Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (April 20, 2007)

FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE!
Ugly Betty was back with a new episode last night, and upping the show's queer factor was out actor Leslie Jordan (Will & Grace) playing a spiteful gossipmonger. Naturally the show had a number of snappy lines, including the following exchange between Marc (Michael Urie) and Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams) when Marc caught sight of Willie's long, sensuous legs:

Marc: Fill my bucket with nothing but thighs!
Wilhelmina: Relax, Colonel. We all know you like nothing but nuggets.

Gee, you'd think a lady could take a compliment. On the other hand, Marc could teach a black hole a thing or two about sucking up.

Even better was when both Marc and Amanda (Becki Newtown) lamented that neither had been able to get Nick (Max Greenfield), Willie's new assistant, to sleep with them. I hope to hell Something tells me we haven't seen the last of that story line. As if Ugly Betty wasn't already gay enough, on the May 10th episode the show adds yet another gay character with the addition of Mykel Shannon Jenkins (pictured) as Amanda's new best friend, Tavares. Marc doesn't take kindly to the new gay kid on the block, so I suspect something nefarious might just befall Tavares.

Sunday is another new episode of The Amazing Race. Danny and Oswald continue to do us proud, but we're down to four teams, so the odds of their getting axed go up considerably. I also have this sneaking suspicion this might be a double elimination episode. The Cha's (as they are known) finished first last week and did so with their usual grace and wit. It didn't make the episode last week, but clips on The Amazing Race website show the two celebrating their win with Oswald jumping around going "We're here! We're queer!" Then they joke around with Phil in their usual way.

Is it just me or does Danny just keep getting cuter and cuter? The two are only friends, but they seem to have a great chemistry, and it would be sweet to learn they are now a couple.

My only complaint was the ridiculous Travelocity gnome that was part of a challenge and that everyone then had to carry to the finish line. Bleah.

There is a new Desperate Housewives Sunday night, but thanks to our red-carpet chat with Housewives' creator Marc Cherry, it's pretty clear there won't be much gay stuff going on with Andrew this season. But next season better be might be different. Said Cherry, "I think that he'll [Andrew] have some interesting gay adventures. ... He's had such a tame year, it's time to kind of juice him up again."

That's good news for us, but maybe not so much for Shawn Pyfrom, the actor who plays the out Andrew. While Pyfrom admits he liked "bad" Andrew better than this season's boring "good" version, he's not so wild about having to romance other guys.

As long as I'm discussing romancing guys, our big scoop this week was that Brothers & Sisters' Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) wasn't the only male Walker who romances the boys. (By the way, we were the first to have it despite some other site's claims otherwise. Harumph!) While I must say I am pleased to see another gay male character land on prime time (especially this one as it is pretty different from the usual gay character), I do feel the lesbians' pain over the fact that the show didn't add an out female character, as there are none on network TV right now.

Oh ,wait! Last Sunday night's B&S episode did include a lesbian character. Her name was Donna, and she was the angry individual confronting Kevin during game night over his lack of attendance at HRC meetings, demonstrations for pro-choice causes, and being a man his willingness to occasionally have fun and laugh while there is still so much oppression in the world. The best touch was Donna's requisite lesbian bandanna (because we all know lesbians simply can't be bothered with their hair). Donna's was blue, which in the lesbian community is apparently worn to indicate being bitter, angry and completely lacking of a sense of humor.

Tuesday night, Logo launches their newest original programming with The Big Gay Sketch Show. Check back on Tuesday for our review, and we'll also be streaming the whole episode on line. Also on Tuesday is the latest episode of Work Out, which just announced a special reunion episode which airs on May 15th and includes answers to the follow questions: Are Jackie and Rebecca really dating? How are the Skylab clients doing? Do they really cut out sugar during the week? Where can we find Jackie's clothing line? Plus, find out how they all have been coping with the loss of trainer and good friend Doug Blasdell.

Of course, everyone is most curious to learn more about the sugar question.

On Wednesday is a new episode of Bravo's latest reality competition show, Shear Genius. You'll notice today that we've replaced the recaps of America's Next Top Model with Shear Genius. But not to fear! We won't leave you Top Model fanatics completely in the lurch, as Josh will still be doing a mini-recap with lots of photos over on the AfterElton.com blog.

And in case you missed it, the he-can't-possibly-be-everywhere-at-once George Takei turned up on yet another show. This time it was NBC's new show Thank God You're Here and he did a marvelous job. The best part was that audiences got treated to yet more same-kissing!

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.