Television
7 (New) Queer Shows to Watch This Summer
Billy Eichner, Bradley Cooper, and Toddy Hall, oh my!
May 27 2015 3:00 AM EST
November 04 2024 11:25 AM EST
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Billy Eichner, Bradley Cooper, and Toddy Hall, oh my!
Pictured: Billy Eicher and Julie Klausner in Difficult People
As summer becomes a competitive season for TV, there is a welcome plethora of options for queer TV. The coming months mark the return of certified hits--Netflix's Orange Is the New Black, MTV's pairing of sitcoms (Awkward and Faking It), and The Fosters on ABC Family--while also introducing a number of new shows that go deeper into the world of LGBT.
Mark your calendars--and your DVRs--for these shows debuting this summer.
1. Becoming Us, June 8
Dubbed the real-life Transparent when it was first ordered by ABC Family, this docu-series follows one high school student's journey as he grabbles with his father's transition from male to female. While there's a rush of transgender documentaries coming to TV, this one comes from the same network that has produced the thoughtfully compelling LGBT family drama, The Fosters.
2. Difficult People, August 5
After yelling at strangers on the street and taking his brand of hyperbolic comedy to Parks and Recreation, Billy Eichner has finally landed his own scripted series. For the Hulu original, he teams up with Julie Klausner--with the help of Amy Poehler as producer--for a very modern spin on the Will & Grace dynamic.
3. Scream, June 30
MTV's adaptation of the slasher franchise may not involve Ryan Murphy, but this show is far from the camp esthetic the producer has mined time and time again on his FX series. Instead, Scream sticks to the formula that made it a hit: high school students--including an outed lesbian--in a hypersensitive world of horror get picked off one by one. And how does being gay fall into the rules of staying alive? We'll have to watch to find out.
4. Sense8, June 5
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caption="" photo_credit="Murray Close/Netflix"]
Much like Bloodline, there's no pilot to lay the groundwork for Netflix's action-packed, international thriller about eight strangers sharing a connected conscious. But the show wastes no time with the sex, and we mean sex--orgies and dildos in the first episode--that blurs the lines of gender and sexuality.
5. Todrick, August 31
After becoming a sensation on the Internet, Todrick Hall is setting his sights on TV with the new MTV docu-series, which will go behind the scenes of Hall's creative process and show fans just how those viral videos come together.
6. Wayward Pines, May 14
From producer Chad Hodge comes this twisted FOX miniseries event that sees the return of '90s staples, Matt Dillon and Juliette Lewis. It's one part American Horror Story, two parts Twin Peaks, and a dash of M. Night Shyamalan. Come for the mystery, and stay for the twists. (Catch up on Hulu now.)
7. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, July 17
Netflix is gambling that more than a few fans remember the cult classic, Wet Hot American Summer, by turning the movie into an 8-episode series. The entire cast--including a very gay, very perturbed Bradley Cooper--returns for the first day at Camp Firewood.