A middle-aged gay artist shares his New York apartment with a single mother and her little girl. Based on a short story written by Marilyn Cantor Baker, which was subsequently adapted into a TV movie entitled Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend. Love, Sidney was the first program on American television to feature a gay character as the central lead, although for the series, Sidney's homosexuality was almost entirely downplayed from its subtle yet unmistakable presence in the two-hour pilot..