I remember Mackenzie Phillips talking about this part when she was once on a daytime talk show. What I remember was her saying they weren't sure which way they wanted to go with the character and they first chose Peggy Lee to play the part of the transsexual. I hadn't seen the episode at that time but I wondered exactly who Peggy Lee would play since she was too old to be Gopher's college roommate, like Mackenzie was. The only thing I can guess is they were going to make Peggy Lee, Gopher's college football coach who had a sex-change instead of his roommate. That would've been good if they had gone that way.
The problem with Mackenzie is she was too feminine with a small bone structure like a female to really have been Gopher's former football buddy. Her backstory would have had to have been more like Jazz Jennings today where she started puberty blockers to transition at around 13 to have looked that much like a female at 27. The football player angle was ridiculous because you could never see Mackenzie passing for a male football player.
For it's time the story was very much ahead of the curve. I still wish they would have gone with Peggy Lee because you might actually believe she was a former man.
The problem with Mackenzie is she was too feminine with a small bone structure like a female to really have been Gopher's former football buddy. Her backstory would have had to have been more like Jazz Jennings today where she started puberty blockers to transition at around 13 to have looked that much like a female at 27. The football player angle was ridiculous because you could never see Mackenzie passing for a male football player.
For it's time the story was very much ahead of the curve. I still wish they would have gone with Peggy Lee because you might actually believe she was a former man.
