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Last night was the premiere of the eagerly anticipated HBO miniseries Generation Kill, and like most of the reviews proclaim, I found it well-made and very intense.

And I doubt that I'll watch part two.

It has a great cast, including Oz veteran Lee Tergesen and Stark Sands from Die, Mommy, Die!, and an impeccable pedigree.

It's based on the book by Rolling Stone writer Evan Wright (who was embedded with The 1st Recon Marines) and chronicles his experiences during the first wave of the American-led assault on Baghdad in 2003. It was adapted for HBO by David Simon, who made the brilliant The Wire (and in doing so, gave us the wonderfully complicated gay character Omar).

However, in their zeal to be ultra-realistic, they forgot to include any characters that were worth caring about, especially when they spout wall-to-wall homophobic slurs and insults. I'm not talking about guys occasionally calling each "fag" or making fun of someone's gay tendencies, but a pervasive, and hostile attitude that undermines the rest of the show.

"Fruity" Rudy Reyes

I expected a certain amount of homophobia, of course. The show is about a group of young, insecure, scared men in close quarters, and the easiest way for young, insecure, scared men in close quarters to bond as a group is through macho posturing (it's better to point the finger than have it pointed at you).

In the premiere, most of the gay scorn is heaped on a soldier named Fruity Rudy (played by real life veteran Rudy Reyes). Because he drinks from his canteen with his pinky raised, and is metrosexual (as much as you can be in the middle of a war), he takes the brunt of the "fag" remarks. He's also seen naked from the back in one scene, which is shot in gauzy soft focus, and as the camera slowly pans up his body, it's clear what audience they're pandering to.

Talk about a mixed message.

I spent a few years in the military, so I know that homophobia is pervasive, but I learned how to tune it out. Unfortunately for Generation Kill, it's even easier to tune it out, and nothing I saw in the premiere really makes me want to tune back in.

We've been speaking to some of the guys behind the show and will have more later in the week on the show itself. But in the meantime we're interested to hear your thoughts on the premiere. Was there enough to keep you coming back?

For the last couple years, the hot trend among the American TV networks was finding a British series with an original voice and try to bring stateside. A long list of series (including Footballers' Wives, The Thick of It, Life on Mars, Viva Blackpool!, Suburban Shootout and Mile High) were being developed for US audiences. In the end, all that hype ended up giving us only Viva Laughlin and ABC's upcoming Life on Mars.

However one of those series, Bad Girls now has American Beauty writer and Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball leading an adaptation for HBO.

The original Bad Girls, a soap opera set in a women's prison, comes from the same team that also gave us Footballers' Wives (including out writer Maureen Chadwick) and had a reputation for mixing gritty realism with campy sensationalism. It tackled issues faced by women-in-prison such as pregnancy, drug addiction and sexual assault (as well as a landmark lesbian romance) while staying highly entertaining -- a balance also found on Footballers' Wives.

With a little bit of thought, it seems a natural fit for Ball who gave us such richly drawn characters and memorably odd plot twists on Six Feet Under as well as the camp sensibility of American Beauty. Plus, I like hearing that the American Bad Girls will also have an openly gay writer working on it.

From where I'm looking the only problem I see is that Ball will need to give Bad Girls a voice that'll make it more than the "female Oz" that most TV critics will initially use describe it.

I'm sure this will be a hectic weekend with endless Pride events stretching from New York City to San Francisco. But make sure you take a moment to check out HBO On Demand and watch SHOUT: The HBO GLBT Short Film Competition. It's like American Idol — the gay film edition!

HBO partnered with Outfest and created an LGBT short film competition, which resulted in over 600 submissions from across the globe. Four amazing directors were awarded $15,000 each to produce their own short film to be featured on HBO. Here are the films:

“Donny and Ginger”, by Jon Bush

A dark drama about a lonely cop and a drag queen prostitute he meets on a desolate street corner late one night.

“Happenstance”, by Joyce Draganosky

Beth finds out that she has a lot in common with Samantha, her son’s new girlfriend at a family dinner.

“Hearts and Hotel Rooms”, by Justin James (My personal favorite!)

Brian and Jimmy go their separate ways after an unforgettable night. Will their hearts lead them to each other again?

“Daddy”, by Sid Karger

A one-night stand leaves Wayne with a strange and hilarious craving for ice cream and shrimp. He learns what to expect when he’s expecting!

If you miss it this weekend you can catch them all on HBO On Demand until July 2nd. And check out the behind-the-scenes trailer after the jump!

***SPOILERS***

Those watching Sunday night's episode of HBO's Entourage "Dog Day Afternoon" saw that Lloyd (Rex Lee) was truly willing to put the "personal" in personal assistant for his boss Ari (Jeremy Piven). Reeling from the loss of super client Vincent Chase (Adrien Grenier), Ari is desperate to sign a high-flying television writer played by Will Sasso (channeling a parody version of Desperate Housewives' creator Marc Cherry).

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Ari is so desperate to land the client that he persuades Lloyd to show Sasso a very good time. And by good, I mean Heidi Fleiss good. But Ari isn't the utterly soulless, heartless bastard we've been led to believe and before Lloyd can "consummate" the deal, Ari comes to his rescue in a West Hollywood gay bar. Indeed, the episode made it very clear that while there isn't something romantic going on between Lloyd and Ari, there is something more than just an employer/employee relationship.

AfterElton.com recently had the chance to talk with Lee about the unusual relationship between "gaysian" Lloyd and the uber-straight Ari.