I linked to this interview earlier, the one with Penn Badgley on E-Kristin’s blog, but I thought this part was interesting. For obvious reasons.  Take a look at this exerpt:

Korbi Ghosh: In the books, Dan has a bi-curious element, no? He has questioned his sexuality.

Penn Badgley: Yeah, I think he’s straight-up gay in the books. But I don’t think network TV really has the balls to make one of their [teenage] series regulars gay. Let’s say the show builds up to become a big hit, then I think they’d maybe explore it in year three or four. It would be an interesting thing to do. It could bring in a whole different demographic.

Is this a viable direction for the series?  I think it would at least be an original twist — to have the main romantic lead turn out to be a gay.  And didn’t Dawson’s Creek do that with Kerr Smith’s character, although he was supporting?

All and all, though, I don’t really care.  I gave up on Gossip Girl after the second episode for much of the same reason I stopped checking Pink is the New Blog, etc. I just can’t get interested in the various petty antics of the privileged. Now, the outrageous and over-the-top antics of the privileged (see previous post on Dirty Sexy Money) — now that I can get into.

While watching (and only intermittently enjoying) Reaper yesterday I realized how much I was looking forward to Wednesday night’s television options.

Pushing Daisies is the Ecstasy of my TV week: After watching it, I end up loving everything and grinning so hard my face hurts. Dirty Sexy Money is the top-shelf vodka: It may not be a real hard-core drug, but it’s smooth and makes things perhaps more funny and exciting than they are usually. Gossip Girl, despite my continued vendetta against one of its leading men, is the hard lemonade: A drink aimed primarily for already-drunk high school sophomores, but not bad tasting every once in a while.

I don’t condone Dan’s continued support of Bionic Woman, but I thought I’d mention it just because I know he’ll be paying attention. Bionic Woman is the flat, warm Red Bull of the TV Week: Forced excitement that tastes like garbage.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming: Wednesday’s other programming… Private Practice is the Xanax. Back to You is the Merlot. Kid Nation is the Adderall. Criminal Minds is the NyQuil.

So: Dirty Sexy Money.

It’s certainly not the most talked-about show this season — it’s no Bionic Woman or Pushing Daisies as far as buzzing lips go — but I’ve decided that it’s going to stick around in my viewing schedule. At least for a while. It’s certainly among the best of the 2007 season’s new shows.

For the uninitiated, here’s the premise: Peter Krause stars as Nate Fis– I mean, Nick George (seen glowering at right). Nick is a do-good attorney in New York. His whole career is based out of daddy issues — that is, he got into charity cases because of his estrangement with his father, who spent his entire life babysitting an extravagantly wealthy family called the Darlings (great name). The family, as Maggie pointed out, is very reminiscent of the Bluths from Arrested Development. They’re drunk, wild with privilege, reasonably attractive and never have anything constructive to say.

The Darlings are:

• Patrick (William Baldwin) who may as well be named Patrick Kennedy-Petrelli, as he is the archetype of the slicked-back philandering politician. This time, however, he’s boffing a transgendered woman. Aha! Didn’t see that one coming, did you?
• Karen, who used to have a thing with Nick. She’s probably the most forgettable of the bunch.
• Juliet and Jeremy, the twins. Juliet is a thinly veiled interpretation of Paris Hilton while Jeremy dresses like the touring guitarist for My Chemical Romance (or Fall Out Boy or whatever). They’re both socialites and they both have a Nell-ish way of communicating with each other.
• Brian — a man of the cloth who comes the closest of all the Darlings to being an out-and-out sociopath. He’s got a bastard child who they’re trying to hide.
• Tripp and Letitia — Papa and Mama Darling. It ends up she had been bonking Nick’s dad for years while Tripp silently turned the other cheek. Tripp, despite being played by Donald Sutherland, doesn’t seem that malicious in general. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

So, after the death of Nick’s father, Tripp bribes Nick to take his father’s old job: the family’s lawyer-slash-babysitter. He offers Nick ten million smackers for all of his pet causes. Needless to say, that’s where the show’s (awful?) title comes into play. There’s a whole lot more to say — you know these huge ensemble dramas — but that’s the gist.

Oh, and Tripp may have killed Nick’s dad. LOL.

I think the thing that Dirty Sexy Money does best, and this is a weird compliment to give, is pacing. There are a lot of plotlines, but they don’t spend too much time on any one. The briskness prevents us from caring too deeply about any of the plotlines, which, to be honest, probably wouldn’t stand up to too much scrutiny. In addition, the whole Papa George murder mystery is always quietly simmering in the background adding a layer of gravity.

The plotlines are uneven as far as how interesting they are. I generally find that I’m more interested in Patrick and his secret girlfriend, the murder mystery and the secret minister baby. The stuff involving the superficial wonder twins, not so much.

I’d say Dirty Sexy Money is a really solid show. It’s not going to go in the annals of anything, at least not yet, but it’s well acted and engaging. Very well acted actually.

Peter Krause is the center of it all and holds the whole shebang together. It’s funny — sometimes he gets this exasperated tone in his voice it totally takes me back to Six Feet Under. When Nick is trying to keep his composure in the face of the family’s antics, I totally feel like we’re back in the Fisher house and Claire’s going to walk in and say something cynical while David quietly stews in the corner. Jesus God, I miss that show.

Dirty Sexy Money’s on tonight at 10 on ABC.

Baths are weird.

• It’s official: you are the only person who is not going to be on Lost next season. Casting scoop here.
• Kristen Bell gives hints about her character on Heroes.
• Ask Ausiello’s up and he’s got news on all the death for this fall.
• TV Guide talks about how Pushing Daisies came to be.
• I guess someone’s watching Kitchen Nightmares.
• You can eat Hung’s Top Chef-winning meal at Caesar’s Palace.
• Gossip Girl star and subject of Maggie’s ire Penn Badgley talks to E-Kristin.
• Isaac Mizrahi will start a show for the CW.
• Benjamin Bratt has a pilot too.