"Greek" Gays Kiss, Gay Invisibility In "The Andromeda Strain," "Project Runway" Winner Tackles Whoopi

Did anyone else get their Greek on last night?

The gay guys—Calvin and Michael—had a date… at a frat party. Not my idea of a great place for a date. Then again, the booze is flowing for free at a frat party.

Calvin spent most of the night keeping guys away from Casey on orders from Evan, pretty much ignoring poor Michael, who didn't fit in at the kegger as we saw when he ordered a glass of Merlot at the bar.

When Michael decided to split, Calvin finally focused on his date, giving him a kiss.

The first kiss wasn't a huge kiss, so when they leaned back in for another, I expected to see more.

But we just got another little taste before the scene ended.

I would have been okay with that if a few minutes later we didn't see Ryan, who was revealed to be a bad kisser, engage in a lip lock with Casey that went on and on.

Uh, how come the gross guy-on-girl kiss played for laughs got more airtime than the sweet guy-on-guy kiss?

Maybe I shouldn't complain. At least ABC Family went there—Calvin and Michael's smooch was the first same-sex kiss seen on the network. Beyond that, how often do we see black men and white men kissing? Gay TV shows and films rarely even go there.

So how did you feel about the kiss? Were you satisfied, or were you left wanting more?

Gay Invisibility In "The Andromeda Strain"

I tuned into the first part of The Andromeda Strain remake on A&E last night for two reasons: Eric McCormack and Ricky Schroder.

While I wanted to see what former Will & Grace star McCormack was like when he wasn't playing gay, I was excited to see what former Silver Spoons star—and gorgeous hunk of a man—Rick Schroder would do with the role of a gay soldier.

Let's start with McCormack: On the plus side, McCormack was so not Will. He even let a little stubble grow in to play the role of ballsy reporter Jack Nash.

But even though McCormack was convincing as the reporter determined to get the scoop on the mystery virus that wiped out a Utah town, it was hard to believe his character was in the midst of kicking a drug problem. I mean, it must have been serious because Nash had to quit rehab to follow the mystery virus story, and, yeah, we saw him relapse when he got high in the car, but this guy didn't show any other signs of being an addict.

Give me a break!

Meanwhile, aside from a quick revelation about Schroder's character Major Keene being gay, his gayness was illuminated no further.

My hopes were raised when Keene and the other scientists went through that decontamination device and had foam sprayed all over their bodies.

For me, it brought back memories of good times at Splash.

But, realistically, I knew we weren't going to get anything titillating out of that.

Seriously though, I liked that Keene's sexual orientation wasn't made a big deal of. He was just a guy who happened to be gay, and given his military status, you wouldn't necessarily expect him to be publicly declaring it.

As for his performance, Schroder could have put a little more energy into his role. His character took stoic to new heights.

I don't know about you, but I won't watching the finale of The Andromeda Strain tonight. I thought the first part of the mini-series was excruciatingly dull. It was like watching a bad play, and I kept waiting for the scientists—who were all jammed into that underground lab together—to freak out and for there to be some serious confrontation between them. But all they did was utter robotic scientific dialogue.

I can sum up this remake in one word: Boring!

"Project Runway" Winner Tackles Whoopi

Project Runway winner Christian Siriano is going to dress Whoopi Goldberg for the "The Tony Awards," which she will host on June 15.

Wow. That's going to be a challenge. We all know Whoopi's style of dress isn't exactly fierce as Christian might say.

I'd say it's more… lumberjack.

Do you think our daring little designer can get Whoopi to expand her fashion horizons? Or—God forbid—will he be forced to work wonders with flannel?

(Images courtesy Getty, NBC, A&E)

Comments

[queerunity]

is it just me or is the media getting tres gay?
http://www.queersunited.blogspot.com

[Ron H.]

No, Carter, you shouldn't complain about the kiss on GREEK. ABC Family has featured gay characters in it's original movies and TV series for a number of years (including rather explicit references to "tops" and "bottoms" as part of the gay character's dialogue in the 2004 original movie CELESTE IN THE CITY). The network has done a nice job of showing a mass audience that the word "family" is not the exclusive property of the Evangelical right. In addition to gay characters, The Disney-owned cable network has done a great job of including characters from various ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. I think it's especially gratifying that this inclusiveness is organic to both the network brand and the storylines of the individual series and movie on the network. GREEK is a huge hit for ABC Family and they are clearly sending a message that they will not shy away from depicting families of ALL kinds...gay or otherwise.

[Ray - Jackson, MS]

I guess I missed that Rick Schroder's character is gay on Andromeda. Isn't he a big right wing guns and jesus nut living in Wyoming or somewhere now? If so I could do without him playing the part. It leaves me with the feeling he took the part because he doesn't get much work these days. Other wise I thought the show was pretty good. Especially for a TV movie based on a classic. Remakes can go so wrong and tend to be at their best when the original sucked like Dawn of the Dead or The Hills Have Eyes. A few parts are hard to believe like since they military wants to nuke the town you would think studying the affects of radiation and heat would be the first thing they would have done. Still I didn't think it was bad.

[Ray - Jackson, MS]

Oh and the guy cutting off his own head with a chainsaw was just really really cool.

[Ryan]

However, it's a half-decent step for the writers of Greek, since their first season was riddled with homophobic lines, particularly from the elder sister. Funny how calls to the FCC and ABC were not returned over them...

[Joey]

yea i did love the kiss and everything. but when you say it was the first gay kiss displayed on tv, you are wrong. ABC's tv serires "brother and sister" showed the First gay kiss and first gay popersal. but besides that i was left wanting more but you know they will never show more.

[Ray - Jackson, MS]

I spoke too soon. The second night took a nose dive into a steaming pile of crap faster than a Stephen King movie.

[Walker I.]

I thought kiss was cheesy too, but I was glad they did it though. I think the show needs to start focusing also on Heath too, considering he is gay too.

I loved The Andromeda Strain, I thought it was fantastic, and Eric took his shirt off in part 2. Not that we hadn't seen it on Will & Grace, but he was cut up and that's hot.

[Ron H.]

JOEY...the writer said it was the first gay kiss on ABC FAMILY, which is correct. ABC FAMILY is the teen/family targeted cable network owned by Disney. ABC is the national broadcast network, also owned by Disney. Two different networks. RAY...there was a clear reference to Schroder's character being gay in a brief exchange in night two of ANDROMEDA ("You don't ask and I won't tell" to which his colleage responded that she always thought "that policy" was crap).

[christin baker]

I had not idea that Rick Schroader's character was gay. I too thought he was an uber conservative so I'm sure he "played gay for pay" but only too the job because he didn't have to kiss a guy.

Check out lesbian videos on www.tellofilms.com

[David]

First, Rick Schroder has NOT aged well at all. Secondly, Rick is a staunch conservative; and is NOT "gay-friendly" in ANY way whatsoever. Not quite the charasmatic actor we remember from the 70's, huh? Anyway, he's another pseudo-Christian. Yuck. Send him back to the Hallmark Channel, to play a cowboy father "on the ranch". Boring! Bye-bye, little Ricky.