I'm not so sure about OUTzone's name which doesn't exactly trip off the tongue. That issue aside, OUTzone's site will feature three special webisodes of Kathy Griffin, a British documentary about five husbands coming out (that sounds laff-a-minute), a “cooking” show with a drag queen, and other content including a blog (Dear God, no!), a news-feed, and message boards.

As far as I'm concerned, this comes just in the nick of time. Last night after I updated my own personal blog, I was fast forwarding through the TIVO'd finale of Unan1mous, so I could watch Lost. But I could only do that after I watched my movie from Netflix (but that had to wait until I had downloaded Desperate Housewives onto my IPOD to watch on the bus if I finished listening to my NPR podcast). When suddenly I found myself thinking, if only there was an exclusively gay broadband channel to bring me something to fill the empty hours of my life, then I could truly be happy. Thank you OUTzoneTV.com!

OUTzone debuts June 1. My head explodes June 2.

AT LEAST IT HAS TO BE BETTER THAN EMILY'S REASONS WHY NOT, RIGHT?
ABC announced today is has given the green-light to the Ted Danson sitcom Help Me Help You. I wrote about Help Me in our fall pilot round-up, and I've got my fingers crossed this isn't the only show with gay content that gets picked up. Nothing against Ted (by my count this is his 145th sitcom), but Josh, Help Me's gay character, seemed like the least promising, most stereotypical of the bunch. But sometimes it's a long way from the pilot to the final product so who knows? Maybe Josh will be more Brokeback than Bird Cage.

OPRAH SAYS BYE-BYE TO WILL AND GRACE
The cast of Will and Grace ventured onto Oprah Wednesday to chat about their time on the show. Up first, however, was Vince Vaughn to talk about his upcoming movie, The Break-Up, with Jennifer Aniston. Naturally, Vince went first because the release of another doomed Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy is a much bigger story than the end of Will and Grace, a cultural milestone in GLBT visibility.

But at least Oprah made up for it by delving into the significance of what Will and Grace meant to the gay community. Having the cast pick their favorite moments and discuss who was cheapest really paid tribute to significance of the show. Okay, okay. Oprah is only a talk show, not a course in critical analysis. But it still seemed a little weird to me the gay thing was never really addressed except when Oprah asked Eric McCormack an odd question about if being straight gave him more freedom to play gay. Yeah, I didn't get it either.

PLEASE, GOD, STAR JONES CAN'T LEAVE NOW!
Rumors have been swirling all week that ABC would announce Star Jones was leaving The View now that Rosie O'Donnell has signed up. That, of course, is horrible news for those of us who wanted to watch Rosie run circles around the rather dim Star. (Not to mention the blond Republican twit from Survivor.) Honestly, can you imagine better television than the outspoken Rosie taking it to Star's bloated ego?

Viewer reaction to Rosie's impending arrival is mixed and the negative comments smack of homophobia. I've read lots of discussion about Rosie's being loud, uncouth, and poorly dressed. Folks know they can't come out and say Rosie's a big, old dyke so they dance around it. Oh, well. I suppose that's progress of sorts.

Rosie's return to television got me to again thinking about the lack of gay men willing to put themselves out there like Rosie. Yes, Ian McKellen and Elton John don't hold back on their opinions. But they're both Brits and, um, older with little to risk. I know homophobia is to blame, but imagine a gay David Letterman on television every night. That would be something worth staying up for.

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