Dante's Cove

God, how I love this programme.

They say that if you put a thousand monkeys in a room with a thousand typewriters then in a thousand years they will write the works of Shakespeare.

Some years ago a group of producers put one monkey in a room with an etch-a-sketch and the result was: Dante's Cove.

It's genius. A parallel world where concepts that we accept as normal just do not exist. Like "acting". And "shirts".

But goodness me, what a wonderful place to live. An entire island populated by beautiful, young, sexy people. And Tracy Scoggins.

It's a place where someone called Reichen Lehmkuhl (who apparently won a reality TV show and dated Lance Bass) must atone for his sins by submitting to living his life under a sheen of baby oil.

It's where we marvel at the "performance" of Charlie David - possibly the most wooden actor who ever lived. (Let me put it this way - that chiselled torso isn't so much the result of Gold's Gym as it is a carpenter's workshop. No really, you can see the other actors batting away the splinters.)

In short, a masterpiece. I wouldn't miss an episode.

Starts off in 1840 with Ambrosius (William Gregory Lee) about to get married to an evil witch (Tracy Scoggins). But she catches him having sex with his butler and immediately puts a curse on him.

Cut to 2005--Young hunky Kevin (Gregory Michael) is in love with young hunky Toby (Charlie David). Toby takes a job in Dante's Cove and stays at Hotel Dante. Kevin joins him and meets the various inhabitants--gay Corey, bisexual Amber, straight Adam, straight Josh, lesbian Vanessa. Kevin starts hearing voices calling him from the basement and unwittingly follows them...

I only saw part one of this of here! TV On Demand. This is (basically) a supernatural soap opera full of nudity (mostly male) and simulated sex scenes. Heck, within the first 10 minutes there's a (fairly explicit) gay sex sequence! There are more later on mixed in with lesbian and straight sex...something for everyone. This is squarely aimed at gay male audiences though--there are plenty of hunky young guys here frequently out of their clothes.

This is pretty well-made but the sex scenes are the main reason for this. As for the acting---all of the actors were probably hired for their looks, bodies and comfort with doing nude scenes...not their acting ability. Some of the acting is pretty bad--Kevin, Vanessa, Adam and Josh are TERRIBLE. But Toby and Corey are pretty good. But let's face it--you're watching this for the nudity and sex. There's plenty of it and all the actors look great nude. This does have limits--the sex is (obviously) simulated and there's no frontals on the guys (except for one brief scene at the beginning).

So--for gay men this is a silly but fun and sexy soap. Others might not like it too much. I give it an 8.

Having watched the first and second seasons of this show, I find myself drawn into the world of "Dante's Cove". The cast members are all very good looking and the sex scenes are very enjoyable. A common complaint with this series is that the writing and the acting is a bit off. The truth is, this series is being built from the ground up and I have hope that this series will get better as the the seasons roll on.

I do have one complaint, Kevin's crying, at least three episodes in the second season alone had Kevin crying and the first season had him on non-stop waterworks. Aside from that, the series is great.

I've seen the trailer for Season 3 and I am very excited to see the inclusion of Jenson Atwood, who I adored in Noah's Arc. The Story is engaging and yes it can be a little slow, but as the budget gets bigger and the actors become more accustomed to their characters and the writers become more accustomed to those characters, the writing will improve.

This series has great potential and is a breath of fresh air to the AIDS awareness films that have dominated the queer market for the better half of 20 years. Please give this show a chance and you'll see the magic in it too.

DANTE'S COVE is a two disc DVD release of a TV series for Here! TV that had everyone on the waiting list to see just how far the 'new television' market would/could go. Now that the mystery is over with the public release of the DVDs, the comments and responses are bound to be mixed: there are those who whoop that gay themed and photographed stories are finally on television, and there are those who will wonder why a series could make it through the year with little to no storyline and a production that is essentially soft porn - for both men and women! The 'plot' is based on the traditional haunted house with a mysterious history dating back to 1840: the 'story' revolves around the folk who inhabit the house cum hotel in present day time and the aftershocks of lifting the door off the secrets hidden with the subsequent effects of the 'curse' on the inhabitants. Sounds like a 'been there, done that' bit? Well, it is. The difference lies in the fact that the main characters are gay and the hotel inhabitants are pretty guys and gals who spend the majority of their time topless, swimming or en flagrante.

The cast is attractive (and we see a LOT of them!) but the lack of plausible story and the mercilessly poor writing and quality of acting keep the show grounded. This is a film for a special audience and one that would benefit from watching it with sound turned off. Maybe next season will improve....

I loved Queer As folk because the characters were complex: it was not simply about gay characters but about flesh and blood people. Besides, all the actors were excellent. But Dante's Cove is so ridiculous and funny, though not voluntarily...

The Gothic background is a caricature, with witches having red, glaring eyes when they curse their victims, and people turning into dust all of a sudden. Harry Potter sounds like Kierkegaard compared to that rubbish of hidden manuscripts, pentagrams and undead people... The acting is below awful, so much so that I couldn't help laughing most of the time. And the sex scenes so conventional, the men looking all more or less alike. A real waste of time! (and money if you have been unfortunate enough to buy this series)