The Amazing A-List

Going back through my posts I have noticed one glaring hole: I haven't even touched The A-List! I really don't know how I let this show slip by without comment, but I did and I feel terrible about it… so I'm going to rectify that right now!

What In The World Is A-List?

To imagine what exactly The A-List is, first picture The Real Housewives of whothehellcares. Now imagine those housewives went out and had a sordid affair with some Brazilian gardeners. And that copulation made a baby. So then the Housewife tried to hide the baby by sending it off to live with her sister in East Bufu. But then that child comes back to the family as an emotionally stunted adult and tries to raise hell. Oh, and he's gay. Like, really gay…. Pony rides on rainbows in waterfalls of raining men gay. That's The A-List.

In a more concrete sense, the A-List is a reality show based on the lives of a few well-off New York gay men. It is a direct rip of the Real Housewives series without apology. In fact, when it was originally conceived it was called Kept and was going to be about gay men of affluence who rely on their partner for income. But somewhere along the way that idea transformed into the monstrosity that is A-List, and I couldn't be happier.

The theory goes that these fellas are the crème de la crème of New York gay society. They exist above the fray, only attend the classiest of to dos, and dare not mingle with the common non-pretty folk. As a result, their lives are full of whimsy and fabulousness. Of course, as is the case for all reality shows, we are shown that these boys are about as posh as bringing a six-pack of Heineken to a wine party, at that's truly the fun of it all.

Oook… And That Was Entertaining?

The show was pure magic. The cast interacted in fun, dramatic, and catty ways, the production value was pretty solid, and even the scripted events weren't too terribly obvious. There wasn't much about the show I would change, to be honest. Well… perhaps there is one thing I would change: if you are going to call your show A-List and then have half of the cast be job-less, getting fired from jobs, or just generally being a normal everyday gay, you should probably find a more appropriate title. But that's just semantics because the show was a blast.

I've said before that the way to my heart with television shows is to relate it to me somehow, and a show pack full of gay does that pretty well. So I may be a bit bias when I say that I think the show was highly entertaining. I found myself tuning in every week just to see the newest drama between cast member Austin and whoever bothered to talk to him, or to watch in amazement as yet another person let Reichen just glide through life on nothing but his aging baby blues, or to take notes as Ryan effortlessly floats in the background stirring the proverbial pot, all the while staying out of the fray and looking angelic.

The lure of reality shows like this is simply that we, the average folk, get a peek into the lives of those more financially privileged than us and see that they tend to be just as screwed up and possibly twice as insane as we are. And A-List delivered on every front. A former model that acts like a raging diva at every turn, a former reality show winner who's self-importance is constantly fed by his remoras, a successful talent agent who can't seem to form meaningful relationships because he sees average people as beneath him, a well-off socialite who relies on his less-well-off friend/employee to do his dirty work… I mean, this is just great stuff!

Only one cast member managed to stay out of the fray, and the producers rightly minimized his role in the show. Mike Ruiz is actually successful and actually well connected, and he decided that to stay that way he should avoid the pit of vipers at all costs. Good for him, but that's just not very entertaining television.

But Should You Watch It?

The show hasn't come without it's share of controversy. I'll talk about the validity and complete ridiculousness of the controversy surrounding the show in another post, but I feel that it bears mentioning that there are some gay folk who are not fans of the show. At all. And not because they don't appreciate the genre or they thought the quality was poor. No, their dislike was mainly political, but I'll get into that another time.

I liked the show. I really, thoroughly enjoyed it. Generally I dislike the "Real Housewives" genre of reality TV, but I enjoyed A-List. That said, I would recommend the show to anyone needing some filler content between now and when your regular stories start back up in January and February. I'm not sure if it works outside of the US, but if you're in the US you can watch the whole show on Logo's website. It's only 10 episodes long, so there's no huge time commitment, but what is there is quite fun. Enjoy!