AfterElton Briefs: Gay Dads on "Eastenders," the End of GLBT Bookstores, the REALLY Method Acting of Mickey Rourke, and More!

Denis O'Hare attends The Nutcracker in New York City

• Nickelodeon has renewed Spongebob Squarepants for a ninth season. Who says there's a lack of gay characters on TV?

• V returns to ABC tomorrow night, and it'll finally include a reason for watching. Jane Badler will join the cast as Diana, who apparently is not the jaw-unhinging, critter-eating villain named Diana she played in the original mini-series, but a new character. Well, as long as she gets her diva on, I'm fine with it. Trust me, there's no bitch like an 80's bitch!

• The Los Angeles Times has an article titled Gay and Lesbian Characters are Popping up on Shows for Young People. It doesn't offer anything we didn't already know, but the comments are a hoot. They range from the required "One man, one woman, Satan, Satan, Satan!" to my favorite, about a certain 90210 character: "Teddy would be fine if he didn't have that godawful yellow hair. No self-respecting gay kid would be caught dead with that shade of Clairol."

• Long running UK soap Eastenders is planning a "controversial' storyline about surrogacy. Gay couple Christian Clarke (played by out actor John Partridge) and Syed Masood (played by Marc Elliott) will ask a female friend to carry their child. A "source" exclaims "it will be the biggest storyline on the soap this year, and one of the most controversial in the program's history."

Marc Elliott and John Partridge

• And another one bites the dust. Andrew Belonsky has penned an interesting article about the end of GLBT bookstores, and how it proves "beyond a shadow of a doubt that GLBT people aren't fringe at all."

• With all the drama about Elton John's new baby, his other half David Furnish has been overlooked. The Independent takes a closer look at David's life.

• Speaking of Elton and David , this article did them no favors.

• Mickey Rourke is planning to remove two of his front teeth in order to realistically portray Gareth Thomas. Well, I guess this thing is really going to happen. Mickey Rourke is actually going to play Gareth Thomas. Seriously.

• Finally, below you can see one of the top ten finalists for the Pepsi Max/Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Commercial Contest. That sound you hear is The Catholic League's Bill Donahue's head exploding.

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