If you've been holding out on ordering Logo, then here's the perfect excuse: The second season of Noah's Arc premieres tonight at 10 p.m. EST. The hit original series follows four gay African-American friends exploring love and relationships. If you missed the debut season, the first nine episodes are now available in a DVD set featuring an entertaining commentary track, deleted scenes, the original pilot episode and more. You can also download episodes on iTunes.

The show's central character is Noah (Darryl Stephens), a young, aspiring screenwriter who also happens to be a diehard romantic. The first season followed his often rocky relationship with Wade (Jensen Atwood), a fellow screenwriter slowly inching his way out of the closet. At the end of last season when Wade learned Noah had been unfaithful, he walked away leaving Noah single again. But will he find it in his heart to forgive?

The other three main characters have problems of their own. Chance (Douglas Spearman) is a college professor struggling to adjust to an instant family after moving in with his boyfriend, Eddie (Jonathan Julian), and Eddie's young daughter, Kenya. The season finale saw Chance and Eddie exchange vows, but they didn't even make it to the reception before an ill-placed punch sent Chance to the hospital with a concussion.

Ricky (Christian Vincent) owns a trendy clothing boutique and is unapologetically promiscuous. He may be having a change of heart, however, after meeting HIV-positive medical resident Junito (Wilson Cruz).

Last, but certainly not least, is Alex (Rodney Chester), an HIV counselor fighting the seven-year itch. The last season ended with his husband, Trey (Gregory Keith), on a plane to South Africa for six months.

AfterElton.com recently talked to Rodney Chester about Noah's Arc, important issues facing the African-American gay community, and divas.

AfterElton.com: How did you first hear about Noah's Arc?
Rodney Chester: Well, I heard about it through Patrik [Patrik-Ian Polk, director, writer and producer of Noah's Arc], who's a friend of mine. I had done another project with him prior to Noah's Arc, this film called Punks. He called me when he was working on the process of Noah's Arc, and he said that he had a part pretty much for me for this project. … Patrik called me directly.

AE: Did you immediately know you wanted to be a part of it?
RC: I knew that [Polk] was talented, and the material that he put together with the other projects, I knew that they were good. Once I read the stuff he was telling me about the show and what it was going to be about, I thought that it would definitely be a good project, and I was definitely interested and excited.

AE: On the DVD commentary, someone — I think Darryl Stephens — mentions that a lot of the sayings Alex uses were actually yours. How much of you is in Alex?
RC: Well, anything I say has to be OK'd by Patrik. I'm the type of person that I like to have a good time. I think Alex is way more over-the-top than I am personally, but you have to bring some of your personality to each character. I think everybody has some of that character in them.

AE: Which would bring authenticity to the character.
RC: Right. With Alex's character, that's what people like. People like to laugh, and I think my character is the one that's a little more humorous, as they say. I think that, of course, you have to bring something to the table with the character, so while Alex may be more over-the-top than I am, I think I do bring something to the character.

Page 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 - Next