Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (September 26, 2008)

Along with the debuts of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters on Sunday night, be sure to check out the new episode of True Blood . Monday we've got the second episode of How I Met Your Mother with the adorable Neil Patrick Harris as well as Shirts & Skins (Monday, 10 PM, Logo). Tuesday has Greek and Privileged and Ugly Betty is on Thursday along with a new Survivor. And Team Gay isn’t completely gone on Project Runway airing on Wednesday night. For all the gay listings, check out our weekly TV grid!

Jerell, the last gay standing on this season's Project Runway

Incidentally, did you hear that Fox is asking critics to give Do Not Disturb a “do-over,” basically coming out and admitting that the first episode sucked, but to give it another chance? But I’ve seen a rough cut of the un-broadcast pilot that they say is so much "better," and unless they did a complete re-write and re-shoot, it just ain't so.

On movie screens, Choke, about a con man who makes money by letting people save him from choking in restaurants thereby creating a sense of protectiveness, opens on Friday. I hated the book (by gay author Chuck Palahniuk), but who knows? It is written and directed by Clark Gregg, the ex-husband on The New Adventures of Old Christine and who I’ve always just assumed was gay, but who is actually married to Jennifer Grey.

Nights in Rodanthe also opens, a romance starring Richard Gere, Diane Lane, and gay fav Christopher Meloni.

Spike Lee seems to alternate between movies that look great and movies that look self-indulgent. Miracle at St. Anna looks like the former. Better still, it stars gay fav Joseph Gordon-Levitt and hottie Laz Alonso.

I’m now officially sick of Hot 100 pick Shia LaBeouf, who is apparently pulling a “Morgan Freeman” by appearing in every third movie released. (This phenomenon was formerly known as a “Gene Hackman” and before that, it was known as the “Michael Caine.”) But he’s opening in an interesting-looking thriller called Eagle Eye.

Shia LaBeouf

Finally, opening October 3^rd, there’s Religulous, the new documentary where Bill Maher goes all Michael Moore on the topic of religious fundamentalism. Check out this clip, exclusive to AfterElton.com, where Bill meets an ex-gay:

FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE
I was very impressed with The Distance Between Us (Kensington Books, $24) the latest novel by Leave Myself Behind’s Bart Yates. It’s the story of an acerbic older woman who takes in a gay college student as a boarder. Together they try to deal with the woman’s estranged family, who hate her for some great, unnamed sin she committed in the past. When the woman’s “crime” is finally revealed, it’s decidedly underwhelming — maybe even a plot-cheat — but the voice of this bitter, yet somehow likable woman is very convincing. Mostly I was impressed that an author of gay books took such a big chance, writing an unconventional story about a main character that isn’t gay.

Drew Ferguson’s The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second (Kensington Books, $15) isn’t really a “teen” novel — it’s way too sexually explicit for that. But it’s about a gay teen, and a pretty funny one at that. The plot meanders a bit, but the voice is strong. Ignore the cover that has what looks to be a 13 year-old boy on it--the main character is 17, and the book is definitely not for young kids!

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