Network TV Shows: November 2006 Archives

Sam Harris' Perry Pearl, the gayest-straight-man-ever, did not appear on Monday night's episode of CBS' "The Class" but one of the real gay characters on this often-funny sitcom, Kyle ( Sean Maguire), shared some terrific scenes with Ethan (Jason Ritter). I think this friendship between a straight man and a gay man could really invigorate the show which has suffered from its large cast not interacting enough with each other.

So Ethan (he doesn't know Kyle is gay) shows up at Kyle's apartment to pick him up for a raquetball came and sees a picture of Kyle's boyfriend.
Ethan: Is that your brother?
Kyle: It's my partner.
Ethan: Oh, your business partner?
Kyle: My PARTNER partner.
Ethan: Oh! That's fanTAStic! It's fine...it's...REGULAR.

So with that out of the way, they become involved in the episode's plot where one of their friends has crashed into a liquor store (he lost control of the car when a bee flew in the window). and their comic chemistry was very fresh and welcomed. So hopefully Ethan will hang out with Kyle and his boyfriend in future episodes and maybe he'll even get to interact some with Perry Pearl!

At a time when I feel frustrated by the discrimination against gays not being allowed to get married in 49 states (unlike the thoughtful Pam Anderson or Britney Spears) or frustrated that gays are still not able to openly serve in the military, I find solace in the unlikeliest of places: Monday night's episode of the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother."
I hope a lot of the teens, or anyone, who are struggling with being gay and feeling good about themselves saw this episode. Not only was in wickedly funny and touching, but it was absolutely devoid of homophobia. And trust me, it was a VERY gay episode. The characters were just all very evolved and a view of how much better off we'd all be if people would get rid of their hang-ups.

The CLASSIC episode of "Mother" featured a very funny Wayne Brady as the gay brother of Neil Patrick Harris' womanizing Barney character and focused on Barney's reluctance to accept the fact that his brother is...in a RELATIONSHIP! Barney's friends clue in before he does when the group hits a gay bar and the usually very "social" James starts turning down every hot guy in the place who approaches him: "He's too in shape," he says of one. "He'll spend all night talking about his level of body fat."
But Barney remains in denial and insists his brother is still a swinging bachelor despite such tell-tale relationships signs as "he's a little sleepy and he hasn't had sex with anyone in a bathroom stall and he's texting!"

They have different fathers, obviously, but are two peas in a pod in terms of personality and attitude. They had been each other's wingman on the single's scene forever and even scored a brother and sister once. I loved the sequence that showed all their different tag-team pick-up techniques. for example, James offends a woman by coming on too strong and she is rescued by Barney who sweeps in and says something like, "Is this guy bothering you?" They even scored a brother and sister once which James describes as "she was a little bit country, he was a litle bit WAY into black guys!" Suffice it to say, James is the homosexual version of Barney's aggressive heterosexual character and Brady is a delight in the part.

Once Barney learns of his brother's marriage plans, he tries to get him hooked up at the bar, approaching potential hook-ups and telling them to ply his brolther "with a few dirty martinis" and he'd be all theirs. But Barney is stopped cold when James tells him he's in love with Tom and they are getting married.
Barney: 'I don't support this!"
James: "Gay marriage?"
Barney: "Not the gay part! Marriage!"

Barney explains: "Here’s my thing. If gay guys start getting married, then suddenly the whole world’s gonna be doing it. That’s how it works. They start something, then six months later, everyone follows…Gay marriage is going to cause single life as we know it to die out. Think of how the American family will be strengthened."

As an aside, I found some silly of the interactions between Barney's straight guy friends Ted (Josh Radnor) and Marshall (Jason Segel) being hit on by men at the gay club hysterical. Says Marshall to one admirer: "I'm flattered and objectively, you're a very attractive man."
Adds Ted: "I'm straight too but I appreciate your time and you appreciating my body."
But later, after a not-so-cute guy walks up and puts his arm around both of them and says: "Look at me, in the middle of a yummy sandwich!" Ted complains: "It's never the hot ones - it's always the losers. Bums me out!"

Barney's anti-marriage campaign ends though when his brother tells him that he and Tom are going to adopt a baby. Barney immediately changes his attitude and Harris is so good in this moment of conveying his love for his brother.
The episode flash-forwards to a year later and the wedding reception with uncle Barney having a heart-to-heart with his baby nephew: "Just because you're being raised by married people doesn't mean you have to choose that lifestyle...I am going to teach you how to live!"

Also at the wedding reception, you can see two men dancing together, two women dancing together, a man and a woman dancing together. It's all just there, everyone being who they are. And it's on at 8 p.m. on network prime time. I love it! Kudos to CBS and especially to the show's creative team. Mostly, kudos to heterosexual Wayne Brady for his terrific performance as a gay man and to the openly gay Neil Patrick Harris, for his continually convincing performance as a heterosexual man!

Anything that has to do with the character of Barney on "How I Met Your Mother" is bound to be pretty damned funny but this may top all: on tonight's episode of the popular CBS sitcom, real-life heterosexual Wayne Brady is going to play the gay brother of raging on-screen heterosexual Barney, played by Neil Patrick Harris - a gay man in real-life.
Yes, one is also black and the other white and I have no idea if that will be explained but I get the feeling it will be pretty funny.
Here is what I know about the plot: Barney is already struggling with the fact that all of his friends have settled into the boring state of "coupledom." Then his number one wingman, his gay, black brother James, arrives on the scene. James is bacsically a gay version of Barney, always on the prowl. But he's found a guy and is settling down which further causes Barney to confont being a bachelor on his own.
Word has it that Brady could return for future guest spots. I imagine they would only make an already good show even better!

So how was your Thanksgiving? That piece of pecan pie right before watching "Ugly Betty" just about put me over the edge last night. (burp.) I'll have to write quick if I am to make my emergency liposuction appointment this afternoon....And speaking of "Ugly Betty," I hadn't seen much of it but my sister is hooked and got me to watch it with her after dinner as we looked at each other and wondered, once again, "Why did we EAT so much?" So "Betty" is the bomb! Love her. As Betty, America Ferrera has one of the most appealing characters in prime-time and as an evil bitch who works at her magazine, Vanessa L. Williams is a HOOT! As far as eye candy, no need to look any further than Eric Mabius who plays the editor of the magazine where Betty works. Love the show.
And how about this? Her young nephew Justin (Mark Indelicato), more interested in fashion and design than in football and skateboards, is being encouraged by his mother (Ana Ortiz) and grandfather (Tony Plana) to just be who he is. This episode featured his flaky, absentee father trying to turn him into a "man" by getting him to put down the crafts and go out and play some ball. Mom just says NO: "We let him be who he is." Amen! I hope he finds a little boyfriend too but no unchaparoned dates until high school. I think the development of this kid could be more revolutionary than anything else going on in network television right now when it comes to gay characters...

Isaiah Washington was on the red carpet at the American Music Awards last night. You THINK I wanted to talk to him? "Isaiah! Isaiah! A word?" He walks over, accompanied by his lovely wife and a nervous publicist.
In case you've been hiding under a rock, Washington and his "Grey's Anatomy" co-star Patrick Dempsey had a verbal and physical altercation on the set of the show last month when Washington told Dempsey he wasn't his little "faggot" like another one of their cast members. Speculation grew over who he was talking about. Then, a few days later, co-star T.R. Knight released a statement to People.com saying that in light of all the questions swirling about, he wanted to confirm that he is gay.

Washington issued an apology shortly after. Knight has not said anything more nor has Dempsey. So I asked the actor about it and here is our exchange:

ME: Is everything back to normal on the set? Your publicist is saying, 'Don't ask!'
ISAIAH: (laughs). Everything was back to normal four weeks ago five minutes after it happened but the media chose to do what they felt they had to do. Patrick and I look at it now and say, 'Wow. Great. Now we know we're the number one show in America (laughs).
ME: How are things between you and T.R. Knight? (the publicist is now making a violent finger across the neck sign, eyes bugged out. She wants to kill me).
ISAIAH: T.R. is fine. T.R. wasn't even on the set when we had the argument, he was nowhere around.
ME: You guys had a great on-screen relationship.
ISAIAH: We still do, we still do. I don't know what it's going to take for the media or the people to start believing otherwise. The media is going to have to start writing some positive things all over again. My family on 'Grey's Anatomy,' we spend a lot of hours together and we're happy, our producers are happy, ABC is happy and if they weren't, I wouldn't be on the set, that's the bottom line.
ME: Are you proud of T.R. and the way he did handle the situation with his statement?
ISAIAH: T.R., the thing about T.R., is T.R. has been gay for a long time (laughs). I think it was a mere coincidence that it came out the way it came out. But we all love T.R. We all know who T.R. is and T.R. knows who T.R. is trust me, T.R. would never be a victim or victimized by anyone under any circumstances and if I saw it or heard it, i would be the first one jumping into the fray to make sure he would be protected from something like that. That's my family, that's all i can say to that.
ME: You publicist is mad at me but thank you for talking to me about that.

Lance Bass considers himself be a S.A.G. (Straight Acting Gay) so after watching tonight's episode of CBS' "The Class," I would have to say that Perry Pearl (Sam Harris) is a G.A.S. (Gay Acting Straight).

I want to be offended by all the laughs that are had at the expense of this flamoyantly funny character who is married with a child (who he named Oprah Liza Pearl) but who everyone seems to think is gay. (I wonder why?) I want to be offended because it's just such a cheap joke and besides, it is cruel to laugh at the flamboyant kid on the playground and all of that. But darn it, I just can't help but howl with laughter each week.

I guess I'm kinda cheap. But I feel real bad about it. Well, sorta bad about it.

This week, Perry and his wife Holly Ellenbogen-Pearl (Lucy Punch) are hosting Thanksgiving dinner for her parents and Polly's high school ex-boyfriend Kyle (Sean MaGuire) who comes with HIS boyfriend Aaron (Cristian de la Fuente). Perry greets the men and proudly announces: "I made two different turkeys, four pies, and this sweater didn't knit ITSELF!" Polly's parents then show up and Kyle says to Aaron: "You know how they say all women marry their fathers?" And in walks her prissy father Robert Michael Morris, the gayest straight man since, well, Perry Pearl.

The two men are in charge of cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Says Perry to the boys: "He's a doll, I love him. But just between you and me, could he BE any gayer?" Later, the dad says to the boys: "Is it just me or is Perry a little light in the loafers?"

Obviously the show can get away with this because the people laughing behind Perry's back are the two gay men themselves who just can't stop snickering. When Holly sees them to the door and says, "I hope it wasn't awkward for you guys - you know, being the only gay people [at dinner]."
Replies Kyle: "You know, it didn't feel that way."

Good grief, Sam Harris is so damned funny as Perry, just so happy to be Perry. I do wonder where the show is going to go with his character though. Even I am going to start to feel conflicted about laughing at him (I hope!) but probably not for at least the rest of this season!

Out actor Alec Mapa was hilarious and endearing on tonight's episode of "Desperate Housewives." And thank God. With Andrew strengely relegated to glorified extra sitting at the dinner table in the past three or four episodes (that has GOT to change), at least we had the magnificant Mapa this week as Gaby's sassy personal shopper Vern. He invites the floundering Gaby to speak to his modeling class for young girls. She arrives with an attitude and he says to her: "These mothers have refinanced their trailers to pay for this so for God's sake, when you make your entrance...sparkle!"
When Gaby walks out and sees a group of overweight or unkept girls, she snarls to Vern: "It's going to take a miracle to turn these mutts into show dogs!" Vern tells her: "Please Gabrielle, be their moses."
It was terrific to see Gaby (Eva Longoria) have something else to do other than fight with Carlos and sit around pouting. she soon realizes that she feels fulfilled working with the girls and wants to continue. She makes a speech at the end that shows a humbled, more human side of Gaby. Maybe she'll be less of a cartoon from now on.
As for Alec Mapa's Vern,. I hope we'll be seeing more of him in the weeks to come!

Since I have gotten bored with "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" and stopped watching weeks ago, I was unaware of the gay storyline being played out in the last few episodes. But I was reading AfterElton.com's Michael Jensen weekly column "Best. Gay. Week. Ever." and he writes: " What I most appreciated was the show's stance that just because you're anti-gay bias is Bible-based, it doesn't mean you're not a homophobe. (I can already hear Jerry Falwell, Pat Roberston, etc. hyperventilating.)

In the show's opening scene, Matt (Matthew Perry) is confronted by Harriett (played by out actress Sarah Paulson) who demands to know if he really thinks she is a homophobe because she believes the Bible condemns gays. He says “Yep� and when she asks what's wrong with civil unions instead of marriage he interrupts her by saying, “There is no way to get to the end of that sentence without saying homosexual love is less than heterosexual love…� And it's not some half-hearted defense either. Matt is ticked about this issue, even taking the Democrats to task for what he perceives as their pandering. You go, Chandler !"

CBS is ordering more episodes of "The Class" which is great news. The Monday night sitcom needs to trim some of its characters (let's start with the married woman and the carpenter, pu-leeeze) but there is lots to like:
The show has a happy gay couple who are quite appealing and they have a lot of interaction with a married couple that includes Perry Pearl, a husband (Sam Harris) who hilariously fits many gay stereotypes: he named his daughter Oprah Liza Pearl and dressed her up as Audrey Hepburn from "Breakfast at Tiffanys." I wonder what direction they will take Harris' character of Perry Pearl who also clearly seems attracted to men.
And even though his character is straight, I think Jason Ritter is showing himself to be a wonderful comic actor who would make his late father, John Riktter, very proud. Anyway, the network is still hammering out whether or not to order a full season but at any rate, it has committed to enough episodes to allow the show to continue to build an even bigger audience.

I'd be watching anyway but how terrific is it that the dazzling Dixie Carter is beginning a seven-episode stint on "Desperate Housewives" tonight? She'll always be Julia Sugarbaker to me but after meeting her at the "Desinging Women" reunion a few weeks ago, i gotta say, Dixie as herself is pretty damned cool!
But she won't be herself on "Housewives" with a gray wig and decidedly "de-glam" for the role of Bree's new scary mother-in-law!
I have a story in today's entertainment section of the Los Angeles Daily News about her role on the show. If you don't get the paper delivered at home (you must subscribe!) then click onto DailyNews.com.

At any rate, here are a few excerpts from the article just in case:

"Housewives" creator and head writer, openly gay Marc Cherry (right), was Carter's personal assistant during her days on "Designing Women." "He was handling my personal business and picked up my underwear at Neiman (Marcus) sometimes," Carter remembers, laughing.

Good thing Cherry remembers her fondly. Tonight, Carter appears in the first of at least seven episodes as the mysterious Orson Hodge's (Kyle MacLachlan) mother and Bree Van De Camp-Hodge's (Marcia Cross) mother-in law. She is going to make Bree's first annoying mother-in-law from her marraige to Rex (Shirley Knight) look like a saint. Gloria Hodge knows all of her son's secrets (and apparently there are many) and is expected to make life quite difficult for the clean-freak newlyweds (pictured, left).

"Marc was very memorable, a very memorable young man," says the actress. "He was always observing. We knew he was a writer. He never got upset with a really kind of goofy household that Mr. (Hal) Holbrook (her husband of 22 years) and I somehow rock along with. He never got upset with the zaniness of our life."

Carter's part of Gloria Hodge is a far cry from her signature role as the outspoken and stylish Julia Sugarbaker, who could annihilate anyone with words.

"Marc called me, and it was really exciting," Carter recalls. "He said, 'I have something nice for you to do if you are willing to de-glam. The woman is older and needs to be gray and not made up.' I said, 'OK, fine, I'll do it.' The part is quite wonderful...I'm a bad mama. I like to hit the liquor cabinet, and they don't like having me there on Wisteria Lane.""

"It's a very heady atmosphere," she says of her new gig. "When you drive onto the lot, your little heart beats faster and you're singing 'Hooray for Hollywood!' "

Let me say first off that this picture of Dr. Mark McSteamy (Eric Dane) on the right has absolutely nothing to do with last night's episode of "Grey's Anatomy" or why it was the gayest episode of the series ever. But I posted it because I haven't watched the show in a few weeks (no, I don't have TiVo...GASP!) and this is the first week that I really got it: McSteamy is HOT! Not just physically, but in the way that he is an unapologetic tramp! He wants to sleep with everybody and makes no bones about it. I say it will be difficult for Meredith or anyone to resist his charms. Anywayh. McSteamy and Meredith treat a patient who is set for a male-to-female sex change operation (with the support of the woman who married him as a man) but complications arise when the paitent is diagnosed with breast cancer caused by the hormones she had been taking. Best chance for survival: stop taking the hormones and revert back to a man. "She'll go back to being an unhappy man with a penis," McSteamy tells Meredith. "Just like millions of us."
This episode was a real departure because most of the male doctors (McSteamy excepted) go on a fishing trip and also along are Joe the bartender and his partner of 10 years, Walter! Cool!
How all the hunky docs (plus the hospital chief) get the same day off, I do not know. For those of us aware of the big on-set fight between Patrick Dempsey and Isaiah Washington that resulted in T.R. Knight coming out, the fishing trip was a chance to see how these actors interact on screen. Washington and Knight had a scene together as did Washington and Dempsey and all seemed normal between their characters.

The brawl in the episode was between Knight's Geroge O'Malley and Alex. But it was only an open-handed fight because they are surgeons and no matter how pissed off they are at each other, they can't damage the hands! Walter ends up getting knocked down in the fracas and cutting his head. He says to Joe: "Next time, we're NOT going camping with straight guys."
Anyway, Chief Webber does not know that Joe and Walter are a couple and wants to sleep in their tent with them. When he finally realizes they want to be alone and are gay, he starts blurting out funny things to show he's cool with it: "Wonderful!" "Man love!" "Beautiful!" "My cousin is gay!"
Later, the chief is fishing next to Joe and asks how long he and Walter have been together.
"Ten years. We're thinking about kids," Joe says. "I can't imagine my life without him."
Later, Chief Webber tells Derrick (Dempsey): "They're a happy couple...I miss my wife."

In the span of just a few weeks, both Neil Patrick Harris and T.R. Knight came out as gay men. They did it with little fuss and have gone on with their lives and busy acting careers. But they are hardly the first. I found this slideshow of out celebrities today and invite you to check it out!

Click on the It's Good To Be Gay SLIDESHOW!!!