks about is Bewitched, and honestly, I think I need to go back and rewatch this show to pick up on these queer characters and storylines that my young eyes missed when I watched it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced listening copy of Hi Honey, I’m Homo!

One of few times I actually wish a book was longer.

Research was really well done. Narrator kept me engaged and wanting more. Learned so much about older TV classics that I didn’t know of. Would love to read more by this author!

Would recommend to readers of LGBTQ non-fiction, memoir and biography lovers, and folx who enjoy TV programs from the 80s & 90s.

(I received this audiobook ALC via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you.)

I very much enjoyed this audiobook. It made me want to revisit shows I'd seen, and maybe check out a few that I'd missed. You don't need to have seen the TV shows written about to follow along. There was a little bit of repetition that I think an editor may have overlooked, but overall it was very engaging and I stayed entertained the entire time. The author has an excellent speaking voice (although he does talk very fast, some listeners may balk at that, but they can always reduce the speed!).

This was so interesting! I'm a millennial, and while some of the references mentioned I hadn't seen, it was really cool to see so many different shows that had queer coded characters. We're everywhere!

Also, pleased that the author's narration worked so well!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape for the audiobook galley to review!

If I could describe this book in one word, it'd be "fundamental". There are so many things in this book that I never knew about (like the origins of National Coming Out Day and how it related to TV) and so many more things that I received new clarity or perspectives on that I already knew about. Even obscure and one-off series that failed at launch are mentioned. The backgrounds of writers, actors, directors, producers--everyone who worked on these shows and how their lives were impacted by working on these shows during tumultuous times of mainstream bigotry is also discussed. I absolutely left each chapter feeling new appreciation for some aspect of each show.

The sitcoms that paved the way to today's media are thoroughly dissected to show their contributions to the queer community and identities, or in some cases their detraction (looking at you, Friends). Whole episodes are reviewed and given more context, with dialogues from key scenes added verbatim for clarity and explanations on how these scenes impacted real life. Most importantly, they are all discussed in the context of the era they were released, helping the reader to understand why they were the way they were and how collectively the medium evolved throughout the years alongside political movements and major events. TV sitcoms did so much more for queer rights than one may think! I love how this book explains how that came about.

I appreciated that Matt Baume narrated his own book for the audiobook version, as not only is he an excellent narrator and his voice is well-suited to it, he knows *how* to narrate his book. He does a great job re-enacting the scripts he has included in his dissections of each series (I must note that I was shocked by how closely he sounded like each Golden Girl, whether that was intentional or not). His writing style is interesting and I found myself chuckling often at his casual, offhand comments as he relays the history we are reading about.

This was a fascinating read. It shows how television (or media in general) has a major impact on people's perspectives and I think it deserves a spot on the queer studies shelf.

This was super interesting, well researched, and well written. It flowed nicely and really made me think about what it must be like to grow up as part of the LGBT community and not see myself represented in TV. I found The Golden Girls section particularly interesting because those women were champions for gay rights before they even became big. I also loved learning about Billy Crystal standing up for his character not being a caricature of homosexuality. There was just so much good information in here and it was really enlightening.

Special thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audio arc (alc?) of Matt Baume’s book, Hi Honey, I’m Homo, a celebration of all things, sitcom and queer. I know Matt from his projects on YouTube. He’s always been a remarkable researcher and storyteller. His book exceeded my expectations, and even for this TV loving blogger and Podcaster, as well as someone who lived through most of the shows he discussed, I learned so much from this book. Really fantastic deep dive into LGBTQ television specifically situation comedies. Such a great resource, and so much fun to listen to.

I've wanted to read this book my entire life, since before I knew this book existed. As a queer person raised by Seinfeld, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and The Golden Girls, I couldn't have loved Matt Baume's extensive look into LGBTQIAP+ sitcom history more. Expertly narrated by the author, Matt Baume's "Hi Honey, I'm Homo!" dives deep into modern queer history and pop culture through the lens of queer representation on sitcoms, from the mid-twentieth century through Modern Family.

Alongside the comprehensive deep dive into queer representation in sitcoms, "Hi Honey, I'm Homo!" presents the reader with the realities of modern queer life at every turn, from the Annual Reminders (which, thanks to this book, I learned about!) predating the Stonewall uprising through the Obama administration's endorsement of marriage equality.

Baume expertly mixes the facts of queer representation on sitcoms like Bewitched, Ellen, and Will & Grace with the realities of the U.S.'s sentiment toward queer people at the time these shows aired. I absolutely could not put this one down, and I will be recommending (and relistening!) for years to come.

We're here, we're queer, get used to it.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review!

This was a very educational and information loaded audiobook regarding the history of gays on TV. Matt Baume covered everything from the subtle hints and the "wink,wink, nudge, nudge" story lines from the early 40s.
The story behind the double meaning of the old TV show Bewitched was fascinating. I knew there were gay characters and maybe because of my then youth, I never made the connection between a mortal hiding his marriage to a witch to gay relationships. But yeah...
This books covers all the stereotypical stereotypes over the years, Ellen's coming out to Modern Family.
Yes some.shows were missing but they seemed to have been shows on cable which had more freedom then network TV.
As I telly freinda and anyone who will listen; learn your history. No matter what you are, who you are, or where your history lies. You have to know and acknowledge where you came from and those who came before you if you truly want to brace who you are.
Highly recommended and Happy Pride Y'all!
Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

This was a super fascinating read! I didn’t know a lot about television history going into it, and I felt like the author did a really great job of breaking it all down. It was super interesting to learn about all of the ways that queer characters were presented on tv throughout the years and to see how far we’ve actually come (without ignoring how far we still have to go).

The audiobook was well produced and narrated by the author, which I always love.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in pop culture and queer history!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

Wow! This book was the perfect read for Pride Month, but it would be an amazing read for any month. Hi Honey, I'm Homo! explores when queer folx were first alluded to on sitcom television and how these spots evolved into living fully openly ala Cam and Mitch on Modern Family.

It was extremely interesting to hear about some of these older shows that I have heard of but never watched. Having queer people on TV actually came around much earlier than I would have thought, even if it were only an episode here or there. There were also many shows that I watched that used other ideas such as magic or *ahem* dinosaurs as a metaphor for homosexuality and I just did not understand that at the time. But looking back? It makes a lot of sense.

In 2023, LGBTQIA+ individuals are under attack yet again. I think it's important for people to hear about how much work it was just to get them on TV, let alone to have actual rights in real life, so we can try to avoid repeating history.

I really enjoyed this, it showcases how American TV brought up important LGBTQIAP+ topics in real life. It also serves as a great reminder of the things that we, as a community, have overcome and that our fight is still ongoing.

What an entertaining and educational read! The author of this book was recently a guest on the Savage Lovecast and made me want to pick up the book and I'm glad I did.

This book tracks the movement for LGBTQ+ rights alongside the onscreen and behind the scenes trajectory of queer representation in American sitcoms.

This was a quick and easy listen (narrated by the author) with powerful and moving moments (I teared up a number of times.) It certainly helped that I was at least familiar with most of the TV shows the book covers but I think you could appreciate the book even with a bit less cultural consciousness of sitcoms from the 1970s to early 2000s. In fact, I think you could pick up this book and pick and choose chapters if you wanted to focus more on the shows you were more familiar with or interested in. There is a tiny bit of repetition across the chapters to allow for the appropriate context and it makes each chapter accessible on its own.

Despite the fascinating content, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad and discouraged while listening. It it a valid representation of how rights, respect and representation of queer folks has always been two steps forward, one step back. While it's certainly positive to be reminded of how far public attitudes have come, it's frustrating (but important) to be reminded that history repeats itself and there are some people out there who are relentless in their targeting of queer lives and rights. It's also a powerful reminder that we have to continue to put in the activism and advocacy work to protect those lives and right.

Note: The focus was on pretty much exclusively white shows and I would have been interested to have more diversity in the examples (or an acknowledgement of that lack of diversity.)

Rarely is there such a timely, melodic, and astute critique of television that rings as true as this collection does. We are in a cultural moment that seeks to erase queer histories, seeking to make “gay” something no longer allowed in polite society. “Hi Honey, I’m Homo!” reminds us that even when we couldn’t be open on TV, we were still there: behind the scenes and in front of the screens. Fundamentally, the message that rings through is that we have always been here and we always will be.

As a younger millennial, a majority of the shows detailed in the collection were before my time (and all aired before I came out publicly for the first time in 2016) and I deeply appreciated the cultural/economic/industry context that Baumé so effortlessly weaves in.

I’m infatuated with this collection and I could listen to the audiobook narrator for hours. The section about “Cheers!” even allowed me to have a deeply important conversation with my GenX mother about queerness and depictions on TV.

I’m so thankful for books like these and authors like Baumé that remind us so enjoyably that queer people belong and how we’ve fought for our rights beyond the political sphere.