Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (September 04, 2009)

A SPECIAL IMHO EDITION — FALL TV'S NEW SHOWS!
While here in the U.S. some shows have already begun their fall TV seasons, including Greek, Top Chef and Mad Men, the real fall season doesn't start until next week after the Labor Day Weekend. I've seen many of the new shows' pilots and thought now a good time to IMHO them based on those first episodes!

GLEE: Oddly, this show debuted last spring with just one episode, and then again last week with a whole extra two minutes added in, but the first real new episode doesn't air until next Wednesday. Based on what I've seen so far, there are reasons to be both hopeful and worried about the show.

Created by out writer Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck) the show includes much for a good gay boy to love including an out gay character. And some of the musical numbers are flat out brilliant. But I thought the first half of the pilot was actually bad and some of the characterizations — sassy, chunky black girl, fashion-obsessed gay boy — sometimes veered too close to stereotypes. Much will depend on how those characters evolve and whether the writing holds up

TRAUMA: As I've said before, I am so much not a fan of medical dramas and didn't expect to like this one. But the pilot definitely didn't go where I thought it was headed and even the usual A-hole character got a comeuppance I wasn't expecting. And that was even before I found out the show included an unusual gay character. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

V: For the record, I am so not a fan of these endless remakes. That being said, ABC does a fine job with V in the first episode. The aliens are chillingly innocent (especially when you know what's coming!) and if you're a sci fan, the premise of aliens showing up one day out of the blue, is hard to beat!

FLASH FORWARD: Another ABC show, this time based on the book by Robert Sawyer. FF is based on the idea of everyone in the world zonking out for two plus minutes (during which planes drop out of the sky and all kinds of mayhem breaks loose including AfterElton not posting! How scary is that?) and then follows the characters as they try to unravel the mystery of just what the hell is going on. 

A stellar cast includes the sorely underused Joseph Fiennes while the premise is being compared to Lost (the producers promise it won't be as hard to follow), This one is right at the top of my "must watch" list. But I'd really love to see Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax books come to TV as they include a great male same-sex couple.

Next page! That's really the new gay cliche?