HOLLYWOOD – If there has been one universal hit among talk show bookers,YouTube content creators and Instagram fanatics this calendar year it’s been the cast of “Queer Eye.” The reboot of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” debuted on Netflix Feb. 7 and unless you’ve been living under a mainstream media rock over the intervening months its cast of “experts” have literally been everywhere. And after watching them interact with moderator Nicole Byer (equally as fantastic as the host of Netflix’s “Nailed It”) for a panel sponsored by GLSEN (conveniently timed the day before Emmy voting begins) it’s hard not to succumb to their infectious charm.
READ MORE: “The Americans,” “Queer Eye,” “Killing Eve” take major 2018 TCA Awards
In case you have managed to somehow still avoid it you’ll be happy (or potentially unhappy) to learn “Queer Eye’s” formula hasn’t changed much since its original incarnation. Five gay men with different expertise meet someone who needs their help refashioning their life. While the first version almost always exclusively featured straight male subjects, this new version has also had gay men, women and a trans man benefit from the “Fab Five’s” insights. The first two seasons (16 episodes and one special) found the series primarily based in Atlanta, Georgia with one jaunt to Australia. The third season shot in Kansas City, Missouri, but Netflix has not revealed when it will launch on the service.
The program is also up for four Emmys this year including Outstanding Structured Reality Program (which the original “Queer Eye” won in 2004) as well as Editing, Cinematography and Casting for a Structured or Competition Reality Program. The Netflix series is such a success it’s likely to take home at least a few of those categories even if it means taking down formidable competition such as “The Voice” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” As for the top category, if it wins it will dethrone “Shark Tank” which has taken that particular Emmy for the past four years. Something tells us momentum is leaning in the Fab Five’s direction.
On this Sunday afternoon Tan France (you’re Utah based fashion expert), Kamaro Brown (the culture expert who has never worn a bomber jacket you wouldn’t want to steal), Bobby Berk (a true design success and the lone married cast member), Jonathan Van Ness (a former hairstylist and host of “Gay of Thrones”) and, sigh, Antoni Porowski (the instagram, er, food expert who has been the source of culinary controversy). It was the always entertaining Van Ness who, of course, who stole the show.
The experts went through a lengthy audition process to land the gigs and while France says he never thought he’d get it, Van Ness admits his competitiveness flipped a switch when it came to the finish line.
“When it got to the end I was like, Ew. You have turned into every top-two girl on ‘America’s Next Top Model’ who looks at the camera ‘I want this more than anything. I’m so ready to do whatever it takes to be America’s Next Top Model’,” Van Ness passionately recalls as the audience bursts into laughter. “It was one other groomer and myself at that point and I was like, ‘I will kick you off the catwalk. I will do it. Get away from my role.'”
They Fab Five also discussed the importance of going to Georgia and meeting subjects who may have voted for Trump or the discomfort of having a conversation with a white cop about the persecution of African-Americans by law enforcement. In their eyes the show simply wouldn’t have been as successfully if they shot in liberal enclaves such as New York or Los Angeles.
“I think Atlanta and Kansas City similarly are places where if you take the issues that are plaguing the country you have people who are on both sides of those issues living in kind of similar numbers. It feels kind of 50/50,” Van Ness says. “Even if you look at seasons one and two the differences between someone like Cory [the aforementioned police officer] and someone like Ted [a progressive mayor] I can’t imagine anyone any more left and right. And not that we didn’t really talk about politics on purpose.”
The event ended with the Fab Five presenting GLSEN with a check for $10,000.
“Queer Eye” seasons one and two are currently available on Netflix.