IMHO – THE BEST IN GAY TV
The irony of my being at the Television Critics Association for two plus weeks this month was that I had no time to watch television. That means for those sixteen days I saw no Forbidden Love, no Hollyoaks, and no As the World Turns. True, that means I didn't have to watch Flipping Out so it wasn't all bad, but no Ollian is just cruel. I hope you folks appreciate the sacrifices I make. After all, I'd much rather be harvesting rice in China.
It took me a couple of hours to catch up on my soaps (did I really just say that?) and it was interesting to watch so many clips together and to compare how the shows stacked up against each other in such extended viewing. So which show held up the best?
AS THE WORLD TURNS: Watching six Nuke episodes in a row, it became clear just how dreadful U.S. soap opera writing and production values are and how little imagination goes into the plots. These characters fall in and out of love faster than a thirteen-year-old girl and make-up just as fast. On the other hand, Nuke is at least discussing having sex, they kissed twice, and the characters are definitely in love. And after two weeks at the TCA listening to straight folks discuss how they can't have gay characters on their shows because they don't show sex, it's nice to have an example to show that gay does not equal sex. Even if TPTB at ATWT aren't doing it for the right reason. That being said, of the three soaps, ATWT gets the down arrow.
FORBIDDEN LOVE: Perhaps it's because I missed the guys so much that I was a little disappointed with the show when I came back. Part of the problem was how little Ollian action we actually had. While I think it's great that the show doesn't keep the guys separate from the rest of the storylines, I'm ready for more about them and less about kidnapping plots and Grebecca. BTW, does FL have a functioning "cone of silence"? How else to explain Olli and Olivia's ability to stand in the middle of No Limits repeatedly discussing kidnapping, the police, and burning money while only once drawing any attention of folks sitting three feet away?
HOLLYOAKS: For my money, Hollyoaks is the hands down winner here by giving us a nice mix of the John Paul/Kieron storyline that throws fairly interesting roadblocks in their way without dragging them out forever. We've also got fantastic performances from James Sutton, Jake Hendriks and Barry Sloane who plays the meddling Niall. Pretty much everything about this show is firing on all cylinders right now, marred only by the fact that we know James and Jake are leaving. No-o-o-o!
GENERAL HOSPITAL NIGHT SHIFT: Yes, it's a bad daytime soap opera on at night. Yes, the writing is terrible, most of the acting is at the dinner theater level, and the production values are for crap. But isn't that all true of ATWT? And this gay character actually shows up every episode, is out in a believable way, and is more than the "gay" guy. He's even got a romance in the works. I'm just sayin'...
FLIPPING OUT: The only reason I'm giving this week's episode an up arrow is because Chris Keslar finally had the sense to finally get the hell off this show. The lowlight of the episode was watching Jeff drop Ryan's daughter's doll on the floor again and again and rejoicing that she seems to have a dark side like Jeff's. Still, perhaps there's a Bravo show of her own in her future....
PROJECT RUNWAY: When the designers went out to take pics of New York for inspiration, I expected the worse. And some of them delivered just that. But some of those outfits were amazing ranging from chic to outrageous. And none of Team Gay got aufed! BTW, be sure to check out Brian's great recaps. His graphics, including Christian's laser eyes and the Keith-O-Meter are brilliant.
My only complaint about the Keith-O-Meter is that we don't actually see Keith's head!Oh, and don't forget John and Colin's Heidi Chronicles vlog. These two get everybody to talk with them!
WEEDS: Not only did this week see the return of Sanjay (Maulik Pancholy), but also gave us a surprise gay reveal when we learned that ***SPOILER ALERT*** Celia's (Elizabeth Perkins) nemesis Detective Roy Till (Jack Stehlin) is actually getting it on pretty hot and heavy with one of his fellow detectives. I'm not entirely sure what the point of the reveal was or how much more we're going to see of Roy, but he does seem obsessed with catching Nancy. And I'm definitely glad to see Sanjay back and hope we see even more of him. But that subplot about Shane fantasizing about his own mother? That's just icky.
SHEAR GENIUS: Since Brent was soooo excited to see Kate Jackson on this week's episode, I'm letting him have this slot. So here he is: OMG! OMG! OMG! It's SABRINA! SQUEEEE! She looks GREAT! SQUEEE! And they played the Charlie's Angels theme music so that is good. But Kate didn't judge the short cut challenge! WTF! BOO! Still, it's Kate and Jaclyn together n the same stage! It's even better than a Beatles reunion. But there is no Farrah so I can't give it an up arrow. Still, Kate! Squeeee! (FYI, this isn't really Brent.)
Next page! A chat with David Hyde Pierce!
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