After a slew of brilliant TV-- Dexter, Homeland,
Californication, Weeds -- Showtime knows a
good formula for a sexy, messy, must-see series, and this week's newest, House
of Lies, is no different. Premiering
Sunday, sandwiched between season openers of Shameless and Californication, House of Lies offers a subversive and scathing look at Don Cheadle's Marty Kahn, a management
consultant from a top-tier firm who manages to be both narcissistic and
self-loathing at the same time but always cutthroat, willing to do anything to
get his clients what they want. Here's why LGBT viewers should tune in:
1. Don Cheadle has never been hotter. Yes, there's lies,
greed, a lot of talk about grabbing life by the balls, and a stark reminder of
why Occupy Wall Street is so damn successful, and Cheadle's main bang is his
pill-popping competition (who used to be his ex-wife). But Cheadle as Marty
Kahn is sexy and naked in nearly the very first scene, which means gay viewers
will have something to think about every time Marty talks about the shaft and
the balls to a roomful of stodgy old white guys.
2. Kristen Bell is finally legal. After starring as a super
hot teen in Veronica Mars and Heroes, it's nice to see Bell playing an adult and thus
eligible for all our lesbian ogling. As Cheadle's lovely colleague Jeannie,
Bell is smart, acerbic, and holding her own in the boys club. She remains a
sort of moral barometer at times when the show is best, when it's focusing
squarely on the intense greed and amorality of the 1%. In one scene, Marty asks
why the corporate moguls shouldn't justify their bonuses, Jeannie shoots back,
"Because they robbed the American public of billions of dollars by selling them
bad mortgages." So true, so hot. Oh, and she doesn't sleep with a guy in
episode one but she does get lap dances from lady strippers. That's enough to
sustain lesbians for an episode, but it doesn't have to. Because...
3. There's unadulterated lesbian sex. Two hot chicks (one of
them a conservative mogul's wife), bathroom nooky, and a coming out. Worth
every second of your TiVo's space.
4. There's a gender variant kid. For all the reasons other
shows fail around transgender and gender variant issues, this one succeeds.
Marty's kid Roscoe (played by the exuberant and adorable Donis Leonard Jr.)
likes to wear girls clothing and wants to play Sandy in the school's production
of Grease. While Marty is confused -- not
wanting to push his son away, but not really knowing what to do with a
crossdressing pre-teen --he goes to bat for the kid. After Roscoe gets the lead
of Sandy in Grease, a teacher
calls to say another student's mom has complained about a boy getting the role.
Marty shoots back at her, "He wants to sing 'Summer Nights' and wear a poodle
skirt. Now Britney Kaufman's mother can't stand it that her little baby isn't
getting every goddamn thing she wants so she's off on some kind of gender witch
hunt." He later tells Roscoe's less than involved mom (played by Vampire
Diaries' Dawn Oliveria) that the kid is
"experimenting with different modes of gender identification." What makes it
all compelling is that we see Marty (generally) trying to do the right thing by
Roscoe, and failing sometimes -- something that doesn't happen to him with his
work life -- but like Kurt Hummel's father on Glee, he's trying to understand the kid. So is Roscoe
gay? Transgender? Or just playing around the way kids should be allowed to do?
We know as much as Marty does but, based on episode one, it'll be a fascinating
journey watching Roscoe find out.
5. Glynn Turman
elevates every TV show he's on. Playing Marty's dad, Turman is a psychologist
grandfather who helps Marty accept Roscoe's gender play. Turman, who got his
start on stage in Raison in the Sun, has
had a long and storied career -- especially for an African American man working
in Hollywood in the '70s and beyond. As a director he worked on The
Parenthood, Hanging with Mr. Cooper, The Wayans Bros, and A Different World,
the Lisa Bonet/Cosby spin-off in
which he played the role of Colonel Taylor for five seasons. He's one of the
most underrated actors on TV, used to be married to Aretha Franklin, and, for
trivia lovers, he was originally cast as Han Solo in Star Wars before Lucas recast with Harrison Ford. "That was in
George Lucas' book," Turman toldCreative
Loafing Atlanta. "Apparently George Lucas
had me in mind for the role, and then thought that there might be too much
controversy between a white Princess Leia and a black Han Solo - because those
were the times - and he didn't want to get into that. At the time, I had no
idea. I just went to the audition, did it and got out of there. Years later, I
read his book and said, 'What?' I'm waiting to run into Harrison Ford and get
my cut of his career."
