In an era of Internet dating and perfectmatch.com, the brick-and-mortar dating service seems a quaint thing of the past. It is in this context that the relationship experts of the fictional agency Lovespring International struggle to bring couples together. Gay or straight, undecided or confused—it doesn't matter to these folks. Lovespring is up to the challenge.

Lovespring International, which airs on Monday nights at 11 p.m. on Lifetime, is a comedy about the delusional leading the desperate. The show's hook is that the experts need more help in matters of the heart than the clients, which makes the subtly misguided office slogan a perfect fit: “The Last Dating Service You'll Ever Use.” And halfway through its first season, Lovespring is proving to be a refreshing cocktail that beats the summer doldrums before the fall season kicks off.

Executive producer Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) has crafted a show that's positively lousy with gay sensibilities. Part of a new crop of original programming on the Lifetime network (whose tagline should be “TV for Women...and Gay Men”), Lovespring is largely improvised, which allows the comedic talents of its cast to shine through.

Lifetime has recently sought to break out of the movie-of-the-week melodrama for which it is known. Hoping to draw in more viewers from the 18-to-49 age block that advertisers covet, the network has set their sights set on diversifying their schedule with edgy comedy. Lovespring definitely fits the bill.

The show features three out actors: Jack Plotnick (Drawn Together, Girls Will Be Girls), Sam Pancake (Legally Blonde 2, Girls Will Be Girls), and Jane Lynch (The L Word, Best in Show). It would be difficult to name another TV show that could boast a trifecta of gay performers in leading roles all at once. Even Queer As Folk never managed that.

But despite such a gay sensibility, none of Lovespring's main characters are openly gay, though Sam Pancake's character Burke Kristopher is a barely closeted man who seems to be having an affair with his own brother-in-law. Burke considers himself the spring in Lovespring. As a relationship counselor, it's his job to help the clientele find true love, although viewers have yet to see any happy couples walking hand-in-hand off into the sunset.

In his personal life, Burke is married to a woman who has as much trouble feigning interest in him as he does in her. In the show's first episode, we see a cringe-worthy display between the two. Burke leans in from several feet away, purses his lips, and pecks her on the cheek, to which her response is semicomatose staring.

Later in that same episode, the office's executive assistant, the hilarious Jennifer Elise Cox (The Brady Bunch Movie, Will & Grace), sneaks a peek through the blinds into Burke's office to see Burke and another man in a rather compromising position. Vehement denials, amid the frantic buttoning of shirts, ensue.

Burke's straight man facade is thin at best. While awkwardly trying to have a buddy-buddy moment with the Lovespring videographer (Mystro Clark), Burke stumbles between a high-five and a knuckle-bump, only to settle on an inappropriate shoulder rub. In another episode, Burke busts out an arsenal of hair products in the office bathroom to make over a tragically unhip client.

So what is Burke, exactly? Closeted gay man barely fooling anyone? Bisexual with a flair for feyness? What motivation keeps him in such a loveless marriage?

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