Queer Eye (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Queer Eye is an American reality television series that premiered on the Bravo cable television network in July 2003. The program's name was changed from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy after the third season to broaden the scope of its content. The series was created by gay executive producers David Collins and Michael Williams along with their hetero producing partner David Metzler; it was produced by their production company, Scout Productions.

The show is premised on and plays with the stereotypes that gay men are superior in matters of fashion, style, personal grooming, interior design and culture. In each episode, the team of five gay men known collectively as the "Fab Five" perform a makeover (in the parlance of the show, a "make-better") on a person, usually a straight man, revamping his wardrobe, redecorating his home and offering advice on grooming, lifestyle and food.

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy debuted in 2003, and quickly became both a surprise hit and one of the most talked-about television programs of the year. The success of the show led to merchandising, franchising of the concept internationally, and a woman-oriented spin-off, Queer Eye for the Straight Girl. Queer Eye won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program in 2004. 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 men. Queer Eye ended production in June 2006 and the final ten episodes aired in October 2007. The series ended October 30. In September 2008, the Fine Living Network briefly aired Queer Eye in syndication.

The Fab Five

• Ted Allen: "Food and Wine Connoisseur", expert on alcohol, beverages, food preparation, and presentation
• 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, fashion and personal styling
• Jai Rodriguez: "Culture Vulture", expert on popular culture, relationships and social interaction

Production

Producers Collins and Metzler were given the greenlight by Bravo to develop Queer Eye following the ratings success the network experienced when it counterprogrammed a marathon of its 2002 series Gay Weddings across from Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003. The pilot episode was filmed in Boston in June 2002. Of the eventual Fab Five, only Kressley and Allen appeared. The culture, design and grooming roles were filled by James Hannaham, Charles Daboub, Jr. and Sam Spector, respectively.

The pilot was delivered to Bravo in September 2002, and was well received in audience testing. Shortly thereafter NBC purchased Bravo and ordered 12 episodes of the series. NBC heavily promoted the show, including billboard campaigns and print ads in national magazines.

Kyan Douglas and Thom Filicia joined the show for these episodes, along with Blair Boone in the role of "culture guy." Boone filmed two episodes (which aired as the second and third episodes and for which he was credited as a "guest culture expert") but was replaced by Rodriguez beginning with production of the third episode. Each episode was shot over a span of four days and edited to create the conceit that the events of the episode took place in a single day.

Format

The majority of Queer Eye episodes follow the same basic format. The episode opens with the Fab Five in an SUV (usually in New York City, where the series was based) discussing their straight subject. The Five review details of the subject's personal life and note problems in their various areas of expertise. The Five usually have a specific event for which they plan to prepare the subject. These included everything from throwing a backyard barbecue for friends to preparing to ask for a salary raise to proposing marriage.

Upon arriving at the subject's home, the Fab Five go through his belongings, keeping up a running commentary of catty remarks about the state of his wardrobe, home decor, cleanliness and grooming. They also speak with the subject and family members to get an idea of the sort of style they like and their goals for the experience and to discuss the planned event.

The remainder of the first half of the episode follows the Fab Five as they escort the subject to various locales to select new furniture and clothes. Often, Ted demonstrates how to select and prepare food for a particular dish that the subject will prepare for the special event, Kyan takes him for spa treatments and a new haircut. Each such segment includes a style tip superimposed on the screen, summarizing in a sentence or two the style issues addressed in the segment. Interspersed with this are interview segments in which friends and family members of the subject discuss his style issues.

In the next section, the subject returns to a completely redecorated home and models articles of his new wardrobe for the Fab Five. Each of the Five offer final words of advice and encouragement and a last zhoosh, accompanied by supplies of grooming products, food and kitchenware and in some cases big-ticket electronics items such as entertainment centers and computers.

The final section follows the subject as he prepares for the special event, with the Fab Five watching edited footage of his preparations and critiquing how well or how poorly he followed their advice. Finally, the subject is followed through the event itself, with the Five again keeping up a running commentary and the subject often expressing his deep gratitude to the Fab Five for their counsel. A final tip from each of the Fab Five, usually relating to one of the topics covered in the episode, plays just before the credits.

Special episodes of Queer Eye that deviated from this formula included episodes in which the Fab Five journeyed outside the greater New York area, including shows filmed in England, Texas, and Las Vegas. In two episodes, the Fab Five made over gay men (both of which aired during June, Gay Pride Month, in 2004 and 2006) and in one episode made over a female-to-male transgender person. The show also featured makeovers of members of the Boston Red Sox following their 2004 World Series victory, several holiday specials and in the final season, a "Mister Straight Guy" pageant featuring subjects from across the show's history.

Popular and critical response

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy debuted on July 15, 2003 and the series quickly attained high ratings, peaking in September of that year with 3.34 million viewers per episode. The popularity of the show established the Fab Five as media celebrities, with high-profile appearances at the Emmys and a "make-better" of Jay Leno and his The Tonight Show set in August of that year. Fab Five members parlayed their celebrity into endorsement deals, notably Thom Filicia's becoming the spokesperson for Pier 1 Imports.

The American gay press almost universally hailed the show and the Fab Five as cultural icons. Out magazine listed the Fab Five in its "OUT 100", the "greatest gay success stories" of 2003. Instinct magazine declared Kressley one of the "Leading Men" of 2004.

The series attracted criticism for making generalizations about sexual identity, namely that gay men are inherently more fashionable and stylish than heterosexuals. Among those making this critique were Tom Shales in the Washington Post ("stereotypes on parade"), Richard Goldstein in Village Voice ("Haven't fags always been consigned to the role of body servant?") and United States Congressman Barney Frank speaking to the New York Post ("The notion that gay men have a superior fashion sense is not true and it's damaging. It's perfectly possible to enjoy that show and say, look at those clever homosexuals. What they do with hair! And not support gays at all."). Anthropologist Lionel Tiger described the program as typical of a widespread acceptance of insulting heterosexual men: "Heteromales are the last group it is acceptable to bash as a class. The homosexual fellows on Queer Eye seem to provide riveting hilarity to especially female viewers. What if there were 5 Swedes telling Kenyans how to live elegantly and fashionably? What if 5 Catholics told Jews how to dress, decorate, and court? The program is degraded and degrading, Cheap Shots for A Humiliated Guy."

With the success of the first season, original "culture guy" Blair Boone sued the show for breach of contract, claiming he should be paid not just for two episodes but for the season that he had been contracted to film.

The popularity of the series inspired a number of parodies. Comedy Central hosted a satirical television series called Straight Plan for the Gay Man, which featured four heterosexual men teaching gay men how to be more (stereotypically) straight, redecorating their homes with neon beer signs and teaching them about sports. South Park spoofed the show and its hosts in the episode "South Park Is Gay!", in which the protagonists learn that the Fab Five are actually evil Crab People trying to take over the world by turning all straight men into metrosexuals.

Queer Eye won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program in 2004 and was nominated for another Emmy in the same category in 2005. The series also received GLAAD Media Awards for Outstanding Reality Program in 2004 and 2005, and was nominated for a third in 2006.

In the second season, ratings dropped sharply, averaging around 1.8 million viewers per episode with an average 804,000 viewers in the important 18-40 demographic. New episodes continued to air for two more seasons. Bravo confirmed in early 2007 that Queer Eye had been cancelled. The remaining fifth season episodes were billed as Queer Eye: The Final Season and aired twice weekly beginning October 2, 2007.

Franchises and spin-off series

Queer Eye's American success led television networks in several countries to syndicate the American episodes and some purchased licenses to create versions of Queer Eye 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.

NBC licensed television producer David Hedges and his UK production house vialondon.tv to produce local versions for Europe, with Flextech's Living channel doing the same to produce the United Kingdom's version after a first attempt at a UK production by Making Time was abandoned. The Italian version, entitled I Fantastici Cinque (the fantastic five), aired on the La7 channel. The first episode of the Finnish version, Sillä Silmällä, (literally "with that certain eye") aired March 30, 2005 and created controversy, not for the gay content but for the blatant product placement considered to be a transgression of a Finnish law against "hidden advertising". Australia's take on the show, Aussie Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, premiered on Network Ten in February 2005 but was cancelled after three episodes; a Spanish version named El equipo G aired on Antena 3 for only a few weeks; the German equivalent, RTL 2's Schwul macht cool ("Gay makes you cool") was canceled 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 cast of four lifestyle experts (three men and a woman known as the "Gal Pals") who performed makeovers for women. The show was cancelled after one season.

Merchandising

Soundtrack

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The soundtrack for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was released February 10, 2004, in the US. It reached number one on the electronic music chart, number two on the soundtrack charts and 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 on March 8, 2004. It was certified gold in Australia in 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, went to the top 20 that same month. "All Things" would score a 2005 Juno Award for "Dance Recording of the Year" for producer Rob Eric, who also executive produced the album.

Track listing

1. "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)" " Widelife with Simone Denny
2. "Good Luck" " Basement Jaxx featuring Lisa Kekaula
3. "Slow" (Chemical Brothers Mix) " Kylie Minogue
4. "Move Your Feet" " Junior Senior
5. "You Promised Me (Tu Es Foutu)" " In-Grid
6. "Superstar" " Jamelia
7. "Everybody Wants You to Emerge" " Fischerspooner/Billy Squier
8. "Sunrise" (Jason Nevins Remix) " Duran Duran
9. "Never Coming Home" (Gonna Live My Life Remix) " Sting
10. "An Area Big Enough to Do It In" " Prophet Omega
11. "You're So Damn Hot" " OK Go
12. "Extraordinary" " Liz Phair
13. "Are You Ready for Love" " Elton John
14. "Five Gay Men in One House" " Jai Rodriguez and Ted Allen
15. "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)" (music video)

Books

A tie-in book titled Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: The Fab 5's Guide to Looking Better, Cooking Better, Dressing Better, Behaving Better and Living Better was published in 2004 by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Random House.

DVD releases

Several DVDs were released in conjunction with the show. Kressley, Filicia and Allen each had individual releases focusing on their areas of expertise. Douglas and Rodriguez were featured together in a single DVD focused on grooming. Additional DVD releases include Queer Eye for the Red Sox (featuring the team makeover episode) and a multi-disc box set.

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