Battle of the Network Gays: February 26, 2010

Every week we pick the gay characters, actors, or reality show personalities who have most impressed us in television (or pop culture in general), and leave it to you, the keepers of the flame, to decide who will be crowned Gay of the Week.

This week's candidates: A returning Olympian, a sublime parody of a reality show megalomaniac, one half of OLTL's Kish, and an interracial gay couple courtesy of ABC Family. (Thanks Pat Robertson!)

Check them out after the break.

• One Life to Live's Kyle Lewis (played by Brett Claywell)
  

Why? His partner Oliver Fish didn't make the cut this week. All that crazy talk about how a straight couple would be better at child rearing than a gay man was a bit of a turn off. Thankfully, Kyle was the voice of reason, and we even got to see a bit of his conniving old self when he secretly swiped some DNA off a water bottle to do a test to confirm that Oliver is the father of baby Sierra Rose. We love it when Kyle takes matters into his own hands!

Kyle (right) can't believe what he's hearing from Oliver.

• Greek's Calvin and Grant

Why? We'd almost given up on this show, but two out of the past three episodes have heavily featured "Gralvin", and their storylines have actually been relevant to gay viewers. In this past week's Valentine's Day themed outing, Calvin struggles with not getting weirded out by Grant exploring his more "froufy" side. Says Calvin, "I prefer my men 'handsome' and not 'beautiful'." Ultimately, Calvin recognizes he's just being uptight and things end on a romantic, upbeat note. We love that this show airs on ABC Family – a network that was originally part of Pat Robertson's media empire – and that is still forced by contract to air Robertson's 700 Club.

Grant (left) and Calvin

• Johnny Weir
  
  Why? He was a nominee last week too, but we felt he deserved another stab at the crown after that press conference he held. Check it out...

• The Robert Verdi Show with Robert Verdi's Robert Verdi 

Why? This is probably the best show on TV that you aren't watching. If you think it's just another reality series about some fame-seeking megalomaniac you'd be wrong. It's actually a pitch-perfect parody of one. This week's episode had Verdi hatching a mad scheme to start his own TV network. Watching him drive his overworked and certainly underpaid staff crazy with his impossible demands was truly hilarious. Watch this show! If you haven't seen it yet you can catch it online HERE. (Trivia note: Marc from our old video blog series Angry Puppy makes a cameo appearance in this week's ep as a TV exec.)

Robert Verdi won't rest until his face
occupies every billboard in Times Square

Vote for your favorite by noon EDT Monday. And be sure to check back next Tuesday on the blog to see which network gay our readers have carried to glory!