Tonight's anticipated HBO premiere of True Blood — from creator Alan Ball, of the excellent Six Feet Under — introduces us to a race of vampires, who have made themselves known publicly after centuries in the shadows. They even have an official organization, with representatives making the TV rounds! Indeed, the vampires are considered a "race"; this is how Ball intentionally conceived of the bloodsuckers. And now that the vampires just want to fit in, they're going to face the same civil rights stuggle that, say, blacks and women, and yep, even us gays, have faced. Which means, aside from the obvious vampire questions — Can they survive daylight? What kills them? — there are plenty of opportunities to discuss racial things like inter-vampire dating and sex, and whether vampires should enjoy the sames rights as the mortal/human race. It also let's Ball have an enormous amount of fun with manipulating the current status quo to fit this vampire world.

Example 1: The "God Hates Fangs" sign seen here (click to enlarge). "God hates fags" has adorned many a church marquee and protester sign. This "God Hates Fangs" sign appears in the show's opening sequence. As you might imagine, there are some folks who just don't approve of the immortal.

Example 2: "Coming out of the coffin." Much as the gays must come out of the closet, vamps must bust through a wooden door of their own. The show's lead, Anna Paquin's Sookie Stackhouse, utters the line in the series premiere (if our memory serves us right).

The makers of HBO's sex-centric drama Tell Me You Love Me may not want their show to be simply for the sex, but we can't resist highlighting this hot sex scene featuring Ian Somerhalder.

Taking into account the show's on cable and most work places frown on tits, ass and balls, consider this NSFW.

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With a summer TV slump, we're enjoying the air conditioning between two shows: So You Think You Can Dance (and so you think you can shut up and not make fun of us?) and Lucky Louie, the new Sunday night HBO sitcom where the cuss words fly as often as the (male) nudity. It's the un-P.C. sitcom you just with NBC could air during Thursday primetime. And it's episodes like last night's – where Louie and his two cohorts somehow turn a conversation about the Fourth of July into one about America's gay roots – that we're telling our friends about the show.

Lucky Louie [HBO]

• A dancing cowboys calendar looks so much hotter when you add the behind the scenes footage. [DC Cowboys]

• AT&T may offer domestic partnership benefits to its employees, but it no longer protects your privacy as a consumer. [CNN]

• We knew Showtime was a gay man's favorite network (sorry, Logo), but who knew HBO held so much appeal? [TV Squad]

• The gay community has come so far since the days of Stonewall — and now it's all but abandoned the historical venue. [The Villager]

• You like Christina Aguilera's new song, huh? Now watch her perform it (and a few others), live in a MollyGood Exclusive. [MollyGood]

The Sopranos enters its final season this Sunday, and gay fans are excitedly waiting to see what unfolds for mobster Vito Spatafore, played by Joe Gannascoli, after Spatafore was caught last seasonplaying the skin flute on a male construction site employee.

Spatafore's gayness hasn't been discussed since then, but obviously the writers had some ideas in store. And as this is the last season and writers have nothing to lose, there are rumors that plenty of daring plot twists-and-turns abound.

Gannascoli himself actually pitched to producers the gay-mobster idea, as an angle to make his character a bigger part of the show. And his pitch worked; while he can't specify what is planned, he says ""I'm certainly in it. And for that Vito would say, 'This could be the year of the queer.'"

Also in Sopranos news: Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas will play an undercover FBI agent, who takes Drea de Matteo's place as a server in the Soprano strip club. We think she's going to be delicious.

• Who would have thought that an iPod jacket actually could turn out to be somewhat fashionable? [Gizmodo]

• Liz Smith blackmailed Rock Hudson's blackmailer. This is why you never mess with a dirt-filled gossip queen. [NY Post]

• The Arizona tourist board is targeting people who have plenty of spending money: us queers. [USA Today]

• Colorado will have voters decide on domestic partnerships by the end of this year. It ain't marriage, but we'll take it if we can get it. [Denver Post]

• Michael Jackson is interviewing for a job and it isn't at a day care center. [Forbes]

• HBO keeps their queer programming coming. You don't get much gayer than Rosie O'Donnell on a gay cruise. [UPI]

"Devastated, I stood there and cried like a baby,"- Pepper LaBeija, in Paris Is Burning.

That pretty much sums up how we feel about Lisa Kudrow's The Comeback being cancelled. I guess the show was too smart even for HBO's elitist television viewer. We will admit it. It took way too long for us to get into the show, but once we did we were hooked like Kate Moss on coke. Kudrow was brilliant and always in character. Not once did you think of her as Phoebe, which is a hard thing to do when known as one character for so long. Want proof? Watch the episode where she sings "I Will Survive." Comic genius.

While Kudrow was the show's star the real reason we will miss The Comeback is Mickey, played by Robert Michael Moore. Not feeding into stereotypes of what gay hairdressers should look like (no pleather, highlights, or snapping fingers), Mickey was lovable and the show's heart. The show's big gay heart that is.

We just hope Valerie Cherish has yet another comeback. Perhaps Kudrow can switch to Showtime and use the cancellation as fodder for another season on another station. However you do it just please comeback.