It is a rather well-known fact that quite a few dudes (one example being our beloved staff writer Brett) think that two ladies doing the nasty is totally hot. It is an oft commented-upon pop culture phenomenon that Hollywood likes to cash in on, from House’s Thirteen (among others — see also: Callie of Grey’s Anatomy, Angela of Bones) gallivanting up and down the Kinsey scale to Katy Perry’s famous debut ode to exhibition lesbianism. It’s titillating (see what I did there? Punny, right?) and edgy to have two girls hook up on-screen, and is counted as a win-win. Not only does it make your show look modern and progressive (usually — it can be and mostly is handed poorly, but at least it’s handled), but it brings in the casual dude watcher who’ll tune in week after week in hopes of catching a lip-lock between two ladies. And yet, very rarely do you ever see it even hinted at that two dudes might also want to do the do with each other.

There are a few good reasons for this. For starters, female sexuality tends to be far more fluid than male sexuality. This means when you’ve got two ladies hooking up, it’s easy to write it off when it’s convenient. It was just a phase, you can say, or, that girl was special to this character, and now she’s found the right man to settle down with and have a million babies. And even if the two chicks do end up in television’s happily-ever-after land, lesbians are the ones that settle down with their sperm donor kids and Subarus. Plus, it’s hot. It’s totally hot. Girls and guys agree it’s hot, right?

And then there’s the distinctly American prejudice against guys being gay. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m still digging The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency on HBO. On first glance, you might tag the show as a blend of Murder She Wrote, Columbo, and Veronica Mars, but there’s really nothing like it on TV right now.

For one thing, the people on Detective Agency actually look like real people, not some Hollywood facsimile of what we imagine people might look like in a perfect world. Jill Scott’s Mma Romatswe is “traditionally built,” which in simple terms, means she looks like a lot of people who are watching her on TV. OK, maybe you could say that about Jessica Fletcher or Columbo, but certainly not Veronica Mars.

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I’ve been watching Dragons’ Den on-and-off for the last three years. Although not a dedicated viewer, I find myself captivated whenever I catch a new episode. With little to no action or movement whatsoever, you would think the show would be incredibly dull. To assume that, though, would be underestimating the inherent drama of a sales pitch. Particularly, when said pitch is in front of five of Britain’s most successful and influential business tycoons.

If you’re unfamiliar with the structure of Dragons’ Den, it’s quite simple: Fledgling entrepreneurs and would-be inventors present themselves in front of an audience of five capital investors in an effort to secure funding for the distribution of their products/services. However, these are no ordinary investors; they are some of the world’s most brilliant business minds capable of seeing through the hype and glitz of a confident pitch, and culling an answer to the following basic question: “Will this make me money?”

Have I piqued your interest? Even if I haven’t, tag along with me after the jump, and together we’ll enter the not-so-friendly confines of the Dragons’ Den.

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This guy! No, that’s not the new drummer for whatever indie band the obnoxious teenager next door has stretched across his t-shirt, nor is that the obnoxious teenager himself. This is Matt Smith, the 11th Doctor of Doctor Who and, so far, the youngest to take on the role (born 1982). Check out this interview about his new role on BBC.

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ABC

Fringe was “meh.” Gary Unmarried was unmemorable. Worst Week wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t the best. Kath & Kim was a disaster, and The Ex List was a piffle. 90210 was neither interesting or salacious enough. But last night at 10, we finally got a new show whose pilot was well-done enough to get me excited about what’s next. That show was Life on Mars.

Let me preface this by saying that I never saw the original British version of this show, so I’ve got nothing to compare the American version to. But all the mishegas surrounding the show — David E. Kelley came and went, the original pilot was scrapped, the locale was moved from LA to New York, there wasn’t a first episode ready to show as recently as three weeks ago — made me wary of what I was going to see last night at 10. But at the end of the hour, I was glad I tuned in. Read the rest of this entry »