Cable TV Shows: September 2006 Archives

For months now, the rumors have been floating about how gay, if at all, Julian McMahon's character, Christian might be on the current season of "Nip/Tuck" on FX which began last week with the handsome plastic surgeon questioning his sexaulity.
In a lengthy interview in the gay and lesbian newsmagazine, The Advocate, McMahon is asked whether or not his character is gay.
"I see him as mixed," McMahon tells the interviewer. "He's such a metrosexual, you can't help but challenge the fact that there might be something a little (gay about him)." The actor then says that during a dream sequence, he kisses co-star Dylan Walsh, his best friend, business partner, and soulmate ("These two guys are obsessed with each other").
"...It wasn;t meant to be a kiss," McMahon says. "But I was enjoying Dylan's discomfort so much that I went for it...I don't think he's gotten it on with a guy before."

As for the much-buzzed about shower scene with guest=star Mario Lopez, show creator Ryan Murphy tells The Advocate that the encounter is not sexual. "It's about Mario having this fantastic body of a 30 year old and Christian feeling 40 and like suddenly he's not the wunderkind at the gym anymore."

Is THAT all? What. A. Tease.

But in the Advocate interview, McMahon does comment on Lopez's buff bod: "He has an out-of-control figure, by the way. Chris (Evans, his hunky "Fantastic Four" co-star) has a great body too. ..very trained."

Anyway, at least one series regular REALLY will be gay this season as she has been since the start of the series: Liz Cruz, portrayed by the terrific Roma Maffia. Liz, the lesbian anesthesiologist on the show, finally gets a girlfriend. But there's a catch: apparently the girlfriend is a real beeeyotch. "She's mean and she tries to make Liz go on a diet and get lipo," Murphy says.

Gee, the new girlfriend sounds like a real charmer.

The red-hot FX drama "Nip/Tuck" has been dancing around the possibility that Julian McMahon's ladykilling character might actually be gay since last season. In the first few episides of the new season, the network is doing a masterful job of luring more gay viewers with this storyline. We don't know where it's going at this point but we do know that screenshots of McMahon and Mario Lopez naked in a shower have been leaked into cyberspace (click here for earlier post). In addition, McMahon, in a very wet T-shirt, will be on the cover of the upcoming issue of The Advocate. After all of that, SOMETHING better happen!

"Nip/Tuck" writer-creator Ryan Murphy has described his show as "a heterosexual love story about two men." As his show kicks off its fourth season on Tuesday on FX, apparently the womanizing Christian (Julian McMahon) is wondering if he actually might be gay. After all, his only successful relationship has been with best friend and business partner Sean (Dylan Walsh). So, the big question is not only will Christian turn out to be gay, but will he get any action? We know that studly Mario Lopez is going to guest star as an "infuriatingly fit" plastic surgeon who has a homoerotic moment with Christian in the shower and some pics from the scene have begun to circulate around the net. Stay tuned!

The guest star new season will feature a couple of well-known out performers: Rosie O'Donnell and Richard Chamberlain. That is in addition to series regular Roma Maffia who begins another season as lesbian anesthesiologist Liz Cruz.
Chamberlain, who came out publicly afew years ago in his autobiography "Shattered Love," shows up in the second episode as wealthy, haughty and manipulative Arthur Stiles, the older boyfriend of a much younger man. Stiles wants more perfect facial features for his young boyfriend and wants him to undergo plastic surgery.

Meanwhile, Rosie will guest on the Oct. 3 and Oct. 17 episodes of the show as a Florida woman who decides to splurge on a surgical makeover after she wins the lottery. Since they couldn't just digitally alter Rosie like they did in her recent publicity pics for "The View," the "before" O'Donnell is padded and make-up free of makeup. The "after" Rosie is achieved by a corset and sporting heavy pancake. According to reports, rosie will also be wearing a contraption that pulls her neck and chin back.
It all sounds like tons of fun!