TITLE    : What's On Logo?
STORYID  : whats-on-logo
SUMMARY  : Television fare for the GLBT crowd.
AUTHOR   : Cal Y. Pygia@lit
DATE     : 2010-03-18
CATEGORY : reviews-and-essays
FLAGS    : 
TAGS     : |gay|lesbian|bisexual|transgender|transsexual|shemale|television|music|movies|news|


Owned by Viacom's MTV Networks Channel, Logo, which took to the air in 2005, is the nation's first television channel for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) community. Those who support the GLBT lifestyle, sexual orientation, alternate lifestyle, or whatever being queer it's being called where you live, should definitely support this channel by viewing its shows and, more importantly, buying its sponsors' products.



Brian Garden, MTV president and, according to Out Magazine, the tenth most powerful gay man in America, founded the channel, although day-to-day operations are the responsibility of Lisa Sherman.



What's on Logo?



RuPaul's Drag Race is in its second season. In this series, world renown transvestite RuPaul performs a "dual role," according to Logo's website, not only hosting the show and mentoring its contestants in his masculine persona as they vie for the title of "drag queen of the land," but also judging and eliminating--eww! That sounds gross!--its contestants as his feminine alter ego. Present contestants are Jessica Wild, Jujubee, Morgan McDaniels, Mystique Summers Madison, Nicole Paige Brooks, Pandora Boxx, Raven, Sahara Davenport, Shangela Laquita Wadley, Sonique, Tatianna, and Tyra Sanchez. Untucked provides a backstage glimpse of the histrionics that take place behind the scenes of each episode.



Other shows include reality series such as Coming Out Stories, The Cho Show (situation comedy), Curl Girls (lesbian gab fest), Gimme Sugar (lesbian), Jacob and Joshua: Nemesis Rising (gay twin pop duo), Open Bar (gay bar), Real Gay (reunions), The Ride: Seven Days to End AIDS, Shirts and Skins (sports team), Transamerican Love Story (transgender women/dating game), and Tran Generation (documentary); original series Exes and Ohs (lesbian seeking Ms. Right), Noah's Arc (socially relevant issues), and Sordid Lives: The Series (self-described "black comedy about white trash"); travel shows such as Bump!, Round Trip Ticket, and US of ANT; films and documentaries such as The Chick List: 50 Greatest Films, The Chick List: Best in Short Film, Logo Films, and Real Momentum; music videos such as The Chick List: Top 10 Videos, NewNowNext Music, and NewNowNext Poplab; comedy (The Big Gay Sketch Show, Jeffery and Cole Casserole, and Wisecrack); and animation (Alien Boot Camp and Rick &amp; Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World).



Syndicated fare has included Bad Girls, Beautiful People, Bob and Rose, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Complete Tales of the City, Dancing with the Stars, Drawn Together, Glam God, The Graham Norton Anthology, In the Life, It's All Relative, Queer as Folk, The L Word, Leap Years, The Real World: Brooklyn, A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, Some of My Best Friends, Undressed, Wonderfalls, and MTV's True Life: I'm Gay and I'm Getting Married.



Logo has its own awards shows as well, which include GLAAD Media Awards and NewNowNext Awards.



Through its online platform, Logo also offers After Ellen (not affiliated with Ellen Degeneris) (lesbian video and entertainment news); After Elton (not affiliated with Elton John) (gay movies and entertainment news), 365 Gay (gay, lesbian, and gay marriage news), downelink (gay and lesbian social network), tripOut (gay travel destinations), and NewNowNext (gay pop culture and entertainment blog).



MTV provides music by such artists as Adam Lambert, Beyonce, Brad Paisley, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jamey Johnson, John Mayer, Lady Antebellum, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Pink, Rihanna, Soulja Boy, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Wisin Y Yandel, and country music and top 20 sounds. Sports shows feature Ryan Sheckler, skateboarding, and snowboarding.



Sponsors for various shows include Absolut Vodka, Miller Brewing Company's Miller Lite, Motorola, Inc., Tylenol PM, Lions Gate Films, and Orbitz.



The channel is not without its critics, who complain about dated films and other material, censorship of nudity and sex, and fare in which gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgender community are ridiculed or derided through stereotyping or unflattering portrayals. The result of such programming, critics complain, is a bland and boring, half-true depiction of the GLBT lifestyle that does little to bolster GLBT egos or heighten public awareness and tolerance for those who are different. The Willow Rosenberg-Tara Maclay relationship has been cited as an example of closet bigotry against lesbianism, because Willow's affair with Tara ends in the latter's death. Concerned Women for America and the Traditional values Coalition have challenged the channel on moral and ethical grounds.



Logo may not be perfect, but, as TV goes, it's just about all that the GLBT community has of its own, so who's going to support it if the GLBT crowd doesn't tune in? If that includes you, ask yourself, tonight, what's on Logo?



And buy their sponsors' stuff. 

