Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (April 18, 2008)

GAY BROTHERS & SISTERS & UNCLES & QUARTERBACKS & BEST FRIENDS &, UGH, A "SEXUALLY CONFUSED" SERIAL KILLER
Brothers & Sisters finally returns on Sunday and while there isn't much to say about the show's first new episode in months, I've got so much scoop about the finale, I hardly know where to start. But no one here is likely to be interested, so instead I'm going to discuss PBS' upcoming twelve part look at the papers of Roy Cohn.

Kidding! Be warned, spoilers below!

It's really no secret anymore that the season finale airing May 11th includes Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Scotty (recently out Luke MacFarlane) getting civil unioned. (For the record, I hate it when civil unions/domestic partnerships are used interchangeably with the word marriage. They are not the same thing and treating them as such let's straight people think we aren't being discriminated against when we are. End of rant!) But what's great about the final episode is just how much is going on that involves their wedding.

Kevin (Matthew Rhys), Scotty (Luke MacFarlane)

(Photo Courtesy of ABC)

But what can I tell without causing Greg Berlanti to swoop down and pummel me into a puddle of goo? Well, Kevin's brothers want to throw him a bachelor party, of course. And being good brothers, they want it to be a gay bachelor party. Naturally, not everything goes quite as planned. What else? There's a last minute road trip involving Kevin going on a quest. Any guesses what he's looking for? No, it's not Jason! But it is someone. And somebody else gets a unexpected special gift from someone else.

One other aspect I can divulge is that Uncle Saul's (Ron Rifkin) story actually comes back into play. You'll recall earlier I said that due to the strike, we wouldn't be hearing much about him the rest of this season. Well, the writers threw in a curve ball and Saul does get some prominent screentime in the finale that involve choices he's made in the past and actions he's taken more recently. And when things go seriously askew, it's to Kevin whom he reaches out.

Uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin)

(Photo Courtesy of ABC)

The last thing I'll say B&S related is kudos to Luke for coming out now. It's going to add a special poignancy to have an out actor participating in one of the more significant gay storylines on one of the most gay positive shows in the history of network television. As Ian McKellen said, all we can ask of actors is that they come out and be honest about who they are. If they do that, then they've done their part.

Moving on! Several weeks ago, I wrote about an upcoming episode of Law and Order: SVU with a gay storyline. The episode which airs on Tuesday is called "Closet" and is about a closeted quarterback whose lover/business manager is found murdered. I just finished watching the ep and like any good criminal show, it has lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end. As for how it handles the gay aspect, I was nervous when the murder victim is found dead in bed with a bag of sex toys nearby including leather chaps and a red rubber ball gag. Oy vey.

Like most recent L&O episodes, the show's gay tolerant POV comes through pretty clearly with speeches about how dumb it is that the NFL's star quarterback can't be open about his sexuality, ranting shock jock homophobes, and the like. One moment totally cracked me up when one of the lesser detectives is not only able to real off the names of Dave Kopay, Roy Simmons, and Esera Tuaolo as the only openly gay pro football players, but another one observes that they only came out after they retired. Hmm, these cops are awfully knowledgeable about professional gay athletes.

BTW, the murder victim (who we only see as a corpse) is a played by a certain well-known reality star. Any guesses?

For those of you who didn't get enough of Debra Messing in her mini-series The Starter Wife (Anyone? Anyone?), you'll be happy to know that come this October, it'is returning to the USA Network as a ten episode series. For those of you not that interested in Messing herself, the show is also bringing back Rodney (Chris Diamantopoulos) as Messing's Best Gay Friend. It's always nice to have another gay character on the telly, but Rodney cetainly wasn't anything particularly new as he sported the usual supposed affectations of urban gay men. For instance, the picture below on the left is Rodney out at lunch.

Chris Diamantopoulos

USA Network Photo: Paul A Broben/Getty Images Michael Buckner

Yeah, I dress for lunch like that all the time. Well, at least on the days I actually shower before I eat lunch. Okay, dinner. Truthfully, I tend to dress more like the heterosexual Chris himself. Only less hot. And older. And in my bathrobe. Sob....

As for the "sexually confused" serial killer in the headline above, he shows up on the April 30th episode of Criminal Minds which is titled "In Heat". That's a lovely title for a gay serial killer episode. Steven (Michael Graziadei) is the confused young man who, after being rejected by his homophobic father, is apparently exploring his sexuality and that somehow involves end up killing men he has sex with. Um, wasn't that called Cruising and starring Al Pacino? And didn't we about riot over it?

Michael Graziadei

To be fair, I have not yet seen the episode, but its pretty hard to imagine this going some place fresh and interesting as opposed to somewhere inducing queasiness and rage. Maybe next they'll do a closeted Republican politician. Or a televangelist. Oy vey.

Next page! Which gay storylines you most want to see!