TV section: Metro Weekly magazine, Washington, DC newspaper

Birch Society

Thoughtful GLBT people craving something deeper than 'Queer Eye' should be heartened by the arrival of 'Birch & Co' on 'here!'

Published on August 11, 2005, 12:00am

Move over Univision, BET, and Lifetime Television for Women -- we have arrived. While American entertainment has long had gay flavor, the dawn of here! and LOGO bring us two channels dedicated to all things GLBT. (Granted, here! management will point out that they've been around since 2002, but you're excused if you didn't notice.) These two cable and satellite-delivered networks serve up more than the sexy beefcake that drives gay advertising dollars. As a matter of fact, former Human ...[more]

All Soaped Up

''One Tree Hill'' on WB

Published on April 22, 2004, 12:00am

As television critics ponder their post-mortems for the 2003-04 season, much attention will be paid to this year's crop of guilty pleasures. Whether it's the O.C., Simple Life or Average Joe, we all secretly harbor shows we're embarrassed to admit we watch. So let me be the first to come out of the closet and rave about the WB's One Tree Hill. A melodramatic, deliciously awful teen soap, One Tree Hill follows in the tradition of Dawson's Creek, that other ...[more]

Fantastical Voyage

''Wonderfalls'' on Fox

Published on April 1, 2004, 12:00am

In the same whimsical, refreshing style that made Ally McBeal such a treat for millions of viewers, the Fox network has created its spiritual heir, a delightful new comedy called Wonderfalls. The hour-long series focuses on Jaye Tyler, a disaffected recent college grad, who's moved back home to Niagara Falls, New York, only to end up as a cashier in a cheesy souvenir shop. Bored and directionless, Jaye (played by Caroline Dhavernas) fritters away the hours, waiting desperately for some ...[more]

Unwittingly Hooked

''Playing it Straight'' on Fox

Published on March 25, 2004, 12:00am

A former English teacher of mine used to say John Grisham novels were like Doritos. Even though they make you fat and have no nutritional value, once you open the bag, you keep eating, one after the next. Certain reality shows are a lot like that. Fox's latest offering, Playing It Straight, is the latest specimen. The show follows a naïve Wisconsin girl, the beautiful Jackie, who's whisked away to a Nevada ranch, where she's marooned with 14 handsome suitors. ...[more]

Swan Dive

''Celeste in the City'' on ABC Family Network

Published on March 11, 2004, 12:00am

It's a universal truth, widely accepted, that inside every gay man is a blonde, neon-wearing, glitter-adorned, Justin Timberlake-loving teenaged girl. It's why movies like Jawbreaker and Legally Blonde are made and why Hello Kitty lip gloss still reigns supreme. It's also the driving force behind the derivative and predictable new movie, Celeste in the City, premiering this Sunday on the ABC Family cable network. A modern-day fairy tale about an ugly duckling moved to New York City, Celeste in the ...[more]

Flash in the Plan

Comedy Central's ''Straight Plan for the Gay Man''

Published on March 4, 2004, 12:00am

The brilliance of Saturday Night Live sketches is that they're short. The writers conceive of something funny, milk it for all it's worth and wrap the whole thing up in eight minutes. It's giggle, giggle and on to the next joke. That simple yet masterful framework is lost on cable television. Cable nets such as Bravo and Comedy Central take a great idea, milk it for all it's worth and then order another 27 episodes, not counting the repeats. As ...[more]

Iron Jawed Angels

Hilary Swank as Alice Paul on HBO

Published on February 12, 2004, 12:00am

The history geek in me beamed with nerdy delight when I learned HBO was making a movie about Alice Paul, feminist hero and resident bad-ass of the American suffragette movement. It's a gutsy gamble for HBO to tackle the little-known story of Paul, whose efforts brought about the 1920 constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. Americans are notorious for their apathy toward history. Few of us read scholarly tomes, and not many more tune into the staid documentaries ...[more]

Girls on Film

Showtime's L Word is an intriguing lesbian soap opera

Published on January 22, 2004, 12:00am

Despite its rather lame attempts to position itself as the gay and lesbian network of note, Showtime has managed the unexpected. From the network that brought us the consistently awful Queer as Folk comes The L Word, an intriguing new lesbian soap opera that hooks its viewers slowly and leaves them wanting more. The plot swirls around a complicated circle of friends living and working in modern-day Los Angeles. At the heart of the bunch is the committed couple, Bette ...[more]

Welcome Back

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Published on December 18, 2003, 12:00am

You've got to give her credit. Ellen DeGeneres just refuses to give up. Misfortune be damned, she's going to have a career in television. And it appears, at last, she's found the perfect match: her very own talk show. The successful September launch of her daytime gabfest comes on the heels of two celebrated disasters for Ellen: a failed sitcom and a spectacularly mismanaged relationship with Anne Heche. For a while, it seemed her star had faded, that Ellen would ...[more]

Soaring Angels

Angels in America on HBO

Published on December 4, 2003, 12:00am

The sheer scope and monumentality of HBO's Angels in America will surprise few. That the production triumphs and gives new legitimacy to television as a delivery system for high art will surprise even fewer. That Al Pacino, Meryl Streep and Emma Thompson turn in impeccable, Emmy-worthy performances will surprise fewer still. What, in the end, will astound millions of viewers is how utterly relevant, how precisely urgent, a play about AIDS in Reagan-era America is right now, today. It is, ...[more]

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