HBO is developing a comedy about the love life of a bisexual black man

HBO is going to explore the life and loves of a bisexual black man in the new comedy series Him or Her.

Issa Rae, the co-creator, executive producer, and star of HBO’s Insecure is executive producing the project. Former Daily Show writer Travon Free created the series, reportedly based on his own life. He currently writes on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.

The single-camera series will focus on ‘the distinctly different worlds and relationships he finds himself in’.

Rae said she was ‘immediately drawn’ to the story and is ‘SO grateful’ Free is trusting everyone involved with his vision.

This is crucial representation

Bisexual men are rarely depicted on the small screen, least of all a bisexual man of color.

According to GLAAD’s Where We Are on TV for 2017 report, only 28% of characters on network, cable, and streaming shows are bisexual. Women far outnumber men in this category as well. This year, there were 75 women and 18 men.

Bisexual men dropped from 19 the previous year to 18 this year. It’s an even steeper drop from 2015-16, when GLAAD counted 23 bisexual male characters.

Furthermore, while shows increased the number of characters of color across the board, LGBTQ characters of color fared worse. Broadcast and streaming especially lack LGBTQ characters of color.

The presence of a show with a bisexual black man as the lead, therefore, is a welcome addition for visibility.

Sweet Life

Rae is developing another series for the cable channel.

Sweet Life is a drama about Windsor Hills in Los Angeles, often considered the ‘black Beverly Hills’. Rae co-created the series with Scandal’s Raamla Mohamed.

‘The idea for the series initially came from a joke pitch I presented to The New Yorker. I had always wanted to create a teen movie about Windsor Hills, but never thought about doing a TV show,’ Rae said.

There are no release dates for either series yet.

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