NCMojo

Saw this show last night on Bravo -- actually, there were two back-to-back one hour shows -- and it was... well, there is no other word to describe it... it was fabulous. They take the most unattractive straight guy they can find, with the worst clothes, the worst apartment, the worst hair, and by the end of the episode his life is suddenly transformed. They fix up and redecorate his place, they take him to a spa, the buy him all new trendy clothes and prepare some gourmet cooking for him... just fabulous, absolutely fabulous. They take a guy from this:



... to this:



And if you think that's impressive, you should check out what they did to his place. Amazing.

Plus the show is laugh-out-loud funny. Carson Kressley, the fashion guru, is the queen of them all. Tossing a guy's clothes out of the cubbyholes where he had them stashed, the guy mock complained that they had all been organized before. "Sure, in alphabetical order," Carson said. "Ugly, ugly, and uglier." Holding up some clothes he pulled down from a shelf, he said, "So I see you've been shopping at The Gap. Let's see... Gap 1985... Gap 1986... oh, and this is a great color for you -- oatmeal."

Good stuff. The rest of the Fab 5 are also dead on and hysterical. I thoroughly enjoyed the shows.

My only complaint is that, hey, I'm a straight guy. I'm unattractive with bad clothes. My house needs a makeover. Why can't they take a break from New York City and drive down to NC? Or at least send me one of those throw pillows...

Brain Stew

I agree this show is very interesting and a fun watch. I especially like the back and forth, tongue-in-cheek dialog exchanged between the straight guys and the Fab 5.

They must have quite a budget on that show since they completely changed the first guys apartment;I am not sure, but I am sure he did not have that couch to begin with.

The only part I found boring was the food/wine part. Not really my forte.

I WISH THEY WOULD MAKE ME OVER !

LiquidSky

As a gay man, I have no interest in seeing this show. I am tired of precious stereotypical queens. By the way, shouldn't the name of the show be: "Queer Eye For the Breeder Guy" ? I mean, since the creators are comfortable using a derogatory term for gay people, why not use one for straight people as well?

CapRockBrewingCo.

I thought the show was very entertaining and funny. Carson was expecially funny. I noticed a different "culture" guy on the second episode though. Can't wait until the next episodes next Tuesday.

NCMojo

Point one: most straight guys would have no real issue with being called "breeders", so that's not all that offensive.

Two, the Fab 5 are not all raging queens. They are very open about being homosexual, but they aren't dressing up like Liza Minelli and lisping all the time either. They are funny, smart, and likeable guys.

Three, while perhaps the premise is that "all gay men like fashion"... isn't there a certain truth to the premise that gay men tend to care more about their appearance than straight men? The show does make the statement that these men are not experts in fashion, or grooming, or food or wine, because they are gay, and that being gay in no way gives you a "gay card" to gain access and insight into home decor.

Four... loosen up a bit. Check it out tonight. In my (admitedly heterosexual) opinion, anything that puts a smart, succesful gay man in front of the television camera, and that shows that his sexual preference is normal and acceptable, gets an A for effort in my book.

EDIT: "queer" is derogatory? I thought that term had been adopted and embraced by the gay community, as long as it is not used as an epithet.

Giles

As for the second show that followed the premier I thought that the banter between the Fab 5 when Adam was throwing the party for his wife was a tad mean-spirited, especially the comment about "well if you spent more time cleaning the bathroom" was very catty and uncalled for.

During the first show's art show finale, you could visibly see all the other "straight" guys get visible flustered and envious - it was a stitch.

LiquidSky

ncmojo....re-reading my post, I believe I do need to lighten up a bit . I suppose I'm on the defensive because I view myself as an "average joe" gay guy and never see guys like myself on televison....only the queeny types. I just assumed they would be bitchy queens.

Upon your recommendation, I will give the show a chance. I still take issue with the term "queer" being used in the title. Admittedly, many gay people use this term among themselves but personally, I still have issues with it if it is used by straight people.

NCMojo

And how many straight people do you think there are at the Bravo Network?

Draven

I totally disagree. I was sitting there with my mouth open when she was complaining about the way the bathroom looked or the fact that the tile wasn't fixed in the house. What, does she think the bathroom cleans itself?

If she had such a big problem with it, she should have done something about it. Sticky-back tile is around a dollar a square foot at Home Depot. And a bottle of 409 is a lot cheaper than that.

I'm sorry, but it was very apparent that she cared as little about the condition of their house as he did. It's not that hard to pick the place up once in a while, yet she was acting like it was a miracle that the bathroom was clean.

That being said, my wife and I loved the show. Very funny, very honest and very good-natured (I don't like watching people rip each other apart...hence my lack of interest in most reality television.) And the guys know their ****. Both straight guys were much improved.

And this morning I put my product in from the back to the front

Giles

ya know, after your statement you do make a good point, that
neither of them did not have any interest in fixing up some major obvious eye sores. If I were them I would have too embarrased to let any camera into my house, looking like that. Secondly, how long did the whole house transformation take place? It seemed like at least three days work. Other reality shows (WYWO and Trading Spaces) there are budgets and set alotted days, this show doesn't seem to have any.


I did too

Brain Stew

That is something I noticed too. It seemed like they made over with no cocern for budget or time;of course we only saw a short montage of making over the home.

Draven

Honestly it looked like one day. The guy in the second episode even said "You guys spent the whole day with me."

I'm sure they have some behind the scenes help, and they really only painted and furnished the one room and fixed the tile in the kitchen on the second show. Two or three guys working several hours solid could get a lot of that done.

No stupid craft projects or anything either, and they used their existing furniture. And a lot of is was just picking up and organizing, not doing complete remodels.

I'm curious now what the time frame is though...

Skorp

When I first heard about this show, I had the same reservations as you, LiquidSky, that it would feature a bunch of "precious stereotypical queens". But, having watched the first two episodes, I must admit that it was very well-done -- and hysterically funny.

Though a few of the Fab 5 (especially Carson) initially came off sounding like Jack on Will & Grace, the difference is that they have the intelligence & expertise to back up their quips & attitude. And the whole show was done with a nice, tongue-in-cheek flair, with the Fab 5 portrayed like an urban, gay, Charlie's Angels tackling their latest Mission: Impossible. They're the Heroes of the Show, and I particularly liked the end segment where they sat & watched how the fruits (no pun intended) of their labors payed off.

The other thing that helped the show work was the obvious respect and affection of the straight guys for the Fab 5, and vice-versa. There was some real warmth to their interactions -- even while Carson was figuratively ripping their clothes to shreads.

Fun stuff!

Edited to add:
An article in the NY Times a couple days ago said that they have a 4-day time frame for the whole make-over.

Giles

actually I thought Carson sounded and acted like Christopher Guest's 'Corky St. Clair' from "Waiting for Guffman"

Scot1458

caught both episdoes last night. It was very enterataing. The only ones that bother me were the fashion Dave Spade looka like and rat looking culture expert from the one episode. They replaced him with a black guy in the second show, and he was far better.

The cook and interior designer were pretty cool, and the end of the show "tips" had me rolling.

The lack of a budge had me wincing though....

NCMojo

Is this a refernce to hair gel and There's Something About Mary?

NCMojo

Hey, you watched the show, Scot! That's cool. Now we just need to get FlashStash to a monster truck rally...

Actually, the budget issue is one thing I like about the show. I think shows like When You Were Out are somewhat hypocritical in their attempt to stick to a "budget". I know they're trying to show that anyone can do these things with just a little money and effort, but let's be serious -- you can't hire a master carpenter to do 1/4 of the stuff that those guys do and have it be anywhere near under budget. And I just don't think that you could actually get 5 gay men to come into your home and clean and redecorate for any amount of money.

Oh, but a guy can dream, can't he?

jpcamb

Andrew "Opps I made a major mistake in cutting" a master carpenter?

Sorry the guy is not talented, merely good looking and australian.

As to the budget for the show, my brother in law works at Scout the inital production company and he told me a lot of the gear went back from the piolit episode, the cost per episode was in the 100K range but that was all production costs so I don't know what they spent on the apartment makeover per se.

Meatpants

Thoroughly enjoyed the eps last night. Maybe the gay guys I know have a more flamboyant bent, but aside from the Fashion guy none of the guys were cliched gay men. The Grooming and Food guys, in particular, didn't seem "more gay" than the guys on Trading Spaces.

Also, at the end of the 2nd ep, the Grooming guy toasted the group with a "Cheers, queers!" So at least they're comfortable with the name of the show.

grunter

I had serious "LiquidSky" type reservations going into the pilot episode last night. I mean - it's not like there's much on television (or in the broader mainstream culture) that really showcases the "bear" lifestyle. I thought surely they'd turn this into some frou-frou camp-fest - where the typical gym-bunny circuit "kween" aesthetic gets to stomp all over joe six-pack and his neanderthal ways.

But to my surprise, this show positively ROCKED!!

Yes, there was still a trace of that tired ol', cruel "bait-the-straights" condescension, but not nearly to the extremes that I expected. What pleasantly and unexpectedly surprised me was the air of mutual respect between these hopelessly slovenly straight men and the "Fab 5." Beyond the tongue-in-cheek, rolling-of-the-eyes montage at the beginning, the "Fab 5" actually had solid tips for re-creating their charges.

The one thing that did bother me was when I mentally added up all the costs of the make-overs. As soon as Carson mentioned Lucky Jeans - I was like: are you nuts? Those cost over $80 a pair! This show doesn't hint that much of the spectacular finished effect came with a hefty pricetag. With the new furniture purchased, the spa treatments, the salon hair stylings, the wardrobe additions and the gourmet snacky things, it's as if the "Fab 5" were spending like there was no tomorrow. "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" might more aptly be re-named "Wealthy Eye for the Joe Six-Packer." It's ever so much easier to have style and taste when you have scads and scads of disposable income to fritter away on designer labels and "meats."

I also wasn't sold on the food/wine guy. Maybe it was just these first two episodes, but his whole schtick seemed to be to get the guys to squeeze expensive (and largely nasty tasting) meat pastes onto crackers. Hardly worth the time or the effort. I mean, in that second episode, Adam had maybe 20 crackers for his party of 12 - not exactly a buffet (especially not for a bear like me).

Sure, Carson's a quipster who wants to the apple in everybody's eye - but 8 times out of 10, his little witticisms were damn funny. He, of course, had the best line of the evening, when watching Adam give his wife the surprise pearl earrings, he fired off - with a knowing leer: "Now all she needs to complete the ensemble is a pearl necklace . . ."

Carson had me rollin'. Much more Kids in the Hall "Buddy" than Corky St. Clair, IMO. It's "her" time in the spotlight, folks and "she" knows it. That girl's "a stah, a stah, I say!"

squidget

I caught the 2 episodes last night and i thought it was very entertaining.
I kinda like the fact of the no budget because they spend less time whinny about it and more time actually doing things on the show.
at first, i thought the fashion guy (carson) was way too stereotypical (like someone metioned, jack from will & grace) but my opinion changed later on thru the show. My favorite was what the interior designer (and probably crew) with what they did to the 2nd guy(wife party person) house. It was like a completely different place!
And I do enjoy the tips thru out the show. Kinda of their way of saying yes we know you can't do all these things however, here's a few things you can do.
definitely a show I will need to add to my Tivo

LiquidSky

LiquidSky

Is this on tonight 7/17/03?

Canis Firebrand

I think its repeats of the first 2 episodes. It looks like the new episodes are Tuesday at 10pm. This week, since its a new show, we were treated to two episodes.

Overall I have to say I love the show. The first episode's straight guy was much better then the 2nd. He seemed a little too slobbish and annoying for me.

Anyways, I look forward to watching more episodes.

rkndkn

Watched my tape of the 2 episodes last night -- I loved it! Carson is a hoot!

While the makeover itself of Butch on the 1st show was more appealing, it was great to see the 2nd guy's face literally glowing with happiness by the end!

Really looking forward to "Boy Meets Boy" as well!