Back when we were tracking the various fall pilots and their gay visibility quotient, we weighed whether Gossip Girl, the new CW show from The O.C. mastermind Josh Schwartz, might be worth a mention. Based on a series of books, the tale of affluent prep school teens did feature some gay experimentation in later volumes and an absent gay father, but the pilot didn't feature either. But given Schwartz's willingness to feature gay characters and make a straight male "bromance" the crux of The O.C., we didn't give up entirely.

Now that the show's been picked up, it looks like the gay dad character will be making it to screens, according to Michael Ausiello. Aus sez:

"We'll soon be meeting Blair's dad, who, according to the casting breakdown, is "a Cary Grant charmer with impeccable taste and manners." Translation: He's gay! He also resides in Paris with his model boyfriend."

I can't find the breakdown he mentions, but the character seems in line with the book's version, with a few minor tweaks. According to the Wiki entry on the book series:

"Blair uses her charm, money, and social clout to get whatever she wants. Her father, once an uptight lawyer, now lives in a French chateau with his various gay lovers and his two adopted Cambodian sons, Ping and Pong."

So it looks like the TV version of Gay Cary Grant Dad could potentially be a little bit more settled down (with one model boyfriend instead of various gay lovers) and might not have adopted children named after table tennis ... but we'll see.

At any rate, this gives a much-needed gay injection to The CW, which at this point is putting all its queer eggs in Tyra Banks' Fabulashed basket.

When we know more about casting and when dear ol' Dad might appear, we'll let you know.