Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (October 3, 2008)

IMHO — THIS WEEK IN GAY TV
The fall TV season is in full swing now and it's almost impossible to keep up with everything of gay interest. If I somehow failed to assign an arrow to your favorite (or most infuriating) show, please forgive me.  

Ugly Betty: Some people felt last week's premiere was a disappointment, but I loved last night's episode. Wilhemina lures Betty back to Mode to be her protege. Inevitably, Marc gets jealous and sparks fly. The main storyline is cute, but what I really love about this show are the small grace notes — particularly those supplied by Marc Indelicato as Justin. Here's Justin in the Suarez kitchen complaining about Betty's current job at a men's magazine...

Marc:  Aunt Betty, you have to go back to Mode. Player gets me nothing! It’s like I’m stuck in a sandtrap at the bottom of the ninth quarter ... Oh God listen to me! I’m already changing.

Justin is changing. He's growing up right before our eyes. That alone makes Ugly Betty worth watching.

Marc Indelicato as Justin

True Blood: We're devoting a fair amount of coverage to this show, what with a weekly recap and the Blood Work video blog, but I'm not convinced yet that the show deserves the attention. This past week’s episode was all about Jason Stackhouse’s engorged penis and (I can't believe I'm saying this) that's not enough to carry a one-hour drama. Sometimes I worry the show is reaching more for titillation than it is for actual dramatic storytelling. If the only reason to watch is for a possible glimpse of Jason's “eggplant” then there's a problem. I hope the show settles into itself soon, or I fear people are going to start tuning out once it can’t top itself in the shock quotient department. It doesn't have to be another Six Feet Under, but it needs to be better than it's been so far. And a minor specific complaint — I'm not so keen on the actor playing "Bill."  He's quite possibly the blandest vampire ever. Here's hoping Sookie ditches him for the badass "Eric," played by Alexander Skarsgard.

Stephen Moyer ("Bill"), Alexander Skarsgard

Forbidden Love: I got in trouble the last time I did the column for not mentioning Verbotene Liebe.  After all the recent excitement (the boxing community turning on Axel and siding with Christian & Olli) it was sort of quiet this week, with Ollian limited to giving romantic advice to Gregor. I wish they'd get Olli out of that bandage helmet already, but I’ll still give it an up arrow, because even when our German gay supercouple doesn’t have much of a storyline of their own they just both feel completely integrated into the show's other storylines. 

Contrast that to…

Brothers & Sisters: The season premiere was just all right. (Check out Steven Frank's hilarious recap here.) Its highly contrived setup had the entire Walker clan spending the weekend at a Malibu mansion. There were really only two highlights: 1) Scotty & Kevin slipping away to a bedroom to share a sweet kiss; and 2) watching Kevin trying to pull off salmon pink pants. 

So here's my current beef with B&S: while Kevin does seem fully integrated and interactive with the rest of the cast, all Scotty gets to do is serve frittata and pomegranate martinis to everybody. The show needs to develop a few storylines involving Scotty and various individual members of the Walker clan — without Kevin. Maybe a feud with Kitty, or a guy's night out with Justin & Tommy where Kevin doesn't come. They need to do more with Scotty than just have him be a fritatta-serving accessory.

As the World Turns: Honestly, the only reason to watch Nuke these days is to see what new hairstyle Van Hansis is sporting. It is wonderful that Proctor & Gamble now allows them to kiss pretty much indiscriminately (they kissed again on Wednesday's show), but As the World Turns really needs to take the next step and show them in bed post-coitus. Hey, it doesn't have to be graphic (though I wouldn't complain) — just let the audience know that these two are intimate.

Next page! Little Britain U.S.A. falls flat. Plus, Project Runway's Jerell was robbed!