Thoughts on the GLAAD Nominees

Yesterday, the nominees for the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards were announced and I was very pleased with several of their choices.

In the film categories (there's one for Wide Release and one for Limited Release), I've only actually seen one of the ten nominated films (I Love You, Man; I've had a thing for Paul Rudd since I saw him in The Object of My Affection!) so I don't really have an informed opinion. However, based simply on the fact that I loved the book so much and can't wait to see the film, I'm hoping A Single Man wins in the Wide Release category.

For Outstanding Drama Series, they've nominated Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, Mad Men, Skins, and True Blood. I've never seen Mad Men or True Blood, so I can't speak to either of those shows.

I loved the first two series of Skins, even though gay character Maxxie wasn't really given a leading story in the first series. Still, his brief hook up with lead (and otherwise completely straight) character Tony during their trip to Russia was a pretty cool direction for the show to take, demonstrating the fluidity of sexuality and being something you'd never see happen on an American show. In the second series, Maxxie did have more to do, but he still never got a serious onscreen romance.

I believe the GLAAD nomination is for the third series, though (I've never watched the show on BBC America, but I think that's what they're currently showing), and I was only able to endure the first episode of that before tuning out forever. The nearly complete change in cast was just too jarring and I couldn't connect with any of the new characters.

Grey's Anatomy? I watched the first season on DVD and about half of the second season in real time, and that was about half a season too much in my view. As a rule, I avoid cop shows and medical shows, since they're always so predictable and depressing. I broke my rule for Grey's Anatomy because I'd heard so many good things about it, but it quickly became everything I hate about such shows.

There weren't any LGBT characters when I was watching and I haven't followed any developments since, so I'm not sure exactly what it has been nominated for.

Which brings us to Brothers & Sisters, a show that I have followed since the beginning. I love Kevin & especially Scotty, so I guess they would be my choice to win, though even Brothers & Sisters is feeling pretty tired and almost too depressing to watch these days.

Maybe I really do need to start watching True Blood like I've been told I should!

For Outstanding Comedy Series, GLAAD has nominated three shows that I love against one another: Glee, Greek, and The United States of Tara. Modern Family and Beautiful People, neither of which I've seen yet, round out the list.

Looking just at their LGBT representation, it's hard to pick between the three shows. The United States of Tara has gay teen Marshall, who is completely accepted by his family and who had a love interest in a confused minister's son (who ended up making out with one of Marshall's mom's other personalities).

Glee has Kurt, of course, who came out to his friend Mercedes and to his father and was accepted by both. I especially love the relationship between Kurt and his dad.

Greek has gay frat brother Calvin, who has been out since the first season and who faced some difficulties in the beginning with his brothers over his sexuality. Most recently Calvin has started a relationship with Grant, his closeted roommate in the frat.

The show also features Calvin's ex, Heath, who is a brother in a rival frat and who is also out to his brothers. Heath was completely accepted from the moment he came out, but other than his on again, off again relationship with Calvin, he hasn't had much of an onscreen love life.

This past season it also featured sorority girl Rebeca questioning her own sexuality after a kiss with a visiting sorority alum.

It's really hard to pick which show is the most deserving of recognition. I'd be happy with any of them winning.

GLAAD also nominates individual episodes that deal with LGBT issues on shows without regular gay or lesbian characters. Supernatural, one of my favorites shows, was nominated this year for their episode entitled 'The Real Ghostbusters' and I really would like to see them win for this.

The episode was very meta in that lead characters Sam & Dean went to a Supernatural fan convention. On the show, their adventures have been published in book form by a character who turned out to be a prophet. These books, which no one realizes are based on a real Sam & Dean, have a cult following.

The episode was a way for the show to deal with its own fans in a tongue in cheek way and it was very funny. The LGBT element came in the form of Barnes and Damien, two of the geeky Supernatural fans who attend the convention, role playing as Sam and Dean.

They quickly realized that there were very real ghosts threatening the lives of their fellow convention attendees and ended up stepping up and helping to save the day, because it was 'what Sam and Dean would do'.

At the end of the episode, when Dean was saying his goodbyes to the characters and asked how they knew each other, they revealed that they were partners, which made an earlier moment when Damien turned back to save Barnes instead of running off to save his own life, and the encouragement they gave each other during the fight, stand out all the more.

I've never seen any of the other nominees in this category (two episodes of Private Practice, an episode of The Listener, and an episode of Parks & Recreation), but Supernatural is a show that has always playfully acknowledged their gay fans (as well as their female fans who write endless slash fiction stories about Sam and Dean, or Jared and Jensen) and this episode gave us gay characters who were not only different from most gay characters we see on TV, but also ended up risking their lives and heroically saving the day.

For Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-series, I don' think there can be any real competition. Prayers for Bobby should win, hands down. Pedro wasn't a bad film, but Prayers for Bobby was better. I haven't seen the Torchwood mini-series or An Englishman in New York.

Outstanding Daytime Drama: need you ask? One Life to Live is far superior (not only as a show overall, but in their gay storyline, which is what the award is for) to the other three nominees: As the World Turns, Guiding Light, and All My Children. In fact, if there was an overall category to award the best LGBT Media Representation in all of film and Television, Kish should win for their love scene on New Year's Eve alone.

Adam Lambert was nominated for Outstanding Music Artist for his album For Your Entertainment. He's nominated against Lady Gaga, Gossip, Otep, and Brandi Carlile, and in my admittedly biased mind, he's the clear choice.

AfterElton was nominated for Outstanding Digital Journalism Article for Bret Hartinger's excellent "Why Can’t You Just Butch Up? Gay Men, Effeminacy, and Our War with Ourselves".

There are several other categories, as well, so check out all the nominees.

Glee: The People's Choice

I typically don't miss many awards shows, even though I tend to fast forward past a lot of stuff that doesn't interest me. One ceremony that I haven't watched in years, though, is The People's Choice Awards.

It's not that I have something against awards chosen by the public, rather than by the industry itself (although, seeing that the night's biggest honors went to Miley Cyrus, Taylor Lautner, and the Twilight movies makes me think that I'm decidedly out of step with 'the public' anyway, since the voters must have all been 15 or under), but because I don't like shows where the winners know who they are in advance and are the only nominees who show up! It takes all the drama and excitement out of the whole thing.

Of course, I haven't watched in about ten years, so maybe they don't do it that way anymore.

I do wish I'd set my Tivo for this year's People's Choice Awards, though. I didn't even know it was on until after it was over, when I read that Glee had won for Favorite New TV Comedy. Looking at the list of winners, I see a few other favorites as well, like Supernatural, which won Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show, and Alyson Hannigan, who won for Favorite TV Comedy Actress for her work on How I Met Your Mother.

I'm glad that Glee is winning the popular vote! I'm hoping that they'll also be getting critical recognition at the Golden Globes and then at the Emmys.

TV Talk

First off, since I complained so much about last week's episode of Supernatural, I thought I should say that this week the show was back in fine form. The episode was well written and furthered the overall story arc nicely.

On top of that, there was a scene that could totally have been created for (or by!) the writers of Supernatural slash fiction, where Dean followed a fake lead and ended up alone in a building with a dominating leather daddy who asked Dean to tell him what his safe word was before they 'got started'! Interestingly enough, that's where the scene ended, leaving what happened next completely up to the viewers imaginations.

Next week's episode looks even better, in fact, with Jensen Ackles dressed as every gay boy's fantasy of the hot gym teacher they wish they'd had! In fact, I have to include a visual aide on that:

Somehow, I doubt I'll have any complaints after seeing that episode!

Another thing I mentioned this past week was the potential new LGBT soap couple, Guiding Light's Olivia & Natalia. Things are still up in the air as to whether there will be anything between them or not, but I thought I'd follow up on what happened after their kiss.

Basically, Natalia was shocked that anyone would think that of them and then asked a very logical question: why did Olivia kiss her? A flustered Olivia said something about actions speaking louder than words as far as getting her point across to Natalia about what people were thinking after the My Two Mommies school presentation.

In a complete role reversal from the episode before, Olivia suddenly wanted to act like what people thought was no big deal, but the newly enlightened Natalia was freaking out and insisted they get little Emma's teacher to meet them back at the school to set things straight (yes, pun intended!)

Olivia seemed hurt that Natalia was in such a rush to deny there was anything between them (despite feeling the same way herself, pre-kiss) and listened on, clearly hurt, as Natalia explained to the teacher that they were just roommates.

Then, there was this big meant-to-be-touching moment where Natalia took it back and explained that no, they weren't just roommates. They were a family, just a different sort of family from what everyone thought after Emma's presentation.

That seemed to be the end of it and I had to wonder if the whole thing was leading up to nothing more than that, just a recognition that they were an unconventional family and not a first step to something more between Olivia & Natalia.

That changed, though, when Olivia started talking about their dinner plans for the night and Natalia revealed she had a date. The episode ended with Olivia home alone, eating dinner by herself and clearly feeling something more than friendship for her absent friend.

They're still at a place where they could easily go another way and have nothing come from all of this, but hopefully the show will take things in the more interesting direction.

Meanwhile, over on As the World Turns, this was the first completely Nuke free week we've had in awhile and I think I'm developing withdrawal symptoms already!

One Bad Episode in Four Seasons, and I'm Whining!

Okay, just a warning here at the start. If you're a fan of Supernatural and you haven't watched last Thursday's episode yet, don't read any more of this! Unless, of course, you don't mind spoilers.

Now, I love the show and I think it's having the strongest season it has ever had, creatively as well as in the ratings. Maybe that's why I was so disappointed and irritated by this latest episode. I think, though, that the poor quality of this episode would stand out starkly against anything this show has ever done before.

Supernatural has always been a show that is well written. Both the long term story arcs and the stand alone episodes always satisfy everything I'm looking for from the show, which is basically that the long term story arcs are essentially about the bond between these two brothers and the lengths they'll go to for each other, and the stand alone episodes are well written and usually provide at least one good scare or creepy moment.

This week, the show returned from a nearly two month hiatus and gave us a very poorly written episode. It started out fine: a creepy farmhouse, a ghost appearing from a closet in the teaser and killing the owner in a locked room. Sam & Dean show up to investigate just as a new family are about to move in.

So far, so good. Sam & Dean try and get the family out of the place until they can figure out who the spirit is and how to get rid of it, but the new owners prove obstinate and move in anyway. Next thing you know, the son is playing catch in his closet with 'the girl in the walls' and someone has written GO on the living room wall in crayon.

There were some really great creepy moments in this episode, I have to give it that. The best was when the teenage daughter is lying in bed and thinks the family dog is licking her hand, only to have the dog walk through the door. She slowly starts to turn her head towards the mystery licker, just in time for her closet door to slam shut.

Long story short, the Girl in the Walls tells the son that he can stay, but the rest of the family must go. Sam & Dean return in time for the dog to go missing and then to be discovered killed, with the words Too Late written above it in blood .

Here's where my problem with the episode started. It turned out that the Girl in the Walls wasn't a ghost at all. She was the child of the murdered former owner and his own daughter, who'd committed suicide, and she'd been thrown down in an old dumbwaiter shaft to hide the awful truth of her existence. She'd grown up in the shaft, never knowing sunlight or human contact and was basically an animal. In another twist, it turned out she had a brother down there with her in the same condition.

Um, okay. So, how did these two who are stated by Sam & Dean to basically be wild animals defending their territory and who have never had human contact, know how to read and write? I mean, they did manage to write out the words Go and Too Late quite perfectly. The girl knew what a baseball was for. They also knew that slashing all the tires on the vehicles would keep the family (and Sam & Dean) trapped there and at their mercy.

It just didn't make any sense once it turned out that they weren't ghosts. It was just a very badly written episode, with more attention paid to big twists for the sake of having big twists- She's not a Ghost! She's got a Brother!- than of making any sense plot wise. I suppose the tires and baseball could be explained at a stretch by saying they'd seen some TV through the cracks in the walls or something, but no way could they have learned to write!

You know I'll watch just about anything with Jared Padalecki in it, so I probably shouldn't complain about a few gaping plot holes in an otherwise well written series. It's just that I go into those other things anticipating that they'll be bad, but with Supernatural, I'm used to far better.

I looked up the writer for this particular episode, wondering if it was someone new that they hadn't used before, and was surprised to see that it was someone who has written a few really good episodes before this, including one of my favorites from last season, The Mystery Spot.

So, maybe we should just chalk it up to a fluke thing. I mean, every series has a bad episode now and then. Plus, as I said, this one did at least offer some good creepy moments. And, let's face it, I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't tune in just to watch Jared & Jensen read from the phone book, so who am I kidding, really?

Okay, I think I'm done whining like a fanboy scorned! For now.

Rent and Another Winchester?

I've had a really long day. I haven't even had a chance to watch today's Nuke episode of As the World Turns, which should tell you just how hectic things have been. I'll write about the episode tomorrow, though, once I've had a chance to see it.

For tonight, check out Spangle magazine's interview with out Broadway star Anthony Rapp. It's all about his return to Rent (along with fellow original cast member Adam Pascal) for its national tour this year. I'm really excited for this tour and will be seeing Anthony & Adam on stage next summer. I can't wait!

I used to think that I didn't care for musicals at all. I think I based this on the fact that I always hated the musical interludes in the Charlie Brown cartoons when I was a kid! But over the past few years, I've really become a fan. I think it may have started with the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, of all things, but it's been a very gradual process.

The other thing I wanted to note tonight was the rumor that is going around, thanks to Kristen Dos Santos of E! Online, that Supernatural is going to be introducing a major new character- a third Winchester brother!

90% of me is dreading that this will be true, because it seems like such a jumping the shark turning point. The other 10% of me is imagining a third guy as hot as Jensen & Jared gracing my screen each week and loving the idea.

But, really, who else is as hot as Jensen & Jared?! This third brother would have an impossible standard to live up to.

Aside from that, the show is so strongly based on Sam & Dean's relationship that I think throwing a third brother into the works would be really hard to pull off successfully. Keeping all other cast members on a recurring status has worked well because Sam & Dean are what really matter to the viewers.

Honestly, I'm hoping this rumor isn't true. Then again, Supernatural hasn't disappointed me yet, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Television and a Movie Recommendation

Since I discussed television a bit yesterday while mourning the loss of Pushing Daisies, I thought I'd write about the other shows I watch on a regular basis.

Once upon a time, I was a television addict. I had tons of shows that I followed and I'd buy the fall preview issues of Entertainment Weekly and plan out my viewing habits for each new TV season. This was before I had TiVo, too, so I watched most stuff live or had to record it on VHS. Oh, the horrors of the past!

Then I went through a phase that last about four years or so where I didn't start watching any new shows and dropped many of the ones that I'd been following. Eventually, all the old shows I was still watching came to an end, too, so there wasn't much of anything I actually made an effort to watch in primetime.

Then, about two and a half years ago, I got sucked back in. Not through actually turning on the TV again, at least not at first. What got me was TV box sets that were available to rent through Netflix. Someone would tell me how good a show was and I'd think to myself "Well, I'm not going to start watching it when it's already in its third season." But thanks to Netflix, I could rent the earlier seasons, and so I relapsed.

It started with Supernatural. I'd heard it was good and I loved Jensen Ackles when he was on Days of Our Lives but I hadn't tuned in for the first season. I'm not someone who can just jump into a show part-way through the series. That's like starting a book on chapter five! So, disc by disc, I watched the first season through Netflix and instantly became hooked.

Jensen and Jared Padalecki are both incredibly hot and their chemistry together is off the charts (they play brothers, but have been mistaken for a gay couple more than once on the show). The mythology that drives the show has become stronger and stronger with each season, and right now, in the shows fourth season, I can easily say it's the best its ever been. The funny thing is that this isn't really a show about demons and dark forces, as much as those things drive all of the action. It's about the relationship between these two brothers who are pretty much everything to each other.

Supernatural can break your heart (as Jensen Ackles broke mine in the closing scene of the most recent episode) and it never fails to make you laugh and to freak you out, too.

If you haven't started watching the show yet, Netflix is your friend! I don't think you'll regret it. Come for the man candy, stay for the quality writing and acting.

Since I'd decided to tune in to Supernatural's second season in real time, I thought I'd see what else was on that season, and I sort of hit the jackpot. It happened to be the season that Heroes and Brothers & Sisters both started, so I've been following them since the beginning.

Heroes has had a really hit or miss quality about it for the last two seasons, but I've stuck with it because I think it's still better than a lot of stuff that's on TV and because I loved the first season so much and I know that they can find that magic again. Plus, they do bring the hot guys to the table, don't they? Milo Ventimiglia, Adrian Pasdar, Zachary Quinto, Sendhil Ramamurthy, I could go on and on, but you get the picture. They're a very sexy bunch.

Brothers & Sisters is now in its third season and with the exception of last Sunday's episode I've really not cared much for it this year. The first two seasons were really good, even though I can only take Calista Flockhart's Kitty in doses much smaller than we're ever given and I can't stand Rob Lowe's character at all.

But Sally Field and Rachel Griffiths, both incredible actresses, more than make up for this, especially when you throw in hunks like Matthew Rhys, Dave Annable and Balthazar Getty as well.

Best of all, though, is the relationship between Kevin & Scotty (played by Luke MacFarlane, who manages to be both adorable and very sexy all at the same time, and who is out in real life). They're the reason why the most recent episode was better than anything else so far this season and they're a huge part of why I loved the first two seasons.

Kevin, like all of his siblings, is flawed and can be a frustrating character to say the least. But what I love is that his romantic life has never been treated any differently than that of any of the straight characters. I was looking forward to season three in particular because Kevin & Scotty ended last season with a commitment ceremony and I thought we'd see even more of a focus on their relationship. I forgot, though, that the only In-Law ever made a focus on this show is Robert, Rob Lowe's character. The rest of the husbands and wives tend to fade into the background.

Overall, the show is really boring this year. They don't seem to know what they're doing with Rachel Griffiths' character at all, and Uncle Saul, who came out last year, hasn't had any storyline of his own yet. I'm not even going to mention Kevin going to work for his Republican Senator brother-in-law, which is completely out of character no matter how they're trying to spin it!

It feels more and more like the Kitty & Robert show, and that's not a good thing.

I also watch Greek & Kyle XY on ABC Family. Greek is a lot of fun, but Kyle XY is downright amazing. This is another show you should get on Netflix if you haven't seen it yet. I never thought I'd like anything on ABC Family, but they take their slogan "A New Kind of Family" seriously. I only wish we didn't have to wait so long between seasons for Kyle XY!

I also just finished watching the first season of Chuck on DVD and I loved it!

I'll just mention the sitcoms briefly, since I feel like I've been going on forever already: How I Met Your Mother is the funniest show on TV. I don't know why everyone isn't watching this show! I love it so much. I have the first two seasons on DVD and I watch them all the time. I think this is the best ensemble cast in a sitcom since Friends. Plus, it stars Neil Patrick Harris! Enough said.

I also watch The New Adventures of Old Christine which is really enjoyable and 30 Rock, which had two incredible seasons but is making me mad this season because they're relying so heavily on guest stars. It's totally becoming Will & Grace, with the Big Guest Star each week, and it really doesn't need that. I get that they're trying to attract new viewers to pull in ratings, but I think it's mostly just alienating the viewers they already had. It's still funny, don't get me wrong, I think they just need to lay off the guest stars already. Tina Fey & co are funny enough on their own, as the first two seasons demonstrated.

I've heard from several of my co-workers that I have got to watch The Office but I haven't yet. Is it as amazing as everyone says?

On a final, non-Television related note, I saw the film Rachel Getting Married last night and I highly recommend it. It's got some really heart wrenching emotional scenes and it also makes you laugh out loud more than once. Anne Hathaway really surprised and impressed me in the lead role. I tend to think of her as being a less than serious actress, but she was excellent. I think Debra Winger, whom we do not see nearly enough of onscreen these days, was also incredible as the emotionally distant mother. She did so much with body language alone, her character is so tightly self controlled that the one scene where she does lose control is very powerful.

So, there you go, some DVD recommendations if you have Netflix and a film you should go see if it's playing near you.