I honestly don't know what to make of this guy anymore. Steven, the out rodeo rider, has made this season of Big Brother fascinating to watch so far

But I'm torn as to whether I want him to stay on the show, or become a bad memory. On the one hand, if he were to eventually be voted off, I can stop watching these obnoxious people, and it will mean he won't be able to embarrass himself any further.

On the other hand, he's not dull. He is continually entertaining, and becoming increasingly — albeit horrifyingly — watchable. You already know about his comments regarding housemate Libra, but he also wondered that if Jews control Hollywood, does that mean they control Big Brother, and if the housemates say anything anti-Semitic, will they suddenly disappear from the house? (Unfortunately, this clip has been taken down, and I can't find it anywhere.)

He and fellow housemate Dan began a Bible-study group (to the confusion and amusement of the other housemates), and Steven told the story of an unfortunate accident while bull riding (involving a bull's hoof and that most tender part of a man's anatomy)

He also had a long heart to heart with Dan about not remembering much about his childhood, and the fact that he's never read a book in his life (well, one, about a fellow rodeo rider). You can see that clip after the break, and find out "SPOILERS" about about the upcoming broadcast.

Well, he gets an "A" for effort.

That's about the most positive thing I can say about last night's episode of American Gladiators, which featured the first openly gay contestant in the history of the show, Sean Hetherington. In our interview with him, Sean made this lofty statement: "I think it’s going to be kind of a masterpiece in terms of breaking stereotypes for gays and lesbians in athletics."

Yeah ... not so much, Sean. There were moments of the show that were down-right cringeworthy, and unfortunately, Sean was responsible for some of them.

First of all, there was no mention made of the fact that Sean is gay, and if you didn't know beforehand, some of the comments he made would seem a bit ... questionable (if not offensive). Like when he referred to some of the male gladiators as "ladies", and when he said of the gladiator Toa (who was wearing tribal garb), "he's 250 pounds, plus the dress". Not cool, Sean.

The show didn't exactly help him out, though, by pairing him with a competitor twice his size. But Sean talked about James Ruggiero in glowing terms in our interview, so you can't fault James for being, well, a Gladiator-killing machine!

As I said, if you didn't know beforehand that Sean was gay, you certainly didn't get any help from the show, who showed James's wife and kids with the caption "James' Family", and then showed Sean's boyfriend with the caption "Sean's Friends". Not cool, show.

After the break, see how Sean did. (It ain't pretty.)

Mark and Chelsie in a standoff

So You Think You Can Dance has been krumpin' its way through Season 4 for a couple weeks now so I'm incredibly pleased to finally bring a recaplet to AfterElton.com!  You're probably asking yourself why it took three weeks of competition before we had a recap and the answer is simple... I've been riding Mary Murphy's Hot Tamale Train and just now had a moment to jump off and rehash the incredible performance and elimination episodes. (Ed: If "riding Mary Murphy's Hot Tamale Train" is a euphemism ... I don't want to know.)

Welcome to So You Think You Can Dance (dance, dance, dance)!

For those of you at home that are not SYTYCD fans, you're really missing out.  If you happen to be a die-hard Dancing with the Stars fan, you're insane, and I beg of you to tune in next Wednesday night and witness the brilliance.  Honestly, the kids on SYTYCD are in a completely different league and if this was Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, Ozone and Enzo would be wiping the floor with that Christy Yamaguchi chick.  Sho'nuff...

As for comparisons to Step It Up and Dance or America's Best Dance Crew (I adore both), they're so different that you can't really compare them.

You'll find that my recaps are a little less about the technical side of dancing and a little about the snarky "oh no she didn't wear that" side of watching one of the gayest non-gay shows on television.  The only dance background I have involves a grade school talent show and something I got paid for during college that we do not want to mention here. Oh wait, curses...

Each season I pick a SYTYCD TV BOYFRIEND and I blog about all the dirty little things I'd like to do to those boys. It's harmless fun.  That's always a little awkward when we eventually meet or one of their sisters contacts me and hooks me up with backstage passes to the tour. (Enablers!)

Season 2's choice was the incredible Travis Wall and last season it was that cutie-patootie Neil Haskell. I'm still in the market for a Season 4 boytoy so I'm open for suggestions. Right now I'm leaning towards Twitch, Mark, or choreographer Napoleon ... so many choices, so little time!

Before we move onto the competition, I must say how incredibly fierce host Cat Deeley is.  The glamazon dances worse than Ellen but is hands down the best reality show host in the world.  She's gorgeous, funny, a fashion template and most importantly a goddess Mother to each and every one of the kids on the show.  She calls them he r"babies" and that, my friends, is adorable!

Host Cat Deeley

This week, one of my favorite guest Judges was back, Mr. Adam Shankman.  The Shank is loud, out and proud up there from the Judges podium and the man brings this incredible energy, honesty and knowledge to the show.  Judge Mary Murphy looked less like a Flintstones drag queen this week but still her make-up was heavy and that bedazzled dress a hot mess.

The dance world lost Cyd Charisse this past week and Exec. Producer/Judge Nigel Lythgoe said some kind words about the dancing legend.  For a show that is heavily watched by tweens (and me), I thought it was a nice touch and the clips they showed hopefully inspired one or two viewers to learn more about her.

Now on with the show...

The second episode of the fourth season of Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List airs tonight on Bravo. Given how much gay content there in store for us this season (Pink Flight! Gay Mardi Gras! Lesbian cruises!), we'll be recapping every Friday going forward ... so to get us in the mood, here's a quick recaplet of last week's season premiere. There wasn't much actual gay content, but since it's Kathy Griffin ... it's all gay content.

It's obvious that the running theme this season is the fact that Kathy is now an Emmy winner, and her Emmy speech pissed off a lot of people, especially "The Catholic League" (whom Kathy describes as "one guy with a computer"). In case you don't know, when she won the Emmy (finally beating the evil Extreme Home Makeover), she made a very Kathy-esque speech involving a popular religious figure, which inexplicably caused controversy.

This season starts out with Kathy being offered the chance to co-host the CNN New Year's Eve coverage in Times Square with the Silver Fox himself, Anderson Cooper. Her assignment is "humorous looks at events in pop culture", and her countdown for 2007 includes:

Britney Spears and her sister Jamie Lynn (Kathy wants to "go ahead and push for the abortion"); Marie Osmond and her collapsing baby doll dance; Paula Abdul and her big bag of crazy; David Hasselhoff and his inability to eat a hamburger while wasted; Alec Baldwin and his rude, thoughtless message to his daughter; Dog The Bounty Hunter and his racist bile; "Pampered" astronaut Lisa Nowak and her alleged stalking road trip; and to finish, Paris Hilton appearing on Larry King.

Ahh ... memories, light the corners of my mind...

Kathy makes a deal with her team (Tom, Jessica, and Tiffany) that each time she calls Anderson "Andy", they have to take a shot. By the end of the New Year's Eve show, Jessica is slurring her words, and very nearly hurls on Anderson's shoes.

This week the Emmy committee announced that a new award would be given out at the next ceremony: Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program.

Now, while the idea of debating if Jeff Probst or Tom Bergeron adds more to their show sounds like a worthwhile discussion, I initially filed that bit of news aside since I couldn't quickly think of many openly gay men hosting reality shows.

But what about the gay men who do regularly appear on reality shows ... namely, the mentors and sidekicks? Are Heidi Klum's contributions to Project Runway greater than Tim Gunn's? Similarly, we're seeing more of Step It Up & Dance's mentor Jerry Mitchell than host Elizabeth Berkeley in the show's early episodes. Aren't they a major part of why we enjoy a show?

I guess you could make an argument that these mentors could be seen as co-hosts since they perform many host-like duties (like when they take charge of a challenge), but would the Emmy committee see things that way? If not, the awards would risk missing out on a major part of what makes these shows so praiseworthy.

Then again we're talking about the Emmys. Don't they usually miss out on the most praiseworthy parts of television?

We came across an open NYC casting call on Craigslist for a new reality show looking for straight girls and their “gay best friends.”

Here’s the pitch:

Are your friends constantly calling you Will and Grace? Jack and Karen? Kathy and her best gay? A NEW GAME SHOW celebrating the fascinating, complex, and hilarious relationship between gay men and their straight girlfriends is now casting! So if you're fun, outrageous, and know a lot of pop culture and mindless trivia, then we want you as a CONTESTANT! We are looking for BFF couples of all ages, who have a great dynamic together to take part in this new game show for a major cable network. If you think that you and your BFF would be fabulous, please e-mail your names, contact info, how long you have known each other, a brief description of your relationship, and a picture of both of you together or separate to newtvgameshow@gmail.com. You must be available May 20 and 21. Hurry spaces are filling fast!

This could be a bit of a train wreck. No doubt there’s a special “twist” that they’re not telling the applicants during the casting process. You sign on thinking you’re gonna be competing against other gay boys/straight girls in fun team challenges a la Amazing Race or Fear Factor, and instead they have each of you strapped to a lie detector answering embarrassing questions like, “Do you ever wish she had a penis?" or “Do you sometimes fantasize about converting him?”

Still, if I were in the New York area and available May 20^th and 21st I’d be tempted to apply.

The press release says this reality show is for a “major cable network.” That covers a lot of territory but who knows, maybe the network is Bravo and they’re secretly casting for a new season of Boy meets Boy. Wouldn’t that be fun? Anybody remember James & Andra? I loved Andra — and loved Michael McDonald’s impression of her even more. After the break the classic “Boy Meets Goy” sketch from Mad TV. Enjoy!

Tomorrow night I'll be back liveblogging the Make Me a Supermodel Reunion special and I can't tell you guys how much I've missed being snarky and commenting on our favorite reality show over the last two weeks. I've been having BRONNIE withdrawal something fierce!

I almost hate to admit it, but since returning from Paley I still haven't watched the last hot tranny mess of an episode yet! I've been busy and I want to save it until right before the reunion so that I can prolong the end of what has truly become the breakout reality hit of the season.

I refuse to believe that in just two weeks we'll be without our go-to-gay Ronnie Kroell, his life-partner pal Prison Ben, Perry "I want to do bad things to you" Ullmann and Holly (Hobby?) not to mention Niki and TyTy! But, it's not over yet kids...

Tomorrow night is the Make Me a Supermodel "Watch What Happens" Reunion hosted by Bravo's fabulous Andy Cohen and the first question out of his mouth better be "Where can Dan and the AfterElton readers get that gaydorable BRONNIE shirt?"

Don't forget to come back Thursday night at 10pm EST to comment on all the action as the Make Me a Supermodel Reunion Special gets down and dirty with the 10 eliminated contestants and our 4 finalists.

Dante Puleio's mama may not dance, but let's hope his step-mama does

What's gayer than a dance competition? A dance competition where the men are made to compete with their mothers as partners.

Yes, this is the concept of Your Mama Don't Dance, a new Lifetime show premiering this Friday. Five guys (and their mothers) and five girls (and their fathers) are enlisted to compete, with the twist being that the young hoofers are initially unaware that they will be paired with their parental units as dance companions. So it's basically like every wedding I ever attended where my mom dragged me onto the dance floor because I didn't have a date ... only these guys can do more than the Chicken Dance. 

The show's website has intro interviews with all twenty contestants, and we've confirmed with the network that three of the fancy-footed fellas are out: Dante Puleio (who is dancing with his stepmother and refers to his dad as "Tony Soprano"), Jonathan Silva (a 19-year-old who will be dancing with his hairdresser mom) and Silvano Merendi (who, as one of the parents, is dancing with his daughter, Celia).

All jokes aside, is this any gayer than any other dance competition reality show? No. But the difference is that the network isn't pussyfooting around or trying to bury the sexuality of the contestants. Go Lifetime!

Lifetime President Susanne Daniels told Variety that although it's all step-ball-change on the surface, Dance is "really about the adult parent/child relationship, and how complex that is. It’s going to be an emotional show. I want people to cry." Susanne Daniels, you are a cruel, wonderful woman.

Oh, and the host is none other than 90210 vet Ian Ziering. Thoughts? Because I am so watching this.

Jonathan Silva and his mom

Silvano Merendi and daughter Celia

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) contract expired last night, and talks between the studios and the writers have broken off — with no talks rescheduled. Even more ominous, the WGA has asked members to show up at the LA Convention Center tonight at 10:00pm for an "announcement."

It looks almost certain that there will be a writers' strike. The sticking issues? First, the writers want a bigger cut of the increasingly lucrative DVD market. The current formula, set in 1985 to deal with videocassette sales, gives writers about four cents for every DVD sold. The WGA wants a new formula that would essentially double that. Second and possibly more important, the WGA wants a share in the profits for internet broadcasts. The studios say they want to table that discussion until the internet market is "more mature."

Neither side appears willing to give ground, which is making a walkout seem inevitable. And if a similar strike in 1988 is any example, this thing could drag on for months.

So, what would a strike mean to television viewers (and gay television viewers in particular)?

First to be affected would be talk shows. As early as next week there would be no more David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, or Jay Leno.

Regis & Kelly and the ladies of The View might still go "live," but if they do they'll be ad libbing all their own material. (Oh the horror!)

Also immediately impacted: Saturday Night Live. Amy Poehler says the show has no backlog of scripts so, “Boom — our show just shuts down.”

Worse in my mind, we'd also immediately lose The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. The Bush administration might be cheering this turn of events, but the rest of us will need to get our daily fix of Stewart and Colbert via Comedy Central's online video archive.

But that's just the beginning.

In an apparent continued effort to stockpile the finest examples of the worst aspects of human nature, Fox Reality has begun airing famously controversial reality show There's Something About Miriam, which asked 6 bachelors to compete for the affections of a hot babe who was later revealed to be a pre-operative transgender woman.

When the Crying-Game-esque finale was filmed, the winner initially went along with the show and agreed to the prize money and trip with Mexican stunner Miriam. But once cameras were off he got himself a lawyer and the six contestants (one of whom apparently broke down in tears when he learned the truth about Miriam) filed a suit against the producers to stop the show from being aired, citing all sorts of fraud and even conspiracy to commit sexual assault (as some of the men had kissed and hugged Miriam, which totally sounds like "sexual assault" to me!).

The guys eventually settled and the series aired in the UK, and rather than let this rather unsavory piece of reality competition trickery get washed away by history, Fox Reality has decided it demands to be seen in the States as well. (It began airing last night ... get it? Halloween?)

This follows shortly after Fox Reality picked up the shelved Playing It Straight reality disaster, which similarly used alternative sexuality (and, more importantly, straight male contestants' horror at the idea) as a hook. We wrote recently about how the landscape for transgender characters on television is slowly changing for the better with shows like Dirty Sexy Money and Ugly Betty, and Miriam is an example of the kinds of sensationalistic gags that are better left behind.

As a side note, a quick glance at the shows on the channel's slate reads like something out of an Onion article. These are just a few of my favorite titles: Totally Embarrassed, Train Wrecks, Sexy Cam, Strip Search, Sexy Behavior Caught on Tape, Cheating Spouses Caught on Tape, The Adventures of a Nobody, Busted Everywhere (?!), Driving School, My Bare Lady, My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, That's Just Wrong, World Famous for Dicking Around, and America's Trashiest Weddings.

Okay, I'd probably watch that last one.