I have to admit that QAF is the only reason I keep cable. Granted, it?s nowhere close to the reality of my life. It kind of reminds me of growing up when my mom religiously watched Days of Our Lives. I just can?t stay away from my stories.

A couple of months ago I swapped my $90 cable bill for $20 a month with Netflix.

I got increasingly impatient with Queer as folk last year. My main pleasure was in watching Peter Paige?s nelly character. Not that I won?t catch the current season when it comes out on DVD.

Playing It Straight. I watched that show cause of all the cowboys and men in boots! yummy! It was taken off the air though, after 3 episodes, due to bad ratings.

Yeah it was hopelessly awful, but I?d rather watch that than Fox?s hit shows like The Swan or Forever Eden.

Sky one has been advertising this ...what is it exactly? A game show, a interactive quiz show? to be shown this Sunday 10pm... "How Gay Are You?" and I've just stumbled upon this program which is to be shown on the American FOX TV network "Seriously Du...
Read more in let us entertain -the hets ?

alan,

Surely you can find all the men in boots you want to on the web. Though your monitor may not be as big as a TV screen.

I AM OUTRAGED!!
Can you imagine a reality TV show about two non-Jewish guys trying to ?pass? themselves off as Jews? How do you think they would have to ?act? to convince a panel of judges that they were Jewish? (Do you think anyone would find this offensive??) Can you imagine a TV show, aimed at poking ?fun? at the ?way Jews act????

Ok - well, maybe you imagine a reality TV show about two white guys, trying to ?pass? as African American? How do you think they would have to ?act? to convince a panel of judges that they were black?? Or perhaps images of Al Jolsen in black-face, eating a watermelon is representative of all African Americans?

How would you have to ?act? if you were pretending to be a straight person?? What stereotypes would you have to resort to ?playing? if you had to convince a panel of judges that you were straight??or Asian???or Hispanic???

What do you think children and young adults would learn about human beings from watching a show like this?

Can you imagine a ?reality? TV show where two straight men will compete to pass themselves off as gay?? How do you think they would have to ?act? to convince a panel of judges that they were gay? (Would it be OK to reduce an entire sector of the Earth?s population down to a few, ridiculous stereotypes?)

FOX television has already made this show - and is planning to air it in just a few weeks (see the articles, below)

?It?s a heterosexual male?s worst nightmare: turning gay overnight.? Never one to pander, FOX used that line to pitch for its newest reality special, Seriously, Dude, I?m Gay. Although the network has since apologized for its ?failed attempt at humor [that] was ill-chosen and inappropriate,? that?s essentially the premise of the series. During the two-hour special, which airs June 7 from 8 to 10 p.m. ET, ?two guy?s guys? will compete for $50,000 after they ?immerse themselves in ?the gay lifestyle,?? the original FOX press release says.

At this point, I?m not sure what all I can do. As a member of the media, I am deeply saddened by what my ?peers? at FOX consider to be OK to broadcast.
(On a side note: It is especially sad that this ?reality? show, entitled, ?Seriously, Dude, I?m Gay,? was announced by the Fox Broadcasting Company just days before the historic marriage law went into effect in Mass. today.)
I am going to contact the FOX executives, as well as GLAAD, and attempt to have a discussion about this. I hope others will do the same?
(I?m going to get a direct email shortly of an exec. in charge - and I?ll let people know)
Here are 2 articles from the AP:
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In The News

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Fox to Air ?Seriously, Dude, I?m Gay?

TWO-HOUR SPECIAL ?SERIOUSLY, DUDE, I?M GAY?

AIRS MONDAY, JUNE 7, ON FOX

Amanda Byram Hosts

Could a very straight man convince everyone they he knows that he is gay? Well, two guy?s guys are going to try to do just thatall for the chance of winning fifty thousand dollars in this satirical reality special from the creators of ?My Big Fat Obnoxious Fianc?.? SERIOUSLY, DUDE, I?M GAY, hosted by Amanda Byram (THE SWAN), airs Monday, June 7 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

For one week a pair of straight guys will immerse themselves in ?the gay lifestyle.? Each will move into separate West Hollywood lofts, complete with three gay coaches, to experience what it?s like to live life as a gay man.

Each day the guys will complete a challenge that tests their ability to pass for gay. They?ll come out of the closet to their best friends; they?ll mix, mingle and dance in gay nightclubs; and they?ll even go on a romantic blind date with another man.

If they master each of their challenges, they?ll stand before a panel of judges made up of gay men from all walks of life. This jury will declare which of the two guys they believe is actually gayand that guy will win fifty thousand dollars!

It?s one thing to have yourself and your home made over by a group of gay guys, but this wildly twisted contest pushes things one step further. Watch as these fish-out-of-water competitors put their sexual identities on the line in a television experiment that?s relevant, shockingly funny and socially provocative.

SERIOUSLY, DUDE, I?M GAY is a Rocket Science Laboratories production. The special is executive produced by Chris Cowan & Jean-Michel Michenaud with executive producer Ray Giuliani.

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Fox dishes up another gay-themed reality show
Two straight men will compete to pass themselves off as gay

Updated: 8:33 p.m. ET May 17, 2004
LOS ANGELES - Two straight men will do their best to pass themselves off as gay as they compete for $50,000 in an upcoming Fox television special, ?Seriously, Dude, I?m Gay,? the network said Thursday.

The two-hour show, set to air June 7, marks the latest in the burgeoning TV sub-genre of gay-themed reality shows, such as ?Queer Eye for the Straight Guy? and the previous Fox offering ?Playing It Straight.?

?Queer Eye,? in which five gay men teach a heterosexual slob how to dress, dine and design, caught on quickly with gay and straight audiences alike, first on the Bravo cable channel and then on its sister broadcast network NBC.

But ?Seriously, Dude, I?m Gay? has raised the eyebrows of at least one gay activist group, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which questioned the show?s premise as potentially offensive and the ?inflammatory? tone of the original press release announcing it.

?Without having seen the show yet, it raises some red flags for us, speaking to negative stereotypes that we work every day to tear down,? GLAAD spokesman Stephen Macias told Reuters.

He cited a passage in the press release stating that two straight contestants will immerse themselves in ?the gay lifestyle? as they move into separate West Hollywood apartments with gay roommates, come out of the closet to their best friends and socialize at gay nightclubs. Each will even go out on a blind date with another man.

Fox also said the two contestants will be judged by a ?jury of their queers?a panel of gay men from all walks of life who will decide which of the two they believe is actually gay and the winner of $50,000.

?There was a second press release that was sent out with a disclaimer at the top of it apologizing for their ill-attempted humor in the first press release,? Macias said.

A Fox spokesman acknowledged that ?the failed humor was ill-chosen and inappropriate and we issued a new release,? but added that the program would actually help ?dispel stereotypes.? He added that Fox would provide GLAAD with an advance copy of the show?s script for review.

The show, from the creators of the Fox reality series ?My Big Fat Obnoxious Fianc?,? will be hosted by Amanda Byram, who also emcees the Fox make-over show ?The Swan? and the romance reality series ?Paradise Hotel.?

This show sounds like a train-wreck: I want to look away, but I can?t.