The Third Decade

Episode Six

Thanks to iTunes, I'm all caught up with this season of Noah's Arc. I'll admit that I was less than thrilled with developments last season, but this year I'm looking forward to each new episode. Now that six episodes have aired, we're probably halfway through the second season and I can safely say that this one is better than the last. The characters are more nuanced, the actors seem more comfortable in their roles, and the story lines are much more interesting than last year's. I'm impressed that the show has made more serious efforts to address relationships in the age of AIDS, child rearing by gay parents, and gay bashing all in the first half of the season. Unlike last year, it looks like the my new favorite foursome (first it was Seinfeld and crew, then the Sex and the City girls, now these guys) has some real issues to deal with. I was disappointed with how last season ended. Now I'm eager to see where this one is going. Keep the intensity coming, fellas.

Off the Arc?

Thanks to the boyfriend’s TiVo, I watched the end of Noah’s Arc this weekend. I’ve been supportive of the show’s premise throughout its run, despite some of its flawed elements, so I was looking forward to seeing how it would end. Well, after watching this weekend, I dunno if I’d watch it again if and when it comes back with new episodes. Here’s how I see it: after giving each of the four main characters an increasing amounts of nuanced texture and depth, the show concludes with all four of them jumping around like a quartet of fools. Noah’s man (the homothug) stormed away after causing a fight at Chance’s wedding. Chance’s husband was accidentally knocked out and suffered a concussion at the commitment ceremony thereby leaving Chance with no one to celebrate with on his wedding night. Alex embarrasses himself and his boyfriend by proposing at Chance’s ceremony. Finally, Ricky is just a hot mess after dissing a guy he admitted falling in love with because of the difference in their AIDS status. Yet, despite all that, the four engage in a group hug and jump and laugh together in the final scene.

What the hell?! Why did the commitment ceremony have to serve as the scene of buffoonery and farce? One would think that ceremonies like that would be celebrated by the gay media. Why did Noah have to screw up a relatively successful relationship? He and Wade were on the verge of working through their problems and now they’ve reverted back to type: the flighty queen and the cynical homothug. And why did Ricky have to diss Junito by fooling around with another guy? Again, this would’ve been a groundbreaking means for the gay community to see our men defying stereotype and acting responsibly and knowledgably in the name of love. Instead we’re fed the same ol’ stereotypes of jealousy, promiscuity, and violence. When is the community going to take control and present positive images of itself for once? Why do we need to keep spiraling in the same sad direction?

Despite all this, I’ll still look forward to next season. But, if the same tired drama continues to play out in the storylines, I may jump ship and leave the Arc.

Noah's Arc

Everyday I get messages in my inbox from a Yahoo group I'm in called DRUMBEAT, which bills itself as the National Black SGL/LGBT Listserve. While a lot of the messages are notices about speaking appearances by famous Black authors, writers, musicians, requests for submissions to publications, or calls for political action on a citywide, regional, or national scale, usually there's some lighter fare regarding television and entertainment from a member named Audacity.

Audacity is pretty good at keeping people informed about new shows and series. Specifically, I was glad to hear about a show on Logo called Noah's Arc. From what I read briefly, Noah's Arc was being billed as the Black version of Queer As Folk. From what I actually saw of the show, however, Noah's Arc doesn't quite follow QAF's form. The show is a lot more Sex and the City than Queer As Folk. Although I wouldn't say that the four main characters (or even some of the subcharacters) were a good representation of the diversity in the gay Black community, it was still very nice to see attractive, successful, gay, Black men on TV. They have their quirks and issues but that will make it all the more interesting to see how the character and storylines develop over the course of the seven-episode run. I'm hoping they'll become more complex and less stereotypical. Overall, this is a refreshing change of pace from what's normally on. Plus, from what I read on Keith Boykin's website, the show definitely has people talking.