Week in Gay TV: a Gay "Marriage Ref," Zack is Back on "Bones" and the Best "Betty" Ever?

Welcome to our newest feature, the Week in Gay TV, a look at what you’ll want to be watching next week including Ugly Betty, Southland's season finale, Spartacus, Gossip Girl and much more!

It’s that time of the year when one set of programming wraps up to make room for new series and that starts with Friday night’s season premiere of Merlin on the SyFy channel. While I’ve found the reports of the series’ hoyay to be overhyped, giving King Arthur the Smallville treatment worked for me in the first season. Hopefully, this season will inspire me to read beyond the first fifty pages of The Once and Future King.

Meanwhile, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross has the new Doctor, Matt Smith in his first talk show appearance. If you’re not a Doctor Who fan, there’s also gay-fave Emma Thompson, Brian Cox and a performance by Goldfrapp.

A pocket-sized Dalek, does it team up with an Adipose baby?

VH1’s concert series Friday Night Alright features Madonna on this week’s show, which should warm-up fans for Adam Lambert’s unplugged performance next week. And Spartacus deals with last week’s shocker – so are you sticking pins in a Numerius or Illythia doll?

Numerius: But father, I want him dead!

On Saturday night, Logo has the network debut of Oscar-winning documentary Freeheld, which follows partners Lt. Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree. As Hester was dying, she battled for her partner to inherit her pension, something a married, opposite-sex couple can take for granted. Here is a preview:

And for something considerably less somber, Fox has a new The Wanda Sykes Show.

Sunday sees Dan and Jordan run another leg of The Amazing Race in an episode titled “You’re like Jason Bourne, right?” I have a bad feeling the scene that inspires that title will be far more interesting than any of the challenges. Cyndi Lauper is still competing on The Celebrity Apprentice. Meanwhile, Spongebob Squarepants fans might want to check out the newest Food Network Challenge featuring Spongebob birthday cakes.

The Discovery Channel’s documentary series Life continues this week with a look at birds and deep sea creatures. You’d better tune in if you don’t want a wag of the finger from Neil Patrick Harris.