Tops of the Tube: Gay Edition

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Tops of the Tube: Gay Edition

After the success of their "Hot 100" list this summer, the only thing surprising about the latest reader-generated list from AfterElton.com is that they waited three months to do another one. I guess with the writer's strike, they have to have something to talk about over there now that As the World Turns will soon be off the air.

The new list asks readers to pick their ten favorite "All-Time Favorite Gay and Bisexual TV Characters" from a list of over 150 candidates. And while the ballot does include all the usual suspects (Will and Jack, the casts of Dante's Cove and Noah's Arc), from the ground breakers (Soap, Brothers, Dynasty) to a surprising number of animated characters (Waylon Smithers, Queer Duck, Rick & Steve) to such newbies as "Gay Vito", the Desperate Househusbands and Captain Jack, there are still a few missing. Where's good ol' Uncle Vic from Queer as Folk and little Justin from Ugly Betty? The most glaring omission is thirtysomething's Russell and Peter, the first gay couple to be seen in bed together on network television, an oversight even more conspicuous considering the site itself wrote about the anniversary of that controversial episode just yesterday.

Overlooked landmarks aside, the initial list does provide plenty of viable options, and I have listed my ten personal favorites below (and pictured above):

Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys), Brothers & Sisters: He may be a bit prickly at times, but he is the most realistic gay man on network primetime today. And his boyfriends are hot.
Matt Fielding (Doug Savant), Melrose Place: Sure, his scenes were sparse at the beginning ("That's me, gotta go!"), but everyone forgets he got some juicy storylines as this soap progressed.
Chris Keller (Christopher Meloni), Oz: You have to hand it to Meloni for fully committing to this bisexual whack job. All the full frontal nudity was pure gravy. (Sweet, delicious gravy ...)
Ben Bruckner (Robert Gant), Queer as Folk: Every fan's dream husband. One could say the often-whiny Michael almost didn't deserve him.
Emmett Honeycutt (Peter Paige), Queer as Folk: What could have been a Jack McFarland-esque queenie stereotype turned out to be a fully realized (and fully sexual) character, thanks mostly to Paige's fine acting.
Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson), Sex and the City: Carrie Bradshaw's gay BFF was ours too throughout the shows six seasons ... and he'll be in the movie too!
David Fisher (Michael C. Hall) and Keith Charles (Mathew St. Patrick), Six Feet Under: Hailed by many initially as a complex pairing, I admit to being a bit resistant to the couple at first, but eventually came around to appreciating their unconventional relationship.
Marc St. James (Michael Urie), Ugly Betty: Over-the-top, yes, but deliciously, hysterically so.
Vince D'Angelo (Bobby Cannavale), Will & Grace: Cannavale pulled off an amazing feat as the often-befuddled NYPD cop Vince: he made this sitcom watchable in its later years. And he won an Emmy for doing it too.