Summer brings out gay Texas docs. Plus: Tyra goes trans and Cuthbert is ‘Happy’ again
TURN YOUR HEAD AND COUGH | Brendan Fehr plays a closeted gay doc in San Antonio in the new summer replacement series ‘The Night Shift,’ which just began airing on NBC.
A new doctor show has come to television. Yes, yes, we know, there’s always a new doctor show coming to television. But The Night Shift, which premiered early this week on NBC, has a new wrinkle in its ongoing story line: a closeted doctor. The series revolves around a San Antonio hospital and its night staff, which includes Brendan Fehr (former ’90s teen heartthrob from the show Roswell … remember?) as a young veteran of the war in Afghanistan, now a doctor with a big gay secret. Meanwhile, his character’s boyfriend is still on active duty in Afghanistan but coming home to stay, which will put a dent in that closet door. Luke MacFarlane, the openly gay star of Brothers & Sisters, plays that handsome soldier. If this narrative seems a touch dated now that don’t ask, don’t tell has ended and marriage equality is quickly coming, so be it. Some guys still aren’t comfortable in their sexuality. And we trust TV to make us care about hot dudes no matter what sort of contrived problems and angst they deal with. We’ll watch!
We’re entering a significant moment in the push forward for awareness and equal rights for the T members of the LGBT community. A new wave of transgender awareness, activism and media presence is opening eyes and minds every day. And now Tyra Banks will lend her name and media clout to a docuseries about trans women. Alongside producing partner Gay Rosenthal, Banks will bring TransAmerica (the current working title) to VH1. The eight-part reality series will follow the lives of a group of women in Chicago united by the experience of being transgender. A graduate student, a cosmetics consultant, a medical student, a club kid and a model (look, it’s still Tyra’s show) will open up their lives to the cameras to look at the variety of directions like takes the cast as they transition and beyond. The show is scheduled to air in late 2014/early 2015. And will the trans man show be far behind?
When the criminally underrated and underwatched Happy Endings was cancelled last year, we wept and we cursed. We hoped we’d see the hilarious cast again soon, somewhere just as good (OK, almost just as good, whatever). Well, co-star Elisha Cuthbert has landed herself a job at Power Lesbian, Inc., starring on the new NBC series One Big Happy. Created by 2 Broke Girls writer Liz Feldman with Ellen DeGeneres executive producing, the premise involves a lesbian (Cuthbert) planning to have a baby with a straight male friend (Nick Zano).
Relationship complications ensue, both the hetero and homo varieties. It’s the third LGBT-themed sitcom NBC has offered audiences (Sean Saves The World and The New Normal came first), which means they’re committed to making at least one of them stick. Third times a charm and all that … and the second show for Cuthbert with the word “happy” in the title. That has to be a good sign, right? Either way, we’re rooting for this one.
— Romeo San Vicente
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 30, 2014.