Network TV Shows: September 2006 Archives

It was rather unfortunate that his character ends up dying in surgery but it sure was terrific seeing Peter Paige on "Grey's Anatomy" tonight. He plays a patient with a brain tumor who, because of the location of the tumor, is compelled to speak his mind, with total honesty. at all times.

When Dr. McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey) leaves the room, for example, Peter turns to Meredith and asks if they are sleeping together. Then he says, "He's hot. I would totally have sex with him if I could." He later says to Christina (Sandra Oh); "If I had a boyfriend, i would not be as uptight as you are." And his last line was a killer: "I'm having surgery and only my fat sister Ruth is here with me."

Paige has been busy since "Queer as Folk" came to an end last year after five seasons on Showtime. His role as the flamboyant and effeminate Emmett Honeycutt hasn't typecast him at all judging from his very different performance on "Grey's." He also had a recurring role last season on the WB series "Related" and wrote, produced and starred in the indie film "Say Uncle" which screened at Outfest in 2005 and was recently released on DVD.

There was another gay moment on "Grey's" tonight and that involved Joe, the bartender at the watering hole near the hospital where everyone goes to decompress or break-up or hook-up or throw-up. Addison, Dr. McDreamy's wife, is on a bender and asks Joe if he thinks she's hot. He says: "You're attractive, but have a boyfriend."

Who knew?

I feel a little bit like I'm cheating on my girl crush, Rosario Dawson, but I gotta rave about another one of the women I love: Sarah Paulson of NBC's new show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." I first saw her in the Renee Zellweger-Ewan McGregor spoof of 50s sex comedies,"Down With Love," and was immediately smitten - perhaps in the same way Rosie O. is smitten with Tommy Cruise.

What I did not know until the Tony Awards last year was that Paulson is a lesbian and in a committed relationship with the mega-talented Cherry Jones who reprises her Tony-winning role in "Doubt" in Los Angeles this fall. Paulson gave Jones a huge smooch on the lips before her partner took the stage to accept her second award for best actress in a Broadway play.

Paulson, 31, made her off-Broadway debut at 12 in a production of "Amerlia Agai. She attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts then made her Broadway debut in the production of Wendy Wasserstein's Tony Award-winning play "The Sisters Rosensweig" in 1993.

She landed her first leading TV role in the short-lived CBS supernatural drama "American Gothic" which had a cult following then starred in another short-lived television gem, "Leap of Faith" before landing a role in the popular Showtime series "Deadwood." In features, she played played Diane Keaton's lesbian daughter in "The Other Sister" as well as in the Mel Gibson comedy "What Womern Want," and co-starred with Jones in the indie film "Swimmers."

On "Studio 60" plays Harriet, a Christian woman open-minded, self-confidant, and funny, she’s strong in her faith, but openly rejects the bigotry and extremism espoused by Christian fundamentalists.

The terrific Website AfterEllen.com has named Paulson as one of the 10 Most Appealing Women on TV. Check out their complete list which also includes Rosie and Christina Oh, among others.

I'll have to admit upfront that I didn't see it but in surfing around this morning, it seems that a lot of folks are pleased with the way "The Office" handled the episode "Gay Witch Hunt" last night. The show's gay paper supply accountant (portrayed by Oscar Nunez) was unintentionally outed on the episode. As a way of showing their acceptance, the characters played by Steve Carell and Raimm Wilson kissed him on the lips!

Check out a clip by clicking HERE.

And here is a snjippet of a review posted on AfterElton.com: "Humor often allows touchy subjects to be addressed in ways that get past viewers' protective walls. Last night's episode probably did more to educate viewers on why the use of the word 'fag' is inappropriate than a year's worth of well-intentioned public service announcements could ever do. But "The Office" went one better. Oscar was never the butt of the show's jokes—that was usually his ignorant, homophobic co-workers who think gay people wear dresses, who giggle uncontrollably at the thought someone is gay, or gullibly believe that 'gaydar' is a product to be ordered online."

Since Oscar (the actor and the character have the same first name) is one of only slightly more than a handful of gay characters on a broadcast network show this fall, it will be interesting to see how is character is handled in future episodes.

Ran into "Desperate Housewives" creator and head writer Marc Cherry(pictured, right) this morning at a rally being held by the Writers Guild of America at Pan Pacific Park. He was there in support of some serious issues but couldn't have been nicer when I badgered him afterward for some info about what is going to become of gay teen Andrew Van De Kamp (Shawn Pyfrom, below) whose looney tunes mom Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross) dumped him off on the side of a highway late last season then checked herself into the nuthouse.
"Andrew will be back in the third episode with an interesting backstory of what he did in the time he was away from home," Cherry said. "I''ve always been a little surprised that, to young people, Andrew is something of a role model which is a little appalling to me because he's something of a sociopath!"
Bree has been less-than-enthused about her son being gay - something he has delighted in torturing her with. Her reaction when Andrew came out to her in season one was "I'd still love you even if you were a murderer" was from Cherry's own life!) But Cherry expects mother and son to reach some new level of understanding and Andrew is expected to move back into the family home on Wisteria Lane.
It's a good thing Andrew is returning to the "Housewives" fold because according to the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) annual study released last month, he along with Dr. Kerry Weaver on the long-running “ER� on NBC, are the only regular gay or lesbian character on a returning broadcast network show this fall other than a closeted accountant named Oscar on NBC’s “The Office.�

Of the new network shows, the ABC drama “Brothers & Sisters� features a gay man as a supporting character, the CBS comedy “The Class� has one of the only gay leading characters on any show, the ABC comedy “Help Me Help You� (pictured, right) features a closeted gay man, and MyNetworkTV’s “Fashion House� has two gay supporting characters.

"It's always a struggle," said Cherry, who didn't tell ABC that Andrew would turn out to be gay until after "Housewives" was established as a break-out hit. "There are ebbs and flows and hopefully this is just a slight dip."

If you caught the series premiere of "The Class" Monday, you would have seen that the new CBS sitcom has one of the few gay characters (as a lead character) on network television. He's Kyle Lando, played by straight actor Sean Maguire. The sweet-natured and cultured is a teacher who is one of the eight people reunited when one of their third-grade classmates (Jason Ritter) throws a party to mark the day he met his fiancee, which was the first day of first grade.

Maguire told AfterElton.com this week that he is grateful for the opportunity to add some much-needed diversity to the fall lineup. “I think it's important to see that kind of diversity,� he says Maguire. “You don't have to be gay or black or whatever minority to appreciate seeing a character on TV who's that minority. It's nice to see the real world reflected in what we watch for entertainment.�Maguire starred in the three-year run of UPN's Eve as Donovan Brink. According to the actor, he performed that character with tha idea that he might actually be gay but the show limited him Brink to being, at best, just metrosexual.

And, get this, Kyle actually has a stable relationship with boyfriend Aaron (Cristián de la Fuente): something that took Will Truman on "Will & Grace" more than seven seasons to do.

I'll give you even more reasons to watch this show, which has received mostly strong reviews from crtiics: The very appealing (and straight) Ritter - who played gay in the indie film "Happy Endings" last year with a great kissing scene - and the presence of openly gay performer Sam Harris, one of the best singers in show business. Harris won the male vocalist competition more than two decades on the very first season of "Star Search" and looks even more handsome now.
Ironically, Harris plays a "straight" man who is married to the woman who has her heart broken by Kyle in high school. Harris' character, Perry Pearl, is immaculately dressed and fits a lot of gay stereotypes which suggests he might be in some deep denial but we'll have to see how it plays out. Harris (pictured, left) says Perry defies expectations about what is expected behavior for gay and straight men. “It's nice to have this presence on TV, but you have to ask what they are saying about gay people when you see it.�

Checked out an advance screener of ABC's new Ted Danson sitcom "Help Me Help You" mainly because it is one of the few new shows on the broadcast networks that actually has a gay character. In "Help Me," the gay man is Jonathan, played by a very funny Jim Rash (second from left in photo above). Jonathan is part of the self-obsessed people in group therapy run by Danson's character, a therapist who is something of an icon among his fellow therapists and the author of several psychotherapy text books. But people don't know is he's probably more screwed up than his clients.

Danson is funny in the part and has terrific chemistry with guest star Jane Kaczmarek who plays his estranged wife. I hope Kaczmarek will make a lot of appearances because she and Danson are so good together. The therapy group clients are played by Charlie Finn, Suzy Nakamura, Darlene Hunt and Jere Burns.

As for Rash's character, in a perfect world I'd love to see more well-adjusted gay characters on television but I'm hopeful he will get there. We've all probably known someone who is clearly just so gay but seems to be the last person to know it. That's Jonathan. He'll cop to being a "metrosexual" but nothing more and his attempts to butch it up by lowering his voice and pretending to be interested in basketball are a scream.

If Rash looks familiar, you may recognize him from his recurring roles on "That '70s Show" and "Reno 911!," as well as guest starring roles on "Will & Grace," "Less than Perfect," "According to Jim," "The Practice," "Becker," "CSI" and "Navy NCIS." He has also co-starred on "Cybill" and "Tracey Takes On," and was a series regular on "Thanks," "Katie Joplin" and "The Naked Truth." His feature film credits include "Sky High," "Minority Report," "Simone," "Slackers," "One Hour Photo" and "Auto Motives." His two most recent films, "Smiley Face" and "Reno 911!: The Movie," are due to be released in 2007.

"Help Me" will premiere on ABC on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 9:30 p.m.