The new season of the gay-inclusive Canadian soap opera Paradise Falls premieres on here! this Friday, April 11th. The show premiered back in 2001, when 52 half-hour episodes were filmed. It didn't return until 2004, for another season of 26 episodes. Now, four years later, another 26 episodes have been shot, and hopefully, it's still as gay-positive as ever. The gay relationships in the show are treated just as matter-of-factly as the straight relationships (are you listening, ATWT?), and there were frequent fairly hot love scenes (and even occasional weenage).

Best of all, they've tapped a true icon to join the cast this season in the role of Mimi, a film diva who arrives in the town to cause trouble. In an inspired casting choice, Mimi will be brought to campy life by Julie Brown!

From her time at MTV to her spot-on parodies to the unfortunately short-lived sketch show The Edge to the brilliant musical comedy Earth Girls Are Easy, Julie Brown has been a comedic fireball and ally to the gay community. And she's been a camp dream come true, with songs like I Like 'em Big and Stupid, Trapped in the Body of a White Girl, and I Wanna be Gay. Hopefully, she can bring that special spark when she checks into Paradise Falls this week. After the break, you can see Julie in the video that helped make her famous, "The Homecoming Queen's Got a Gun".

Vintage Coop

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Think your mother embarrasses you? Well, even internationally-renowned anchors like Anderson Cooper with internationally-renowned fashion designer mothers like Gloria Vanderbilt find themselves blushing from time to time, as in the hilarious clip above.

• Distribution rights for The Universe of Keith Haring, a documentary on the life and works of the celebrated gay artist, have been picked up. It will be great to see a definitive portrait of the man who created some of the most iconic images in terms of gay political art and AIDS activism.

• Some Castro businesses have been complaining that the filming of Milk is hurting their business. Valid complaint, or crying over spoolt Milk?

Opie & Anthony Ben & Dave

• here ! television has announced that their gay podcast The Ben & Dave Show, starring Ben Harvey and Dave Rubin, will make the jump to a television comedy chat show on March 7th.

• The terrifying, jewel-encrusted host of Millionaire Matchmaker says that next season (if there is one) she'd like to feature a gay millionaire. I think this is the first time in history that I'm actually grateful to be poor.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

• Ugly Betty's scheme team of Michael Urie (Marc) and Becki Newton (Amanda) hammed it up for a photo shoot, and Televisionista's got all the snaps (and with those two, I have a feeling there were plenty of snaps to be had).

• here! TV has ordered new seasons of The Lair, The DL Chronicles and Paradise Falls, and is working on Solar Flare, the first of 12 eco-disaster themed movies it has planned. Gay television = eco-disaster. There's probably a metaphor in there but I need more coffee to find it.

• Here's a chat with Top Chef's gay finalist, Dale. Spoiler: he doesn't tell if he wins this Wednesday or not.

• Barrowmaniacs rejoice: Captain Jack's new solo album, Another Side, hits shelves November 12th. The album includes John's renditions of "Time After Time," "Your Song," and "If You Leave Me Now." From the looks of the above pic, most of John's Torchwood costars are already quite familiar with his other side.
  

• Newly-slim Ross "The Intern" Mathews celebrated his birthday by screaming at cupcakes and startling onlookers. It's really worth a look.
  

Espionage and intrigue are coming soon to here! with their upcoming movie Kiss Me Deadly: A Jacob Keane Assignment. It's the first installment in a new film series starring Robert Gant as a sexy, sexy retired spy (okay, the press release doesn't specify the "sexy" part but with Gant in the lead, I'd say it's a safe bet) who is drawn back into his old life by a woman from his past (played by Shannen Doherty). Kiss Me Deadly also stars Ian Roberts, the former Australian Rugby player-turned actor who came out in 1995, as well as John Rhys-Davies.

Considering how James Bond has made audiences associate international espionage with sex and style, a gay spy story seems a natural fit for here!'s film series. Grant's character, the eponymous Jacob Keane, has a loving boyfriend, which probably means the film won't have a series of "Keane guys" for Jacob to seduce in every film. I guess I'll have to be happy just eying Gant ... and he's plenty of eye candy already.

Kiss Me Deadly will be available to here! subscribers in November. In the meantime enjoy a few more pix of Mister Gant:

Considering we showed you that awful (not awful in that Mommie Dearest way either!) clip of Cover, Bill Duke's new film about men on "downlow men", we figured it would only be right to highlight a good story of "men on the DL".

If you haven't heard of The DL Chronicles by Quincy LaNear and Deondray Gossett, you are missing out on some excellent storylines, good acting and hot bodies. Partners for over ten years, LaNear and Gossett have created a unique collection of stories about "men on the DL". Each episode is a different, unpredictable story: these are not simply tales of men who have wives and are sleeping with men. The complicated situations explored in the show transcend the generally one-note stories of "DL" men that we are used to seeing. For example, in one episode the character is "DL", but it is his daughter he is hiding from, not a straight female lover.

With a revolving cast, LaNear and Gossett manage to bust open the confines of what it means to be "DL" with fresh stories that prove that lives of paranoid secrecy are not limited to "shocking" episodes of Oprah ... more often than not the "DL" is a matter of not being sincere to oneself.

The DL Chronicles is currently airing on here!TV. If you don't have here!TV in your area, the first two episodes are also streaming online. Also, for everyone in San Francisco on Friday, June 22nd at 9:30 pm The San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival presents The DL Chronicles "Trilogy". Click here to buy tickets.

Check out the clip below of Episode: Robert.

Friday

As the World Turns (CBS) 1:00 PM EST
Today's the day Noah, love interest for gay teen Luke Snyder, shows up in Oakdale. So far (aside from ignoring him for long periods of time) ATWT has managed to write Luke with a level of sensitivity and depth that's often lacking on the rest of the show. When Luke struggled with his identity, his father was troubled not by worries about having a gay son but that Luke didn't feel free to talk about a crisis he was facing. This past Wednesday, Luke had a couple great scenes where he talked about feeling left out of the dating scene, a conversation that could nicely set the tone for a summer romance. Hopefully, ATWT will live up to that promise.

Saturday

The Lair (here!TV) On Demand
The latest offering from Here!TV debuts today, this time offering a steamy drama that mixes vampires with the expected cast of stunningly attractive men. And be sure to come back next week for our fresh and revealing new interview with head vamp Peter Stickles (Shortbus).

Sunday

Hollyoaks: The Story So Far (BBC America) 6:30 PM EST
We've mentioned the popular British soap opera Hollyoaks for the complicated same-sex romance between Craig and John Paul, before. The popular soap will become available to American viewers Monday when the soap debuts on BBC America, starting around the time of John Paul's introduction. Tonight, the cable network is airing a half-hour recap episode getting you caught up on the action.