IMHO "Cupid" (1.03): The Great Right Hope

ABC's Cupid aired its third episode last night, and I'm glad I got the chance to sample it before it's given the heave-ho (the ratings have been abysmal).

For the uninitiated, Cupid is a sort-of-remake of a 90's show that starred Jeremy (mercury rising) Piven as a man who may be the mythical God of Love ... or may be a delusional man with emotional problems.

This version stars the enormously appealing Bobby Cannavale, who won an Emmy for his guest shot on Will & Grace, and will no doubt have a place of honor on the 2009 AfterElton.com Hot 100.

This week's episode had a boxing gay teen, Toby Beecher, a cameo by a former child star, and Julie Hagerty playing someone ... flighty.

Needless to say, it gets an up arrow!

Bobby Cannavale, Colton James

Cupid Trevor becomes involved in the life of a bullied teen named Marshall (played by actor Colton James, whose parents obviously used "Gay Porn Name Generator"). Marshall is hoping to hook his single mom up with his boxing trainer, who's played by Lee Tergesen. I think Lee is a great actor, but I just cannot look at him without picturing him about to take a dump on J. Jonah Jameson (if you watched OZ, you'll know what I mean).

Lee Tergesen

The date does not go well. Marshall's mom is a "Liberal" and his boxing trainer is a "Republican". We know this because those words are repeated over and over, and because the trainer and his friends are for "The War" and the mom and her friends are against it.

The mother is aghast when she finds out that Marshall has taken up boxing, and is outraged when he uses the training to beat up a bully in school. She blames the trainer for her son's violent response, and tells him to stay away from her son, but Marshall protests, because you see, the trainer is actually Marshall's biological father. Marshall used his hacking ability (because all fifteen year old kids are Weev, apparently) to break into the sperm bank where his mother received a donation, and found out that trainer was his papa.

When mom finds out that trainer is Marshall's dad, she decides to give him a second chance, until the school calls and informs her that her son has been involved in another fight. She rakes trainer over the coals for giving her son bloodlust, but when she arrives at the school, she finds out that Marshall has been beating up the thugs who have been bullying him ... for being gay.

Mom is surprised at Marshall's gay declaration (but she kinds knew already), and is shocked when he says that trainer has known all along that Marshall is gay, and completely accepts him. Well, mom realizes that not all "Republicans" are homophobic, and decides to give trainer another chance.

Julie Hagerty

As you can tell from my gently mocking description, this isn't exactly groundbreaking material. But it does get an up arrow for being sweet, and pleasant, and because its heart is in the right place.

Best of all it also features Julie Hagerty as the spacey mother of Trevor's psychiatrist/love interest/cynical-career-woman-who's-never been-to-me, played by Sarah Paulson, and a cameo by former child star Anna Chlumsky as the doctor's receptionist. You may remember Anna in the 90's favorite My Girl, but to me she'll always be the Thelma to Christina Ricci's Louise in Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain.

What did you think of last night's episode, and do you think that Cupid should be granted a reprieve from the inevitable cancellation ax? Hopefully it'll survive long enough to see an actual gay couple united by Cupid's arrow, but I doubt it.