Dante's Cove: October 2007 Archives

Have I ever mentioned my favorite gay soap, "Dante's Cove" to you before?
OK, OK,. only about a million times.
Well, some good news: here! Networks announced Tuesday that Season 1 of the gothic soap is now available at PlantOut Inc.’s Gay.com and PlanetOut.co in the form of webisodes. The show "Dante’s Cove" will be available for the first time ever online on an unlimited basis via Gay.com.
“This year, it became abundantly clear that television audiences are looking for options when it comes to watching their favorite shows,” Paul Colichman, President and CEO of here! Networks said in a statement. “Dante’s Cove, now entering its third successful season, is the perfect vehicle through which here! Networks can attract new subscribers while also acknowledging our audience’s interest in internet-driven viewing options.”

As Adam on "Dante's Cove," Jon Fleming's character is understandably in love with the gorgeous and thoughtful Toby played by Charlie David. They were buddies in high school and hang out, shirtless, all the time but Toby just isn't that into Adam - at least romantically.
At least in episode one which had its debut on here! TV on Friday.
I talked to Jon last week at the premiere event for the show to try and find out more.
"Basically, you'll find out that I've been cut off from my trust find. I had been living at Dante's Cove off my parent's money, partying and stuff. My parents basically say, 'Move back to New York or you're cut off.' But Adam's love for Toby prevails and he decides to stay at Dante's Cove and fight it out. Even though, as we saw [in the season two finale] he was rejected by Toby. Toby said he just wanted to be a friend. But Adam won't quit and he'll keep fighting for Toby even if he's penniless. He's not gonna take no for an immediate answer."

I suggest that maybe Adam has some kind of showdown with Kevin (Gregory Michael) who is Toby's true love.
Fleming likes the idea: "I think we should get a little boxing ring and have Toby be the main prize. Have Adam and Kevin just duke it out for Toby. Winner takes all."
Fleming was a bit taken aback by all the hoopla surrounding the premiere event in LA on Tuesday night with hundreds of fans and friends packed into the theater. It was a far cry from a year earlier when "one of the actresses on the show had a party and I watched it eating Funions and drinking beer."
Everything about this new season just seems better, says the handsome actor.
"I feel like everything is really tied in compared to last season when each character kind of had their own little story going on. But this season, everybody is more together and everyone has scenes with Grace (Tracy Scoggins). She's the landlady. Everyone has their own drama, their own love story. But at the same time, you'll see everyone come together for one joint purpose toward the end."
Stay tuned!

Anyone who watches "Dante's Cove" probably wants Toby (Charlie David) and Kevin (Gregory Michael) to end up together in the end, just as they were in the beginning. But in the meantime, I am digging the chemistry between Kevin and Ambrosios (William Gregory Lee). Caught up with the adorable Greg Michael at the show's big premiere event on Tuesday.

"I love having all these people here. It's awesome," Greg said as he surveyed the frenzied scene outside the Regent theater. "It's good seeing you as always, I always read the blog. I'm not gonna lie to you, I probably check it like once a week."
I want to know how he deals with being the object of affection of so many gay men: "Very tenderly, with love and care. Gotta be smooth, gotta say, 'Thank you, I appreciate it. I'm taken...maybe I'm not. You gotta tease them a little bit. Give them what they want then take it away. I try and play a little game. You try and be vague about everything."
So Greg is straight and brought his girlfriend to the event.
"Where is she, the hussy?" I joke.
We both crack up. Then he tells me: "I'm happy. It's tough to be in a relationship in Hollywood, it really is. Especially being on a show like this. It's time consuming trying to juggle a relationship and a career but it's going well. "
I tell Greg that finding out he is straight is as heartbreaking for "Dante" fans as finding out Matthew Rhys of "Brothers & Sisters" is straight.
"MATTHEW RHYS is straight?!?" Greg says, genuinely surprised. "I'm devastated! I actually didn't know that. That's pretty disappointing.":
Don't we know it.

Oh, I'm sorry. Did you think there were only hot men on "Dante's Cove"? My fault. I haven't written much about the fabulous women in the here! TV show which will have its third season premiere Oct 19. I recently talked to the show's most seasoned actresses, the gorgeous Tracy Scoggins and Thea Gill who play dueling sisters with supernatural powers.
Scoggins' first scene has her character of Grace Neville landing face down in the ground, covered in dirt and grass, cursing her sister, Diana Childs: "The bloody Cow! I'm going to make her suffer!"
She told me at the Advocate party a few weeks back that those lines were improvised which, to me, shows that she is really having a good time with what is a very juicy part. While her Grace has been mostly wicked up until now, I noticed she is beginning to show some softer sides.
Says Scoggins: "My father had this theory: 'Show people your strength and they'll take notice. Show them your weakness and they'll take heart.' And I think that's what we'll see a little bit more of in Grace in season three. You'll start to see her softer underbelly and see why she is the way she is, why betrayal has affected her so. She's wicked because she's been devastated. Her heart is so scarred. I think in season three she might start to have a little salve on her heart."
I remember Tracy best from the "Dynasty" spinoff, "The Colbys" which also starred Barbara Stanwyck and Charlton Heston, among others. Scoggins has stayed busy with plenty of other shows since then but she is very much in the moment, enjoying the popularity of "Dante's."
"I'm not much on thinking ahead or looking back," she says. "I always say you can look back but don't stare. I'm very proud to be on something that's groundbreaking. I know pride is one of the seven deadly sins so I'm a sinner because I'm really proud of 'Dante's Cove.'"
So is Thea Gill, the actress who had best been known to queer audiences for her part as Lindsay on "Queer As Folk" for its entire five-year run. While Lindsay was kind, Diana is an entirely different type of character to play. In the season's first episode, she and Grace duke it out. I tell her that the fight scene between her and Scroggins is very Krystle-Alexis on "Dynasty" and she said, "I think that's what they were going for.'
She feels like she is really getting a handle on her character now.
"In the second season, I didn't quite know what to make of it. But in the third season, I started to understand what the show's about and how I could contribute to it and so I kind of went into my own fantasy world and brought as much of my intense life to it as possible so the intensity of the witch in me came out in full force. I let it all hang out. It's a very high intense show. In all the great horror films, there's a heightened intensity and that's what I was striving for and, of course, having a little bit of fun and having a sense of humor."
Between "Dante's Cove" and "Queer as Folk," Gill has a fan base anyone would envy: "Gay audiences are especially loyal and supportive and I think that's why I came aboard 'Dante's Cove.' I'm lucky to be able to be loved that way."