BIG GAY SKETCH SHOW, THE: THE COMPLETE UNRATED FIRST SEASON - DVD review

"The Big Gay Sketch Show" is a bold experiment. Produced for the ad supported Logo cable network, the program is targeted to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Even though the cast is comprised of both queer and straight performers, each skit it geared toward the community. Much in the same way "Saturday Night Live" or "Mad TV" casts its topics to the widest possible audience, each and every sketch celebrates the gay community. Whether it be versions of classic sitcoms replacing the traditional heterosexual characters with gay equivalents or producing wholly original personalities, "The Big Gay Sketch Show" pioneers new television ground.

In the six episode first season, the growing pains of a new series are on full display. Despite the veterans in front of and behind the scenes-Rosie O'Donnell is a producer, "Married…with Children" alum Amanda Bearse is the series director, Johnny "The Gay Pimp" McGovern gets copious amounts of screen time-there is a rough feeling to the first two or three episodes, as if no one is quite sure which sketch is going to work and which won't. The series does start with a bang, however, with a riff on "The Facts of Life" showcasing a romance between Jo and Blair. With Michael Serrato portraying Mrs. Garrett (he himself is a bigger, gentlemen who nails Edna rather well) and a wonderfully spot on Erica Ash as Tootie, this simple sketch provides the promise for the series.

By the end of the first 22 minutes, though, we start to understand what the early days of "SNL" was like without recognizable trademarks or sketches. While all the performers are up to the task of a groundbreaking comedy program, they seem a bit lost as to the tone of the series until the third episode. It is here the show begins to find its true footing, developing recurring sketches such as Logo Life Tips (with Chad Michael and Michael Chad), where two men teach the audience everything from the complex art of origami to making homemade glitter. Needless to say, neither project is as easy as they sound in the instructions.

It is also in the third episode where the show begins to get political. Until this point, the humor tends to stay on the "safe" side, preferring not to engage in politics, religion or current events. Indeed, even a deleted sketch in the extras is called "I Can't Believe It's Not the Body and Blood of Christ!" It is perhaps the most offensive thing we see in the first season. My guess is someone at Logo got cold feet over airing it on a network dependent on advertiser dollars (unlike it's rival, Here! TV) and decided to cut it. By the second half of the season, a slew of recurring characters are introduced.

In addition to Logo Life Tips, we're introduced to Fitzwilliam, a boy who wants a vagina; McGovern turning into a gay werewolf during a full moon; a loud mouth woman with big glasses; and a large woman immensely proud of her gay son. Here, we get the sense the show is beginning to play to its strengths, both creatively and of the performers. McGovern gets the lion share of screen time in the season finale, perhaps owing to his uninhibited performance style. Going from one half of Logo Life Tips to the gay werewolf and then to Captain Swaggert (Jimmy Swaggert, get it?), a pirate who takes over a lesbian cruise, he displays complete confidence in every character he takes on. And because of that, there is a chance of McGovern overload.

With an eight member cast-and no guest hosts or musical guests-each performer is required to be more multitalented than their "SNL" counterparts. And with a much sparser set consisting of only a wooden platform and a couple chalkboard-like backdrops, not to mention a few props, to work with, this is a truly low budget production relying on the writing and comedians to succeed. By and large, it does just that: succeeds. Several of the cast members mention the relative novelty of working on a comedy program where gays are the punch line by other gays and gay-friendly people. It's a very fine line between what happens on this show and what happens on other comedy programs.

Why? Because the series is by gay people, for gay people, based on gay people. That dynamic enables the production to be flashier or, dare I say it, gayer than "SNL" ever could be without incurring the wrath of certain audiences. The cast is given considerable leeway and freedom in the portrayal of their characters throughout by Bearse. I'd be a liar is I said the humor never engaged in stereotypes. It does more often than not, most likely by design. To create a short hand the audience can understand with a minimum of exposition, stereotypes have to be used. When McGovern turns into the gay werewolf, he wears a white tank top with the colors of the rainbow along with a pair of short shorts. Stephen Guarino's receptionist prances around in even shorter multicolored shorts. Julie Goldman is pigeonholed as the stereotypical lesbian, playing the masculine female parts in any sketch which demands it.

In the end, only one question really matters: Is "The Big Gay Sketch Show" funny? Yes, it is. Not every single moment or every single sketch. Some carry on for too long, others not long enough. A character or two comes off as a bit too abrasive and there is an over-reliance on the established characters toward the end of the season. McGovern takes over the screen late in the season to the detriment of the other actors, though it isn't his fault. But yes, the program delivers on the humor aspect which is written into its mandate. There are a fair share of opening season jitters and missteps to be sure-the Sappho's Lips sketches suffer from a lack of subtitles and poor singing from Goldman and Kate McKinnon. But there is enough potential in the first season to warrant further investment in the series by Logo, the viewers and crew.

VIDEO:
I'm somehow stunned the "Complete Unrated First Season" is presented in anything but anamorphic widescreen format, an aspect ratio rapidly becoming the norm for both network and cable programs. Nevertheless, we get a full screen transfer here landing squarely in the middle of the spectrum. It's neither spectacular nor horrific; average might be the best word for it. The picture appears soft and ill defined from beginning to end, save for the opening and closing titles. There is a noticeable lack of detail in long shots; close ups or medium shots look better. That being said, the usual crop of video artifacts and issues aren't present: I didn't find anything in the transfer not intended to be there (some of the retro sketches are purposely grainy and full of vertical white lines).

AUDIO:
One option here, unsurprisingly. It's a full-sounding English 2.0 track, replicating the original experience. To be perfectly honest, this is a serviceable mix, allowing the dialogue to come across clearly. The only minor issue I noticed was a lack of depth to the sound field. In other words, the audio sounds flat, undynamic. Which isn't a major concern with a sketch comedy show, considering the lack of a true score or other audio elements to bring across in the production. English subtitles, though, would have been nice.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Remarkably, the list is quite long, yet amounts to a whole lot of nothing in the end. None of the extras really gets into the groundbreaking program, the network or the people on anything more than a superficial level, which is a shame because of the historic nature of the series. Over on Disc 2, we start with deleted sketches, three in all. As with the individual episodes on Disc 1, there is a play all option for these "Big Gay Bonus Sketches." Nothing too remarkable here, expect for the aforementioned "I Can't Believe It's Not the Body and Blood of Christ." And the ""Mary Hart Through the Ages" is a piece better left on the cutting room floor. Dragging on for a seeming eternity (run time is actually just 2:36), the piece retreads itself at least three times to no further comic punch line.

Next up are "Big Gay Interviews," a series of nine short interviews with the cast and Bearse. Topics range from what it's like to work on a gay show on a gay network to what talent a performer brings to the program. The longest interview is Erica Ash, clocking in at 3:17. The one thing they each share is particularly bad, hollow-sounding audio.

Then there's "Julie Goldman's Celesbian Interviews." A completely worthless collection of five "interview" segments with various lesbian performers, Goldman quickly wears out her welcome as host by being deadly serious, though never taking the job seriously. These run a touch longer than what we have previously, ranging from a tick over three minutes to an interminable 4:16.

"Behind the Big Gay Scenes" is simple outtake material thrown into five different categories (Dressing Room Tour, Backstage Antics, Big Gay Bloopers, Making of Fitzwilliam and Pre Show Backstage Exclusive). Rounding out the extras is the wholly disposable "More Big Gay Stuff," which should have been called Pimping Johnny McGovern or something equally fabulous. An interview with the Gay Pimp and his new group (Team Pimp: The Gayest Supergroup in the World) comes first, followed by their music video "Something for the Fellas." Something about McGovern rubs me the wrong way. He's a fine comic, but as the Gay Pimp, I can't get behind him. The music is typical club garbage with impossibly pretty boys making out in the most G-rated way possible. Julie Goldman gets one more chance to shine in the Logo Wisecrack segment (3:12) and then the obligatory trailer for Logo.

PARTING THOUGHTS:
There is a spark of juice in these six episodes leading me to believe "The Big Gay Sketch Show" can be so much more than what appears on this set. Good intentioned people involved in the production, a network willing to go on a limb and some genuine talent. It's all on display here, sometimes dysfunctionally, sometimes not. Ash, McGovern (when he doesn't hog the spotlight) and Guarino are undeniable highlights; if the production is able to rein in the writing and squeeze a few less stereotypes out of the material, this could be a platform for up and coming gay comics to hone their skills. Season One, though, is raw.