As we go into the weekend, here's a handy shortlist of the biggest stories of the week on AfterElton.com. And to get you into a playful mood, each Friday's final post will feature a pic up top that desperately needs captioning. Each week we'll pick our fave suggestion from the comments and run it in the following week's post. Have fun!

• As usual, we recapped the latest Brothers & Sisters. (courtesy of snicks!)
• Men in Trees got the axe. (Get it? Trees? Axe? Thanks, I'm here all week...)
• Our Week in Gay Geek blog feature is now a weekly front-page article, The Gay Geek. Check out the premiere issue!
• The Future Housewives of New York City Gossip Girl has a gay! Two, even!
• In gay soaps news ... Over on As the World Turns we had the long-awaited return of Noah's homophobic, murderous father (come on, ANYTHING to make this story interesting is an improvement!). But in the InTurn online reality show, the straight boys balked at their gay kiss challenge, and one of them went home as a result! Meanwhile, the lovable Germans of Forbidden Love dropped by but didn't have much to do until Olivia got drunk and wound up in bed with them. And over on Hollyoaks, things are heating up between John-Paul and Kieron.
• We kicked off the NewNowNext Awards with a special category, Best Gay TV Kiss.
• Oh, by the way? We still love us some Betty.
• We interviewed irrereverent, hilarious, and quite gay television comic Graham Norton.
• Just when you thought musicals couldn't get any gayer: Were the World Mine.
• John Waters, Parker Posey, gay dads, and fruitcake? Sign us up!
• We reviewed Robert Gant's gay spy thriller, Kiss Me Deadly.
• In honor of the gay Grey's episode, we presented a list of 10 gay TV military men.
• And in case you missed that Grey's Anatomy episode, here's our recap and clips of the gay scenes.
• We chatted up Brothers & Sisters (and thirtysomething) masterminds Ken Olin and David Marshall Grant.
• The hot gay cops of French drama Les Bleus dealt with the tragic blow dealt to them in the last clips, but they saved even more twists for the season finale.
• Step It Up & Dance is losing gay contestants faster than Bush is losing approval points!
• The Flying Monkey was back to answer reader questions.
• We got exclusive word that Calvin and Michael will mark Greek's first gay kiss in just a few weeks.
• Hey, Ma! In honor of Mother's Day, some of our favorite gay moms (real and imagined).
• Vlogs!: We were thrilled to launch our new gay musicians vlog, Homophonic. Japhy answered viewer questions on Flaming Politics, The Gay Agenda talked about gay marriage and Reverend Wright, and the Suck It Up & Dance boys featured a visit from Mr. Broadway.
• And as usual, we had the Best.Gay.Week.Ever.

Drop your caption ideas in the comments, check out last week's winner after the jump, and have a great weekend! … continue reading

April showers bring May flowers bring a (prescription)-drugged-up Angry Puppy. In between sneezes, Marc and Lee talk about the upcoming NewNowNext Awards, Matt Damon's quaint ideas regarding gaming and the last words you ever wanted to hear from John Barrowman.

Find out where to start reading about everyone's favorite bisexual, blue-collar warlock and where to see two early gay vampires in film. Also, Lee and Marc cover their usual geek shows: Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Doctor Who and Reaper.

Check it out after the break! … continue reading

Christian and Olli were on German soap Forbidden Love (Verbotene Liebe) again yesterday, and wound up in a pickle with Olivia. After winning the pub quiz (which we all saw coming after she peeked at the answer book in the previous ep), Olivia talks the boys - who are still hiding their relationship from her - into getting drunk upstairs. And as you can see, things don't go so well...

Check out the clip after the break! Thanks, as ever, to Gays of Daytime and Nanna for the clip and subtitles. … continue reading

You didn't think we'd go into Mother's Day weekend without paying tribute to those wacky ladies (real and otherwise) that gave birth to our fabulousness, did you?  If you can't surprise your Mom with Sunday brunch or a T-shirt with your face on it, be sure to call her/them and express your love and gratitude for raising such a fierce child. 

It is, after all, Mother's Day so just remember, kiddies ... without Mothers there'd be no frakkers; without Mamas there'd be no Mia's, and the most important lesson of all: those lovely ladies that brought you into this world can take you out just as easily (sorry, I had to), so celebrate them!

Sit back and relax as I honor some of my favorite real-life Moms, as well as those from television and movies that represent the good, the bad and the ugly of memorable mamas.

THE NEWBIE
Lily Van der Woodsen (Gossip Girl)

Gossip Girl's Lily Van der Woodsen is a complex character who wants to be a better woman, Mother and lover than her upper crust gal pals and family will allow and I currently heart her. Sure Lily will marry any Tom, Dick or Bart for their money and she'll go to great lengths to save face amongst the Upper East Side elite and yes, she had a mini-meltdown when evil Georgina outed her son Eric at the dinner table but she came around in the end! Kelly Rutherford has taken what could have been a one-note rich bitch and made her a woman to root for. PFLAG will never be the same.

THE SEMI-OLD PRO
Nora Walker (Brothers & Sisters)

Nora Walker meddles and occasionally messes with her children's lives but she's always best friend and supporter to her gay son Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys) on ABC's Brothers & Sisters.  Sally Field is a powerful presence on screen and she can dominate the drama like no one else but she always let's her character live and breathe the world of her children (often to a fault) and she's really embraced Kevin's relationship and soon to be marriage to Scotty (played by Luke MacFarlane).  Nora could teach Lily a thing or two about patience and acceptance.

THE TRUE OLD PRO
Debbie Novotny (Queer as Folk - US)

Debbie (or PFLAG The Clown as my friend Armando likes to call her) could school all other Mother's on how to support your gay child and every fey friend that makes up his/her gay gang.  She's been crazy involved in her son Michael's (played by the adorable Hal Sparks) social and sex life so if you have questions on which gay clubs to haunt or which lube works best she's your go-to-gal.  Debbie does the gays proud and I salute her efforts and enthusiasm in grounding the sometimes outrageous Queer as Folk.

THE LEGEND
Anne Bancroft (Torch Song Trilogy's Ma Beckoff | Home For The Holiday's Adele Larson )

Anne Bancroft played two of the most memorable Gay Movie Moms from two of my favorite films with gay characters. In the classic Torch Song Trilogy she was the conflicted, confused, and sometimes pain in the ass Ma to Harvey Fierstein's Arnold Beckoff. In the end she realized that no matter how you raise them, sometimes kids really do "come that way."  In Jodie Foster's Home For The Holidays, she was the Mom most in need of a Silkwood shower and a neurotic nag to her gay son Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.) but she was never anything but amazing.  Rest In Peace Anne Bancroft (1931-2005).

THE ASS KICKER
Sandra Gangel (Beautiful Thing)

Sandra's the kind of woman that's not afraid to stand up to an abusive Father, knock out a whacked out Mama Cass lovin' neighbor, and encourage her gay son to make his own kind of music. Linda Henry's multi-layered performance in Beautiful Thing has always forced me to stand up and cheer.  She's funny, intense, and ruthless but encouraging and nurturing to not only her gay son Jamie but his teenaged lover Ste.  The final scene of the film is one of endless hope and utopia made even more amazing by Sandra's fearless efforts to accept her son. … continue reading

Friday

House of Usher (Here!) On Demand
Edgar Allen Poe's classic horror story gets another adaptation, though coming from here! and director David DeCoteau you probably wouldn't be surprised to learn this version adds homoeroticsm and hunkiness to the tale -- could this possibly manage to be campier than the original (Michael's seen this one and says it's like watching paint dry ... on chiseled, shirtless men)?

TV's All-Time Funniest (ABC) 8:00 PM EDT
This special takes a look at highlights from the history of sitcoms with clips introduced by the like of out actor David Hyde Pierce and gay icons Mary Tyler Moore, Marion Ross and Rue McClanahan.

That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC America) 9:20PM EDT
Tonight's rerun is probably one of the series' gayest episodes with a couple of gay characters who are just there as part of the human tapestry. This episode also made a long-term addition to my vocabulary with "Watergategate".

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (CBS)
Craig talks with two stars from ABC dramas loved by gay audiences: Ugly Betty's (and AfterElton Hot 100 pick Christopher Gorham and Brothers & Sisters' Rachel Griffiths.

Saturday

Groomer Has It (Animal Planet) 9:00 PM EDT
The remaining challengers have to take a crash course on animal first aid and then they have to groom cats. Oh, somebody's going to get scratched...

The Graham Norton Show (BBC America) 10:00 PM EDT
This week Graham has a Hart to Hart reunion with Stefanie Powers and Robert Wagner.

Sunday

Survivor: Reunion (CBS) 10:00 PM EDT
Following tonight's season finale, the Micronesia cast reunites to take a look back at the past season, which means one last view of pageant coach Chet Welsh.

Brothers & Sisters (ABC) 10:00 PM EDT
It's finally hereI We've been hotly anticipating the commitment ceremony of Kevin and Scotty. Tonight's episode certainly sounds like one to watch.

Calvin (Paul James) and Michael (Max Greenfield) are set to lock lips

We've been championing ABC Family's groundbreaking college dramedy Greek since it premiered last summer with an unconventional and unapologetically gay man, Calvin (played by Paul James), in its central cast. We loved the inclusive message, the complicated characters, and the show's refusal to judge its characters for their differences.

Now we're thrilled to share (in exclusive news just given to us moments ago) that Calvin and his new love interest, Michael (who is introduced this coming Monday), will share a kiss on-screen in the May 26th episode, "A Tale of Two Parties". Here's the episode description:

With all of the party restrictions lifted, Kappa Tau and Omega Chi throw competing parties to celebrate. Calvin (Paul James) is nervous about inviting Michael (Max Greenfield) to the party with all of his fraternity brothers around, while Michael feels uncomfortable partying with the students he is the TA at school for. Both are feeling a bit uneasy and a conversation between the two leads to a first kiss.

Max Greenfield, Paul James

We're working on getting more details, but here is one pic from the episode. Looked to me like this might be just before the kiss. We'll update you when we can. For now, this is good news to fans who have been disappointed with Calvin's low profile so far this season, and good reason for those who have been missing out to tune in. (Am I right in thinking that this might be ABC Family's first gay smooch?) If you haven't yet hopped aboard the Greek bandwagon, check out our past coverage.

Below are the final two clips of the last season of the French cop show Les Bleus, and the drama in them puts American shows to shame. Last we left, rookie cop Kevin (magnificently played by Nicolas Gob) was trying to cope with the assault and subsequent coma of his boyfriend Yann (played by Mathieu Delarive). The first clip picks up as Yann has been unconscious for almost a week, with Kevin still keeping vigil by his bedside. His cop family is as wonderfully supportive as ever, and his mother flies in to be by his side, as well.

You can see the final clip after the break (and it's a doozy). Many thanks once again to ZTube31 for the translations of all these great clips. The second season is currently filming, so look for more Kevin this fall! … continue reading

And then there were two. The Bravo reality competition Step It Up & Dance is down to six dancers, two of which are gay, one of whom is totally annoying.

This week's competition is about improvisational modern dance, or as I like to call it, "making crap up". In a hilarious display of blatant product placement, the show starts with Miguel shouting "we got a message on our new Sidekick 3", which is helpfully subtitled in case anyone missed it, followed by a closeup on said Sidekick 3 with the words "T Mobile" prominently displayed. Subtle. The dancers are ordered out of the apartment, and wind up at a mattress store, where they meet Jacques Heim, the artistic director of Diavolo, who will serve as guest judge for this episode. Jacques choreographed for Cirque De Soleil in Vegas, and as soon as I heard that, I thought "ooh...I wonder if Celine's crazy rubbed off on him?". Happily, the answer is yes.

Jacque splits the six dancers into three teams, and the challenge is that each team is playing a couple who are in love and buying a mattress, and they have to use dance and improvisation to find the right one. The first "couple" is played by out dancer Miguel and hot asian chick Michelle, and they start jumping and rolling around on the mattresses, culminating in Miguel stripping to his underwear (and here I thought Kitty with her legs in the air on Brothers & Sisters would be the most scarring image of the week). The other out dancer Michael is paired with the tomboy Janelle, and they manage to be slightly less nauseating. Which brings us to the final couple, the straight guys Cody and Nick. When they came in and found out they were going to be playing a couple who have just fallen in love and are buying a mattress together, they both cringed ... and so did I. I was expecting lots of ensuing gay panic, and there was some, but I think they handled it a lot better than another pair of straight guys.

After the audition, they're split into two groups, and once again, Miguel is upset that he's in the same group as Michael. Each team must perform a modern dance routine on "apparatus", which turns out to be a giant staircase and a swinging sculpture of an atom. And yes, it's as bizarre as it sounds.

There's a twist in the judging this time, though, as the dancers learn that from now on, there is no "winning" and "elimination" group, and any of them could win the challenge, and any of them could be eliminated (except pretty boy Cody, who was given immunity last week).

Miguel was his usual charming self, and he's grown even more outspoken in his irrational fear of Michael:

"It's a joke that Michael is still here"

"I don't like him, and I don't trust him as a dancer"

And my personal favorite, when he's complaining to the other dancer in their group, Janelle, with Michael sitting about ten feet away:

"I wish it was just me and you. We could figure it out as a duet. It's like having two dolphins and then a pig. You gotta hide the pig somehow, in the water, and make him look like a dolphin. How do you expect me to look good? And here I am again, someone with talent, looking like I don't have talent, because I'm with idiots who don't know how to dance"

I do have to give Miguel a little credit, however. He turned around what was a disastrous run-through, and it's because of him that his group didn't totally flop. He ended runner up for the winner of the night (Cody won yet again), which means he'll be around to spread sunshine for at least another week.

Find out how our other gay dancer did, and find out who was eliminated after the break. … continue reading

There have been a lot of market research studies lately about online behavior, and the common findings for the past few years have been fairly consistent in that LGBT folk have been much quicker on the uptake when it comes to adopting new media (blogs, social networking sites, online video, etc.).

But a recent poll's finding that one in five gays in the U.S. has their own blog took even me (who lives and breathes pixels, by this point) by surprise. I knew a lot of folks that visit and comment on AfterElton have blogs dedicated to interests ranging from cult movies to Stevie Nicks to heaven knows what else (and we love you for it, natch), but 20% of gay folks in general? That's pretty awesome.

Anyway, it made me curious: How many of you folks have your own blog? And if you have one, what's it about. You? Entertainment? Politics? Let us know in the poll below, and feel free to drop a comment with a link to your blog, so we can all enjoy.

Grey's Anatomy has long been a favorite of the gays thanks to out superstar T.R. Knight, but for this writer Grey's fell from Seattle Grace a long time ago. I'm fickle though, say "G.I. Joe's kissing another man" and my queer eyes are there!

I jumped at the chance to write about the military man-on-man action long teased, especially when I found out that Santiago from Friday Night Lights was going to be one of the hotties smooching one of my favorite Road Rulers.

Watching "The Becoming" was bittersweet for me; I had hoped to watch just this one episode and get out without being sucked back into the melodrama but knew it was risky. I was burnt to a crisp by Gizzie and Isaiah Washington so Grey's flatlined for me last season but I think I can move on unscathed ... which is more than I can say for our gay military boys at the center of the drama last night.

As the show opened I wondered how much of Meredith's selfish banter I'd have to endure before the reason for me tuning in popped up on screen. Thankfully it was within the first few minutes of the show that we were introduced to Darren Covington (FNL's Benny Ciaramello), the newest patient in McDreamy and Meredith's clinical trial of doom (the poor boy has a brain tumor).

Cue the stud in uniform named Todd Vernon (Road Ruler David Giuntoli) who was called in because he's Darren's "closest friend" and while things are looking bleak in the room, things are looking damn fine on my flatscreen! Two strapping young lads with a secret for some sexual healing; it's kinda hot...

Obviously Darren's upset that Todd showed up, seeing how he's being deployed in five days and all, but with only Meredith in the room Todd lets Darren know that he's not going anywhere and he makes his way to the bed and reassures his secret lover with a crazy intense stare that leads to one of the most sensual, emotional and damn near heart-breaking gay kisses I've ever seen on network television. … continue reading