Dual Current

Charming doesn't
begin to describe Max Lugavere and Jason Silva. I meet the
original hosts of Al Gore's cable network Current TV at a
trendy restaurant close to their apartment in Los Angeles, and
soon the pair have convinced me to try a Belgian white beer
when I had planned on keeping it professional and sticking to
bottled water. I quickly get the sense that best friends and
roommates Silva and Lugavere have this effect on everyone.

For the past four years
they have been mainstays on Current TV, which Silva describes
as "the HBO of the YouTube Generation." Besides being
hosts, Silva (the one with the lighter, shorter hair) and
Lugavere (darker, longer hair) produce their own content for
the 50-million-household (and growing) cable network, which
relies on video submitted by viewers as its main source of
programming.

Silva and Lugavere have
an easy manner that belies their intense drive
to explore challenging subjects and get to the bottom
of big issues. But for viewers hoping to find them on the air
on some sort of regular basis, there was a challenge.

"We were the
omnipresent default guys," Lugavere explains, noting that
it was difficult if not impossible to tell anyone when to tune
in to find them on air since the network lacked a dedicated
schedule. But after four years of popping up everywhere, Silva
and Lugavere have finally gotten a regular slot, airing their
show
Max and Jason: Still Up

Monday through Friday at midnight on the East Coast, 9 p.m. on
the West.

"They are finally
turning to appointment viewing," Lugavere says of the
network, which is airing a
Max and Jason

gay rights special April 30. Segments include a look at the
2008 marriage amendment fight in Wisconsin, the phenomenon of
white gay men adopting black children, and monogamy among young
same-sex couples in the wake of Prop. 8.

Many of the
special's segments have aired on Current
previously, but the "libertarian techo-optimists," as
Silva and Lugavere call themselves, say they were inspired to
put together the hour after seeing
Milk

screenwriter Dustin Lance Black accept his Oscar on this year's
Academy Awards telecast. "We loved his speech," Silva
said.

"We picked the
segments," Lugavere explains. "We basically set the
context for each piece."

"We're
conversationalists and curators," Silva adds. "There
are a variety of different perspectives."