Queerview television guide for the weekend of August 29

Friday

Outlaugh Festival on Wisecrack Marathon (Logo) starting at 3PM EDT
Funny, with The Cho Show delivering the laughs right now, I've been thinking about this Margaret Cho-hosted comedy festival, which featured quite a variety of LGBT comedians and was a solid spot to discover names well worth paying attention to in the future.

Star Stories (BBC America) 9:20 PM EDT
So far I've taken a pass on BBC America's new Friday comedy, where celebrity-impersonating comedians recreate their version of a tabloid scandal ... but I figure tonight's episode should be of interest of AfterElton.com readers as the target is gay icon Madonna and the men in her life.

Saturday

Paula's Party (Food Network) 7:00 PM EDT
Okay, I'm no fan of Paula Deen's style of cooking, but she's been pretty gay-inclusive on this show, which has been in the Queerview for several weekends in a row. This week it's Isaac Mizrahi who stops by for a party that also includes Donny Deutsch and Donald Trump Jr..

Noah's Arc

Noah's Arc Marathon (Logo) starting at 10:00 PM EDT
With the movie coming out in a couple months, here's an opportunity to catch the first season all over again and remind yourself why the upcoming big-screen venture is an exciting prospect for fans.

Sunday

Mad Men Marathon starting at 5:00 PM EDT
While he doesn't get a lot of screen time each episode, Bryan Batt's gay ad exec Salvatore has had a slowly-developing story this season. Here's your chance to get caught up before it all leads to a Salvatore-centric episode.

Shameless (Sundance Channel) 9:00 PM EDT
After Ian and Kash broke up, I was expecting we might see him backburnered, but last week was ... what, the second time this season when his recent sexual history got his family out of trouble? Too bad I can't find an episode guide that details how Ian often plays a bigger role in episode than it initially seems. Tonight's episode, meanwhile, features the moment I've been waiting for, when Debbie finally tells her family to take care of themselves as she runs off to be a kid.

Monday

Gossip Girl (CW) 8:00 PM EDT
The CW's buzz-heavy series returns tonight, and we're told that gay bother Eric van der Woodsen (Connor Paolo) won't be fading into the background this year. I was a huge fan of this show with its opening episodes, but found the characters getting a lot less complicated as things went along. I hope this season brings GG back to its darkly-tinged glory.

Gossip Girl's gay teen Eric

I Want to Work for Diddy (VH1) 9:00 PM EDT
The remaining hopefuls (including fierce transgender competitor Laverne Cox) have to take care of Diddy's mother as he attends a ceremony in his honor. We'll be cheering Laverne on, as usual; she's shown more than her fair share of capability so far and it'll be nice to see a victory after last week's defeat.