***** Queer and present danger
America's first gay dating show, "Boy Meets Boy," doesn't break down stereotypes so much as familiarize you with the quirks and prejudices of your own gaydar.
By Heather Havrilesky
July 30, 2003 | Time to calibrate your gaydar, because Bravo's "Boy Meets Boy" (Tuesdays at 9 p.m.) is finally here. America's first gay dating show isn't just a dating show, you see. It's a sexual shell game in which a mix of gay and straight suitors compete for "one exceptional gay man" and, oh yeah, a secret cash prize. Of course James, The Exceptional Gay Man (TEGM), doesn't know that three of the men are straight -- boy, won't it be a hoot when he finds out? -- which makes his earnest enthusiasm for his role as the gay bachelor all the more heartbreaking.
Obviously "Boy Meets Boy" is manipulative and deceitful and dirty, but what's really appealing -- or, I mean, appalling -- is that the whole point is for the viewer at home to try to figure out who's gay and who's straight....
<http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2003/07/30/boy/> *****
Frank Rich, "And Now, the Queer Eye for Straight Marriage," NYT, August 10, 2003: <http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/10/arts/10RICH.html>.
***** Bravo tries to snag female viewers with gay programming
Introducing the two new series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Boy Meets Boy at a press conference this month, Bravo president Jeff Gaspin anticipated an obvious question from reporters. "Does this mean that Bravo is becoming a gay network? Absolutely not," he said. Quoting from a famous Seinfeld episode, he added, "Not that there's anything wrong with that." But there is something wrong with the notion that the cable channel caters exclusively to gay viewers, as that demographic is not the primary target for Queer, a makeover series featuring a squad of gay stylists that premiered July 15, and Boy, a gay dating show, which debuts Tuesday in the 8-9 p.m. slot before Queer Eye.
"On the surface [the program block] might seem designed for gay audiences, but it's really not," Gaspin said. "When we discussed our advertising plans for how we are going to promote it, the first group of people we [said we were] going to promote it to are women 18-49." Call it the Will & Grace marketing strategy: Bravo has a dual target in mind for what might seem aimed strictly at a gay niche audience. After some internal debate at the channel, gay viewers were classified as a secondary priority to female viewers, who will command three quarters of the marketing budget allotted for Queer Eye and Boy Meets Boy, according to Vivi Zigler, senior vice president of marketing and advertising services at the NBC Agency, the network's in-house advertising department. "Gay men are not measured by Nielsen [Media Research]," she said. "Women 18-49 is a more salable demo."
After three episodes--including two on its premiere night--Queer Eye has emerged as a solid performer for Bravo, averaging more than 1.5 million total viewers, a record for the channel. NBC, which acquired Bravo in December, gave a half-hour version of Queer Eye a prime-time tryout Thursday, where it retained 86% of its Grace lead-in, according to a preliminary Nielsen report....
<http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?ID=9422&sd=07/29/03> ***** -- Yoshie
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