Jeff Geddis/Natalie Brown

ABC Family (who brought us Greek) is set to bring more gay representation to U.S. television when it premieres dramedy import Sophie in early 2009.

Check out the details (and a clip of some same-sex snogging between a main character and the star of a recent cheeky commercial) after the break!

Last night while many of us were in the backyard grilling hamburgers or passing out from one too many brown-bagged wine coolers in the park, one of our few primetime gay characters was enjoying his first on-screen kiss.

Though he has had frustratingly little to do this season, Greek's gay pledge, Calvin (Paul James), enjoyed a public kiss on last night's "Tale of Two Parties" episode. Honestly, though I've been a fan of the show and of Calvin's storyline since the beginning, his lack of screen time this season had me a bit worried that the much-anticipated gay kiss (on an ABC Family show, lest we forget) might be mishandled. But though Calvin was back-burnered overall in the episode, the kiss itself was handled perfectly.

The episode picks up with the newly-liberated Greeks (the Dean has just lifted the restrictions on the houses, remember) planning big parties to reclaim their frathouse glory and what-not. It's mostly a Cappie/Evan one-upsmanship plot, with Cappie looking to undermine Evan's big bash, for which he has secured the attendance of the ZBZ ladies. But Evan isn't giving up easy, and when Casey shows up at his party, he enlists Calvin (his "little brother" pledge) to help him keep the guys away from her.

Calvin is less-than thrilled about this job, because he has invited new love interest Michael (Max Greenfield) to the party and would like to, you know, actually get to speak to him instead of playing gay human shield for his big brother. And when Michael arrives it looks as though Calvin was right to be nervous, because he's like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, for some reason...

Read the rest after the jump, plus you can see the whole clip!

So I was starting in on a woefully late recaplet of this week's gay-heavy Greek when I stumbled upon an enterprising fan of the show who had cut together all of Calvin's scenes from this week's ep.

So enjoy!

For those not familiar with the show (you're really missing out), Calvin is the out gay character played by Paul James, and Dale is his best friend's conservative Baptist roommate, who in this ep tries to turn Calvin straight through various misguided means. All this on an ABC Family show, mind you.

There's also a good dose of mancandy at the tail end of the clip that you won't want to miss...

Thanks to GayDaytime for posting the clip!

Paul James as Calvin, Greek's gay pledge  

Last week ABC Family premiered the second season of Greek, last summer's surprise hit college comedy. Greek brought the youth-targeted network a rare gay character, Calvin (played by Paul James). Calvin romanced a fella from another frat and was accidentally "outed" to his own frat by his best girlfriend, and in last season's finale decided to leave his house due to the chilly reception he got after his brothers learned about his sexuality.

Now the show is back and, unlike some shows that dispose of gay characters once they've come out or move them into the background, Calvin is back on campus and getting plenty of screentime. Was I the only one scared that they'd have him on a bus out of town by now? 

When we meet up with the kids after the winter break, Calvin is still out of the Omegas, although house leader Evan is actively trying to win him back and says that he's talking to the frat about it. In a clever bit of cross-cutting, we catch up with Heath (Calvin's fling from season one), who decides to come out to his Kappa Tau brothers as Evan is confronting the Omegas about bringing Calvin back. While Heath's bros couldn't care less that he's gay, Evan's preening preppies resist wooing back Calvin, as they feel that it wouldn't be good for the house.

Meanwhile, Calvin mulls some new extracurricular options and reconnects with Ashleigh, who accidentally outed him to the Omegas in the finale. They go shopping together and look at cute boys. Ah, youth ...

In this week's episode, Calvin entertains the idea of joining the Kappa Tau house, at Rusty's insistence. Meanwhile, Evan hasn't given up on getting Calvin back into the Omega house, gay or no. I actually started feeling like Evan's concern for Calvin was being used as a chip strictly to build sympathy for his character, but Evan reminds us in this episode that he's not just the Omega president, he's also Calvin's "big brother", which means he's also tied to him by fraternity protocol and has more than just a personal interest in the gay prodigal pledge.

I've taken my share of hits for having fallen unabashedly in love with the ABC Family college dramedy Greek despite being in my 30s. But I just got some great news that may give the haters a reason to rush...

I recently interviewed Greek creator Patrick Sean Smith about the upcoming season, and he told me that gay character Calvin (Paul James) is getting a new love interest in the form of a teaching assistant played by Max Greenfield. 

Greenfield is already a familiar face when it comes to painfully good television (he played Deputy Leo on Veronica Mars and, more recently, evil admin Nick Pepper on Ugly Betty), and the news that he will be playing gay on one of my favorite shows is bringing out my inner sorority girl.

Here are a few reasons why...

Smith said that the character that Greenfield plays is "older and more experienced" than Calvin, which of course sets the mind working in all sorts of terrible ways. And as for Greenfield himself, Smith told me that he is "wonderful and the coolest guy and very chill". Alright, enough. You had me at "more experienced".

If you're a new pledge to the Greek phenomenon, check out our "Greecaps" of the show's first season, our interview with actor Paul James, and our article on why ABC Family is a net to watch when it comes to breaking new ground for gay visibility. And for more on this development and others, check back here for the full interview with Sean Smith, which will run closer to the return of the show on March 24th. 

• Does Sonic Lipstick go with my skin tone?:
  The LA Times chatted with Russel T. Davies about his role in bringing the Doctor Who to its current level of success. There's a little bit in the article for every fan of a Doctor Who franchise but I'm most excited about the news that The Sarah Jane Adventures will show up on The Sci-Fi Channel in April. I really liked what we saw of Sarah Jane Smith in "School Reunion" (the Doctor Who episode that also gave us a baddie played by Anthony Steward Head), so I've been hoping that SJC wouldn't be the only Who spin-off not to make it stateside. The article also confirms earlier reports that the fourth Doctor Who season will arrive on The Sci-Fi Channel in April.
  

• Then again, I could see Hollywood deciding to cover him up in a wetsuit:
  I remember back when I played the Hollywood Stock Exchange, that proposed Submariner movie seemed like an odd idea that wouldn't get past the concept stage. However, the film seems to be moving forward after all: late last week, comic blogs were buzzing over news taht Jason Statham discussed playing the Altantean Prince. I was never a big fan of the grumpy gus that Namor usually was, so the best part about this news? An excuse to post pictures of Statham!

  

  If Statham swims as gracefully as he delivers a flying kick, he'll make a great Namor ... and, if I remember right, this is a production of Lionsgate, who struck a deal with the Writers' Guild. If I'm right on that account, this production won't be affected by the writers' strike.
  

• Too bad you can't fly a rainbow flag over your ship:
  For those of you are playing the recently-launched Pirates of the Burning Sea, the crew at GayGamer have formed a gay pirate society. Go out there and plunder yourselves some booty together.
  

• A new Calibur of video game stud:
  Namco just released new screencaps from the fourth Soul Calibur game and ... well, I'll admit I haven't played Soul Cailbur since encountering the first installment was in arcades, but when did the game start having guys as hot as these new characters?

  

  Between this and guys found in the Virtua Fighter and Mortal Kombat (ah, original edition Johnny Cage) series, I'd say Capcom is falling behind ... Will Ryu and Guile ever look this good?
  

• The Middleman cometh:
  A while back, I mentioned that ABC Family was looking at adapting indie comic The Middleman as a series with gay-fave Matt Keeslar in the lead role. This week, ABC Family announced that they're going ahead with the series. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for the writers (and for SAG, probably) to get a fair deal before any news on when the show will make its debut.
  

• In 60's terms, was the original cast of Star Trek this hot?
  That J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie has found its Sulu and Scotty. John Cho will be playing Sulu while Simon Pegg is taking on the role of Scotty. With Zachary Qunto playing Spock and Eric Bana playing the film's bad guy, my interest in the Trek is slowly returning.
  

• Remember Matt Keeslar, Bart? He's back... in ABC Family form
  A little while ago, I wondered what Matt Keeslar was up to. It turns out he's headed to ABC Family. The channel is developing an adaptation of Middleman, an indie comic about an artist recruited into a secret organization that fights supervillains. Keeslar will play her mentor at the organization. So when is somebody going to option Scott Pilgrim?

• Must-See Geek TV?
  PC Magazine lists its Ten Favorite Geeky TV Shows with the Russell T Davies-led Doctor Who being named second. (But The Big Bang Theory? Really?)

• Attack of the Heroes chatter
  Gamer TV network G4TV will be airing repeating the latest episode of Heroes on Saturdays. It will be followed by a half-hour talk show discussing Heroes. I have to admit I'm intrigued -- G4 has occasionally shown awareness that gamers can come from a variety of demographics, including gays, so I wonder if the show's homerotic tendencies will ever get discussed. On the other hand, G4's coverage of the San Diego Comic Con never looks like the event I've attended.

• Tokyopop's quest for the cutest shojo boy
  Comics publisher Tokyopop is asking who's the cutest shojo boy? I'm more of a Viz reader myself, but I'm happy to see the boys from Gravitation in the mix, but why don't my boys from Fake get some love? Too bad the cutest boy from a Tokyopop comic -- Noah from 12 Days -- isn't included in the mix.



• Link of the week:
  Last weekend, Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine discovered how the Burn Hogarth sometimes looked like gay erotica. Doesn't the example above look like some geek pin-up? He's beautiful! He's buff! He reads! Is there a collected edition out there?

ABC Family got some more good news about its hit series Greek. The college drama's first season finale set a record as the most-watched episode of an original series on the network. In total, 1.4 million viewers tuned in to see the episode (which our own Brian Juergens recapped fabulously). 1.1 million of those viewers were in the 12-34 demo (which includes the 14-28 year olds the network targets).

Equally encouraging, Greek's audience has grown from the series' premiere, which drew 1.1 million viewers. A trend like that typically indicates that audiences are enjoying the show and recommending it to their friends. Considering how gay student Calvin got a fair share of screen time and story focus, I'd say Greek's success supports the cable network's current focus which, as they told us recently, seeks to explore the more inclusive way today's youths define "family".