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Alex (Rodney Chester) is an HIV treatment/prevention counselor and the show's resident diva. He functions as the group’s matriarch, always ready with a cheeky admonition but ultimately doting and protective of his friends.

Noah confides in Alex about his predicament with Wade, and Alex promises to keep quiet. Then as soon as they hang up, Alex promptly calls the others to fill them in. But he is so sweet, and so predictable, that even Noah can’t be mad at him when he learns that Alex spilled the beans.

While the other characters deal variously with new relationships, dating and playing the field, Alex is invested in everyone knowing that he and Trey still have passionate sex. He has been in a committed, monogamous relationship with his muscle man boyfriend Trey (Gregory Keith), a nurse, for seven years. In the first episode, Alex learns that Trey has been involved in some extra-curricular cyber activities, but rather than remain jealous he ventures into new sexual territory.

Finally there’s Ricky (Christian Vincent), the always-on-the-prowl owner of a clothing shop on funky Melrose Avenue. He gets around his own rule against having sex with employees by firing and rehiring a particularly attractive one within a single day, so they can get into each other’s pants on a lunch break. Vincent is a dancer whose many credits include performing with Madonna for her Drowned World Tour (2001), and viewers get many a glimpse at his fine physique.

Ricky uses terms like “monogocide” and bristles at his friends’ pressure to get into a steady relationship. It’s the perfect setup for a character to eat his own words and be swept off his feet, and that is precisely what happens later in the season when Wilson Cruz joins the cast as Junito, a medical resident who begins working at Alex’s clinic.

Junito throws the usually free-wheeling Ricky off his game by refusing to take part in the games Ricky plays. It remains to be seen whether the two actors share genuine chemistry, but viewers can at least look forward to more scenes of Ricky hooking up with yet another hottie. 32-year-old actor Cruz was a regular on My So-Called Life, a guest star on Party of Five, and had roles in several movies, including Party Monster, and All Over Me.

Noah’s Arc is at times downright goofy. At one point three of the characters share a split-screen conference call with Noah, who is in the bathroom bracing for his threesome with Brandy and Wade. He consults with Chance (who is in a hot tub with Eddie), Ricky (who is in the midst of hooking up with his latest trick) and Alex (who is in the midst of a cybersex encounter with Trey, who’s in another room in their house).

But the show manages to infuse the drama with comedic situations without descending into farce.

And despite the frequent silliness, the show is also consistently sexy. Perhaps the best reason to stay tuned in to the show is the chemistry that Noah and Wade share. There’s a lot of sex in Noah’s Arc, but these two are particularly screen-sizzling.

Topping off the good writing, characters, and chemistry is the fact that the show provides a rare focus on black gay men (director Patrik-Ian Polk has a good track record here: prior to creating Noah's Arc, he made the well-received indie film Punks, which also focused on the lives and loves of black gay men). Given the general scarcity of well-developed black gay characters in most films and television shows, it's no small thing to have an entire show built around them.

Just one more reason you should tune in to Noah's Arc.

For more information and showtimes, visit logoonline.com