This is really not the same thing.

Not quite sure we've reached the point with this franchise where casting any woman is 'safe'

You tried, fella

I wish Elisabeth Sladen had lived to see this.

mmmmno.

That seems like an organic thought construction.

Yeah. I'm really not thrilled about him taking over. But this choice makes me very happy.

I liked her a lot on Broadchurch. I find Chris Chibnall a lot more questionable as a showrunner than I'd worry about her as a Doctor. But this is what finally has me interested in his run.

That's not what happened. The character was written as gay, was intended as gay, and the actor's representation leaned on the show to make him str8 in the eleventh hour to coincide with Dekker's outside career opportunities, then put out a lousy cover story. With Dekker signing on for it.

That's cool. I'll remember that when I go back over the discussions about his gay character's "burning love" for Hayden Panettiere on Heroes.

I'm talking about his career and public life.

K. I don't. I'm gay, we all have our flaming moments.

But it was my business when he bearded it up for years and put down any discussion of even his characters being gay. Then he began to trade on the ambiguity. That's where it gets murky.

I get all that, sure. Thomas Dekker had a rough upbringing. I was a lot more insulted by it as a young gay fan than I am now. But why he was still straddling the fence on the topic as recently as 3-5 years ago is beyond me, especially when he started really camping it up onscreen again. I'm just happy he's happy.

Yeah, I don't understand why he didn't just roll with it five years ago or so when he seemed to give up on being some leading man. He was out there playing up his gay image for all it's worth again but he still couldn't bring himself to admit publicly what everyone knew, when clearly he's been out in his private life…

Literally everyone who knew Thomas Dekker existed during Heroes knew he was flamingly gay. Every role he took prior to that seemed to either literally or figuratively be that of a screaming queen, including the one where he attempted to pass as the littlest daughter's boyfriend on 7th Heaven (there was a musical…

It frankly reads like they're posturing to remind everyone they're not in the tank.

I think they feel obliged to 'prove' they can still be critical.

Critics Outraged By Plot Development, Film @ 11

And yet, I Defend.