I'll say one thing for FX's hit drama Nip/Tuck, it's never, ever boring. This show has more going on in one episode than some show's cover in an entire season. Actually, I'll say something else for Nip/Tuck, for better or worse, gay and bisexual people are part of this world. One of the standards by which this site judges programming is by how gay and bi inclusive it actually is.

Some shows, say Men in Trees or Grey's Anatomy, might have one nominal gay character that shows up once in a while. Or they very occasionally do a gay subplot, but for the most part us gay folks aren't really part of the landscape. For better or worse, that definitely isn't the case on Nip/Tuck as last night's episode clearly points out.

It featured out actor/singer/queer guy Jai Rodriguez as Chaz Darling, Best Gay Friend of the show's new teenage villainness Eden Lord. She's the daughter of Olivia Lord (out acrtress Portia DeRossi) who is currently lovers with Julia McNamara (Joely Richardson).

The episode starts with Chaz dropping by McNamara/Troy because he's got a little something he wants fixed.

Turns out going to the White Party with a nipple that large is just a big ol' no-no. This scene gives us our first inkling of what a bad egg that Chaz is going to turn out to be. In fact, he later goes on to tell Eden, already too skinny, that she needs liposuction because a negative size two is the new size zero. It's not exactly a positive portrayal of gay men as Chaz is utterly obsessed with looks and body image. Thanks to Eden's help, he forces Troy to perform surgery to repair this horrible flaw with his chest. Here I was thinking a really big nipple ring would distract from it and be a whole lot cheaper.

I'll admit, I've never given Nip/Tuck a full run for its money, but I've certainly tried. The leering unpleasantness of it all just doesn't appeal to me. It's odd, because gay creator Ryan Murphy's previous series, Popular, is still one of my favorite series of all time. I guess I'd rather watch Leslie Grossman play identical twins separated at birth and Tammy Lynn Michaels run down the prom queen than see transgender teens have their genitals hacked off by homophobic fathers.

This season the fellas open up shop in Los Angeles, and from what the season preview suggests, the gay stereotypes are there to roll out the red carpet. Granted, all the characters on the show seem pretty despicable, so it's not just the gays that are given the short shrift ... at least it's equal-opportunity misanthropy!

Check out the trailer below for more...

The FX comedy series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia focuses on four friends who, in season one, owned Paddy's Pub, a dive bar with no customers. In the second season, Danny DeVito joined the cast as Dennis and Dee's father, Frank, buying Paddy's Pub in order to force his kids to spend time with him. In most episodes, the characters come up with some sort of selfish, self-centered scheme that ends up foiled by their own flaws.

In last week's episode, "Dennis and Dee's Mom is Dead," Dennis inherits his mother's mansion as Dee and Frank are left with nothing. The remainder of her estate is given to Bruce, a philanthropist who, it turns out, is Dennis and Dee's biological father.

Eager to enjoy his inheritance, Dennis starts to plan a party in his new mansion, only to realize that he and pals Mac and Charlie have alienated all their friends. To remedy the situation, they decide to create a flier seeking new friends. The flier they create ends up sounding more like a personals ad, due to their demands on what kind of guys they befriend. When they go to a sporting goods store to pass out the flier Dennis and Mac accidentally hit on several guys, including one guy who won't break a cruise-y look at Mac.

Like many a comedy that seeks to offend, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has to strike a balance between edgy, misanthropic humor and coming off as clueless as the Paddy's Pub gang. While the homoerotic flier could have generated some gay panic-themed comedy, the joke stays on the guys' cluelessness and lack of self-awareness — which is also how they alienated all their friends. We're laughing at Dennis, Mac and Charlie and not at any gay men who might be intrigued by their flier.

In a first season episode, the show used homophobic humor to signal the gang's unlikablity (one of many signs). While there's sometimes a risk that a portion of the audience won't understand the joke and think it's okay to repeat the bigoted humor (as Dave Chapelle experienced), that risk is lessened by giving the line to DeVito, who rarely plays characters anyone would want to emulate and certainly doesn't play an admirable character here.

Last night in New York they held a premiere for the new season of FX's fireman soap Rescue Me, and of course -- being that this is about firefighters -- there were some handsome fellas on hand for the event. And a quick browse through the beefcake revealed that several of the cast members have played gay in the past.

One Thomas Cannon has just been discovered as the 18th century's Oscar Wilde, writing such inflammatory things about same-sex love he had to flee the country lest he lose his head

One of my least favorite shows from this past season--FX's Dirt--is coming back for a second season. Oh, joy. If you remember, Courtney Cox's character had a creepy gay or bi brother who got involved with a closeted action star, then tried to blackmail him or something. I've tried to block the whole thing out as the show is just that icky. I just pray the show doesn't bring back the gay brother or any other gay character. I do not want to to follow it!

FX also announced that Eddie Izzard's The Riches is coming back as well. That show features a cross-dressing adolescent apparently based on Izzard himself.

Here is a very funny bit lampooning "journalist" Perez Hilton. It may not be entirely safe for work.

In our interview with Sir Ian McKellen last year, he told us he hoped there would be a Magneto movie. Looks like it might be happening after all, but unfortunately without McKellen (or Patrick Stewart). Instead it will focus on Magneto and Dr. Xavier as youths. Out director Bryan Singer isn't involved so it's hard to know if new director David Goyer and writer Sheldon Turner will keep up the X-Men's gay subtext.

This is a rather interesting clip of Reichen Lehmkuhl being interviewed by another male model about why folks don't take them seriously as advocates. Frankly, I expected a lot of whining, but Reichen actually says he brought this on himself by being so willing to use body to get attention. Interesting stuff. Oh, and he sings a little, too. Not that he's going to win American Idol or anything.

While The Sopranos’ return has garnered the bulk of the attention in the press, another groundbreaking, critically lauded drama is also back, one that features a compelling, yet problematic gay character who, unlike poor doomed Vito, has a more uncertain future

I’m talking about The Shield, FX’s gritty police drama featuring Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey, a corrupt cop working in a section of LA ravaged by gang violence. The show premiered in 2002, and is now in its 6th season before a final season set for 2008.

From the very first episode, officer Julien Lowe (Michael Jace) has been a featured character, one who, like The Sopranos’ Vito, defies stereotypes; he’s a tough cop fully capable of standing up to violent criminals and resorting to violent responses when necessary.