Best Drama

Just because a show falls into the dramatic category, it doesn’t mean you’re looking at something as serious as Chekov. Drama is just the tone, and it doesn’t even have to take place in something resembling our world – it can be a complete flight of fantasy. Beware – there be monsters ahead.

Brothers & Sisters

Week after week, we tune in to the drama of the Walker family – is there a new sibling? Will the family business survive? How much wine will be consumed, and whose dirty laundry will get gossiped about until someone spills the beans in the most inappropriate way possible?

Still, at the end of the day, this family loves each other. And if they don’t accidentally kill each other first, then they’d certainly kill for each other. Or at least donate a major organ if need be. And what does it say about the show that the only successful marriage is the gay one? When all the other Walkers are falling to temptation, Kevin and Scotty remain true to each other, even with a hunky Jason Lewis offering himself up to share.

Greek

College is generally the first time that most young people get out from under their parents rules and experience the freedom adulthood has to offer. That being said, things can get pretty wild what with alcohol, sex and identity issues cropping up. It’s something we all go through, but not necessarily something we want to watch others endure. Unless it’s on Greek.

ABC Family has a knack for young adult drama, and here they’ve given us a fairly no-holds-barred look at college life and the Greek system with all its Animal House qualities. More importantly, we also see the human sides to these characters with their young love and struggles to find themselves.

It’s also shown us something of a rarity with Calvin, a young gay man of color navigating those same struggles. Kudos to the show for truly showing they are the same struggles.

Kings

When NBC said they were spending a small fortune to launch a modern-day retelling of David and Goliath set in a world parallel to ours, everyone knew they’d have a tough sell. And not only were they setting out to reinterpret the Bible, they were going to make the King's son gay to boot.

NBC struggled to explain the show to the public, and it failed in the ratings before finding its feet dramatically, which was tragic, because the writing was smart with characters both flawed and heroic.

The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

Adapting a book about a female detective in Botswana might seem challenging enough what with translating the tones of that languid, rolling culture for American audiences. But to take the book and add a gay character, rather than subtract it (as usually happens), well, that takes a certain vision.

And in a part of the world not particularly known for being gay friendly, even a gay hairdresser named BK is groundbreaking. Like any good hairdresser, BK knows to keep his ears open for all the details of the neighborhood – making him all the more valuable to an investigator. And all the more welcome on our TV screens.

Southland

When AfterElton.com first scooped the rest of the television world with the news that Michael Cudlitz was going to be playing the training officer for Ben McKenzie’s rookie cop, no one knew quite what to expect. Would Officer Cooper be gruff? Manly? Out? Closeted?

During the first short season, many of the details about his sexuality were largely up for debate. Readers on the site couldn’t even agree if Officer Cooper was gay. Maybe there just happened to be all men in that bar? And did he have to have a drug problem? We couldn’t agree on much, really. But no one could deny that John Cooper was something new on television.

True Blood

Maenads, vampires, and shape shifters – oh my! That was True Blood.

In a world where vampires have come out of the coffin thanks to synthetic blood, this small Louisiana town is turned upside down when one of their own ancestors comes back as Vampire Bill. Soon Sookie’s deep in the world of the supernatural, working for a shape shifter. Meanwhile, Lafayette, her best friend’s cousin is unapologetically gay, and deals vampire blood. Did we mention Sookie's a telepath?

It sounds confusing, but mostly it’s everyone’s dirty little pleasure on Sunday nights.