Open house

The loving but cranky paterfamilias of the Fox sitcom The War at Home doesn't seem like TV's leading candidate to take in a homeless gay youth, but Dave Gold (Michael Rapaport) steps to the plate January 4 when his son's best friend, Kenny (Rami Malek), gets kicked out of his house after he comes out.

Created by out writer Rob Lotterstein, a former writer for Will & Grace and Ellen,The War at Home has mined queer situations for laughs before--the middle Gold son is a straight kid who adores musical theater--but this episode explores serious subject matter. "I think it's great that we're doing this on this show, which reaches so many people around the country, the way The Laramie Project did," says Malek, 24 and straight, referring to the HBO adaptation of the acclaimed play about Matthew Shepard. "The fear of being ostracized and shunned by friends and family, that's something young gay men and women will always have to deal with."

Fortunately for his character Kenny, the Gold family takes him in--at least until dad Dave manages to persuade Kenny's family to accept him for who he is. "Several episodes from now Dave's going to figure out a way to get this family reunited and get them to put away their prejudices and to accept their kid because it's their kid," Lotterstein says. "I don't know how he's going to do it, because I haven't written it yet, but he will!"

The episode will air January 4 at 8:30 p.m. on Fox.