Lifetime Dating Show Includes Gays

It's not for nothing that the Lifetime channel has long been dubbed "television for women...AND GAY MEN." The last three words aren't a part of the official tagline but it may as well be with gay men lapping up all those melodramatic television movies starring Tracy Gold, Melissa Gilbert or Jaclyn Smith and endless reruns of "The Golden Girls" and (my favorite) 'Designing Women."

Now Lifetime is really embracing the gays with "Lovespring International," a largely improvised show centered around a fictional dating service with clients both gay and straight, undecided or just confused. The show, executive produced by Erik McCormack ("Will & Grace"), airs Monday nights at 11 p.m. on Lifetime.

The cast includes three openly gay performers: Jack Plotnick, Sam Pancake, and Jane Lynch although none of their characters are openly gay. But Pancake's character, Burke Christopher, clearly falls into the "confused" category. He's married to a woman but he is a barely closeted gay man.

AfterElton.com says in its review of the show: "It's a thin charade: the gay man playing a straight husband. In real life you can expect tears and unhappiness, but in the Lovespring world, with the characters taken to their exaggerated extremes, you can see it in a funhouse mirror. Yet there's a kernel of truth behind every joke."

The review also says the show "has well-written characters performed expertly by a talented comedic cast. The situations are campy and fun, with a bit of twisted naughtiness thrown in. There is no laugh track, and since much of the show is improvised, many of the lines are fluid and overlapping. Expect a bit of Christopher Guest-style realism and dry humor—just the sort of gaiety to make you forget the scorching heat and unbearable humidity of summer."

Sounds like this is a show worth checking out!