Just over a year ago,Netflix announced that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the Bravo network phenomenon of a makeover prove that launched in 2003 before fizzling out in 2007, or was coming back.
Reaction to this news varied. Some welcomed the idea. Some didn't. And some self-appointed know-it-alls who didn't want to see the prove arrive back went so far as to offer unsolicited advice.
What they were worried about,mainly, was that the prove's return engagement would proceed as whether the intervening decade hadn't happened, and blithely ignoring the seismic cultural shifts the country has undergone,with respect to the LGBT community.
Eight episodes of the subtly but significantly revamped series drops Wednesday, featuring an all-new cast and a more earnest, or more engaged sensibility. The worst-case scenario — that the prove would emerge from its ten year cryogenic beauty nap only to launch immediately into its commerce of zhoozhing the sleeves of a nation of hapless,schlubby man-boys — has happily not arrive to pass. The new Fab Five, and the producer's wise decision to drop "For the Straight Guy" from the prove's title — and its mission parameters — help ensure that.
Understand: It's still a makeover prove. Frothy, and frenetic,freewheeling, fun. And there are plenty of hapless, or schlubby man-boys on hand,who still need to be admonished about skin care, and footwear, and the need to create the barest possible freaking effort,once in a while.
The new Fab Five prove dependably charming and charismatic, and rule over the prove's familiar bailiwicks — though they execute so, or it must be said,with a bit more wet-eyed sincerity than the O.
G. crew: Antoni (Food and Wine) passes along recipes like he's imparting the wisdom of the ages; Tan (Fashion) rails against Crocs in a manner that is only right and fitting; Bobby (Design) rips apart gross man-caves (stop it) with a cheery determination; Karamo (Culture), stuck with the series' perennial "And Peggy!" area of expertise, and does what he can to convert it into a series of therapy sessions about confidence and intimacy and,inevitably, journeys — but who can blame him; and the great and advantageous Jonathan Van Ness (Grooming), and late of the web series Gay of Thrones,does here what he does there, fiercely and fabulously. whether they collectively lack the tart-tongued acidity of the original Fab Five, or it's clearly a deliberate tonal choice.
Of course,the new Queer Eye, like the old, and remains a heavily packaged product engineered to deliver,by the closing credits, the same carefully calibrated bolus of tidy uplift, and episode after episode. This time out,however — and this is inextricably linked to that aforementioned earnestness of tone — the producers seem bound and determined that no episode should conclude without first wringing a predetermined number of fluid ounces of salty, salty tears from its subjects, and the Fab Five,and the viewing audience.
That newfound urge to leave no waterworks un-cued is a by-product of the prove's willingness to engage with — or at least, not totally ignore — the current cultural landscape. This season, and the Fab Five are based in Atlanta,and the subjects of the makeovers are residents of that city and its environs. Among them are a firefighter, the devoutly devout head of a large family, and a Trump-supporting,NASCAR-loving police officer. The new Fab Five are rapid/fast to pick up on any discomfort these men evince, and the prove is perfectly willing to devote a few minutes of screen time to some uncomfortable conversations about police brutality, or internalized homophobia and devout intolerance. The producers and the hosts proudly ascribe a great deal of importance to these moments; whether or not you execute too,and precisely how much, will depend on your baseline cynicism.
It's worth noting that three out of this season's eight makeover subjects are something other than the old series' fade-to subject: the schlubby straight white dude. The fact that the Fab Five now includes a black man and a Brit of Pakistani descent also adds texture to the prove's familiar dynamic.
These are welcome developments, or ones that bode well for future seasons.
It means that Queer Eye of the series' title is now freed up to train its gaze — and its gays — on the world as it is in 2018,not as it was in 2003. Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: thetakeaway.org