‘Queer Eye’ turns 20: How the makeover show changed reality TV as we know it

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who remembers when “Queer Eye” came with a “Straight Guy.”

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As creator David Collins explains for the uninitiated in this week’s Guest Spot, the reality franchise premiered 20 years ago this month as “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” its five-season run auguring Bravo’s transformation into a reality TV juggernaut — and, since 2018, inspiring seven seasons of Netflix revival “Queer Eye.”

Also in Screen Gab No. 89, our editor returns from vacation to catch up with “The Bear,” viewing recommendations for your weekend and more.

ICYMI

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Jenny Han.

(Jane Kim / For The Times)

The Jenny Han Effect: How the YA rock star took charge of her own media empire: “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” “XO, Kitty.” With three hit book-to-screen franchises, bestselling author turned showrunner Jenny Han shares how she built her YA media empire to last.

How ‘Nimona’ survived a studio shutdown among many challenges on its way to the screen: Inside the fight to keep “Nimona” alive so the adaptation of ND Stevenson’s acclaimed graphic novel could make it to a screen near you.

‘Secret Invasion’ star Emilia Clarke shuts down ‘stigma’ against Marvel actors: The actor explains why the MCU attracts an all-star roster of performers and looks back at “sad” and “confusing” times on “Game of Thrones.”

‘Euphoria’s’ Dominic Fike is on the verge of pop stardom, whether he likes it or not: With a new album and tour in front of him, and a hardscrabble past and high-profile relationship behind him, musician-actor Dominic Fike is ready for a fresh start.

Turn on

Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Carol Kane as Pelia in “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.”

(Paramount+)

The “Star Trek”-iest of “Star Trek” spinoffs, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” has returned for a second season on Paramount+, with Anson Mount as Capt. Christopher Pike at the helm of the pre-Shatner Enterprise, more than assisted by younger Spock (Ethan Peck) and Uhura (Celia Rose Gooding) and fleshed-out versions of Number One (Rebecca Romijn) and Nurse Christine Chapel (Jess Bush). The new season has so far spotlighted on Spock, taking command on a rogue mission; Number One, in an episode that, in the best series tradition, shines a light on faults not in the stars but our contemporary selves (they’re looking at you, difference-fearing humans); and security chief Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh (Christina Chong) in a time-travel story that pairs her with an alternate-reality James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley). But of the good things the new season brings, nothing is better than the casting of the great and wonderful Carol Kane, as chief engineer Pelia, playing a fresh, literal variation on the delightful alien otherness that has long characterized her career. —Robert Lloyd

Koysta Samarskyi, left, and Leonie Biggs in “Dancing Queens.”

(Bravo)

“Dancing Queens” (Bravo) combines the interpersonal clashes of the “Real Housewives” franchise with the precise choreography of “Dancing With the Stars.” It follows a group of well-off women who recreationally participate in Pro-Am dance competitions (the women are amateur dancers, the men are professional partners). The eight episodes are an intriguing introduction to this costly hobby — the ladies pay to employ their partners, reserve rehearsal spaces and travel to various major cities for competitions, each of which require extensive hair, makeup and costumes — and dip into storylines about sizeism, self-doubt and to what degree a mother is “allowed” to partake in a pastime for herself. It’d be a sadder series if all their efforts were made in vain, but thankfully, they do dance very, very well. —Ashley Lee

Catch up

Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s talking about

Jeremy Allen White in Season 2 of “The Bear.”

(Chuck Hodes / FX)

I spent my recent summer vacation blissfully unaware of most entertainment news, but I did fixate on one to-do list item I left behind: Watching the most stressful show on television. In that, the second season of “The Bear” (Hulu) doesn’t disappoint, punctuated as it is by permitting requirements, mold scares, Christmastime feasts and existential crises, all on the tightest timeline for opening a Michelin-starred restaurant in culinary history.

Still, for all of the tension built into the conceit of a mercurial chef (Jeremy Allen White) and his ambitious protégé (Ayo Edebiri) attempting to turn Chicago’s Original Beef into the Bear in three months’ time with the very premises as collateral, Part II soars highest when the anxiety melts fleetingly away. Reserving its softest touch for supporting characters just coming into bloom, like aspiring sous Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), seizing her opportunity with the satisfying whir of a sharp knife, or pastry whiz Marcus (Lionel Boyce), building confidence through the hushed instruction of a Copenhagen stage, the series turns out to be even more successful when it evinces a taste for texture instead of showing off its outright force (sorry, “Fishes”). After all, it’s the season’s sanguine images — of an old flame, an eating tour, a karaoke classic — I’m pinning to my mental cork board for when the next shoe drops. Because in life as in “The Bear,” it always does. —Matt Brennan

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Antoni Porowski, left, Tan France, Karamo Brown, Jonathan Van Ness and Bobby Berk in the latest season of “Queer Eye.”

(Netflix)

It was a highly productive spring for unscripted powerhouse Scout Productions, with “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” (Peacock), “The Secrets of Hillsong” (FX, Hulu) and “MerPeople” (Netflix) all premiering within weeks of each other in April and May. But that’s nothing compared to the milestone the shingle marks this month with the 20th anniversary of landmark makeover show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” — now just “Queer Eye,” which was revived (and refined) by Netflix in 2018 and recently premiered its New Orleans-set seventh season. In an era when same-sex marriage was only just beginning its life as a political hot potato and LGBTQ+ people were even rarer on TV than they are now, the Bravo original, for all its stereotypical foibles, grabbed hold of the zeitgeist and tried, valiantly, to zhuzh it up. To mark the anniversary, which Bravo will celebrate with a marathon of the original on Thursday, Scout co-founder and “Queer Eye” creator David Collins stopped by Screen Gab to discuss the series’ imprint on reality TV as we know it, what he’s watching and more. —Matt Brennan

What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?

I just finished watching my friend Michael Costigan’s new series “Based on a True Story” on Peacock. It’s truly bingeable television. I watched all the episodes in one sitting. Fun, fast ride. Great current modern story, amazing cast and an awesome script.

What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?

I’m not sure that my “go-to” would be considered comfort programming, but “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” [VOD, multiple platforms] has been my favorite film since my freshman year in college. I’ve watched it probably over 100 times. I know every word and every scene. It’s truly perfect filmmaking.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of “Queer Eye” — a hugely influential but not uncontroversial show. What’s one thing about the original that wouldn’t fly today? What’s one thing that was ahead of its time?

We’re not going after the “straight” guy anymore. Instead, everyone is part of the queer eye. What worked then and now quite simply is authentic storytelling, seeing each other’s humanity through sharing our truths. “Queer Eye” has always just simply been a unique perspective — a shift in all of our perspectives, for the better, hopefully.

You co-founded Scout in 1994, when unscripted TV was still in its relative infancy. Describe the moment when it first struck you that unscripted would be so central to the future of the medium.

In a nutshell, Bravo ingeniously developed programming around the five verticals of “Queer Eye”: fashion, grooming, interior design, culture, and food & wine. I have distinct memories of watching shows like “Top Chef” and “Project Runway,” experiencing that exhilarating realization that all unscripted possibilities were within reach — every story, every vertical, every genre just waiting to be explored! Bravo established the benchmark for early unscripted content.

What’s next

Listings coordinator Matt Cooper highlights the TV shows and streaming movies to keep an eye on.

Fri., July 7

“The Ashley Madison Affair” (Hulu): Cheaters never prosper but facilitating infidelity can be quite profitable, as revealed in this new three-part exposé about the infamous dating website.

“Hack My Home” (Netflix): Families living in close quarters get a little extra elbow room courtesy of four crafty interior designers in this new home renovation series.

“The Horror of Dolores Roach” (Prime Video): A recent parolee (Justina Machado) gets a gig as a masseuse in the basement of an empanada shop — and then things get weird in this darkly comic drama.

“The Out-Laws” (Netflix): They’re like any in-laws except they’re also notorious bank robbers in this 2023 caper starring Pierce Brosnan, Ellen Barkin, Nina Dobrev and Adam Devine.

“Family Law” (The CW, 8 p.m.): If it please the court, this father-daughter comedy starring Victor Garber (“Alias”) and “Firefly’s” Jewel Staite is back for its sophomore season.

“The 100 Days” (KOCE, 8 and 9 p.m.): New episodes of the history series revisit the 1956 Suez Crisis and the 1968 assassination of civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Ready to Love” (OWN, 8 p.m.): They’re Black, single and looking to mingle in new episodes of the dating series. Tommy Miles hosts.

Sat., July 8

“Greatest Geek Year Ever: 1982” (The CW, 8 p.m.): Nerd alert! “E.T.,” “Blade Runner” and “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” are among the hit films from that fateful year remembered in this new four-part series.

“A Royal Christmas Crush” (Hallmark, 8 p.m.): A visiting architect hooks up with a hunky Nordic prince in this new holiday romance. With Katie Cassidy.

“V.C. Andrews’ Dawn” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.): “Stargirl’s” Brec Bassinger stars as the titular heroine in the first of four new TV movies adapted from the bestselling author’s “Dawn Cutler” novels.

Sun., July 9

“See It Loud: The History of Black Television” (CNN, 6 and 9 p.m.): The 1970s sitcom “The Jeffersons” and the historic miniseries “Roots” are among the shows celebrated in this new docuseries.

“Trapped in the Farmhouse” (Lifetime, 8 p.m.): Could be worse, could be cooped up in the chicken coop in this new thriller. Jenna Michno stars.

“Celebrity Family Feud” (ABC, 9 p.m.): Survey says … this prime-time game show hosted by Steve Harvey is back with new episodes.

“Grantchester” (KOCE, 9 p.m.): A vicar and police detective walk into a fifth season of this mystery drama. With Tom Brittney and Robson Green.

“Luann & Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake” (Bravo, 9 and 9:30 p.m.): The two “Real Housewives” regulars leave the Big Apple behind in this new spinoff.

“Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York” (HBO, 9 p.m.): A dark chapter in LGBTQ+ history in the 1990s is illuminated in this new four-part docuseries.

“Domina” (MGM+, 9 p.m.): All roads lead to a second season of this historical drama set in ancient Rome. With Kasia Smutniak.

“Running Wild With Bear Grylls” (Nat Geo, 9 p.m.): “The Hangover’s” Bradley Cooper hangs out with Grylls in the badlands of Wyoming in the season premiere.

“D.I. Ray” (KOCE, 10 p.m.): “ER’s” Parminder Nagra stars as a British Asian police detective in this new mystery drama.

“Never Say Never With Jeff Jenkins” (Nat Geo, 10 p.m.): The travel blogger takes it to the limit one more time in this new outdoor adventure series.

Mon., July 10

“London Kills” (Acorn TV): Murder will out as the police procedural returns for a third season. With Hugo Speer.

“The Price Is Right at Night” (CBS, 8 p.m.): Drew Carey and company bid adieu to the long-running game show’s longtime home at CBS Television City in a special prime-time episode.

“90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way” (TLC, 8 p.m.): My Bonnie lies over the ocean in the unscripted series’ fifth season.

“Secrets of Playboy” (A&E, 9 p.m.): Return with us now to the house Hugh Hefner built in Season 2 of this investigative series.

“BBQ Brawl” and “BBQ USA” (Food Network, 9 and 10:30 p.m.): They’re getting up in each other’s grills in the unscripted series’ season premieres.

“Lil Jon Wants to Do What?” (HGTV, 9 p.m.): The “Turn Down for What” rapper turns up with new episodes of his home renovation series.

“POV” (KOCE, 10 p.m.): Korean American filmmaker So Yun Um explores the immigrant experience, the 1992 L.A. uprising and more in the potent 2022 documentary “Liquor Store Dreams.”

“Flip the Strip” (HGTV, 10 p.m.): Male strippers in Las Vegas are making moves in the home renovation game in this new series.

“Secrets of Miss America” (A&E, 10 p.m.): This new four-part exposé rummages around for skeletons in the closet of the storied beauty pageant.

“Dark Marvels” (History, 10 p.m.): Sit right back in your electric chair and enjoy this new series about the history of fatal contraptions.

“Miracle Workers” (TBS, 10 and 10:30 p.m.): It’s the end of the world as they know it in the comedy anthology’s postapocalyptic fourth season. With Daniel Radcliffe.

Tue., July 11

“Betrayal: The Perfect Husband” (Hulu): Spoiler alert: He was far from perfect in this new true-crime series based on the podcast.

“Myth of the Zodiac Killer” (Peacock): This new documentary reexamines the case of the sinister figure who terrorized Northern California in the late 1960s.

“MLB All-Star Game” (Fox, 5 p.m.): Pro baseball’s finest take the field at T-Mobile Park in Seattle in this year’s contest.

“Frontline” (KOCE, 9 p.m.): The new episode “Putin’s Crisis” takes a long, hard look at recent challenges to the Russian leader’s hold on power.

“Caught in the Act: Unfaithful” (MTV, 9 p.m.): Players gonna play in new episodes of this reality series. With host Tami Roman.

“Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories With David Rubenstein” (KOCE, 10 p.m.): The Statue of Liberty is up next in a new episode of the history series.

Wed., July 12

“The Afterparty” (Apple TV+): Ain’t no party like an afterparty because an afterparty don’t stop in Season 2 of this mystery comedy. With Tiffany Haddish.

“Quarterback” (Netflix): Get up close and personal with NFL stars Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins and Marcus Mariota in this new docuseries.

“The 2023 Espys” (ABC, 8 p.m.): The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team is singled out for special honors at the annual awards ceremony.

Thu., July 13

“Full Circle” (Max): An attempted kidnapping sets events in motion in this new miniseries from Steven Soderbergh. With Claire Danes and Timothy Olyphant.

“Gray Matter” (Max): A young woman tries to get a handle on her emerging superpowers in this 2023 sci-fi thriller. With Mia Isaac.

“The Jewel Thief” (Hulu): Meet a Canadian criminal mastermind who was a one-man “Ocean’s 11” in this new true-crime documentary.

“Pretty Problems” (Hulu): A middle-class couple gets a close-up look at the lifestyles of the rich and famous in this 2022 dark comedy. With Kestrin Pantera.

“Project Greenlight: A New Generation” (Max): More aspiring filmmakers get a shot at the brass ring in this reboot of the unscripted series.

“Survival of the Thickest” (Netflix): A plus-sized gal (Michelle Buteau) presses forward following a bad breakup in this new comedy series.

“The Blacklist” (NBC, 8 and 9 p.m.): Red, we hardly knew ye! This drama starring James Spader as a reformed criminal mastermind ends its run after 10 seasons.

“Eli Roth Presents: A Ghost Ruined My Life” (Travel, 9 p.m.): And I’m having a hard time keeping my spirits up in new episodes of the supernatural series.

“What We Do in the Shadows” (FX, 10 and 10:30 p.m.): The vampires strike back for a fifth season of this satirical series. With Matt Berry.

“Help! My House Is Haunted” (Travel, 10 p.m.): Haunted, I tells ya! The paranormal series returns for another season.