The Week in Gay TV: "Degrassi" Returns, "The Good Wife" Gets a Visit From Her Brother and George Takei Has a "Big Bang"

Welcome to another edition of The Week in Gay TV, a look at the week ahead and the shows fighting for your attention and for space on your DVR, including the return of Degrassi and Private Chefs of Beverly Hills and the debut of Alicia’s gay brother on The Good Wife.

"Wait, would more screen time mean less time alone under the bleachers? Maybe I can pass the torch of the closeted jock struggling out of the closet to Teddy on 90210."

On Friday Teen Nick brings back inclusive drama Degrassi for the second half of its tenth season, which should continue Riley, Zane and Adam’s stories. The first half of season ten was strong, but I wonder how much of that came down to the “telenovela” format of daily episodes that made the wait between Riley sightings feel shorter.

The last time we saw Degrassi, a school dance ended in a knife attack and an attempted rape occurred just before a school break started. Now, students are returning to a much stricter Degrassi, with a dress code and metal detectors at the school entrance. Frustratingly, spoilers for the upcoming season have been pretty rare, so I have no idea how long it will take until we see Riley again. Worse, tonight’s premiere will feature teen mom Jenna and her dreams of reality TV fame.

"If mom is disappointed in my performance, she'll make me polish all her acting awards."

After the Degrassi season premiere, Teen Nick is debuting a new drama Gigantic, focusing on the children of Hollywood stars as they deal with the paparazzi in their teen years. The cast includes Buffy alum Emma Caulfield, Jolene Purdy from ABC Family’s version of 10 Things I Hate About You and Grace Gummer, daughter of gay icon Meryl Streep. There’s nothing gay about Gigantic so far, but I figure that cast should grab the attention of  a few gay viewers.

This week’s Smallville reunion brings Supergirl back into Clark’s life and she’s wearing a red, yellow and blue combination that just might get Clark thinking. Meanwhile, a shock jock named Gordon Godfrey starts causing trouble — and if you know your DC comics, that means things are about to get interesting. Let’s see if Smallville can capture the craziness of the New Gods.

"Clark, turn around and look at me, this is supposed to be a fashion intervention. Grey is what people wear in Gotham City, not Metropolis."

Friday also brings a new Supernatural as Castiel returns in time to help Sam and Dean investigate deaths that match the plagues of Egypt. Finally, Law & Order: UK  moves to its regular Friday night time slot as the death of a foster child could undermine the British legal system.

Sundance’s offbeat documentary series Iconoclasts gets gay this week when Lenny Kravitz meets Precious director Lee Daniels at Kravitz’s home in the Bahamas. The pair will discuss how they worked together on Precious as well as their next collaboration, the Martin Luther King, Jr.-focused drama Selma.

Saturday also brings the amazing Jane Lynch to Saturday Night Live. Normally, I’d be thrilled at the potential, but SNL used Bryan Cranston so poorly last week, my expectations aren’t very high. At least, I can hope for a Glee parody. 

Saturday also brings the season finale of Color Splash as well as more pop culture commentary with The Dish, and if you’re looking for your weekend dose of campy monsters, the latest SyFy original movie is Monster Wolf.