SMRT-TV: TV on DVD

March 27, 2006

TV ON DVD
Same Sex Preference, Different Shows
Queer as Folk and The L Word
by Erin O'Brien

On a recent episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the guys were charged with helping a nudist look good in clothes. From the moment the Straight Guy opened the door in the buff, the Fab Five were completely repulsed. Even when Carson took his clothes off to see what the fuss was about, the guys seemed utterly grossed out by the sight of a naked man. Which seems kind of odd if you think about it; five gay men put off by male nudity? I suppose there could be extenuating circumstances; the Straight Guy wasn't exactly Brad Pitt. But then later, during a heart-to-heart with the Straight Guy, Kyan said, "There's more to being gay than sex." This may be true, but I think it speaks volumes about Queer Eye that homophobic America finds the show so appealing. These are five gay men who are basically safe and asexual, the kind of gay men who maybe have better fashion sense and grooming skills than your average man on the street but are about as sexual as a Ken doll.

A different kind of homosexuality.
The sexy kind.

By contrast, in the very first scene of the very first episode of Queer as Folk Michael (Hal Sparks) informs us that men think about sex almost constantly, and gay men think about sex even more often. In fact, just a few minutes into that episode, Michael walks to the back room of the local gay club, Babylon, to retrieve his friend Brian (Gale Harold), who's getting a blow job from an anonymous man. So here we've got the other end of the spectrum. Even the show's producers tell you in the DVD commentaries for one of the episodes that being gay is all about sex.

You may be thinking that the truth lies somewhere in between, but Showtime's two gay dramas, Queer as Folk and The L Word, want you to know that sex is very much a part of gay life, as it is of any of our lives. Both shows are unapologetic and groundbreaking and deal with both issues unique to being gay and issues that are pretty universal with love, friendship, and relationships.

That may be where the similarities end, though.

I suppose every show has its archetypes, but some critics have argued that the use of these in a gay show is dangerous because it confirms what America already suspects.

Well, the foundations for each show are made up of the same sorts of token characters. Each show has the shamelessly promiscuous one (Brian on Queer as Folk, Shane on The L Word), the one who's new to the scene (Justin, Jenny), the long established couple (Melanie/Lindsay, Bette/Tina), the one who isn't quite ready to be out and proud at work (Michael, Dana), and the older, wiser straight woman (Debbie, Kit). I suppose every show has its archetypes, but some critics have argued that the use of these in a gay show is dangerous because it confirms what America already suspects. Characters like Shane and Brian might be particularly dangerous for being the gay characters who always crave sex with no regard for relationships or consequences.

Then again, the characters develop as the series progresses, so that by the end of the first season, the characters transcend their stereotypical behavior. That's certainly true of both of these shows.

I wonder if lumping these two gay dramas into one review maybe does them a disservice, though, as they really are very different shows that both just happen to be populated by gay characters. Otherwise, it's male-centric vs. female-centric, blue vs. pink, techno vs. folk, Pittsburgh vs. LA.

Let's talk about Queer as Folk first. The fifth (and last) season is due on DVD soon, and the first seasons are being re-released in slimmer cases at a fraction of the cost. Good news for everyone, as it's a great show. It's based on a British show of the same name, and the first couple of episodes are Americanized versions of the scripts of the British show. Then the writers strayed, sometimes making smart choices, sometimes not, but it all adds up to a show that's a lot of fun.

It's set in Pittsburgh and circles around the lives of a group of gay men and women who hang out around Liberty Avenue, home of Babylon and the Liberty Diner. One of the Liberty Diner's most colorful characters is a wise-cracking red-headed waitress named Debbie (Sharon Gless of Cagney & Lacey fame). She's brash and blunt and delightful. Her son, Michael, narrates some of the first season episodes before the voice-overs fade away. He's uptight and has to stay closeted at work (as apparently all the awful homophobes in Pittsburgh work there) and pines after his best friend Brian. And Brian is sex personified; "no regrets" is his motto as he pursues an improbably long line of men — who knew there were so many gay men in Pittsburgh? (I'd totally jump in that line, though, because Gale Harold? Is beautiful.) He's ultimately tamed by Justin, a na¥ve teenager who wanders into Brian's life in the first episode and never leaves. (And the great thing about Justin is that we get to really see his evolution. We meet him as a child and watch him grow as he transcends violence, hate, and vile politics.) Brian also has a son with Lindsay (Thea Gill) a lesbian in a long-term relationship with Melanie (Michelle Clunie). They're the most domesticated, dealing with the issues of raising a son with two mommies. Rounding out the cast are two polar opposites: the flamboyant Emmett (Peter Paige) and the straight-laced Ted (Scott Lowell), who begin as comic relief but eventually come into their own as interesting characters. And then in season 2, we meet Ben (Robert Gant), an Atlas of a man who is HIV+.

The show deals with a lot of issues important to the gay community — AIDS, gay marriage, discrimination, politics — but tackles a lot of relationship issues also as the characters try to navigate life and love and commitment. And I think this is what really makes the show worth watching. At first, you're sucked in by how stylized the show is, by the lighting, by the soundtrack, by the attractive cast, by the dancing go-go boys, by the surprisingly explicit sex scenes and the nudity. But you stay because the characters are interesting and compelling, and while you're in awe of how pretty the show is, you start to get invested in the characters.

Otherwise, the special features aren't really that spectacular, although on the season 1 DVD, the deleted scenes are hosted by Hal Sparks, and he brings the same level of silliness that he employs for VH1's I Love the... shows.

About the DVDs: there's some commentary on select episodes, which the DVDs call "special editions." It's not traditional commentary, it's better: a third of the screen is taken up by an actor or producer who discusses the scene. The approach for the first season is not ideal; rather than the actors commenting on specific scenes, they tell anecdotes about the episode, more like an interview and less like a commentary. In later seasons, they get it right by filming the cast as they watch the episode. Otherwise, the special features aren't really that spectacular, although on the season 1 DVD, the deleted scenes are hosted by Hal Sparks, and he brings the same level of silliness that he employs for VH1's I Love the... shows.

The first four seasons are now on DVD, and I think it's key to start with the first season, but maybe skip season 2, as the concepts of "realism" and "continuity" seem to have eluded the writers. They get back on track for season 3, though.

On the other side of the country, we've got The L Word, a sunny, glossy drama set in LA. We'll start with Bette (played by the lovely Jennifer Beals, who you may remember from Flashdance), who works at an art gallery and begins the show with her partner Tina (Laurel Holloman) — who is basically a housewife — by her side as they try to have a baby. In the very first episode, Jenny (Mia Kirshner) moves in next door with her boyfriend. Jenny's a writer with a vivid imagination — the show is full of interludes featuring her dreams and memories and stories — and things are going well with her boyfriend until she befriends the neighbors and is seduced by the female owner of the local lesbian hang out, a cafe called the Planet.

Other ladies in the neighborhood: Shane (Katherine Moennig) is a hairdresser who doesn't believe in monogamy. Dana (Erin Daniels) is a pro tennis player afraid to come out and face the judgment of the public, but when she does come out, she's embraced by her fans instead of condemned. Alice (Leisha Hailey) is a columnist and later radio DJ who creates The Chart in her living room, a chart displaying all of the ways everyone is connected to each other by degrees of separation (these degrees being based on who's had sex with whom). Alice is a bisexual who "loves the heart not the anatomy." The season 1 cast is rounded out by Bette's sister Kit (Pam Grier) a recovering alcoholic, singer, and then new owner of the Planet in season 2. (Kit is mostly a peripheral character in the first season, so it was great to see more of her in season 2.) Season 2 gave us Carmen (Sarah Shahi), a DJ who becomes the center of a love triangle with Jenny and Shane, and Helena (Rachel Shelley) a wealthy heiress who comes between Bette and Tina in more ways than one.

I like the glamour of the show. Perhaps just by virtue of how beautiful the cast is, the show gives the finger to every stereotype about lesbians. These are just women trying to live their lives. But the show also deals with issues perhaps unique to lesbians: the stigma against homosexuality and the fascination with hot girl-on-girl action. Lesbianism is at once a taboo and a male fantasy.

The L Word's second season also has an interesting parade of guest stars including Camryn Manheim, Sandra Bernhard, Ossie Davis (as Bette and Kit's father), and Gloria Steinem. And the show itself is still going strong; the season 3 finale just aired on March 26th.

And the DVDs: quite a lot of special features, mostly featurettes with the cast and show creator. No commentary, unfortunately. And Gloria Steinem plays herself in the season 2 finale, so the DVD includes a featurette on the Ms. Foundation for Women.

The second season builds on the first very well, giving more space for the secondary characters to find themselves. The show has such a big cast that some of the characters — maybe Alice and Shane in particular — don't really seem full realized until season 2, when the Bette/Tina plot arc doesn't dominate the show so much.

Both shows are tasked also with making gay characters sympathetic enough that you care about their struggles against disease, against the law, against societal expectations.

Both shows are tasked also with making gay characters sympathetic enough that you care about their struggles against disease, against the law, against societal expectations. Queer as Folk is maybe more purposefully aware of what it is — a gay show — and so goes the extra step of sending the characters on charity bike rides to raise money for AIDS, of making Debbie a prominent member of PFLAG, of Justin and Brian becoming unexpected activists when faced with the pending election of a homophobic politician, etc. The L Word certainly has a feminist undercurrent, and there was the obligatory Pride episode in season 2, but otherwise the activism is not so overt. Perhaps this is why viewers find the show so appealing: they're just showing the lives of women in Los Angeles, not hitting you over the head with their message.

So we've got two very different but very good gay dramas out to prove that gay men and women have sex and have problems, so... they're just like everyone else.

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