Welcome to another edition of The Week in Gay TV, your guide to the shows that will be battling for your attention in the week ahead. A number of shows are taking a break before February sweeps gets going next week, though there are also several new shows making their debut including the Spartacus prequel, Gods of the Arena, a new season of RuPaul's Drag Race and more animated espionage and incompetence on Archer.

For those of you who were missing your Friday night dose of beefcake and battles since Spartacus wrapped up its first season last April, Starz returns to the gladiator arena with Spartacus: Gods of the Arena. This prequel takes a look back to examine how Batiatus rose to prominence in Roman society and, even better, gives us a chance to get to see gay gladiator Barca again.

This time we'll get to see Barca in a relationship with another gladiator, Auctus. That's quite a change of pace from his relationship with Pietros, since Auctus is an alpha male like Barca, which should let us see another side of Barca. And means Barca doesn't really have a "type."

The Onion News Network's alpha anchor Brooke Alvarez

Friday also brings a new comedy block to IFC starting with the debut of the Onion News Network, which finally brings the voice of the satirical newspaper to TV. This one looks like a pitch perfect mockery of overproduced cable news shows, with those flashy graphics, discussion panels of "experts" and egotistical hosts. I've been a longtime fan of The Onion and their short videos capture the fun of the paper edition.

Following the Onion News Network, Fred Armisen stars in a new sketch comedy series, Portlandia. The city of Portland is a unifying theme for the sketches, where a culture of social responsibility, Seattle-envy and quirkiness provides plenty of comedy inspiration, including a sketch where diners first verify how their chicken dinner was raised before ordering it.

VH1 brings a new installment of Friday Night Alright. This time the concert series will feature Vampire Weekend with out keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij. Meanwhile, the Oprah Winfrey Network has a new episode of Your OWN Show: Oprah's Search for the Next TV Star. This week, the hopeful stars have to put together a late night talk show, complete with comedy monologue. Good thing comedy is part of out competitor Ryan O'Connor's skill set.

BBC America has a new episode of Law & Order: UK and, this week, Ben Daniels' prosecutor is in the spotlight as he suspects a man released from prison after serving a sentence for sexual assault is a danger to society. That sounds familiar. I think Prosecutor Steele could spend some time with Officer Cuddlybear. Finally, Syfy has a new episode of Merlin where Merlin has to handle a goblin who lives under the castle.

Saturday is pretty quiet for gay TV but Logo is premiering the drag comedy Girls Wil Be Girls. The movie stars Evie Harris, Coco Peru and Varla Jean Merman as a trio of women living together in Hollywood. The story follows the chaos that happens when Varla moves into Evie's home, gets discovered and becomes a rising star, inspiring jealousy in Evie, a former B-list star whose best years (not very good to begin with) arew way behind her.

Not only is it a pretty fun way to spend two hours (and a good way to get in the mood for Monday's return of RuPaul's Drag Race), but the cast includes Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet in a role from before we knew him as Cameron Stewart.

Meanwhile, BBC America has a new episode of The Graham Norton Show with Matt LeBlanc, Donald Sutherland and David Mitchell. LeBlanc ends up discussing his entire career, from his modeling days, to being a part of Friends to playing a fictionalized version of himself on Episodes. I expect Graham will skip over his Married... with Children days.

Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters are taking the next few weeks off (good thing both shows ended things with a weak episode — is anyone going to spend the time wondering about William Walker's latest secret or William and Nora's secret June wedding?) However, Sunday has a new episode of Showtime's Shameless. This week transports another popular Chatsworth Estate resident to Chicago — Mandy.

Much like in the original, we first meet Mandy as a young woman with a crush on Ian. However, when he doesn't return her interest, she gets angry and sets her violent brothers after him. I'm sure fans of the original Shameless will be watching Mandy' s introduction closely for hints about the rest of her family, especially for signs of her gay brother Mickey.

Holly Madison and her friends

Sunday has a couple of gay-ish debuts, though neither of them sound particularly exciting. E! is kicking off a new season of Holly's World, featuring Holly Madison, the former co-girlfriend of Hugh Hefner. Holly's circle of friends includes Josh Strickland, an out performer who played Tarzan on Broadway. Unfortunately, the first season of Holly's World was the kind of loud and unpleasant reality TV you'd expect out of E!

Meanwhile, ABC Family's latest movie is Mean Girls 2, a direct-to-basic-cable sequel to the hit 2004 comedy. If you think making a sequel to Mean Girls without a script by Tina Fey sounds like a bad idea, try to imagine such a sequel on a basic cable budget. Still, I figure those of you who appreciate bad movies might enjoy analyzing all the bad choices at work.

PBS dramas come and go quickly, due to being rather short, so I missed that Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Classic has a gay character, Thomas, a servant looking to get himself a nicer lot in life. Two episodes have aired so far, but Michael has the information to get you caught up. I have to admit, it sounds pretty interesting.

CBS is airing a special Sunday episode of Hawaii 5-O, as the team races a tsunami as they investigate the disappearance of the head of the Tsunami Warning Center. Fox has a new episode of The Simpsons which sees Homer become a fan of a 80s sitcom written by David Mamet. The Worst Cooks in America learn how to grill a burger and prepare a meal for two. Finally, Danielle Fishel takes a look at the week in pop culture with a new episode of The Dish.

Get ready for more drag and drama on Monday when the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race starts Monday night. This season starts in a big way with a casting special, the first challenge as well as a look at the behind-the scene drama with an episode of Untucked. Plus there are rumors that there may be a surprise addition to this year's dolls.

The first two seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race has been ridiculously addictive, a show that compels you to look for a watercooler where people are discussing the previous night's episode. That looks likely to continue with a promising cast and guest-judges including Lily Tomlin, Margaret Cho and LaToya Jackson. And we'll be recapping this season so look for own Dennis Ayer's snark late on Monday nights!

The CW's Monday dramas return with new episodes, including a new 90210. I'm not sure we'll see Teddy get a lot of screen time. Mr. Cannon is back to terrorize Naomi and Silver, so that sounds like something that will fill most of the episode. Still, we'll get to see Dixon have that "I saw who you were kissing" discussion with Teddy. Also, apparently we'll see Teddy fill out a wet suit.

So far, this has been another hit-and-miss season of Gossip Girl but Monday's new episode has guest appearances by Michael Boatman (who will always be Spin City's Carter Haywood to me) and Tika Sumpter (who you might remember as Oliver Fish's former roommate). Boatman is a man who used to do business with Bart Bass and is looking to take care of some unfinished business with Chuck. That unfinished business couldn't be any less interesting than Juliet's plotting against Serena, can it?

While he's won over plenty of fans among Greek viewers, we haven't really gotten to know Beaver. Monday's new episode of Greek focuses on the Kappa Tau brother who has supplied plenty of laughs, even though we don't know his real name. There's no mention of Calvin in the episode description, but this picture makes me think I might be able to overlook that, for once.

ABC Family also has a new Pretty Little Liars on Monday. Meanwhile, those of you going through Sam Adama withdrawal ever since Caprica ended might want to check out Monday's House since Sasha Roiz will make an appearance.

Finally, Tabatha's Salon Takeover heads to Massachusetts on Monday to shape up a salon run by an abrasive and stubborn owner. Hasn't anyone learned about trying to take on Tabatha in a battle of wills?

Tuesday is an especially quiet day of TV as the broadcast networks will be focusing on the State of the Union address. However, WeTV is debuting a new reality show, Joan & Melissa, which follows comedy icon Joan Rivers as she moves into her daughter's California home. Honestly, Rivers was never on my celebrity reality TV wish list, but I know she has her gay fans.

A winner will be crowned Tuesday in the season finale of The Fashion Show. When this show debuted, I thought it had potential but now I find myself skipping right to the end. Splitting the designers into two fashion houses could have been interesting if only the producers didn't keep moving people from one house to another. This turned out to be an uninspired Project Runway season where every challenge was a team challenge.

TNT has a new episode of Southland, which sees Cooper teach Ben about making a death notification. USA has a new White Collar flashback, looking at how Peter and Neal first ran into each other. Finally, Ted Allen returns for another three courses of competition on a new Chopped.

Wednesday's yet another quiet day of TV (sorry!) with one new show making its debut. The Syfy Channel has a new reality competition show, Face Off which will see special effect makeup artists compete in a variety of challenges. Sometimes these shows end up offering plenty of insight on a creative professions, while other times it turns out there are only a few different ways to challenge a professional. Hopefully, Face Off will give us new reason to appreciate the work of makeup artists.

Meanwhile, Modern Family is taking the week off but ABC has a new episode of Cougar Town, which sees the gang have to deal with a new hide-and-go-seek game invented by Jules and TV Land has a new Hot in Cleveland.

Thursday brings a new season of espionage missions that take a back seat to petty, personal concerns when Archer kicks off its second season. In addition to the homoerotic humor, this season we'll get to see more of gay agent Ray Gillette as the character gets upgraded to recurring status. The timing is good, after watching the debut of Retired at 35 last week, I could use a reminder of how amazing Jessica Walter can be when given a good script.

That's not the only show returning Thursday as The Vampire Diaries ends its winter hiatus. A few weeks ago, I was telling my partner how sci-fi shows usually have their best stories in the second season, when they don't have to establish the premise to viewers and can dig into the depth of their mythologies. We're definitely seeing that with The Vampire Diaries this season as we're learning what makes Elena special and meeting the oldest of the vampires. I can't wait to get back to Mystic Falls.

Thursday also brings a new episode of Nikita. New agent Alex finally gets out of the Division's training cave and into her own apartment and cover job. Since Nikita is still working at holding on to The Vampire Diaries' audience, Alex's new apartment comes with a hunky neighbor played by The Young and the Restless' Thad Luckinbill.

Thursday also brings a new night of NBC's comedy line-up including Parks & Recreation, 30 Rock and (sigh) Outsourced. Meanwhile, Ethan Embry will appear again on Fairly Legal as Kate takes the case of a man who was wrongfully imprisoned.

As usual, I'm curious about which of this week's debuts has you the most excited:

What's your show of the week for 1/21?online surveys

Last week, White Collar turned out to be the show you were most eager to see back on your schedule, earning 31% of your votes. The Golden Globes came in second with 20%. Despite resistance to seeing popular British series being Americanized, Being Human came in third earning 16% of the total.

Next week, sees the highly-anticipated Syfy original movie Mega Python vs Gatoroid which stars Debbie Gibson and Tiffany as well as the return of Madison Hildebrand in the new season of Million Dollar Listing,