13 Diverse Hunks on Eastsiders (aka Silverlake Light)

I only got through 10 minutes and a few fast-forwards of Eastsiders, a Netflix drama about the self-involved, petty disputes of a group of post-twinks living in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

First, one of the worst names in tv history, easily confused with the British Eastenders.  Plus one ever calls Silverlakers Eastsiders.  East Los Angeles is a whole other neighborhood.

Second, Silverlake is for aging leathermen, not post-twinks.  These people belong in West Hollywood.

Third, this is not 1995. A tv program is not "must see" just because it has some gay guys in it.  Especially gay guys who are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly middle class-artist-writer, self-absorbed, shrill, and obsessed with petty problems like cheating.  For God's sake, just share him!  Why the drama? But maybe it can be redeemed with beefcake.

The Friends are:

1. Post-twink Thom (Van Hansis, a name that is impossible to write down without hearing "Van Halen."   Try it!).

Thom is an aspiring writer who cheats on his boyfriend Cal with Jeremy, then breaks up with Cal and starts dating Jeremy, but decides that he prefers Cal, and....

2. Post-twink Cal (Kit William , top right photo), an aspiring photographer  who dates Jeremy after they break up.

3. Twink Jeremy (Matthew McKelligon, left ), the third member of the triangle.

4. Their wisecrack-spewing friend Kathy (Constance Wu), the token woman, and her boyfriend Ian (John Holback, top left photo), the token straight man.

5. Quincy (Stephen Quarino), who works as a party planner (well, we did have a lot of parties in West Hollywood), who ends up dating Gomorrah Ray (William Belli), the drag-queen-next-door.

That's it for the main cast, but going down the list of 6-episode or fewer guest cast members, maybe I can find some more hunks.  And maybe one person -- just one -- who is black?

6. Trevor (Adam Bucci), whom Thom and Cal have a three-way with. 6 episodes.  Must be a long three-way.

7. Satya Bhabha as Jared, a drag queen competing with Gomorrah Ray.  6 episodes.  A non-white person, anyway, but I'm still holding out for black.

8. David (David Blue), who dates Quincey after he is dumped by Gomorrah Ray.  4 episodes.  White.

9. Paul (Sean Maher), Cal's boss at the art gallery, married to a woman but on the downlow.  White

10. Matthew Wilkas (left, with boyfriend) as Kevin, a hunk du jour.

11.  Queer Eye host Jai Rodriguez as Door Guy Jimmy. 2 episodes.

12. Veteran gay actor Wilson Cruz as Jerry.  1 episode.

We're getting some Hispanic actors way,way down the list.

13. Derrick (Leith M. Burke), whom Jeremy dates in the wilds of Season 3.  Found one!

One black guy out of over 100 in the cast.  Talk about diversity!

"This Close" Deaf "Will and Grace"

I don't recall any tv series featuring deaf characters in starring roles, so I went into This Close (2018-), on Amazon Prime, with high hopes.

It's sort of Will and Grace with deafness.  Gay man-straight woman life partners find their platonic romance disrupted  when Michael (Josh Feldman) gets dumped by his boyfriend, and Kate (Shoshana Stern) gets engaged to hers.

 I liked the depictions of the problems deaf people face in negotiating the hearing world ("Oh, you're deaf? I'll TALK LOUDER!").




I liked the fact that gay men in this series have sex.  On  Will and Grace, they were utterly chaste, even with their boyfriends.  Here we see poppers and condoms.  We even discover that Michael is a top.


ut Michael comes across as thoroughly disagreeable.  He spends the entire first episode having a series of hissy fits, first because Kate is engaged, and then because she didn't tell him about it.  Is this any way to treat your soul mate?

Another quibble: does everybody Michael meets necessarily have to hit on him? I don't think he's particularly attractive, but everyone he meets looks like they are barely able to restrain themselves from ripping his clothes off.

I also watched the Thanksgiving episode, with Michael's mom (veteran deaf advocate Marlee Matlin) and brother Jacob (Moshe Kasher), neither of whom Michael seems to like very much, even though they are completely fine with him being gay and having a female life partner who's engaged to someone else.

Various secrets come out:

1. Kate's fiancee Danny (Zach Gilford, left) lost his job.

2. Mom is dating again (which upsets Michael, naturally)

4. Kate lost her father on Thanksgiving (so she really likes the holiday?);

5. Jacob is into Kate.

6. Michael's ex (Colt Prattes, top photo) wants him back (wait -- who broke up with whom?). 

There's yelling and fisticuffs and crying, and everyone ends up depressed.

I'm starting to miss Jack and Karen.

This is the first writing, producing, and acting credit for Joshua Feldman.  Shoshanah Stern has been in many productions, including Jericho, Lie to Me, and Weeds.  Both actors are deaf in real life.

Teen Angels

A year before they caused a counterculture-establishment standoff with their Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1967-70), comic duo Tommy  and Dick Smothers starred in an "I've got a secret" sitcom, The Smothers Brothers Show (1965-66).

Dick, the "straight man," plays a young, hip, self-absorbed bachelor in the Bill Bixby mold.  The paranormal event that jolts him out of his heterosexist stupor is not a crashed spaceship, but a knock on the door: his irreverent, anarchic, "queer" brother Tommy, lost at sea two years ago, has returned as "an apprentice angel," assigned to oversee Dick's life and do good deeds.

The plots involved Tommy's good deeds -- reforming gangsters and juvenile delinquents, helping the homeless, helping a musician change his tune -- and Dick's fruitless attempts to continue his skirt-chasing in instead of accepting a supernatural, well-night omnipotent same-sex bond.

I don't remember much about the series -- I was very, very young at the time -- but I remember Tommy's marvelous nonchalance about gender transgressions. To liven up a nursing home, he puts on old-lady drag and cavorts with the old men.

Fast forward thirty years, and the premise was recast in Teen Angel (1997-98), starring Corbin Allred  (left) as Steve, a young, hip, self-absorbed high schooler in the Michael Cade mold.  Again, a knock on the door: his irreverent, anarchic, "queer' best friend Marty(Mike Damus), who died last year after eating a spoiled hamburger, has returned as "an apprentice angel," assigned to oversee Steve's life and do good deeds.

The plots involved Marty's good deeds -- mostly helping Steve pass tests, get on the wrestling team, get the lead in the school play, and so on.  The sibling relationship gone, Marty and Steve become a more obvious romantic couple; though they both display heterosexual interests, they are obviously devoted to each other.

Again, Marty displays a marvelous nonchalance about gender transgressions.  When Steve likes a  cheerleader named Jessica, Marty senses that she will reject him, so he morphs into Jessica to go on the date.

What can we learn about the social changes between 1965 and 1997:
1. MORE heterosexism.  More tongue-lolling, leering, moaning insistence that boys and girls together are the meaning of life.
2. MORE subtext. More touching, more tenderness, more caring.
3. Humorous gender transgressions are ok, but you still aren't allowed to be gay.