Gay Taye
Bitches. Don't act surprised.
We've told you for months that this would happen and even created a special category leading up to this night. We're only very somewhat slightly a little jealous that we aren't personally locking lips with über-hottie Taye Diggs. At least there's that vicarious thrill from watching the kiss and very obvious grind between Taye and Eric McCormack.
As much as we try, we really can't get adorable Taye Diggs off the ... brain. Especially now when Taye is obviously showing much more of his gay for pay side. Besides last night's follow-up appearance on Will & Grace and his soon-to-be famous gay kiss, tover the weekend, Taye stars in a new dance play. pre.view is an original two-act piece created by his own dance troupe which we discussed in November—dre.dance—and will be presented at the Ailey Citigroup Theater.
Since we never recapped the last episode, let's take a minute to do it now and bring everyone up to speed ...
You're probably wondering how asexual Will went from an eight year dry spell to a full smack-on-the-lips ... especially with such a man. Yeah, we're wondering that, too, but it's television and the series will end during the May book. Obviously the producers want to the show to go out with a bang, and, the allusions to blind casting and inclusion of a black character boyfriend is their Aisha Tyler-Friends-we're trying to make history moment. Since the story was so well-written and they got a gay kiss from Taye, we'll forgive the eight years of Abercrombie and Chelsea clones. You can't please everyone all the time, but last night, this man was a happy camper.
Tonight's episode ("I LOVE L. GAY) was much more entertaining than Taye's first appearance. That episode was “Von Trapped” and aired Thursday, January 5. The title is a play on the Von Trapp family of the Sound of Music fame. The sing-along to the Oscar-winning musical has come to town and Grace is frantic to attend. Grace's plan: She, Will, Jack, and Karen will attend in costume ...
Grace as Maria. She's working that brim, right?
Will is Capt. Von Trapp. Love the Austrian captain's uniform but sorry, just don't see Will blowing a whistle and ordering anyone around. Come to think of it, do we see asexual Will blowing anything? Not really, much less the tall dark and handsome stranger that he meets in the movie theater lobby. "James" and Will begin flirting. There's an inside joke about Memoirs of a Geisha ... never mind.
There’s only one problem. In true sitcom fashion, Will is at the wrong theater ...
The gang is uptown at the right theater where Jack just fell in love with the boy behind the snack bar and Karen ...
Always the girl of the hour, Ms. Walker returns from the little girl's room and reaches into her huge quilted Chanel bag. "I just scored a few of my favorite things!" Really? We need her on our team.
Warning: Lots of Sound of Music puns ahead, which the theater gays such as ourselves will love.
Maria .. err, Grace ...calls Will ... err, the Cap'n ... to request his presence. "Where are you? Are you at the 39th Street entrance?"
No, sweety, I'm workin' some dark n lovely trade at 3rd and Ninth!
Taye/James offers some gayness. “39th Street? That’s ‘fa’, a long, long way to go,” he says, an obvious joke at the “Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do” song from the musical. Uh-oh: Another Broadway queen! They start flirtin' and Grace keeps callin', so we'll spare you the Noah's Arc-inspired cell phone screen caps.
Question to Will: Why would a Sound of Music sing-a-long be playing downtown? Wouldn't that be somewhat passé for the below 14th Street crowd? Silly rabbit.
Let's check in with the real stars of Will & Grace ...
Party girl Karen always comes prepared, so she's sippin' a lil somethin' in the balcony. Just like a true lady, once she's finished drinking, Karen throws her flask over the railing. "What are they going to do, throw us out or call the police?" she asks Jack. The theater manager speaks over the PA system: "When we find you, what we're going to do is through you out AND call the police!" Obviously, Jack and Karen have to leave the balcony.
No sparks with Will and James, but Karen can light up the night sky. She will be missed but did you know that Megan Mullally is getting her own talk show? We see ... lots of showtunes. Yea!
Grace's tragically un-hip governess outfit is a hit with the parents who bring their children to the theater. They assume that Ms. Adler is a babysitter. As usual, Grace's whines are on speed-dial.
Back to the lovebirds. Will is making nice with Taye/James in the South Beach-inspired cineplex bar. Taye has (thankfully) taken off his corduroy jacket and is absolutely ravishing in a powder-blue V-neck sweater that (coincidentally) matches the designer table top. Gay, gay Taye.
Brilliant.
Will and gay Taye make nice convo. Is it our imagination or was Will acting ... butch and aggressive and Taye was ... shy and demure? Taye is sipping his straw like ... like ...
Forgetaboutit. Let's not even go there.
Thankfully, Grace calls (again) and says that the theater manager is trying to find naughty Jack and Karen. Will—remember, he is a lawyer—is needed on 39th Street. Pronto.
Time to go. Notice that a newly confident Will is manhandling Taye, who has more than enough junk n da trunk ...
Where is Will looking? What is he staring at?
He's checking out Taye's bum. Why doesn't he ask for the phone number? Man it up, yo. Oh well, that sets up the story arc.
In keeping with the Sound of Music theme, Karen has changed into Mother Superior. We all should pray.
Will arrives and they all decide to hide in the storage closet. "I've been out of the closet since I was out of the womb!" Jack tells us. Later, they march out of the closet and narrowly avoid capture. Lots of product placements here ... sorry, there was a joke about Raisinettes that we can't remember.
Meanwhile ... guess who jumps on the 6 train? After Will and the Von Trapps make a hasty retreat from the theater, Taye/James walks into the lobby. He mistakes another tall, dark and bland in an Austrain captain's uniform for Will.
*Whew*
Now we're all caught up. Overnight, we'll work on tonight's episode with the kiss.
i loved it! taye looks gorgeous. clearly it was a "mismatch" but thats okay. thaks for giving us the recap tonight ... so do we get part two tomorrow? yes!
Posted by: greg | 02 February 2006 at 21:22
Oh. My. God.
The recaps are back! Work it out, Rod! We luv ya!
Posted by: patrick s | 02 February 2006 at 21:23
Your the man, Rod. That is why we keep coming back for more.
Mark
Posted by: Mark Norris | 02 February 2006 at 23:21
I think its kinda funny that you have the guy who played the character based on Jonathan Plummer and Jonathan Plummer on the same page...and its gayness all around! If everybody's gonna be gay now I'll have to turn it around and be straight....I always have to be contrary.
Posted by: DFS | 03 February 2006 at 01:25
I saw lats night episode and it was very good. "mismatch" indeed but oh so much fun.
Taye is hott! Although I did not like that white shirt covering his sexy arse!
Posted by: nahtanSerious | 03 February 2006 at 07:53
Although not particularly a fan of the show, the scene with the lip lock made it all worthwhile.
Posted by: Roger Pollard | 03 February 2006 at 09:09
Why TiVo the show when your recaps are so much more fun? Many thanks, Rod.
Posted by: Andy in Seattle | 03 February 2006 at 09:54
Damn I am soooooo jealous of McCormack. Taye Diggs is sooo hot; sure there are cuter guys out there but I hardly see anyone with a better smile than him. I have to watch it again and again lol.
Posted by: Dan Ping | 03 February 2006 at 10:39
Great recap. Now I don't feel so bad about missing the show. I haven't been a Will & Grace fan for a minute ... got bored with it I guess.
But anything that involves a black male star lip-locking a man has my vote all the way.
Kudos to Taye Diggs, since his short run TV series (which was awesome and subtly gay) ... I've had so much respect for him.
It's time we put this brother on our collective SGL pedestal ... along with the few others with the balls to buck convention.
Times are a-changin'.
Posted by: taylor Siluwé | 03 February 2006 at 12:46
god job rod because of you i remember to watch the show.i,m lovin it to bad it,s the last season. go tay go . peace love always faye
Posted by: faye | 03 February 2006 at 13:03
I loved Tay's first appearance. The first meeting, the tension... that's the best part. It's downhill after the first kiss.
But answer me this? How come I never see men like Taye out alone at the movies (esp. a movie like Memorirs)!
Posted by: khalid | 03 February 2006 at 13:07
Loved the gay lip lock, but the show sucked eggs. No humor at all. Barely any screen time between Will and Taye Diggs. Yet we're supposed to buy that these two are falling in love and can't bear to be separated? All the "jokes" fell flat- Grace's especially. Weak weak weak writing. And as fine as Taye is, he's no comedic actor. I applaud his willingness to play gay, but a funnier actor would have fit in better with the Will & Grace over the top humor. But beyond that, this show has past its expiration date. Just not at all funny anymore...It's like the writers just gave up and are biding time, cashing the last few checks until the show wraps up this May...Yawn yawn yawn...
Posted by: Kenny | 03 February 2006 at 15:34
Anyone else getting a bad vibe that either;
a) the wedding will be halted by the sudden reappearance of Leo, the Walking Yawn, or
b) we'll discover that Taye's character is using this "love" ploy to secure a new visa?
I used to have more faith in this show, but I smell either of those two cop-outs coming.
Posted by: johnny | 03 February 2006 at 18:39
i agree with some of the objections but i did not think that the show wasn't funny. it was a hell of a lot funnier than that so-called 'live' episode they did a couple weeks ago at karen's b-day celebration.
was it me or dd taye look a bit stiff (and not in a good way) when will kissed him? and did will look as if he just wanted to get the kiss over with? since i watched it about 4 times i couldn't help but notice.
good episode, and i hope that the series finale is a great end to a good show
Posted by: kristen | 04 February 2006 at 00:55
i take back a previous post i made in which i said dancing with the stars is gayer than will & grace. still to make up for the years of network enforced celibacy and/or invisible trysts will references, the series needs to end with a simultaneous o for will & tayce. and grace needs to be totally alone and not getting engaged or married again. karen needs to be passed out drunk in the sewer and jack needs to be jack-ing.
Posted by: avi | 04 February 2006 at 11:45
Johnny
I think you are right about something brewing but you are missing a huge piece...THE SHOW IS ENDING!!!
I agree that Leo is coming back and that will halt the wedding....but HELLO Gay Marriage is legal in Canada!
Will and Grace will finally have to separate...for love!
Leo will return and Grace will go with him on an exotic trip to a country she can finally locate on a map and Will and James will move to Canada and marry!
Finally these absurdly co defendants, I'm sorry I meant co dependents can sever their life crippling bond and LIVE!!!
Posted by: TheRevKev | 04 February 2006 at 22:50
I am vey fan Will and Grace. Finally they Broke gay interracial barrier.
Posted by: Capois | 05 February 2006 at 14:15
WELL, I'LL SAY.ANOTHER ONE COMES CLEAN OUT THE CLOSET.NEXT!
Posted by: ANTOINE MAHAN | 06 February 2006 at 03:25
I have fancied (worshipped) Taye for years, we don't get to see much of him in the UK unfortunatly but would love to come him and do a promotional visit, let me know when and where Taye!!!
Posted by: Martin | 06 February 2006 at 03:44
i would not kick neither of them out of my bed. although Taye is the cuter of the two. Taye if you are ever interested in men and chubby ones at that - let me know.
Posted by: gary | 06 February 2006 at 17:06
ok.....I can't go on reading these submissions. No one has mentioned the obvious. I don't mean to sound racist or anything...but isn't it getting to be a bit nerve wracking that the Black Gay Male characters on these "groundbreaking" shows ALWAYS END UP WITH A WHITE LOVE INTEREST???? I even checked out the website for "footballers wives" since I never heard of it, and there again...A BLACK MAN LOCKING LIPS WITH A WHITE MAN. I may be wrong but I do believe that these images have some type of psychological ramifications...
Posted by: longshot | 07 February 2006 at 01:55
//longshot//MONEY Shot
Madi$on Ave. demographics
in 10 years the character will be tongue locking Julio, Juan, or Rico!!!...
Posted by: divaROSSishere! | 07 February 2006 at 20:30
I will be discussion way will and grace follow sitcom convention.
so can you help me
Posted by: mona | 09 October 2006 at 06:34