Morales chats with The Advocate about making history as a queer woman of color playing network TV's first bisexual sitcom lead.
“The new NBC comedy Abby’s offers a straight-forward premise that fits perfectly with the multi-cam sitcom format that dominated TV comedies for decades — a no-nonsense former marine opens an unlicensed bar in her backyard where she surrounds herself with a group of loveable patrons who abide by her quirky rules. Even as the series bears the familiar audio of being filmed before a live audience and the recognizable shot-reverse-shot camera work prevalent in multi-cam comedies, Abby’s is quietly revolutionary in its casting of Natalie Morales, a queer Cuban woman, to play the titular character, TV’s first bisexual lead in a comedy who is also a woman of color.
“It's a huge deal, not only personally, but just that the character is the first bisexual lead of a network show and we meet her ex-girlfriend!” Morales tells The Advocate.
It’s no secret that the character of Abby is bisexual, something Morales says creator Josh Malmuth and executive producer Mike Schur (Parks & Recreation, The Good Place) wanted from the start. The show's first two episodes set up the world of the bar and the denizens who frequent it. But the third episode entitled “Free Alcohol Day” (airing tonight) features Abby matter-of-factly telling her new landlord Bill (Nelson Franklin) she’s bisexual when her ex-girlfriend turns up to deliver the “free alcohol.”
“It’s a huge deal for me,” Morales says of carrying the mantle of bi visibility, especially since it's also personal.
“I never saw that growing up. I never saw anything like that and especially not on network television and especially like an LGBTQ+ character that wasn't in peril and who wasn't going to be killed or their girlfriend was going to die in their arms or whatever,” Morales says.
Read the full piece here
Watching this for the first time now - the jokes are so-so but it REALLY is awesome seeing a bisexual lead character!! This is S1, Ep3. “Free Alcohol Day”