LET'S GIVE THEM A HAND, SHALL WE?
I'm back! Oh, you didn't even notice I was gone? Um, okay. No, I'm not hurt. Really. I understand.

Sigh...

All joking aside, the first thing I want to do is acknowledge what a fantastic job Dennis, Brian, Steven, and Brent did writing the BEST.GAY.WEEK.EVER over the past month. I think all four deserve a round of applause, no?

While it was wonderful not having to somehow find time to write the column each week, it was kind of a hard habit to break. Every time something interesting crossed my desk, I kept thinking of snarky headlines only to realize someone else was going to get to snark that week. Well, it's my turn for the BGWE and it's full snark ahead! And to show I haven't lost a step while away from the column, this week's BGWE is 17 pages long!

Kidding! Now on with the show...

PUTTING THE GAY IN THE TCA
Starting July 7th, I'm going to be in Los Angeles for sixteen days attending the July Tour for the Television Critics Association. This is the event where the broadcast and cable networks present panels for their upcoming new shows (as well as some of the old ones) and trot out the talent for critics such as myself to poke and prod, judging for freshness, originality and congeniality.

It's a chance for us to ask the actors, writers and creators all sorts of questions (Who thought that plot twist was a good idea? What is he like to work with?) and for the talent to talk up their show's upcoming season (It's really like one big family on the set! This is the project I was born to do!). We critics also try hard to get the actual, non-B.S. scoop.

For instance, it was at last summer's TCA that Marc Cherry spilled the beans that Desperate Housewives would be welcoming their first gay househusbands (yes, we all know how that worked out, but still). It was also there I got to chat with John Barrowman (Torchwood), Tim Gunn (Project Runway), and Paul James (Greek) and to talk with each of them about their shows.

Paul James, Silvio Horta, Tim Gunn

I'm especially pleased to be a member of the TCA because it gives that much more of a gay voice to the concerns the GLBT community has about what is broadcast on our television screens. I have to believe it has an impact on the Hollywood powers-that-be to have a pesky journalist asking each and every one of them about their show's gay content. Or if there is no gay content, why not? Or if it's bad gay content, what they plan to do about it.

As a matter of fact, here is a picture of me at last year's TCA demanding the president of Fox explain why his network had no regular gay characters. It's a bit of a blur, but as I recollect, I said something along the lines of "Tear down that wall! Set my people free! Make that lead gay character gay!"

Am I one pushy gay boy or what?

Seriously, last year's TCA did afford me the opportunity to explain to Big Shots' creator Jon Feldman why the blackmailing transgender prostitute on his show wasn't exactly a great leap forward in GLBT representation. That's just one example.

So who will I get to talk to this year and what shows of gay interest will be represented at the TCA? I'll be chatting with Ugly Betty's executive producer Silvio Horta, Little Britain's Matt Lucas, and Desperate Housewives' Marc Cherry. Other folks I'll be looking to score face-time with include Alan Ball (Six Feet Under, True Blood), David Hyde Pierce, Greg Berlanti, Margaret Cho, Carson Kressley and others. Naturally, I'll corner every other writer, creator, and producer I can to find out what they working on that has gay content.

Some of the shows with gay characters or of gay-interest for which I'll be attending the panels hunting for scoop on include Desperate Housewives, Dirty Sexy Money, Fox's new show Do Not Disturb, HBO's new vampire show True Blood, and the USA networks' The Starter Wife. I'm also very interested to attend ABC's panel featuring showrunners including Marc Cherry (Desperate Housewives), Greg Berlanti (Eli Stone, Brothers & Sisters), Silvio Horta, Carlton Cuse (Lost), Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice), and Damon Lindelof (Lost).

I'll even by liveblogging some of the more intriguing panels so it'll be just like you're there! And if there is a particular actor you'd like me to try to talk with, a particular show you'd like to know about, or pretty much anything else, just leave a note in the comments and I'll see what I can do!

Next page! The Tonys were more gay than we knew!