Kiss Me, Chuck Bass

This past Monday marked the much heralded (in some circles, at least) kiss on Gossip Girl between Chuck Bass and another man. Before I begin talking about this, I should related my viewing history with this particular show, since in all fairness you should know that I'm not really a big fan to begin with.

I tuned in for the first few episodes of the series, hoping to find in it a new guilty pleasure. I was instantly enamored of Ed Westwick, the actor who plays Chuck Bass, but found him to be sadly wasted in a badly written and pretty unwatchable show.

The action really only came to life when he was onscreen, which wasn't often enough. The worst part was that you could see that there was a ton of potential for Ed to shine in the role, but they were only letting the merest hint of it end up onscreen.

Whereas once upon a time I'd sit through pretty much anything if it had a guy I liked in it, I seem to have developed some standards over the past few years, or at least just a very low tolerance for bad teen dramas.

Still, when I heard that the show (which is based upon a series of young adult books in which some of the leading male characters are gay or bisexual, including Chuck himself) was writing in a gay character in the form of Serena's younger brother Eric, I tuned in for his coming out episode, hoping to find that time had improved things.

It really hadn't and I wasn't overly impressed with the gay storyline, so I tuned out once again, certain that it would be for good this time.

Then came news of the impending kiss between Ed Westwick's Chuck and another male character, and I knew that even though I'd hate myself for it in the morning, I had to watch.

Which brings us, finally, to last Monday's show. It started off on a good note, I thought, with a black and white homage to All About Eve, complete with Ed Westwick in a tuxedo looking unbelievably, breathtakingly hot. My first thought was: 'God, why don't I watch this show every week?!'

This feeling lasted while Blair and Chuck were onscreen, but faded instantly when the focus shifted to Serena and Nate (though Chace Crawford is still so very, very pretty) as they talked about an election and storylines that I didn't really care about it.

It didn't get any better and I soon started fast forwarding everything that didn't involved Chuck, which turned out to be pretty much the whole first half of the show, other than the opening scenes. Apparently they're still wasting Ed Westwick's talents in a shocking fashion!

The fun truly started when, for plot reasons that don't really even need to be gone into, Chuck set out to seduce another man at Blair's request. Watching Ed Westwick go into seductive mode would be enough to make me go weak in the knees even if he'd been working his charms on a woman, so you can imagine the effect it had on me to see him turning on the charm with a guy!

I loved the way that his potential lover, played by the incredibly lucky Neal Beldsoe, was running his fingers through Chuck's hair as they talked (picture borrowed from Superherofan):
Some guys really do have all the luck. I would seriously have paid them to be the one doing that! I have to wonder, again, if this was the role that Van Hansis tried out for on the show? If so, It's probably better for me that he didn't get the part, because I think my brain would have just shut down completely due to the sheer hotness of watching Van run his fingers through Ed's hair and then kiss him!

When Chuck's target moved in for a kiss, our Mr. Bass stopped him, saying that he 'wasn't that kind of girl'. After a bit more of the demure act (which doesn't suit Chuck in the least), Bledsoe's character got his kiss:



Sadly, it was very short, not exactly the sort of thing that sets the screen on fire. Still, the seduction scene leading up to it was nice, and I think the whole fingers in the hair thing was downright hot.

Blair then stormed in to confront the guy and break it up, which Chuck had expected her to do before he was kissed! Apparently, she'd secretly promised the guy a kiss from Chuck in exchange for letting her give a toast at a college event, but I don't really know the details since Chuck wasn't in those scenes.

After Chuck's well kissed new friend had made his exit, Blair made up an excuse for being late and apologized to Chuck:

Blair: Are you upset because you kissed a guy?

Chuck: I'm upset because I kissed somebody that wasn't you. You really think I've never kissed a guy before?

That, I think, was the most interesting part of the whole episode! I don't know if they'll ever go anywhere with that, story wise, but it was still a nice touch and Ed delivered the line perfectly.

There wasn't much else for Ed to do in this episode, though, which was a shame. Honestly, I'd love to watch a show that featured Chuck Bass as the lead character, with some Blair thrown in for good measure and the rest of the cast written out.

At any rate, I'll be tuning out again, probably for good. Of course, if there's any further hint of some Chuck-on-Guy action, well, you know my motto: Look for me wherever Ed Westwick is making on with another man onscreen, I'll be there.

Ed Westwick's Hollywood Screen Kiss

I think I've made it pretty clear in the past that I think Ed Westwick is incredibly sexy (especially when he's utilizing his real life British accent!) and that I'd be tuned in to Gossip Girl on a weekly basis if the show was even remotely watchable.

I've never read the books which are the source material, but when the show was first coming out I heard all about how some of the main male characters were gay or bi in the books, so I thought I'd give the show a chance. It certainly brought the pretty in the form of Chace Crawford and I instantly fell for Ed, but the show just seemed completely devoid of personality to me. It was like paint by numbers, teen drama style.

So, I gave it up, figuring that it was a combination of the show not being that interesting and me finally being past the stage of watching teen dramas. We all have to get there eventually, right?

While I'm still waiting impatiently to see Ed in something else, I've been completely content with the decision not to watch Gossip Girl... until today, that is, when I read that Ed's character, Chuck Bass, will be kissing another guy this coming season. Now, even though the scenario sounds ridiculous and like a one time thing that won't be explored further (though Chuck is apparently written as a bisexual character in the books), how can I not tune in to see Ed Westwick kissing another man?

The lucky guy, by the way, is one Neal Bledsoe, an actor who has had small roles on both Guiding Light and As the World Turns in the last few years.

So, for at least one episode this coming TV season, I'll be watching Gossip Girl. Or, more likely than not, recording it and fast forwarding through everything but Chuck's scenes. What can I say? Give me a little guy on guy action and I'll give you a second chance to win me over!

In all seriousness, though, I think this is actually an interesting step forward. Chuck Bass is written (on the show, at least) as a straight leading character on a teen drama and he's going to be kissing another man. It wasn't all that long ago that shows were shying away from letting their openly gay characters kiss on screen (and some still are), and now we've come to the point where it's okay to show an otherwise straight male character experimenting with a gay character.

That's pretty impressive, even if it is Gossip Girl and a one time ratings stunt. Most shows seem to shy away from bisexuality altogether, so it would be even more interesting if they decided to have Ed's character come out as bi, though I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for that. The show already has one gay character who, from what I've read, is barely ever given anything to do.

I have to wonder if Bledsoe's role is the one that Van Hansis tried out for on Gossip Girl. If it is, and I missed my chance to see Van and Ed making out with each other, I think I might cry!

AfterElton's Hot 100

AfterElton's Hot 100 has finally been revealed! I've been anticipating this ever since I submitted my own choices for this year's list and now that I've seen the full list, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. A lot of my favorite guys made the list this year, far too many to mention all of them here, in fact. But I will call out a few that I was particularly happy about.

First of all, of course, is Adam Lambert. I think out of everyone I voted for, I was most interested to see if/where he'd place on the list. As it turned out, he did very well, coming in at number 16! An excellent showing for a guy who not very many people had even heard of just a few months ago. Cutie Kris Allen was the only other American Idol contestant to make the list, at number 98.

Another guy I was interested in was Van Hansis. Last year, he was number 7 on the list, but this year he fell to number 20! I blame the As the World Turns writers for this, mostly because I think they're responsible for all the world's ills. Still, no other American soap star made it any higher on the list. In fact, the only other American soap star on the list at all was Van's costar Jake Silbermann, who came in at number 22.

The German soaps stars, hottie Thore Scholermann and his adorable costar Jo Weil from Verboten Liebe, did better than their American counterparts, coming in at numbers 19 and 17 respectively.

Back in December, I made a list of my own, highlighting my picks for Top Five Out Hotties. I must have good taste, because all five made the AfterElton list: My pick for number five, Randy Harrison, came in at 33; My number four, Chad Allen, came in at 25; Luke MacFarlane, my number 3, came in at... number 3! Cheyenne Jackson, my number 2, was at 7; and my number one pick, Neil Patrick Harris, knocked Jake Gyllenhaal out of his two year reign at the top and came in at number one in this year's AfterElton Hot 100!

Check out the whole list, if for no other reason than to see 100 hot pictures of some very good looking men!

Obviously there are a lot of hot guys who were left off this year, but the most glaring absence for me is Ed Westwick from Gossip Girl. I truly think he's one of the hottest guys out there, especially with his British accent. His costar and roommate Chace Crawford made the list, but there apparently just wasn't enough love for Ed, even though he practically snogged a guy court side at a basketball game this year. What more does the man have to do?! Maybe a sex tape would help.

I'll be back later tonight for a look at today's Nuke scenes on As the World Turns.

Jackson, Lambert, Westwick

I just saw the news that Glee, the upcoming Fox show that I'm already very excited about, just got even better: out hottie Cheyenne Jackson will be guest starring in an early episode. Excellent! The downside is that I was thinking the show would begin its run this spring and I found out that only the pilot will be airing this May, after American Idol. The series won't officially start until next fall.

Ah, well. I guess good things are worth waiting for, right?

Speaking of American Idol, I'm really looking forward to seeing Adam Lambert perform again tomorrow night! I'm glad that the Wild Card thing didn't take a whole week, like I'd thought, but just one night last week. I'm excited to see what Adam does next.

I was going to mention, by the way, that Entertainment Weekly online had a Q&A with the Top 13 (they added an extra singer, so it's no longer the Top 12) and asked Adam Lambert if he was ready for people digging into his past (a polite way to reference the photos of him kissing another guy). Adam's response:

"I feel fine. I know who I am. I'm an honest guy, and I'm just going to keep singing."

I love this man!

Another guy I love, if you'll recall, is Ed Westwick. Not enough to watch his show, I admit, but enough to love seeing pictures of him online and to scour YouTube for clips of him speaking in his real life sexy as hell British accent.

Anyway, there have been rumors before about Ed and his co-star/roommate, Chace Crawford, being romantically involved. In fact, Joy Behar on The View even asked about it a couple of months ago and interestingly enough, the guys just sort of laughed but never said one way or another if it was true or not. (They have, though, said in other interviews that they are straight).

The reason I bring this up is that Ed has caused quite the stir by getting very friendly with a male companion at a Knicks game. From what I was just reading, Howard Stern (who was at the same game) even mentioned it on his radio show.

So, of course, I had to see the pictorial evidence.
They do look pretty cozy together. Even if there's nothing going on with them beyond friendship, I'd love to be pals with Ed if that's how he treats his buddies!

Honestly, though, it's really nice to see two guys being so affectionate together in public. Yes, of course it raises all sorts of speculation (and gets a lot of peoples hopes up!), but so what? It's not Ed or his friend's fault that most guys are too uptight to display any emotion except anger towards another man.

I almost kind of hope Ed is completely straight, because then I'd love him even more for being so awesome. Only almost, though, because who wouldn't want Ed playing for their team?

The Men Who Made 2008

First, a few more lists. Out Gay Life has a list of the Top Ten LGBT Rights Moments of 2008 and Politico has one naming the Ten Biggest Political Upsets of the year.

Second, just in the spirit of taking things easy this week, I'd like to share some of my favorite guys that I 'discovered' in 2008. I should note that several of these pictures came from Superherofan.net, which is now in my links over on the side ---->.

First, my favorite 'new' guy this year, One Life to Live's Mark Lawson. He plays the troubled Iraq War veteran Brody Lovett on the show, and he's just incredibly sexy. He's so hot, in fact, that I couldn't just choose a couple of photos to share! It was hard enough limiting it to five.
Mark was a bit less manscaped when he first debuted on the show, which I liked, but I'll take him any way I can get him!

Next up, Zachary Levi, who plays Chuck on, well, Chuck. I only recently started watching the show and discovered the very sexy Mr. Levi.
Then we have German soap star Thore Scholermann, who plays Christian Mann, one half of gay couple Christian & Ollie, on Verboten Liebe. Both men are hot, but Thore is just downright beautiful.
Andreas Jancke, who plays Christian's brother Gregor on Verboten Liebe, would also have to make my list, and I'm sure you can see why:
Next is someone I suppose I actually 'discovered' in late 2007, but I didn't really start to think of him as truly hot until this year. I don't watch his show, but I love coming across pictures on him online and I love searching YouTube for videos of him talking in his sexy real life British accent. I'm talking, of course, about Ed Westwick of Gossip Girl. Just the way he looks at a camera radiates sex.

Here's hoping the guys of 2009 will be just as hot!