| Queer Eye For The Straight Guy |
Article Index for Queer |
Website Links For Queer Eye |
Information AboutQueer Eye For The Straight Guy |
''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'' is an hour-long American Television series that premiered on the Bravo Cable Television Network on July 15 , 2003 , and promptly became both a surprise hit (at least by the standards of Cable TV ) and one of the most talked-about television programs of 2003. OVERVIEW Fitting into the genre of both Reality Television and " Make-over " programs, ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'', created by David Collins and David Metzler, stars five openly Gay men each of whom possesses a particular talent. The show is produced by Scout Productions. The self-dubbed "Fab Five" are:
Each episode features a new candidate Straight (or Heterosexual ) man to be culturally transformed by the "Fab Five". Each candidate prepares for a special event and receives generous guidance from each "Fab Five" member in their respective categories of expertise. The Queer Eye cast has helped prepare for such events as a marriage proposal, a first dinner with a girlfriend's parents, and a backyard Barbecue . The "Fab Five" redecorate, rewardrobe, and restyle to create a completely new "look" for the candidate. In a typical episode, the "Fab Five" arrive at the candidate's residence to assess his "level of style." The cast ransacks the home, with a running "style" commentary on everything they find. In their investigation, each expert attempts to understand the unique preferences of the candidate in order to best advise him on how to improve. Critical reaction to the debut in the mainstream press was mostly favorable. Its sympathetic representation of openly gay men won acclaim from both Straight and Gay viewers. Others criticized the program for making generalizations about sexual identity, namely that gay men are inherently more fashionable and stylish than heterosexuals. ''Queer Eye'' has received much critical acclaim, and the show won an Emmy Award in 2004, and was nominated for another Emmy in 2005. The series' success was such that television networks in a number of other countries created their own versions of ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'' for broadcast in their countries. However none of these homegrown versions proved to be as successful as the original, and most did not last long before being cancelled. In the UK Queer Eye airs on cable channel Living TV, where it has been very popular. Living TV also produced a British version, which was less successful and was cancelled after two seasons, although several episodes later aired in the US. Queer Eye was briefly broadcast on terrestrial channel Channel 4 in the UK, but gained low ratings. The Australian version, on was shown on TF1 but was soon cancelled. Special episodes of ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'' include two episodes filmed in England, three filmed in Texas, one episode which aired during Gay Pride Month where the Fab Five madeover a gay man, a makeover on the Red Sox baseball team, several wedding-themed episodes, and several holiday specials. In January 2005 Scout Productions premiered a spin off series titled '' Queer Eye For The Straight Girl '', set in Los Angeles and featuring a different cast. The show was cancelled after one season. SOUNDTRACK The soundtrack for ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'' was released on February 10 , 2004 , in the US. It has reached number 1 on the Electronic Music chart in the US and the number 2 position on the soundtrack charts while reaching the top 40 in The Billboard 200 album chart. In Australia, the soundtrack was released for the Sydney Gay And Lesbian Mardi Gras and the popularity of the show in Australia led to the soundtrack reaching the top 10 of the Australian album chart as at March 8 , 2004 . It was certified gold in Australia by the end of March 2004. The song "Superstar" by Jamelia which appears on the soundtrack went to number one on the Australian singles charts in the same week and the theme song of the show by Widelife has gone top twenty as at the end of March 2004. PARODIES Comedy Central hosts a spoof television show called '' Straight Plan For The Gay Man '' and '' Hick Eye For The Queer Guy ''. The animated series '' South Park '' aired a Satirical Episode about the ''Queer Eye'' hosts, implying that they were evil crab people in disguise. One of the gay characters on the show, Mr. Garrison , commented that the ''Queer Eye'' guys couldn't possibly be gay, because they were "selling out their own kind," which resulted in their secret being revealed. The Disney Channel animated series '' Kim Possible '' featured an episode entitled 'Dimension Twist', which had Kim and Ron sucked into the 'television dimension' and meeting the stars of a program entitled 'Evil Eye for the Bad Guy'. Two of the three members of the cast, known as the 'Terrible Trio' (an obvious play on the 'Fab Five' tag) are definite take-offs of Carson and Ted. Megatokyo has a one-shot comic entitled "Angel Eye for the Geek Guy." EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|