Yesterday marked a landmark moment in television history: “Abby’s” premiered on NBC. The sitcom about a woman who runs an unlicensed bar in her backyard stars Natalie Morales — the first Cuban female lead of a broadcast TV program. And the character she plays, Abby, is a bisexual Latina ex-Marine sergeant. The magnitude of the character and casting isn’t lost on Morales. “It does not feel real,” the “Santa Clarita Diet” actress told Vulture. “I feel like I’m pretending right now, like I’m just in a dreamscape.”
Morales reflected, “Seeing someone like myself on TV — a character that is Cuban-American and openly bisexual — and it’s not a big deal? When I was a kid, network TV was the barometer of normalcy,” she explained. “I could tell my mom, ‘Look, it’s on TV and it’s normal. It’s not like Skinemax.’ So I find it to be a very important honor. It’s something that I can’t talk about too much or I’ll burst into tears.”
While the source doesn’t specify whether she did in fact burst into tears, Morales, who identifies as queer, elaborated on the power of representation. “If I had seen somebody like that on TV, someone that was out and normal and healthy, living a productive life, that would have really changed my life as a kid,” she said. “I wouldn’t have thought that I was crazy or bad, you know? I would have had a lot more courage. And the people around me would have known what that looks like — people that don’t necessarily know someone who’s queer or gay, or any kind of LGBTQ plus.”
“Abby’s” follows “Will & Grace” in NBC’s Thursday night programming, a series Morales credits for “[moving] the needle forward.” She explained, “It put a gay person in your home every day and made you feel like they’re great, they’re normal, and they’re funny. If I’m at all a familiar face to you from anything I’ve done, if you didn’t know someone who was queer before, you do now.”
“Battle of the Sexes,” “The Grinder,” and “Parks and Recreation” are among Morales’ previous credits.
Head over to Vulture to read their complete interview with Morales, which touches on depictions of bisexual women on television, her experience directing an episode of HBO’s “Room 104,” and why the casting on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is so notable.
