This, after only two episodes: The cross-dressing comedy, which starred Amaury Nolasco and Benjamin Koldyke, was canned following low ratings and complaints from the lesbian and gay community.
The show centered around two unemployed men, Lee Standish (Koldyke) and Angel Ortiz (Nolasco), who dress up as women to land a job. That did not sit well with organizations like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), who say the depiction of straight men trying to act like women – and deliberately acting more like men in dresses and high heels – is harmful to transgender people: “While the show’s pilot does not explicitly address transgender people, many home viewers unfamiliar with the realities of being transgender will still make the connection.
After viewing the pilot for Work It, the org launched a campaign against the show, going on to place a full-page ad in Variety and write a joint opinion piece on the Huffington Post firing back at ABC for airing the comedy in the first place. As the ad stated, by encouraging the audience to laugh at the characters’ attempts at womanhood, the show gives license to similar treatment of transgender women. “[ABC] should know how offensive this show is, and that it even has the potential to jeopardize the safety of many transgender Americans in the process,” the ad said, among other things.
After premiering to low ratings 1/3, its viewership dropped 20% the following week. Repeats of Last Man Standing will air in place of the show Tuesday nights at 8:30 p.m.
