DVDs Bring Gay-Themed TV Shows To A Wider Audience

We may not have the gay-themed Here! or Logo networks on local cable, but thanks to the TV-on-DVD phenomenon, viewers still have a chance to see some of those networks' shows.
Dante's Cove: Season One (Genius Products, $27) is a Here! Network series that blends supernatural horror and young-adult drama - imagine The O.C. with a healthy dose of Dark Shadows thrown in.
The series is set in the Hotel Dante, an atmospheric establishment in a beach resort town. Young lovers Kevin (Gregory Michael) and Toby (Charlie David) run afoul of Ambrosius (William Gregory Lee), a warlock who has been imprisoned by a 150-year old curse.
Tracy Scoggins (The Colbys) plays Grace, the sorceress who put the curse on Ambrosius in the first place and delights in chances to continue tormenting him. The supporting cast includes characters of various sexual orientations, most of them attractive twentysomethings.
Third Man Out: A Donald Strachey Mystery (Genius Products, $23) is another Here! Network production. This is the first of six planned TV movies about a gay private detective, played by actor Chad Allen (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman). In Third Man Out, he investigates the murder of a gay activist who had outed several prominent figures.
The series is based on a series of novels by Richard Stevenson.
Noah's Arc: The Complete First Season (Paramount, $40) is a sort of gay Sex and the City... but hey, didn't Sex and the City already cover that territory?
The series, from the Logo Network, is a romantic comedy about four gay black men in Los Angeles, which focuses on the romantic idealist Noah (Darryl Stephens) and the scene-stealing, monogamy-hating Ricky (Christian Vincent).
The DVD has nine episodes and plentiful extras, including auditions, deleted scenes, extended scenes and commentaries.
Those aren't the only "gay friendly" TV-to-DVD releases out there. Many more titles will be available in the next few months.
The long-awaited fifth season of Will & Grace comes to DVD at the end of the month, with an Aug. 29 DVD release by Lionsgate. On Sept. 26, A&E Home Video will release Ellen: The Complete Season 4, in which Ellen Morgan (Ellen DeGeneres) comes out of the closet to the shock of no one. And on Oct. 24, The L Word: Season 3 - with a cast that includes Winston-Salem native Pam Grier - will be released by Showtime Entertainment.
from The Winston-Salem Journal