Well, at least now they won’t have to go to confession since they’ve been saved from seeing the sinful Daniel.

Daniel is garnering pretty good reviews so far, as is Christian Campbell, who plays Peter, the gay Republican son of Aidan Quinn, starring as Daniel, the priest on the show. So be sure to tune in tonight at nine on your local NBC station. You’ll see a pretty good drama and get to drive a wingnut crazy!

CRUMBS SAYS THANKS TO BOOK OF DANIEL FOR TAKING ALL THE HEAT
At least that’s what I imagine Fred Savage and the other folks who are part of ABC’s new comedy, Crumbs, might be thinking. I’ve heard nary a wingnut peep over the show starring Fred Savage, Jane Curtin, and William Devane. Fred plays Mitch, the prodigal, gay son returned home after his ventures in Hollywood fail. Jane plays his just-released-from-the-nuthouse mother, and William is Fred’s father. Fred’s folks are divorced and dad is expecting a new baby with his new girlfriend. Word has it that Fred is the stable one in the family.

Clearly, the show is not a comedy at all, but a cleverly disguised attack on the nuclear family. Come on, what with a crazy mom, a father about to become a dad again—this time out-of-wedlock—and a gay son, what else could it be but a nefarious attempt to make people gay? In fact, I think The Book of Daniel is fake, nothing but a clever ruse to let Crumbs slip in under the radar while the wingnuts focus on Daniel, which was never intended to be a real show. Before the conservatives know what hit them, the whole country will be awash in Crumb-mania. Either that or Crumbs will get cancelled after three episodes. I could be wrong about the ruse thing.

WATCH TWO, GET THE THIRD FREE
That’s right, there’s not one, not two, but three shows with gay characters hitting the airwaves this week. The last one is Emily’s Reasons Why Not, starring Heather Graham as Emily and Khary Payton as Josh, Emily’s gay best friend. No pill-popping priests talking to Jesus here. Just your old-fashioned, multi-ethnic sitcom.

HEATH, JAKE AND MICHELLE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THEIR FELLOW ACTORS
Yesterday, Brokeback Mountain cemented its status as the Oscar front-runner by rounding up a whole slew of new nominations. Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michelle Williams all bagged acting nods, as did the entire cast in the “ensemble” category. Does that mean if the flick wins for best “ensemble,” Waitress #2 gets to thank Aunt Mildred for “Always believing in her”? Ang Lee scored yesterday as well with the Director’s Guild of America for having directed Brokeback. Personally, I think that should have been canceled out by the atrocity that is The Hulk.

This week Brokeback passed the $15 million mark which means it has made back its filming budget. It’s not profitable just yet, however, as distribution and advertising costs are likely to be some $30 million. Nonetheless, the movie is well-positioned to do fine financially. It’s still on fewer than 300 screens (although more were added today) but is earning $13,000 per screen, more than double that of any other movie on as many screens.

And the sound and the fury generated by Brokeback continues unabated. USA Today ran a rather tasteless humor piece comparing King Kong and Brokeback. I don’t think they intended to imply that a gay relationship is tantamount to bestiality, but that’s pretty much what they did. Still, they’ve been pretty pro-gay over the years so we can hold off on the tar-and-feathers.

Gene Shalit blasted the movie as highly overrated, but most of the mainstream press has stayed quite positive. (The wingnut press is another matter altogether.) Larry David (Seinfeld, The Larry David Show) wrote a very funny satire about the straight guys who won’t see the film. The movie’s signature line—"I wish I knew how to quit you"—inspired this pretty brilliant Stop Smoking Ad. Finally, I have a feeling that very shortly we’re all going to be very sick of variations of headlines like this: Dear chocolate, I wish I knew how to quit you! On the other hand, the movie has really seeped into the popular consciousness.

BTW, Philip Seymour Hoffman also was nominated by SAG for his turn as Truman Capote in Capote, and Felicity Huffman bagged a nom for her turn as a man transitioning to a woman in Transamerica.

QUEER BLACK CINEMA
January can be a cold, cold month in New York. What better way to stay warm than to hunker down in a movie theater? (Yes, there are other movies besides Brokeback!) Queer Black Cinema is a monthly black LGBTQ film series designed to be a showcase for up-and-coming black filmmakers. This month’s flicks include On the Low, Luther Mace’s coming of age short about African-American teenagers on the “down low”; Black Aura of an Angel by Faith Trimel, a searing expose about lesbian domestic violence, and Angel Brown’s comic short about the African-American dating scene. Check out queerblackcinema.com for more details.

LOOKING AT LOGO
On Saturday night at 7 PM, Logo premieres Bachelor Farmer, a documentary about about a group of gay men who live in the small town of Kendrick, Idaho. I wonder if the local theater plans on showing Brokeback Mountain any time soon.

Last night Logo aired their Brokeback Mountain special, but don’t worry if you missed it. It’s scheduled to run again on Saturday, on Tuesday, and given the way Brokeback-mania is going, probably until the end of the century.

Speaking of gay stations, Q Television this week started airing QTN World News with Steven Kmetko. Nice to see he landed on his feet after walking away from his stint on E!, although I can’t help but wonder just how long of a contract he signed with Q. After his glory days on E!, doesn’t Q have to be a bit of a let down?

Now I’ll shut up so you can have the BEST.GAY.WEEK.EVER

That's it for this week! Check back next Friday for a new installment of Best. Gay. Week. Ever., or read previous installments here.