Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (June 27, 2008)

IMHO — THIS WEEK IN GAY TV
Oh, my little up, down and sideway arrows — how I've missed you! In the weeks since I last wrote the BGWE, I've wanted to slap arrows on everything! The Sex and the City movie — up arrow! The Daytime Emmy show — down arrow! The Starbucks barista who didn't charge me for the Sunday New York Times — giant up arrow!

I'm like Lisa Simpson, but instead of wanting someone to grade me, I want to grade everything else. So here goes!

Forbidden Love: Christian and Olli's storyline still has me hook, line and sinker. Since I last wrote the column, Christian came out to Gregor, Olli saved his man from the evils of steroid use, and Christian grew a beard. These boys have been busy and the show has kept things lively and unbelievable. I heart Forbidden Love! Bring on the big boxing match!

Hollyoaks: I don't know if this will surprise you as much as it surprises me, but I'm actually more into Hollyoaks right now than even Forbidden Love. It's partly due to James Sutton's fantastic performance as John Paul, and partly due to a slightly more gritty, believable storyline than the gay boxer one on VL. Don't get me wrong — I love them both, but right now HO is ahead by a nose.

AfterElton.com reader LolaRuns recently asked me thoughts about Alles was Zählt (All That Matters), another German soap opera which we have covered in the past for its storyline featuring gay couple Roman and Deniz. We stopped following the storyline when the two split up, but they've recently hooked up again. (We haven't posted the clips due to language restrictions; there are certain words we don't post as we know we have readers watching at work and don't want to get anyone in trouble. If we can find G-rated versions, we'll start posting again!)

Deniz and Roman, Deniz with his agent, Deniz, Roman, and agent

Specifically, Lola asked how I thought AWZ compared to As the World Turns especially when it comes to ATWT "wholesomeness" versus AWZ's cheating, drug use, fighting, etc. I have absolutely no problem with AWZ's portrayal of flawed gay guys as long as A) it fits in with the overall tone of the show and B) it's not simply propagating negative gay stereotypes. While I haven't studied the show in depth, I tend to find it not guilty of doing anything wrong on those fronts The characters are no more flawed than any others (as far as I can tell) and they don't seem to behave badly because they are gay or bisexual, but just because they are human.

Frankly, I find ATWT "wholesomeness" to be more annoying, though I think that has less to do with that particular aspect than I do the show's frankly bad writing. The real difference here might be between the quality of American soap operas versus those from Germany and elsewhere. I can't imagine watching any American soap, but I can imagine watching Hollyoaks, Forbidden Love, and All That Matters.

But is it really fair to compare ATWT to those shows or are they more akin to Brothers & Sisters with a bigger budget to pay for better writing and production values?

Flipping Out: The first episode was fun since we got to watch Jeff Lewis get a taste of his own medicine working for a client as difficult as he. Alas, he quit working for her and now we're back to watching him bully his own folks again. I chatted with Jeff on the phone recently along with some other journalists. I asked him if we might see him dating someone as that would be interesting. Alas, that won't be happening this season. But we do have a nannycam scandal coming up!

Shear Genius: While definitely better than Step it Up and Dance, this Bravo reality show is really just a second-rate Top Chef/Project Runway. But Jaclyn Smith is amazing and the upcoming episode with Kate Jackson should be good kitchsy fun (Farah apparently couldn't make it for health reasons). And the blind hair-cut challenge was pretty inspired.

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the d-List: Summer just wouldn't be the same without Kathy flippin' attitude and how can you not enjoy a show this gay-inclusive? This week's "Pink Flight" and gay Mardis Gras in Sydney went down like a Pina Colada daquiri with a big ol' colored umbrella in it. And Lance was funny to boot.

As the World Turns: Somebody smack this boy and make it good. "I'm bad because my daddy was a killer! I can't be with you right now because, well, I can't! I saw you drinking coffee with Reg! Why don't you just marry him?" Let's hope Cyndi Lauper can whack him upside the head with her microphone and knock some sense into him.

As the World Turns: Dear Luke, now that you've stopped following Noah everywhere, might I suggest you learn German and move to Germany where the guys are a whole lot less whiny? Lord knows we'd appreciate it if you did.

Next page! Jay Brannan, Cyndi Lauper, George Michael, SoMoErotic, and The Dresden Dolls!