Gay TV Scorecard: New Adventures of Old Christine vs Ugly Betty vs Survivor: Gabon

In last week's Gay TV Scorecard, I matched up CBS' The New Adventures of Old Christine against CW's Privileged and Fox's Do Not Disturb. Even though Old Christine is the only show of the three without an actual gay character, it was a blowout with Christine winning easily. (As a side note, as predicted, the utterly dreadful Do Not Disturb hit the skids after only three episodes taking with it one of the few new gay characters with significant screentime.)

In today's face-off, I'm pairing last week's winner against the third episode of Survivor: Gabon and the second episode of Ugly Betty to see which provided the best gay moments on a scale from one to ten.

Michael Urie, Eddie Cibrian, and Becki Newton in Ugly Betty

Last week's Old Christine won by featuring a same-sex marriage between Christine and Barb even though they aren't lesbians. The episode was very pro-gay, featuring much dialogue about it not mattering who loves who, equal rights, etc. And word is that the storyline, about Barb marrying Christine to stay in the country since she isn't a citizen, will continue on during the season. (Some viewers pointed out last week that this storyline couldn't happen because immigration rules are federal and California's allowing same-sex marriage won't help binational couples.)

Unfortunately, this week's episode featured nothing with the Christine/Barb storyline except for Christine once calling Barb her husband. I'm sure they'll revisit the issue, but nonethless this episode only scores a half point out of ten. Gonna be hard to win again with a score like that!

For those who missed the first two episodes of Survivor: Gabon, the show is a generating a great deal of gay buzz this season due to the hottest potential bromance since Ronnie met Ben on Make Me a Supermodel. This time it's between the out Charlie and the straight Marcus who are at the core of their tribe's alliance. In the first two episodes, Charlie made his attraction to Marcus well known and, in turn, Marcus was not only untroubled by Charlie's crush, but seems to genuinely like his gay admirer. How cool is that? And how cool that CBS isn't afraid to put it out there?

Marcus and Charlie

Photo: Monty Brinton/CBS

Alas, Charmarcus (Charlus? Marlie?) were barely featured in Thursday's episode, earning the show a measly two out of ten for gay visiblity. Oh, well. There is always next week! 

Read more after the break!

In our Fall TV Preview vlog, Brent and I agreed that the first episode of Ugly Betty's third season was a big let down. Well, the second episode finds the series back on stride and, best of all, it not only featured Eddie Cibrian getting groped, but had lots of Marc.

Even better — Marc wasn't just Wilhelmina's henchman but, as Ugly Betty's executive producer Silvio Horta promised us in our recent interview,  Marc showed he has goals and an agenda of his own. It'll be nice to see his character rounded out even more. Plus, Marc tried to get Eddie Cibrian to take his shirt off. Yes, in other hands that could be an offensive stereotype, but Betty makes it work.  In fact, to show I stand side-by-side with Marc, here are pics of Eddie shirtless. 

Hot, hotter, hottest!

Fine. I'm just as shallow as Marc, but nonetheless, for so prominently featuring Marc, Ugly Betty scores a seven out of ten for gay visibility (and gets a bonus of one point for Eddie Cibrian) to finish with eight points and victory!

Any suggestions for who Ugly Betty should face off against in the next round?