Queerview television guide for the weekend of September 5

Friday

The Lair (here!) OnDemand
here!'s (my spell check sure hates me when I type that) vampire drama returns for its second season with more blood sucking, more gay drama and more trou-dropping.

Donald Strachey: Ice Blues (here!) OnDemand
Chad Allen returns as the gay investigator who this time around has to solve the case of a frozen corpse during a very cold winter. Check out our review.

Chad Allen as Donald Strachey

Monk (USA) 9:00 PM EDT
The 100th episode of the hit procedural series boasts the return of many of Monk's major guest stars including Monk's rival, played by out performer Tim Bagley.

Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) 11:00 PM EDT
The season premiere of HBO's political talk show includes Real Time regular Dan Savage as one of the guests. Savage should be reporting from the Republican National Convention, which will no doubt be a hoot.

Saturday

Jake's Adventures in Dollywood (Logo) 8:00 PM EDT
Logo's Real Momentum documentary series returns with this meeting between adorable Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears and gay icon Dolly Parton. How could this be anything short of fabulous?

Jake Shears and Dolly Parton

Sunday

The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle (Sundance Channel) 9:00 PM EDT
Gay fave comedienne Jennifer Saunders' newest sitcom finally arrives Stateside, with Saunders playing the host of a sleazy daytime talk show. Even more exciting, Vivienne's producer is played by Miranda Richardson, who is usually unforgettable in comedic roles. Now if only someone could tell me why Shameless disappeared from the Sundance schedule with the season unfinished...

Big Girl's Blouse (Sundance Channel) 9:30 PM EDT
I've yet to give Kath & Kim a second chance after my initial sampling when it aired on Trio (hey, I didn't care much for Footballers' Wives then, either...) but the show certainly has a gay following, so I imagine this sketch comedy series from Kath & Kim stars Jane Turner, Gina Riley and Magda Szubanski should earn a place on some Queerview readers' calendars.

Jennifer Saunders as Vivienne Vyle

Entourage 10:00 PM EDT
Rex Lee returns as Ari Gold's gay assistant Lloyd ... and I have no idea what might be coming up for him this season since all the Entourage talk I've been able to find centers on the show's straight guys.

True Blood (HBO) 10:30 PM EDT
American Beauty and Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball is back on HBO with a vampire drama that includes plenty of queer metaphors as well as Nelsan Ellis as gay short order cook Layfayette Reynolds. Neat, HBO's got a double feature of shows with gay men of color. Check out our review and interview with Ball, and check back next week for our recap!