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Storylines portraying gay men struggling with their sexuality are usually handled by television dramas, not comedies. When watching an hour-long network show, the viewer expects the emotions to be heavy, dramatic, and often continuing through more than one episode. Sitcoms tend to be much lighter and usually feature story lines that are neatly resolved in 22 minutes.

However, a comedic take on an issue can often pack more of an emotional punch than the dramatic. Who didn't just melt when, at the climax of the film Jeffrey, Michael T. Weiss walked in to find the candlelit dinner Steven Weber had set up for him? Comedies are about laughing and having a good time, about letting your guard down. And when the material has lifted your spirits up that high, the fall is that much further.

Such is the case in the episode “Burke Makes a Friend.” A newly out, utterly clueless, hunky, ex-football player from Burke's high school stops by the Lovespring office in hopes of finding his first boyfriend. Burke decides the new fellow deserves his utmost attention.

First comes the obligatory makeover. A picnic practice date follows, complete with champagne and strawberries, some oh-so-deliciously innocent misunderstandings, a ride on a bicycle built for two, gazes held a little too long, and finally a turn on the swing set.

It is here that the show provides an unexpected moment of poignancy. “I'm married, I'm married, I'm married,” Burke keeps reminding himself. Yet at the end of the practice date, the gay friend asks Burke to go away with him for the weekend. Burke's eyes are aglow. “This has been one of the happiest days of my life,” he confesses. It's an unexpectedly moving revelation.

Then his cell phone rings. It's the wife. She's set something in the house on fire. Screaming can be heard through the receiver.

And with that, reality comes crashing back in. Burke's married to a woman. For him there will be no weekend getaway, no romance, no hunky ex-football player.

So where is the joke in this unfortunate turn of events? It's on all those who think that a good woman can turn a gay man straight. In the end you can't hide who you really are. Gay is gay, as we can all attest. There's no choice about it, and Lovespring International does a great job of handling this delicate issue by showing the absolute absurdity behind such a belief.

It's a thin charade: the gay man playing a straight husband. In real life you can expect tears and unhappiness, but in the Lovespring world, with the characters taken to their exaggerated extremes, you can see it in a funhouse mirror. Yet there's a kernel of truth behind every joke.

Maybe Burke will get his guy in the end; just don't expect any TV drama-style hugs and tears if and when Burke finally comes clean. Without missing a beat, his coworkers are likely to say, “And?” before going back to work.

Lovespring International has well-written characters performed expertly by a talented comedic cast. The situations are campy and fun, with a bit of twisted naughtiness thrown in. There is no laugh track, and since much of the show is improvised, many of the lines are fluid and overlapping. Expect a bit of Christopher Guest-style realism and dry humor—just the sort of gaiety to make you forget the scorching heat and unbearable humidity of summer.

Besides, what's not to like about a show that has Burke declaring, “My wife and I don't want to have kids. We have a lot of love; we don't want to share it with kids.”

New episodes of Lovespring International begin airing on Aug. 7 at 11 p.m. on Lifetime.

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