Methodology
GLAAD’s annual Where We Are on TV report tracks the presence of lesbian, gay, bisexual+, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) characters for the 2023-24 television season. This season marks the 28th year GLAAD has quantitatively tracked the presence of LGBTQ regular and recurring characters on television by calculating their numbers in original scripted programming.
Broadcast counts are based on original scripted series premiering or expected to premiere a new season in primetime between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024, and for which casting has been announced or confirmed by networks. LGBTQ characters must appear in at least one third of the episodes in a season to be counted in this report. TV movies, episodic anthologies with new casts each episode, and one-off episode/film specials are not included in GLAAD’s tally. Primetime begins at 8:00 p.m. ET and PT (7:00 Central and Mountain) and ends at 11:00 p.m. ET and PT (10:00 Central and Mountain), Monday through Saturday. On Sunday, primetime begins at 7:00 p.m. ET and PT.
In previous editions of this report, GLAAD tracked demographic information for all series regular characters on primetime scripted broadcast television, as well as recurring LGBTQ characters. Beginning with last year’s report, GLAAD updated its reporting for broadcast to focus solely on tracking demographics for the LGBTQ regular and recurring characters. This change ensures that GLAAD’s reporting across broadcast, cable, and streaming is uniform, as GLAAD does not track demographic information of non-LGBTQ series regulars on cable and streaming.
On cable TV networks in the U.S., GLAAD tracks the presence of LGBTQ regular and recurring characters on primetime scripted original series expected to premiere a new season on primetime cable television between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024 as aired or as confirmed by networks. A character must be in at least one third of a season’s episodes to be considered recurring.
Eight years ago, GLAAD began quantitatively assessing the regular and recurring LGBTQ characters on first-run and original scripted series on streaming services Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix. Two years ago, GLAAD expanded that focus to include scripted originals on the streaming services Apple TV+, Disney+, Max, Paramount+, and Peacock in its tallies. Streaming counts include LGBTQ regular and recurring characters on programs that premiered or are expected to premiere a new season between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024, and for which casting has been confirmed by the content providers. A character must appear in at least a third of episodes in a season to be considered recurring.
This report counts both original scripted series created by the content provider, as well as foreign scripted series to which providers have acquired the exclusive U.S. distribution rights. If a character appears in multiple series in a connected universe (for example, Walter in Big Mouth and spinoff Human Resources), GLAAD only counts the character once.
Characters’ sexual orientations are determined based on the specific label a character uses onscreen. For series which have not yet aired, the characters’ sexual orientations are determined by what has been confirmed by content providers and/or creators in official promotional material for the series. For the context of this report, where characters must be specifically quantified, those characters who have been explicitly confirmed as queer and who do not use any other label have been marked as such. Characters who interchangeably use queer with a lesbian, gay, or bisexual+ label have been recorded under the most specific label applicable to them. Queer is only used to refer to sexual orientation in this report.
GLAAD reserves the final right to define a character’s identity based on what is presented on screen, as well as through information provided by the network or streaming service. As of the publication of this report, the information found inside is accurate but remains subject to change based on programming adjustments that may be made over the course of the television season.