Television Critics Association Day Three: "Little Britain", "True Blood", and more!

Joshua Bernstein (Photo credit: Getty Images/Frederick M. March)

Hi everybody! Michael down here in LA on day three of the hostage crisis TCA. It's still hot outside and frickin' freezing inside, but I discovered this great new invention called a "jacket" that I'm now wearing. Oy.

The first part of the day was about as gay as the Republican National Convention. Well, except for all the closeted politicians. The highlight of the morning was watching Josh Bernstein, hottie host of Into the Known with Josh Bernstein. The rest was Discovery Channel/Animal Planet/ESPN and apparently out gay men just aren't interested in adventure, animals or sports. Yeah, right. 

I was really looking forward to attending HBO's panel with Ricky Gervais, but that happened to overlap with my interview with the stars of Little Britain and Little Britain USA, David Walliams and the out Matt Lucas. Oh, well. I can't have everything.

I'll have the whole interview with Matt and David a little later, but I did get some scoop about Paul Rudd I'll share. First, Matt and David swear Paul is the coolest guy ever and a joy to work with. Matt also thinks he's dreamy and who can disagree with that?

Anyway, in LBU Paul plays the president of France. For those who know the original LB, one of the show's gay characters is Sebastian, the Prime Minister's aide. Well, in LBU Sebastian has become the Prime Minister of England and has transferred his affections to an Obama-type president played by Harry Lennix. When Sebastian suspects that the US President is having an affair with the French Prime Minister, he becomes increasingly jealous despite the assurances nothing is going on between the two. Or is there?

David Walliams is a lay-dee!

I'll have the answer and other details when we post the whole interview; however, before the panel we were treated to several clips of the new show and jaw-droppingly outrageous is the term that comes to mind. Gay fans are especially likely to love gym bunnies Mark and Tom, two muscle-bound "straight" boys willing to do anything for each other -- including bikini line shaving while completely naked in a lockerroom. And did I mention the two end up in a rather gay compromising postion that will probably cause your eyes to bug out? Trust me, you won't ever see this on Saturday Night Live.

Lots more after the break!

Rosie O'Donnell shows up as herself in a sketch featuring Marjorie Dawes, the leader of the weight watching group Fatfighters. Marjorie is notoriously rude to those she is trying to help including Rosie whom she introduces by saying, "You had your own show until Ellen DeGeneres took your slot." Then there is this exchange as Rosie tells her story of struggling with her weight when Marjorie asks Rosie, "Are you fat because you're a lesbian or are you a lesbian because you're fat and couldn't get a man?" At another point, Rosie rips into Marjorie for being so rude, prompting Marjorie to reply, "I'm disgusting? At least I don't lick another woman's vagina."

Lucas and Walliams have come in for plenty of criticism for being cruel to the elderly, the disabled, and other minorities, but if you were a fan of the original, I doubt you are going to be disappointed in this new version. But if you didn't like the original, well....

Up next was the out writer/director Alan Ball's new vampire drama True Blood starring Anna Paquin. I've now seen the first two eps and I still haven't made up my mind about it. Parts work, but parts don't. One of the things I found kind of clunky is the whole vampire as a metaphor for the gay thing which is about as fresh as week-old blood.

True Blood vamps it up

However, Alan swears that being a vampire isn't a metaphor for homosexuality. Except when it is. Confused? Me too. Here is what he actually said:

"I really don't look at the vampires as a metaphor for gays in a very specific way. I mean, part of -- for me, part of the joy of this whole series is that it's about vampires, and so we don't have to be that serious about it. However, they totally work as a metaphor for gays, for people of color, in previous times in America, for anybody who is misunderstood and feared and hated for being different. I think, because of the cultural climate that we exist in today, it seems like, oh, well, they are a metaphor for gays because gay marriage and gay rights and that kind of thing. But I think it's a bigger metaphor, and at the same time, it's also not a metaphor at all. It's vampires."

One of the scenes is set in a bar called "Fangtasia" and it couldn't have looked anymore like a seedy gay bar out of the 70's had it featured Al Pacino strolling around in leather chaps. Apparently vampires are overtly sexual, salacious, some might even say depraved, beings not unlike the stereotypical vision of gay people that we've struggled against for so long.

We only see a little more of Lafayette Reynolds, the gay character (played by Nelsan Ellis) in the second episode, but what we do see is him cruising a straight guy at a party. Thus far he seems to be a bit of a slightly effeminate, predatory cliche, but after the panel I asked Alan not only about Lafayette's personality, but about how prominent the character will be. Said Alan: 

"You'll see a lot. The guy who is playing him is kind of a genius and he channels from his own planet and I ... sort of stand back and point the camera in his direction. I really think he's [Lafayett] a much bigger presence in the show than he was in the books. He doesn't have ... he has a different standard. He's not constrained by the normal standards of right and wrong. At the same time, he's deeply, deeply moral. He's a great character."

Given Ball's work on Six Feet Under, I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt and trust he will do something interesting and not cliche with Lafayette. Keep your fingers crossed as this could be a fun show that is an actual hit.