Flipping the Script

From parents to private eyes, gay characters and story lines fill the 2010-2011 TV schedule like no other in recent memory. There's plenty worth TiVoing.

Returning series. Bob and Lee may have split up at the end of last season, but fans of Desperate Housewives can rest assured that Wisteria Lane's gay couple is coming back. Bob (Tuc Watkins) will get more screen time--he's now a series regular. On Brothers and Sisters, Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) and Kevin (Matthew Rhys) have a baby, and Uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin) deals with his HIV diagnosis. And on Glee, Kurt (Chris Colfer) lands a beau, while Jane Lynch continues to raise hell as nasty cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester--and both actors are Emmy nominees! Also, both Britneys (the Cheerio and the pop tart) get their own episode.

HBO's Bored to Death will feature LGBT story lines throughout its second season, including private detective Jonathan Ames (Jason Schwartzman) taking on a transgender case.

Who is coming out? Will it be the jock, the rebel, or the boy next door? Reps for the CW's 90210 are keeping mum but promise one of the characters played by leading men Trevor Donovan, Matt Lanter, or Michael Steger will join our team this fall. On CBS's The Good Wife, private investigator Kalinda (Emmy nominee Archie Panjabi) doesn't like to talk about her personal life, but she sure enjoys the company of both men and women. Audiences should learn more about Kalinda in season 2.

New shows. ABC legal drama The Whole Truth delves deep into a murder investigation, but it's gay lawyer Alejo Salazar (Anthony Ruivivar) and his high-powered D.C. politician partner that really make this show enticing. In the ABC comedy Happy Endings, a tight-knit circle--including gay pal Max (Adam Pally)--reacts to a couple's breakup within their group. NBC drama Chase, about a female U.S. marshal, costars L Word favorite Rose Rollins. It should come as no surprise that there's a gay character in Hellcats, the CW's college cheerleading comedy.

Favorite gay actors. Emmy nominee Neil Patrick Harris returns for a sixth season as womanizer Barney Stinson on CBS's How I Met Your Mother. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, fresh off his first Emmy nod, is raising a baby with his partner on ABC's Modern Family. Lesbian actress Jasika Nicole returns to the Fox thriller Fringe as FBI agent Astrid Farnsworth, while Advocate cover gal Cynthia Nixon returns to the small screen with a role on new Showtime cancer dramedy The Big C.