"Beautiful People" Makes For Beautiful Television

I do have to say that while I enjoyed the show tremendously (I seriously laughed at the show's second episode, which is a musical theater queen's dream, harder than I've laughed all year), it may be a tough pill for many viewers to swallow, and not just because of the dark humor and subversive tone.

Samuel Barnett (Adult Simon Doonan) and Gary Amers (Sacha)

For one, it's incredibly British. I fancy myself a casual Anglophile and even I missed probably half of the jokes. And what's more, Simon's formative years have been transported to the early nineties, a wonderfully fertile period for hilariously bad fashion and music references, but one that might not be terribly familiar to younger viewers.

Again, my own coming-of-age wasn't too far off from the time represented here, so for me all the references to Kylie, The Spice Girls, Steps, Princess Diana and more made it for me what The Wonder Years must have been for my own parents.

The show is also insanely gay. Like, flaming-unicorn-with-a-handbag-full-of-rainbows gay. I can't picture a mainstream-targeted show with this strong an emphasis on a gay kid's life ever being made here in the States.

Can you imagine if Everybody Hates Chris, My So Called Life or Doogie Howser M.D. centered on a gay adolescent and his gay best friend? (Well, that last one maybe isn't the best example, in hindsight...)

But Beautiful People is utterly unapologetic, proudly ridiculous and beyond camp. And while all these things are enormously appealing to me, I can bet that some viewers, gay and straight alike, won't cotton to the sheer fabulousness of it all.

But I hope folks give it a chance. Even if you weren't a young Simon growing up (I know I wasn't nearly as self-assured, style-obsessed or adventurous as this character is), you might find the show liberating and fun. And if the pilot hasn't sold you given that it's a bit clunky in that it has to introduce the characters and flashback structure, at least hold on for the second episode, which is sheer over-the-top genius.

As far as the cast goes, it's pretty tight. While Ward-Wilkinson is solid as Simon, Layton Williams steals every scene he's in as the impossibly precocious Kylie, who sings, dances and sasses his way through life with the polish of a chorus boy twice his age.

Olivia Colman (That Mitchell and Webb Look) is brilliant as Simon's boozy, spunky but hot-tempered mum, and Beautiful Thing fans will squeal when Tameka Empson appears as the village's gossipy, rum-scented hairdresser.

In the wraparound segments (which feature an adult-ish Simon working his famous display windows at Barney's with a hunky boyfriend) Simon is played by History Boys vet Samuel Barnett, who may as well be playing a more self-assured Posner.

So this summer we're not just stuck with reruns, a new batch of morons in the Big Brother house and the itching urge to shell out big bucks for premium cable to check out the new shows on HBO and Showtime. For the next six weeks you can spend that cash on cheap wine coolers and enjoy the fizzy fun of Beautiful People instead. Landmarks in gay representation on television have seldom been this entertaining.

Beautiful People premiers May 26th on Logo.