Bonus video! The Adorable Homoeroticism of Starsky & Hutch

It's an odd fact. The biggest consumers of lesbian porn are straight men, and the most prolific creators of M/M "slash" fiction are straight women. I was innocently fascinated by TOS Trek in reruns as a very young girl, because of what was clearly the center of the series to me: the relationship between Kirk and Spock. When Starsky and Hutch debuted, I was eleven, and again, absolutely riveted. That male/male chemistry was simply dizzying.

As a kid in the early 80s when it came to hunk TV duos, I was all about the Dukes of Hazzard (particularly the replacement Dukes that came in for one season - Coy and Vance - cuz they were somehow even extra more himbo-tastic than the standard Dukes), but as an adult looking back - I TOTALLY get the Starsky and Hutch thing and I enjoy seeing people sort of rediscover that show from our 21st century hindsight.

Oh man. There's a reason S&H was such a pillar of slash fanfiction history. There are multiple old single-fandom archives still active in addition to S&H's presence on AO3. There's a slash con still going. If you're curious about other shows fanfic writers, at least, thought were super gay, Fanlore's timeline is interesting: [https://fanlore.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Slashed_Sources] Some of these I see much more than others. Miami Vice, for example, is incredibly subtextually queer, but also incredibly self hating and messed up in an 80s way. (Evan is the gay episode of that, and it sure is something. Textually, it's about a dead gay best friend. Subtextually, it reads like a bunch of closet cases self destructing. It's way more of a downer than S&H though.)

2 "straight" cops having to go under cover as a gay couple is one of my favorite Destiel Supernatural fanfic tropes, so those 2 real life cops are kinda my heroes lol

Speaking of cop shows that inspired a lot of fic, is The Sentinel on your radar at all? The show's sort of fallen into obscurity due to a lawsuit that kept it from DVD or streaming release for ages, but The Sentintel AU is still a standard fanfic type, even among people who don't know where it came from.

For those who want to watch these on Android, BTW, I've figured out a hack: - On desktop, make sure you're signed in to vimeo. Then click on the link (not the embed) to open vimeo.com. - From there, click the clock to add it to your "watch later" list. - Now on Android, from the vimeo app, you can get to that list by hitting watch, scrolling to the bottom, and choosing "watch later." Then you can click on the video from there and it works! (Just don't move out of the app, vimeo doesn't do picture-in-picture) Sigh. The labors we do to get our queer history!

I had the same false impression of Starsky and Hutch! I'll have to check it out now...

I loved their relationship as a kid and had a bit of a crush on Paul Michael Glaser. Even then I preferred brunettes over blondes. ;)

I got into Starsky & Hutch in my early twenties, primarily because the relationship between S&H is so very, very gay and loving. The two of them even call each other "babe" from time to time, and the amount of comfort they show in touching each other and generally showing affection is wonderful for either a romantic couple or as an example of non-toxic male friendship. Anyway, very much enjoyed this video (and all your videos) and looking forward to the next one!

Thanks for this! I will check out the show as well as the fanfic. Any chance you could do a video about Waylan Flowers?

Don't give up on us

Far too many people belittle slash fiction far too often. I've been writing slash fiction for decades, just for fun. Because non-toxic queer relationships were so rare on tv. There are so many great stories on AO3, from some really great amateur writers, that create wonderfully good examples of happy couples. Haven't checked out the Starsky/Hutch ones though. I'll definitely take a look. I remember watching the show when it was in syndication.

I grew up watching Starsky and Hutch and always got a “vibe” from them. Of course, I would chalk that up to wishful thinking. It’s nice to know the actors were kind of playing it that way and were obviously comfortable doing so. Time for me to go back and revisit this again. Great video!

Great videos, Matt!

I love Starsky and Hutch and recommend it for a watch.