Queer Eye (2003 TV series)

Queer Eye
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy cast.
Created by	David Collins David Metzler
Starring	Ted Allen Kyan Douglas Thom Filicia Carson Kressley Jai Rodriguez
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	92
Production
Running time	60 minutes per episode (including commercials)
Original release
Network	Bravo
Release	July 15, 2003 – present

Queer Eye (originally Queer Eye for the Straight Guy)[1] is an hour-long American Emmy award-winning television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network on July 15, 2003, and promptly became both a surprise hit and one of the most talked-about television programs of 2003. The show's name was shortened to Queer Eye at the beginning of its third season to reflect the show's change in direction from making over only straight men, to including women and gay people. Queer Eye ended production in June 2006. In January 2007 Bravo announced the final 10 episodes would air in summer 2007. [2] This date was later rescheduled to 2 October 2007.

Overview

Crossing genres of both reality television and "make-over" programs, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, created by David Collins and David Metzler, stars five openly gay men, each of whom fills a particular function as part of the "Fab Five" makeover team. The show is produced by Scout Productions.

Each episode features a new candidate (usually a straight/heterosexual man) ready to be culturally transformed by the "Fab Five". Each candidate prepares for a special event and receives generous guidance from each "Fab Five" member in his respective category of expertise. The Queer Eye cast has helped prepare candidates for such events as a marriage proposal, a first dinner with a girlfriend's parents, and a backyard barbecue. The "Fab Five" redecorate, rewardrobe, and restyle to create a completely new "look" for the candidate.

Queer Eye logo for the first and second season only.

In a typical episode, the "Fab Five" arrive at the candidate's residence to assess his "level of style." The cast ransacks the home, with a running "style" commentary on everything they find. In their investigation, each expert attempts to understand the unique preferences of the candidate in order to best advise him on how to improve.

Special episodes of Queer Eye include two episodes filmed in England, three filmed in Texas, three filmed in Las Vegas, two episodes in which the Fab Five made over gay men (both of which aired during June, Gay Pride Month, in 2004 and 2006), one episode making over a female-to-male transgender person, a makeover on the Red Sox baseball team (filmed in Florida), several wedding-themed episodes, and several holiday specials.

Queer Eye has been broadcast worldwide and continues in syndication. In the UK it airs on cable channel Living TV, where it has been very popular. It was also shown on Channel 4 for a while. The original US show also airs on the Spanish cable channel Cosmopolitan TV, on the Portuguese cable channel Sic Mulher, on the Turkish satellite channel Show Plus, on Fox Japan, on the South Korean channel OnStyle, in Australia on cable channel Arena TV and in Taiwan on Travel & Life Channel, a sister channel of Discovery Channel.

Cast

The self-dubbed "Fab Five" are:

• Ted Allen: "Food and Wine Connoisseur," expert on food, alcohol, cooking, and meal preparation
• Kyan Douglas: "Grooming Guru," expert on hair, grooming, personal hygiene, and makeup
• Thom Filicia: "Design Doctor," expert on interior design and home organization
• Carson Kressley: "Fashion Savant," expert on clothing and fashion
• Jai Rodriguez: "Culture Vulture," expert on popular culture, relationships, and social interaction

The pilot, filmed in June 2002 in Boston, featured three different men in the roles of grooming (Sam Spector), interior design (Charles Daboub Jr.), and culture (James Hannaham)[3]. Carson Kressley and Ted Allen are the only original 'Fab Fivers.'

The first two episodes of the show filmed (which aired as episodes 1.2 and 1.3) featured Blair Boone as guest 'culture vulture.' Boone was originally hired due to his academic qualifications in languages, art and music, but during filming producers felt he was not outgoing enough on-camera, so quickly started re-casting sessions, looking specifically for professional performers to provide the necessary onscreen charisma. Actor/singer Jai Rodriguez was hired and has been the permanent 'culture vulture' since the third episode filmed (the fourth episode filmed aired as the show's premiere). Boone sued for breach of contract, claiming he should be paid not just for two episodes but for the season he had been contracted to film, and the case was settled out of court.

Critical response

Critical response to the debut in the mainstream press was mostly favorable. Its sympathetic representation of openly gay men won acclaim from both straight and gay viewers. Others criticized the program for making generalizations about sexual identity, namely that gay men are inherently more fashionable and stylish than heterosexuals. Queer Eye has received much critical acclaim, and the show won an Emmy Award in 2004, and was nominated for another Emmy in 2005.

Spin-off series

The series' success was such that television networks in several countries created their own versions of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy for broadcast in their countries. However few of these homegrown versions have proven as successful as the original, and most did not last long before cancellation.

The first company to produce their own version was Viasat. Viasat produced local versions in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The Danish version proved the most popular and ran 6 seasons.

Only two spin-offs are still airing regular episodes. The Italian version has experienced success on La7 channel as I Fantastici Cinque (literally "the fabulous five"). The first episode of the Finnish version Sillä Silmällä, (literally "with that certain eye") was aired on March 30th, 2005 and created some controversy - not for the homosexual content but for the blatant product placement considered to be a transgression of a Finnish law against "hidden advertising".

The spin-offs cancelled due to low ratings include a British version produced by Living TV that aired for two seasons (several episodes also aired in the US); in Australia the show premiered on Network Ten in early 2005 but was cancelled after three episodes; a Spanish version, named Operación G aired on Antena 3 for only a few weeks; the German equivalent Schwul macht cool (with four hosts) was cancelled on RTL 2 after six episodes; Queer, Cinq Experts dans le Vent was shown in France on TF1 for eight episodes in 2004; and Esquadrão G, a Portuguese version of the show, was cancelled in Portugal after the end of the first season.

In January 2005 Scout Productions premiered a spin-off series titled Queer Eye for the Straight Girl, set in Los Angeles. It featured a different cast with the goal of making over women. The show was cancelled after one season.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was released on February 10, 2004, in the US. It reached number 1 on the electronic music chart in the US and the number 2 position on the soundtrack charts, and reached the top 40 in the Billboard 200 album chart. In Australia, the soundtrack was released for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras and the popularity of the show in Australia led to the soundtrack reaching the top 10 of the Australian album chart in March 8, 2004. It was certified gold in Australia by the end of March 2004. The song "Superstar" by Jamelia from the soundtrack also went to number one on the Australian singles charts in the same week, and the theme song of the show, "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)" by Widelife, had gone top twenty as of the end of March 2004.

Parodies

• In the Kim Possible episode Dimension Twist, where Kim, Ron, Drakken and Shego travel through various TV-channels, they once come to a show called Evil Eye for the Bad Guy which gives Drakken and his lair a makeover.

• Comedy Central hosted a spoof television show called Straight Plan for the Gay Man (which also aired in several other countries, including the UK). The Comedy Central show Blue Collar TV also featured a spoof sketch called Hick Eye for the Queer Guy in the third episode of its first season [4].

• The animated series South Park aired a satirical episode about the Queer Eye hosts. In it, nearly all of the men and boys in South Park become "metrosexual" as a result of the show, which led to some being upset, such as Mr. Garrison, who felt they were "selling out" gay culture. Halfway through the episode, it is revealed that the Queer Eye hosts were actually Crab People trying to turn men into wusses to take over the world. [5]

• Megatokyo has a one-shot comic entitled Angel Eye for the Geek Guy. [6] The strip is notable for its catchphrase, "I hope we've made you feel really inadequate and have inspired you to completely change who you are in the name of social acceptance. After all, who cares who you are, as long as you look good?"

• Queer Eye for the G.I. is a military themed porn film parodying the show's title.[7]

• Ratchet: Deadlocked mentioned a show known as Queer Eye for the Tyrannoid.

• "Sesame Street" showed a segment called "Grouch Eye for the Nice Guy," in which Oscar and four other grouches taught a nice guy how to be grouchy.

• That's So Raven had an episode entitled "Raven's Eye for the Sloppy Guy" as an opening episode for the show's third season. In this episode, Raven, and her friends asked a guy if he wants to have a makeover. This guy had a crush on Raven, but Raven doesn't want him. In the end, when the makeover was done, Raven realized that she really want this guy, but it is too late for her because he already has another girl.

Cancellation and Final Season

On January 12, 2007, Bravo confirmed Queer Eye's cancellation. The remaining episodes will be billed as Queer Eye: The Final Season, [8] the fifth in the series. The season debuted on October 2, 2007. [9]

Trivia

• The show is known for the frequent use of the Polari word "tszuj" (in the cast's preferred spelling; the word is also spelled "zhoosh"), meaning "to style (something or somebody)". [10] When pronounced, the word begins and ends with the same phoneme, the "zh" sound of the z in "azure". Although native English speakers have no trouble pronouncing the word (e.g., the novel "Dr. Zhivago"), no ordinary English word begins with that phoneme, which accounts for the difficulty in devising a good spelling.

External links

• BravoTV Official Website
• Queer Eye at IMDb
• Tszuj-It! Fansite
• TV Series Finale- cancellation details