Regis and Kelly (Syndicated) Check local listings
Neil Patrick Harris takes a turn as guest host on today's show. Considering how the two hosts usually spend the a part of the show discussing their domestic lives, this could be very interesting -- although NPH didn't make mention of his romantic life in his guest-hosting gigs while Regis was off having surgery. Wouldn't it be cute to see Kelly and NPH comparing their spouses' quirks? Meanwhile, Broadway Week continues with the cast of Grey Gardens performing today.

The View (ABC) 11:00 AM EDT
Gay comedian Mario Cantone stops by to talk about his turn as the voice of a surfing penguin in Surf's Up. Loraine Bracco takes a turn as guest host.

Say Uncle (Showtime) 8:00 OM EDT
Queer as Folk's Peter Paige directed and stars in this dark comedy, which makes its cable premiere tonight, about a gay artist who seeks the company of children after his godson moves away. Eventually, one mother begins to worry that his intentions in spending so much time with children might not be so honorable. The fabulous Kathy Najimy plays the mother who starts the hysteria. Check out the trailer after the break.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central) 11:00 PM EDT
Cross-dressing comedian, Eddie Izzard stops for a chat. Izzard has an upcoming movie role in Ocean's Thirteen but I'm hoping we'll also get to hear talk about Izzard's riveting TV series The Riches, which finished its season this past Monday.

The View (ABC) 10:00 AM EST
I'm sure a good number of our readers would be interested in knowing that Kathy Griffitn is guest hosting this week. Today's guest is Wayne Brady, who... well, let's get to him later.

Screened Out: Gay Images in Film (Turner Classic Movies) starting at 8:00 PM EST
TCM is celebrating Pride in June with a look at early gay images in film. Tonight's films begin with silent film Algie the Miner as well as films in theater settings, Exit Smiling and The Broadway Melody.

For all kinds of info on the series be sure to check out Queersighted.com which is the official online partner and has all you need to know about Screened Out.

Gay Sex in the 70s (Sundance Channel) 9:00 PM EST
This documentary looks at New York in the days of sexual freedom that came after Stonewall, ending when the specter of AIDS crashed that party. Gay culture has changed so much since this time, and this doc offers a glimpse into an era that feels like it happened so very long ago.

How I Met Your Mother (CBS) 9:30 PM EST
If you missed it the first time, tonight is your chance to check out one of the season's funniest episodes, featuring Wayne Brady as Barney's gay brother. How did Wayne Brady suddenly become the mark of a quality episode? It seems like everywhere he appears, he somehow causes a memorable episode. I mean, he even managed to make an episode of Dirt pretty good.

The Riches (FX) 10:00 PM EST
Tonight's season finale promises a storm that'll challenge the Malloys to maintain their charade as the Riches. It seems likely that cross-dressing son Sam will be one of their challenges. So far, Sam's family has managed to dismiss questions about Sam's cross-dressing while remaining privately supportive of him. Will the season's ultimate episode force Wayne and Dahlia to publicly stand behind their son?

I've been singing the praises of the new Eddie Izzard/Minnie Driver con family dramedy The Riches since it premiered a few months back on FX. And while it has had some queer underpinnings, there hasn't been much overtly gay subject matter in the otherwise incredibly subversive show, which takes a look at the American way of life through the eyes of a family of "Irish travelers" whose own issues with prison, meth, thievery, and more pale by comparison to the moral demands of upper-class suburbia. But last night we had three distinct queer story threads -- all of which were exceedingly well-handled and one of which had quite a bit to say about the rights of gay families.

The first was a quiet scene between the youngest Rich son, Sam (Aidan Mitchell) who prefers dressing like a girl (which was hilariously revealed in the show's very first scene) and Shareen Rich's senile mother, Dr. Morgenstern. Sam is seen putting makeup on the poor old woman, noting that it makes you feel special to highlight your pretty parts. Sam isn't given that much screentime, especially independent of the family, so this was a special moment where we got to see him open up a little. Sam's choice is unconditionally supported by his family thus far, which is an incredibly progressive way to handle the story (it of course is no coincidence that Izzard identifies as a straight transvestite in real life).

The second gay element delivered on the promise of the dinner party episode, in which Dahlia's former cellmate Chunky Kay called out neighbor Jim as being a closeted homosexual, much to his wife Nina's dismay. In last night's ep, Dahlia stopped by to visit Nina just as Jim's and his "friend" Wes went off to the market to get ingredients for dinner:

Nina: (making snooty face) They're making a bouillabaisse for dinner!

Dahlia: He seemed nice...

Nina: Wes? Oh, he is! Real Nice. Good cook.

Dahlia: So he and Jim are --

Nina: Friends. Yeah. For some time now, it seems.

Dahlia: And you all just -- hang out together?

Nina: Jim and I have been doing a lot of talking since your dinner party, Dahlia -- I guess you could say we've come to an understanding. Netiher of us wants to downscale at this stage in our lives, and there's Zinny to think about, so ... we're sharing the house. That's about all we're sharing.

Dahlia: Wow. Well, I don't know how you're doing it.

Nina: (lighting a joint) Weed!

But we still haven't gotten to the real meaty part: one of the episode's main plots was about how Wayne had to defend Panco (and its evil boss, Hugh) against a wrongful discrimination suit lodged by two lesbians to whom Panco refused to sell a house, due to the fact that the other five families on the house's cul-de-sac were conservative Christians. Wayne -- panicked about losing the case and his job -- learns that in the eyes of the law, the lesbians have no case -- but when he mentions this to Dahlia, she isn't buying it. Here's the brilliant exchange:

Wayne: (excited) Gay people are not specifically protected under the fair housing act. Hugh could absolutely refuse to sell to them and not be breaking any laws!

Dahlia: And you're gonna stand there and tell me that that's okay?

Wayne: Absolutely! It's completely legal! No, I mean it's not "okay" -- but in the state and in the whole country as it is, gay couples are not protected under the constitution.

Dahlia: Well they should be.

Wayne: Well that's not the point -- the law is on Hugh's side -- I can win this!

Dahlia: So you're going to walk into court tomorrow, and you're gonna defend Hugh's right to be a total flamin' asshole.

Wayne: Yeah -- that is what is so great about the law!

Dahlia: Well, that makes you an asshoole too, Wayne. Excluding people? Oh my god, are you kidding me? What if that was your child, huh? What if that was your son? You are no better than Hugh.

Wayne: Well if I don't do it and Panco collapses, what are we gonna live on, air?

Dahlia: (defeated) So this is it, huh? The American Dream.

Doug makes the decision to stand up for the lesbians and their son after meeting one of the ladies and realizing how unfairly they've been treated by the community, but the judge throws out their case before he has a chance to back down. Yet another hard lesson learned.

From the beginning, The Riches has used an outsider family's experience of "success" as a means of exploring what our values are as a society. And the point that has been driven home over and over -- and made crystal clear in the above two scenes -- is that the American Dream is all about compromise. Compromising your personal morals for a paycheck, selling out your own needs for comfort. It's a point that hits home for many underrepresented and unprotected people -- gays, minorities of all kinds -- and one that is seldom made, especially in the context of a criminally funny but otherwise unassuming television show.

if you've been missing out on all this, steal yourself some repeats and get in while you can.

FX's The Riches has been one of television's most interesting dramas since it debuted a couple months ago. The series focuses on the family of Wayne and Dahlia Malloy, con artists who end up stealing the life of an affluent lawyer, taking over his identity and moving into his new mansion in a gated community. Since then, the Malloys have discovered the absurdities of their new peers' lifestyle -- their neighbor Nina introduces Dahlia to prescription pills, Wayne is pressured into buying a country club membership that costs more than his annual salary in order to look wealthy, and Wayne's boss, Hugh, barely has the cash to keep his business running even though he owns plenty of assets.

This week's episode included scenes where Wayne and Dahlia's youngest son, Sam, joins the dinner table dressed in girls' clothing, as well as the outing of Nina's husband, Jim. The Riches has been largely about people pretending to be something other than what they really are -- Wayne pretends to be a lawyer, Nina pretends to be a happy housewife, Hugh pretends to be even more wealthy than his bank balance would reveal -- in order to get the luxurious life the lead. In every case, we see the unhappiness caused by these lies, even though they've decided its a price they're willing to pay.

Interestingly, Jim was portrayed as equally unhappy as his wife -- he's just as much a victim of their pursuit of the American dream as she is. That's different from how closeted married men are frequently depicted. In this case, Nina's not being portrayed as a wronged woman tricked into being her husband's cover, but as a willing participant in his charade. I'm very interested to see where The Riches take these characters, especially young Sam Malone, who will continue to choose between being true to himself or pretending to be something else to get along as he matures.

Meanwhile, How I Met Your Mother delivered another solid episode -- this time focusing on the problems denying Marshal and Lily their ideal wedding ceremony. Family commitments force them to go with a larger ceremony than the wanted and to replace their acoustic guitar player with a pregnant harpist. On the day of the wedding, a guest arrives (played by Neil Patrick Harris' reported real-life boyfriend, David Burtka) asking when one should interrupt the ceremony with an objection, the first of many things to go wrong that day.

It was certainly fun to see Harris and Burtka share the screen, especially with each actor playing straight men in different storylines. Burtka was adorable as Lily's high school ex, hoping that reading the lyrics to "October Rain" will convince her to call off her wedding. Once again, Harris' Barney gives the show its best moments. I didn't care for the character when How I Met Your Mother debuted, he seemed too much like that same oddball character found in every mediocre sitcom. Since then, the character's really grown, partially due to his tendency for surprise revelations (for example, this week we learned he's licensed to officiate wedding ceremonies -- "It suddenly implants in the mind of every woman there that when I ask a question, you say 'I do.") that add strange new layers to the character.

We've been wondering the past few weeks where the new FX show The Riches is going to go with the character of the gypsy family's young son Sam, who prefers Girl Scout uniforms to jeans and sneakers. We'd guessed that the character was intended to be an echo of the show's lead, Eddie Izzard, who himself has been known to wear dresses despite being devoutly heterosexual.

During last week's appearance on Ellen, Izzard referred to his own cross-dressing as an "alternative sexuality" comparable to Ellen's lesbianism (and for a moment it looked like she might debate the point). She raised the topic of the dress-wearing little boy on the show, and though they promised to discuss further after the break, the subject was never revisited.

In a recent TV Guide interview, however, Izzard directly discussed the character, confirming that the little boy is a reflection of his own straight transvestite coming-of-age:

"I pitched it to the show that he should have my sexuality 'cause when I came on board he was already written as being a transvestite. I don't call it "drag," I call it wearing dresses. Basically Sam is like what I would've been. Hopefully his journey, particularly with his sexuality, would be what I would've worn if I was his age and allowed to wear whatever I wanted to at home. So that's what he's going to explore. Straight transvestite sexuality is sittin' here. I know it and you can keep checking with me where it should go."

It's interesting that much discussion of the show has been referring to the kid as gay, and nice to see the folks behind the show speaking directly to the topic -- at least they're not using an "is-he-or-isn't-he" tactic to string people along. And this character is a great reminder that sexuality and gender identity -- though often related -- are not one and the same.

Has anyone else been watching? What do you think about the handling of this character?