Friday, June 3, 2005

TV ROUNDUP
Cable channel TV Land aired a one-hour special called Tickled Pink, in which gay and lesbian (and straight) commentators like Carson Kressley, Mario Cantone, and Marc Cherry make pithy comments about characters on TV shows like Dynasty, Golden Girls, and Chips that have had large gay followings.

Coming up: Six Feet Under's final season debuts on HBO this Monday, June 6, and a new season of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy debuts on Bravo on Tuesday.

REALITY ROUNDUP
Cable channel Outdoor Life Network has just acquired the rights to air reruns of all 10 seasons of the popular CBS series Survivor. The first season will debut on July 24th on OLN, and air in chronological order Mondays through Thursdays at 7pm. Which means those who missed out on gay contestant Richard Hatch's obnoxious behavior the first time will have another chance to see it.

Cable channel GSN is reportedly close to finalizing a deal to air reruns of all seven seasons of CBS's The Amazing Race, which has included gay contestants in several seasons.

Finally, Bravo is releasing several Queer Eye for the Straight Guy episode compilations on DVD beginning later this month. The theme-oriented releases are Queer Eye for the Red Sox, Carson's Style, Ted's Food and Wine, Thom's home, and Kyan and Jai, Looking Good, or you can buy them altogether in an eight-disc Best of the Fab Five collection. Or you can just watch the reruns on Bravo and save your money.

AMAZING WEDDING
In other Amazing Race news, Lynn Warren and Alex Ali, the unambiguously gay duo on the most recent season of the reality series, were married live on the radio in Ottawa, Canada this week. "It was very emotional because it was very real, and it's something we've been waiting for years and years," said Lynn shortly afterwards, before he and Alex were stripped of their belongings and cash and told they had 72 hours to make it to their honeymoon destination.

THE UK'S FAZE
The UK is getting its first TV channel for gay men on September 1st. The channel, which will be called Faze and distributed on the Sky Digital platform, is "gay-owned and run and will reflect how 'real' gay men live in Britain today," says channel creator David Bouchier, who is disappointed that positive images of gay men are still missing from British TV.

SECRETS OF AN EX-ATTORNEY
Gay author and attorney Rich Merritt revealed this week that he was fired from his law firm over concerns that some of the contents in his upcoming memoir, Secrets of a Gay Marine Porn Star, "would diminish my effectiveness as an attorney with clients." He says his termination from the firm was instituted three months ago when he shared details of the book with his bosses. And by "details," he probably just meant the title.

That's it for this week! Check back next Friday for a new installment of Best. Gay. Week. Ever.