62: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

In my mind, this show, and a scripted counterpart which will appear later on the list, were the two shows that were most important in the opening up of television to gay characters and personalities. Obviously there had been gay characters before, and there was niche gay television starting around the same time, but Queer Eye became a national sensation, and took gay stereotypes of being better at fashion and such and turned them on TV into a badge of honor - these gays were better than you at fashion, culture and style, and they were going to use their gay style powers to help you get women, or at the least not look like a total slob. Of course, naturally this led to a backlash - you know, not all gays really are great with fashion - there are plenty of gay slobs, just like you and me, but I think overall, it helped spread positive images of gay culture more than hurt it, and I think the reception was as such.

The set up was simple and brilliant in a way - you take the makeover show, which had been a popular stable of channels like Bravo and TLC before and after (What Not to Wear, Trading Spaces (which is not on the list, it counts as the makeover show - I debated putting it on, as there was a time I totally forgot about where it was big, but I decided I was finished adding shows), Extreme Home Makeover) and made it into a gimmicky team - each Queer Eye had a different specialty - fashion, interior design, food and drink, grooming, and culture (I never really got what the culture guy did, seemed to me like they were really stretching because they wanted to have five instead of four). Voila - audiences loved it.

At the height of the show's power, the five (Queer Eyes? Though I guess there's ten of those...) were huge celebrities appearing on talk shows, endorsing products, but remained on those groups that are far more famous as a group than as individuals (see how many Boyz II Men members you can name). It was big enough that Comedy Central came out with a parody show "Straight Plan for the Gay Man" which predictably quickly flopped. It was big enough it attracted a lawsuit from Queer Eye's Pete Best equivalent, Blair Boone, who was culture guy for two episodes, before being replaced by Jai Rodriguez, for not being paid for the entire season he had contracted to do. It was big enough that it prompted the making of a very short-lived spin-off Queer Eye for the Straight Girl.

It wasn't easy for the five to come back after the program eventually lost steam - as much as people enjoyed it, there was definitely a serious air of novelty to it. The default for next job after a project like this is pretty must hosting another cable TV show. After, the final episode, if it was a movie, there would be that text on the screen that comes on over a show of each guy's face during a defining moment from the show telling you what they went on to do. Ted Allen,the food and wine guy, hosts a couple of food network shows. Jai Rodriguez, the culture guy, did some theater, and hosts shows on the Style channel (not sure I knew that was a channel) and Animal Planet. Carson Kressley, fashion guy, hosts his show on Lifetime. Thom Filicia, interior design guy, hosts his on Style network, and the odd man out is Kyan Douglas, the grooming guy, who somehow didn't get a show out of it.