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The Week in Gay TV: Russell Tovey Is Still Figuring Out "Being Human," and "The Amazing Race" Teams Have Unfinished Business

It's time to take a look at The Week in Gay TV for the shows that will be battling for your attention and DVR space in the week ahead.

This week, a new season of the Amazing Race kicks off, Riley and Zane are back in the spotlight on Degrassi and Russell Tovey is back in a new season of Being Human.

We haven't seen much of Riley or Zane since The Boiling Point ended but we'll finally see them again on Friday's Degrassi, as Riley's mom walks in while Riley is kissing his "study buddy." As i've detailed before, I have mixed feelings about Degrassi.

What we've seen of Riley's story has been powerful. Still, I'm a little weary at the thought of another story focusing on Riley struggling with coming out. Degrassi has frequently been good at revealing different dimensions to its characters and I wish Riley had more variety of storylines.

Hopefully, there will be time to explore Riley and Zane's reaction to modern art.

For example, last week saw Anya dating her mother's doctor and lying to him about her age to make the relationship seem less inappropriate. Riley was there when Anya first met the doctor (they argued about the doctor's sexual orientation), and instead of Riley continuing to be part of Anya's story, they abandoned him and plugged busybody Holly J into that slot.

While I'm frustrated by the missed opportunities with Riley (or that we don't know anything about Zane other than he's Riley's boyfriend) I'm going to just try to enjoy Friday night's episode and not think about "what might have been."

Meanwhile, Rosie O'Donnell is the latest celebrity to be asked Who Do You Think You Are? O'Donnell was young when she lost her mother and, in an attempt to connect with her will be investigating her mother's family history. That investigation takes her to Ireland where she learns about the difficulties her ancestors faced.

ABC's Primetime: What Would You Do? takes on another gay-related topic as the hidden cameras takes a look at how diners respond to a fellow customer letting them know that he has AIDS.

At least, we're guaranteed plenty of thighlights.

Starz has a new Spartacus: Gods of the Arena as Battiatus plans a gladiatorial tournament. I have to admit I'm starting to feel eager to see how some of these characters will not end up seeing Spartacus' revolution.

It's been a while since one of the New Apocalypse villains have appeared on Smallville, but Friday sees the debut of Desaad, one of Darkseid's most terrible henchmen. So far, Smallville has managed to make the bizarre Jack Kirby creations work in its relative sunny universe. It'll be interesting to see if that continues.

Friday's TV also sees Dean rush to Lisa's aid on a new Supernatural while Carson Kressley helps pick a winner on Your OWN Show. Finally, BBC America has a new episode of Law & Order: UK, while I'll be watching to see if the story of disgraced anti-gay Senator North continues on The Onion News Network.

Saturday brings the return of the adorable Russell Tovey in a new season of Being Human. This season sees the roommates move to a new city, hoping to leave behind the troubles they encountered in Bristol and should see a few new types of monsters join the Being Human pantheon.

First, however, they have to deal with the issues left behind from last season. Annie was forced to cross-over by the villanous Kemp and when we return to them, we learn that Annie is stuck in Purgatory. Mitchell hopes he's found a way to bring Annie back to the earthly realm but first he has to get through a woman named Lia.

BBC America also has a new episode of The Graham Norton Show with the amazing Sigourney Weaver, Professor Brian Cox (who sounds like a British Neil deGrasse-Tyson and is not the ubiquitous actor who has played gay in The Lost Language of Cranes and Deadwood) and comedian Sandi Toksvig.

Finally, David Bromstad has another room to make beautiful on a new Color Splash.

Sunday sees multiple Emmy-winner The Amazing Race kick off its second all-star season with two of the best-remembered gay/bi teams getting a second chance. In addition to Mel White and his son Mike, hearing impaired finalist Luke Adams and his mother Margie are participating in the Race.

While The Amazing Race is still one of the best reality shows around, it's suffered a bit in the past couple of seasons from lackluster challenges and some frustrating competitors (anyone famous for being dumb and pretty like former Miss Teen Carolina Caite Upton belongs on a wreck like Big Brother, not a game that mixes intellectual and physical challenges). There are some great competitors returning, I hope they can make The Amazing Race compelling again.

Sunday brings a new Brothers & Sisters as Nora reconnects with her first love, Brody (Beau Bridges) in an episode directed by Matthew Rhys. I'm sure Brody won't turn out to be a dud like earlier Walker family secrets Narrow Lake and Ryan Lafferty. This really sounds like an episode that will go easier with a spoonfull of snark, so be sure to join us for a liveblog!

Fox has a new night of animated Sunday comedies that sees Roger angrily move out on a new American Dad, only to find himself quickly replaced, while Bart finds film success on a new episode of The Simpsons when his comic book Angry Dad gets turned into a movie. The Cleveland Show also gets gay on Sunday with the help of guest-voice Justin Timberlake as Cleveland learns that his friend Terry is gay.

Things are about to get tougher for Ian and Kash on Sunday's Shameless as Linda

reacts to more shoplifting by installing security cameras in the Kash

and Grab, making it even harder for them to sneak a moment together.

Meanwhile, Frank tries to escape his debt by faking his death, with his children's help.

If that's not enough drama for you, HBO has a new Big Love while ABC has a new Desperate Housewives. Last week we got just as little screen time for the amazing Vanessa Williams as Kevin Rahm did, and instead we got Susan dealing with a stalker offering to donate his kidney and Lynette dealing with her new stepfather again. Things have certainly changed since things looked so promising when this season first started.

Finally, E! has Holly fighting with her rival over Josh on a new Holly's World, while Danielle Fishel snarks on the week in pop culture in a new episode of The Dish.

It's not like the pampered blue bloods of Gossip Girl need a reason to throw a party, but Eric's 18th birthday should offer a good excuse. Unfortunately, it seems pretty likely that Damien will be there to ruin the celebratory mood. I'm not keeping my fingers crossed that we get to see more than a few minutes of Eric, even in an episode that's supposed to focus on him.

Meanwhile, a new 90210 sees a boys night out as Dixon, Navid and Liam decide to take Teddy out for a night on ... oh, okay I love Teddy's storyline but I don't think I'll be able to concentrate on it while Silver is working on a photoshoot featuring hunky mermen. Heck, these guys might be enough to get me through a scene with Emily ... might.

"Noooo! The picture is good! That means it's almost time for these guys to get dressed and go home."

One of the most memorable episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race last season came when the dolls were asked to put together their best celebrity imitations for a round of "The Snatch Game," and Monday this season's competitors take on that challenge. This time, we'll get to see the queens put on their best Tyra Banks, Amy Winehouse, and Imelda Marcos (I wonder who that could be) and hopefully show plenty of comedy talent. This year, I'll be really happy if no one expresses shock at the idea of drag queens making fun of divas.

After that Valentine's Day, Barney wonders if he could have fallen for Nora on Monday's How I Met Your Mother. Could somebody finally have tamed the incorrigible womanizer? I'm happy with any storyline that doesn't involve Ted's future wife.

Meanwhile, ABC Family has new episodes of Pretty Little Liars and Greek, while Dane Cook shows up on a new Hawaii 5-O as Danny's fun-loving little brother. You've been warned.

Monday also brings the season finale of Tabatha's Salon Takeover with a look back at some of the salons she's helped in the past and checking on how they're doing since then. What really has made the show work for me is seeing Tabatha's follow-up visit at the end of every episode, a touch that separates the sincere salon owners from the ones who are just saying what they think Tabatha wants to hear. It should be interesting to see which ones succeed with even more time.

Finally, don't forget to tune in to Logo's late night talk show 1 girl, 5 gays with plenty of lively conversation about sex, dating and pop culture!

We're certainly going to have something to discuss Tuesday night as Glee airs an episode that has already inspired plenty of speculation. It starts with a lecture on the dangers of underage drinking and somehow it leads to Blaine questioning his sexuality or Blaine questioning the existence of bisexuality. I expect the actual episode will turn out to be more complicated than our expectations.

For me, that discussion will have to wait an extra half-hour because Amy Sedaris is a part of this week's Raising Hope. Sedaris will be playing Virginia's cousin Delilah, who seems intent on causing all kinds of trouble for the Chance family, including demanding her share of Maw Maw's estate to chasing after Burt.

Raising Hope isn't the only Tuesday night show with a major gay-fave guest-star as Betty Suarez herself, America Ferrera, appears on The Good Wife as an undocumented immigrant who works as Wendy Scott-Carr's nanny. I usually enjoy how The Good Wife manages to capture the nuances of an issue, so I'm eager to see how they tackle illegal immigration.

While I've gotten sucked into a Real Housewives franchise or two (just two, I swear) I'm not usually that looking forward to the debut of a new one. However I was, at first, eager for Tuesday's debut of The Real Housewives of Miami due to rumors that the cast included out drag queen Elaine Lancaster.

Elaine Lancaster

Casting a drag queen as one of the Real Housewives just sounded brilliant and cutting-edge to me. At its smartest, drag parodies our perception of femininity while the Real Housewives shows end up taking a jaded look at how we view success and luxury. (Admittedly, some Real Housewives cast members have taken on more of a drag look and manner as the seasons go on.) Unfortunately, it turned out that Lancaster won't be a full cast member but is part of the supporting cast, like the various gay men of other Real Housewives shows.

My enthusiasm for The Real Housewives has died but I'll still check it out to see how the show includes Lancaster.

Tuesday also has a new episode of Southland while Peter and Neal try to deal with a traitorous FBI agent on a new White Collar.

It's looking like a busy week and, thankfully, Wednesday offers a little bit of a breather. We do get a new episode of Modern Family, with Cameron turning to Luke for help as he gets ready for a fund raiser and Jay wishing he never bought Gloria a karaoke machine. Wednesday also has Ant appearing in a new episode of The Middle as the family heads to New York.

Syfy has a new episode of Face Off as the remaining competitors team up to take couples and give them a gender-switch. We're down to Gage as the last gay standing, but we also haven't seen anyone step up and take Frank's place as villain of the competition so I'm not dreading a reality TV team challenge, for once.

Finally, Wednesday also has new episodes of Justified and Being Erica.

Last week, Discovery debuted a new season of Out in the Wild, the series where a group of strangers are left in the wilderness to try to survive in the harsh reality of nature. This season, the group once again includes a gay man — marketing manager Rob Lacombe — as they struggle to survive in the jungles of Venezuela. Like last year's expedition in Alaska, you've got a mix of human struggle and stunning scenery.

Just because she promised to be helpful at the end of last week's episode of The Vampire Diaries, it doesn't sound like Katherine sticks to that promise on Thursday's episode as she starts to drive everyone crazy. Meanwhile, Bonnie tries to convince Mystic Falls' other witches, Jonas and Luka to team up. No matter what show, I always seem to be drawn to the witches over any other supernatural creature, so I'm hoping Bonnie manages to create a new power dynamic in Mystic Falls. And if you're looking to discuss the latest episode, don't forget about Alessar's Vampire Diaries recaps.

Now that they're not spending all their time causing trouble in Mystic Falls, Katherine and Damon catch up on their Oprah's Book Club reading.

Thursday also brings a new night of NBC comedies with episodes of The Office, Parks & Recreation, 30 Rock and another episode of Outsourced with a story for Gupta. It's great to see Parvesh Cheena get rewarded for being so reliably funny with so many stories featuring Gupta.

fx has a new Archer, which sees Sterling's loyal servant, Woodhouse suspect foul play when members of his old Royal Flying Corps Squadron starts dying. Based on some of the previews that came out before the season began, this could be one of the season's gayer episodes.

Thursday also has new episodes of Million Dollar Listing, The Big Bang Theory, Fairly Legal and Nikita while Current takes a look at the week in media with a new infoMania.

As usual, I'm interested in hearing what show you're most eager to see in the upcoming week:

What's your show of the week for 2/18?online survey

Last week, it was a tight race between Degrassi and a Modern Family episode that saw the extended Pritchett clan gather to celebrate Lily's birthday. In the end, Degrassi took the lead earning 26% of your votes while Modern Family got 25% of your votes.

Finally, I wanted to ask again what other shows you're enjoying. In addition to shows with gay characters or performers, I try to include shows that seemed to have grabbed the attention of AfterElton readers. With that in mind, what shows are you enjoying that aren't a part of The Week in Gay TV?

Has Syfy's Being Human become a part of your weekly schedule, despite the lack of Russell Tovey? Have you been tuning in to snicker at all the talk of "glory holes" on Gold Rush: Alaska? Has Jennifer Beales made The Chicago Code into appointment television for you? Let me know in the comments!

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