The animated series Sit Down, Shut Up doesn’t premiere until April 19, but here’s a nice little teaser featuring two of its stars: Will Arnett and Jason Bateman.
This post is less than timely. But I feel like there are some things that need to be said in regards to Brody Jenner, SNL and the way they are shaping the public’s perception of the gays.
It seems like the mainstream tolerance of gay men is evolving in healthy, if annoying, ways. In the 70s, 80s and 90s gay characters came and went on comedic television shows. Sometimes they lisped and nancied about like debutantes. Other times they were tortured closet cases. (For the record, I think that Leon’s depiction on Roseanne is really one of the best early gay characters — he could be fey at times but mostly was just a regular guy with a day job)
So when Queer Eye came around, it really broke down a lot of doors (as stereotypical as the premise was) in creating an atmosphere where gay men were completely out and unapologetic. And they were usually ha-ha funny while staying pretty true to themselves (even if they hammed it up). And Will & Grace created a pretty devastatingly accurate portrayal of the straight girl/gay guy dysfunctional relationship while also managing to be incredibly funny.
But now there’s this trend — I suppose you could call it a trend — of a straight guys making comedies that mine man-on-man affection for laughs, but mask it with enough frat house charm to make it clear that there’s no real homophobia at play.
On Paul Rudd’s hosting gig on SNL earlier this season and in the new Andy Samberg movie (also with Rudd), they tried to reap a lot of laughs by putting men in intimate situations (SNL: nude men painting each other, messy kisses between male family members; movie: a misinformed gay dude kisses Rudd to an awkward reception, usage of the word “man-date” — a term that annoys the living crap out of me).
The trick about all this is that there’s no homophobia at play here. I’m sure these guys are all in the right place politically (pro-marriage, etc.) and Paul Rudd played a homo in that awful early 90s Jennifer Aniston movie before it was trendy to play gay. But what irks me is the fact that two men kissing each other is being played for a laugh, with the intended audience response being “oh, I can’t believe they went there!”
And as pleased as I always am to see Paul Rudd in homoerotic situations, I’d rather not have it played for comedic effect. I don’t want to seem humorless about this (there’s plenty of glitter-encrusted, stereotypical gay humor that I love — Planet Unicorn, anyone?), but if we lived in a *perfectly* civilized and tolerant society there wouldn’t be anything particularly awkward about all of these situations. And pandering to the ole’ man-on-man kiss for a laugh can be belittling, considering the fact that that is exactly what gay men do.
On a tangential note, this phenomenon reminds me of the show Bromance on MTV, which (full disclosure) I’ve never seen a full episode of. Watch this clip to get a summary of what it’s about — but it’s basically a show where six guys compete to be Brody Jenner’s best friend. They compete in challenges, bare their souls and have Brody visit their families to ensure their compatibility (no shit!).
And while there’s more than a little homoeroticism afoot (there’s been a lot of ballyhoo about a group outing in a hot tub), there’s a certain vein of jockishness that is intended to ward off all perceptions of true gayness. Take this homoerotic (and completely staged) clip for example:
What I’m trying to say is this: The fact that straight guys on TV, even douchebags like Brody Jenner, can put themselves in gay situations and not react horribly is Progress. Capital P.
But calling a show Bromance has an inherent underpinning of wanting to assert your own heterosexuality before it’s called into question. And for the SNL/Apatow crew to constantly get laughs based on men showing affection — it can get wearying, no matter how benign the intentions are.
I’m convinced that NBC’s The Chopping Block is going to be the best cooking show out there. Why? Because I kind of know someone who’s on it!
Let’s see if you can follow this: my first cousin’s husband’s brother is a contestant on the show. From now on, we’ll just call him Dean.
I don’t know Dean very well. (I mean, does anyone know their first cousin’s husband’s brother very well?) The last time I saw him, I was probably younger than six years old. Things I remember: He looks a lot like my cousin’s husband. He was probably the first person I ever met who had a tattoo. He also had an iguana. And…that’s about it. I guess he knows how to cook.
Still, how else do you pick someone to root for on a reality show? Saying you read a blog post by the contestant’s brother’s wife’s first cousin is sometimes all the backstory you need, right? If not, here’s an audition video:
If that’s not enough, check out the commercial for the show below. Dean’s got two good close-ups–in one, he’s crying, and, in the other, he’s cursing–so my prediction is that he’s going to be a big personality. Everyone loves the big personality, right?
In any case, keep your fingers crossed for Dean tonight! The show airs on NBC at 8:00.
It’s only Tuesday. Bummer. I spent a full 12% of my weekend traveling to and from, standing in line for, and watching Watchmen, so I could use another break. In the spirit of giving you (and myself) something to look forward to, let’s talk about the upcoming weekend’s entertainment.
If you’ve been paying attention while fast-forwarding through the commercial breaks of SNL, you may have noticed ads for a new NBC series starring Ian McShane, called Kings. It premieres this Sunday and I’m going to lay it on the line: I think it looks awesome.
Seriously. What the hell is going on? Ian McShane is king of America? Guy with Matt-Damon-teeth saves his son’s life? Ian McShane has built something or other? I have no idea! The only thing I know about this show is that the production films in NY and they freaked people out a while back by driving a tank through Grand Army Plaza. (Read that again: a tank in Grand Army Plaza! Don’t you want to see why that would be necessary?)
Two hour premiere Sunday. Watch it and we’ll discuss next week. I’m hoping it lives up to the great casting and production design.
There’s so much to discuss on any given episode of Lost, that I’m just going to talk about one particular thing that’s been chapping my ass a little bit. And it’s all about Kate.
On the most recent Sawyer-centric episode, the writers threw a curveball at us by flash-forwarding three years on the island to where Sawyer and Juliet had made a happy home together on the island. Even though I can’t recall much of a flirtation between the two, by the final ten minutes of the episode Sawyer and Juliet were smooching in the kitchen and exchanging I love yous like Ozzie and Harriet with a grim backstory.
And so, at one point, Sawyer has to tell another island resident that he once loved a woman (Kate) and he let her go. So, when the group shows up at the end of the episode Kate makes an especially dramatic entrance and we’re led to believe that there’s a new love triangle in town.
So herein lies my beef: Kate’s a very pretty lady, but seriously? Juliet’s pretty hot herself (shoulda seen her doing the hot lesbian action with Angelina Jolie in Gia — I mean, if you’re into that) and she’s a smart doctor who’s tough without shrieking about keeping up with the boys. I thought it was kind of annoying that she can just strut her befreckled ass onto the island and suddenly it’s game on again.
Love triangles between ridiculous people are pretty hard to tolerate (Hi Meredith! Hi Derek!), so I was pretty glad when it seemed to be at least narrowed down to Jack and Kate and whether they’d be able to hold it together. I really hope Sawyer and Jack don’t end up getting into another fight over her. Sigh.
There’s so much to discuss on any given episode of Lost, that I’m just going to talk about one particular thing that’s been chapping my ass a little bit. And it’s all about Kate.