The Week in Gay TV: "What Would You Do?" When Faced with a Homophobic Dad and Meet Four "Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys"

Welcome to another edition of The Week in Gay TV, your guide to the shows hoping to distract you from trying to figure out your holiday gift list in the week ahead. There's a packed week of television ahead including the return of The Closer, The Sundance Channel's look at Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, the return of Tabitha's Salon Takeover, plus a whole lot more!

For its final season, Smallville has been taking several trips down memory lane and Friday the series gives fan an episode of What if…? when out actor John Glover returns to the series as Lionel Luthor. How can Glover be back when his character clearly died some time ago? This week sees Clark transported into a parallel earth where he was found and raised as a Luthor, not a Kent.

Friday also sees Supernatural revisit old times as Meg Masters return to trouble the Winchester brothers. This time she’s looking for Crowley and thinks kidnapping Sam and Dean can help her find him. Back during Supernatural’s first season, when Meg was played by Nicki Aycox, I positively hated her as she was such a foul, detestable villain. This time Meg is coming back in the form of Rachel Miner and it’ll be interesting to see if Miner can capture Meg’s evil

Original flavor Meg and the new version

I don’t usually recommend tuning in to The Soup. E!’s clip show can be very entertaining but, too often, I find the punchlines delivered by Joel McHale to be homophobic. I’m fine with pointing out when a gay man makes a fool of himself on reality TV, but frequently there’s not much more to McHale's jokes beyond expressing disgust at effeminacy.

However, Friday The Soup celebrates its 300th episode and will unveil viewers’ choice for their favorite Soup moment of all time which includes gay moments like The Kids in the Hall’s appearance as grown-up child pageant participants or Seth Green’s parody of Chris Crocker’s infamous “Leave Britney Alone!” video.

Meanwhile, ABC tackles gay tolerance once more with the latest Primetime: What Would You Do? This isn’t the first time What Would You Do? has documented how people react to gay scenarios. The hidden camera series has shown people react to same-sex couples’ public displays of affection and tested bystanders who watched gay people face harassment in restaurants and sports bars. Most recently, What Would You Do? watched how people reacted to an incident of homophobic bullying.

This time, John Quinones and his crew follow what happens when a teen comes out to his father in the middle of a busy restaurant, only to face loud and angry rejection.

Honestly, What Would You Do? segments always invoke a mixed reaction in me. After watching a couple, the formula becomes really clear — and, yet, it always manages to manipulate my emotions. I start out feeling frustration and despair over the apathy Quinones points out, but then we’re shown someone one person who finally speaks up. Then more people take a stand for the gay person being harassed until we get to that one person whose personal story gives their stance a little more power, like the former bully who has grown up to regret his history and is now stopping an incident of bullying.

Finally, BBC America also brings a new Law & Order: UK investigation into the murder of a homeless man who was killed in a public space.