January is always a busy time on TV: The midseason replacement series begin with the end of football season and the ratings losers swept away before the new year starts. And even popular shows kick off new episodes after a holiday season of reruns, all leading up to February sweeps.
But this year January is especially flush with gay-themed and gay-interest shows making their debuts. Here are some of the debuts you should keep an eye out for:
Banshee (Cinemax), Jan. 10 at 9 p.m. The ultraviolent crime drama starts its second season this week, with Hoon Lee playing a coolly ruthless transgender mobster.
Archer (FX), Jan. 13 at 9 p.m. The lead-in for the new animated series Chozen is an adult cartoon with a ton of gay content, as pictured left.
Under the Gunn (Lifetime), Jan. 16 at 8 p.m. Emmy Award winner Tim Gunn, the avuncular but laser-sharp co-host of Project Runway, gets his own series (premiering right after this season’s All-Stars finale). Competitors team with former Runway stars Nick Verreos, Mondo Guerra and Anya Ayoung-Chee.
Looking (HBO), Jan. 19 at 9:30 p.m. HBO’s gay companion piece to its darling hit Girls (already kinda gay itself) debuts, as it following gay San Francisco men navigate the modern dating world. Stars Jonathan Groff (Glee, Broadway’s Spring Awakening), who also produces.
RuPaul’s Drag Race (Logo), February. The sixth season, pitting 14 queens, above, in a race for America’s next great drag superstar, begins in February, though no exact date has been announced.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition January 10, 2014.
