OUT ON DVD

OUT NOW: What’s HBO Done For Us Lately?

It’s a slow week here in queer home entertainment land. A DVD re-release of 1997’s out-of-print snoozer, The Substance of Fire?

Blah!

Thankfully, we’ve got the first season of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire (above) to keep us busy. It received crazy critical acclaim and co-stars dreamy Michael Pitt—and included a lesbian plotline to boot!

HBO’s pretty much at the top of the food chain when it comes to gay-interest shows: Sex & the City, True Blood, Six Feet Under, Game of Thrones—the list goes on. (And we’ve just started watching Angry Boys, Chris Lilley’s comedic faux documentary with a decidedly queer bent.)

Today we’re going to look at Empire and some HBO series you may have missed or forgotten about. These treasures from the vault all have LGBT content and they’re all available as complete series—so  you won’t have to wait a year between seasons!

FIRST: It’s more than the luck of the draw on Boardwalk Empire

http://youtu.be/e6z71l6HQwQ

Boardwalk Empire: The Complete First Season
($79.98 Blu-Ray, $59.99 DVD; HBO)

Produced by Martin Scorsese, this Prohibition-era crime drama features pouty-lipped gay bait Michael Pitt. In the first season, his babymamma, Angela (Aleksa Palladino), had a secret affair with a photographer’s wife, Mary (Lisa Dittrich). Oh Mary, don’t tell!

NEXT: Embracing the twisted bromance of Lloyd and Ari on Entourage

 

http://youtu.be/BtaZ-iJFUmk

Entourage
($249.99, HBO)

Many of us wanted to throw arrogant agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) down and give him the spanking he so richly deserved. But it was his long-suffering aide-de-camp Lloyd (out actor Rex Lee) who brought the gay to the testosterone-driven series about a rising star and his  Hollywood posse. This wasn’t just window-dressing either: Lloyd went from a punchline to a featured role, and nabbed some respect and a sexy beau along the way.

NEXT: Boy meets girl, girl and girl on Big Love

 

http://youtu.be/tEkXyFKig1s

Big Love: The Complete Series
($119.95, HBO)

Though strictly heterosexual, polygamist Bill Henrickson and his wives Barb, Nikki and Margene spent most of the show’s five seasons hiding or defending their unsanctioned, unconventional relationship. (Hmm, sounds familiar.) Meanwhile, conniving closet case Alby (Matt Ross) quenched his gay passions with random hookups and, eventually, a romantic affair with a sweet Mormon elder. We knew it wouldn’t last from the start.

NEXT: There’s no place like Oz

 

http://youtu.be/Y0M0fw3Osxs

Oz: Seasons 1-6
($199, HBO)

Jaw-droppingly raw and violent even by today’s standards, Tom Fontana’s breakthrough prison series featured homo antics (both consensual and forced), extensive male nudity, weekly shankings, and a series-long bad romance between Chris Meloni’s homicidal Keller and Lee Tergeson’s tortured Beecher (see the heartstring-tugging tribute clip above). Plus:Charles Busch as a death row dandy, out thesp B.D. Wong as resident priest, plenty of Broadway stars (Rita Moreno! Patti LuPone! Betty Buckley!) and more punks than you can shake a nightstick at.

NEXT: Get connected with The Wire

 

http://youtu.be/KdVLwd6FOd4

The Wire: The Complete Series
($199.98 DVD, HBO)

Dubbed a masterpiece by nearly every critic in the land, this Baltimore crime drama brought five seasons of groundbreaking gay characters, like cop Shakima “Kima” Greggs, noble thief Omar Little and baby-dyke thug Snoop to TV’s landscape.

NEXT: Love, intrigue and naked gladiators on Rome

 

http://youtu.be/3TzvNnk2p3Y

Rome: The Complete Series
($139.99 Blu-Ray, $99.98 DVD, HBO)

Did Immortals and Spartacus whet your appetite for sword-and-sandal antics? Reportedly so expensive that only two seasons were possible, this lush costume drama tracks Julius Caesar’s fall and the subsequent tumult between hot young would-be emperor Octavian (Simon Woods) and manly rival Mark Antony (James Purefoy). Surprisingly bereft of gladiator-on-gladiator  scenes, Rome did offer plenty of (often naked) male pulchritude for us to lust over. Plus, there’s a delicious series-long catfight between Polly Walker’s manipulative Atia and Lindsay Duncan’s Servilia, who had a sapphic relationship with Atia’s daughter, Octavia (Kerry Condon). Real Housewives of Rome, anyone?

NEXT: The Sopranos kept it all in the family.

 

http://youtu.be/wrN2k3qGbVA

The Sopranos: The Complete Series
($299.98 DVD, HBO)

If Nurse Jackie didn’t give you enough Edie Falco (another Oz alum), revisit her as Carmela, the spunky matriarch in David Chase’s epic New Jersey mafia family saga. A staple of water-cooler conversation during its run, The Sopranos featured a controversial subplot involving closeted gay mobster Vito Spatafore (Joseph Gannascoli) in its final two seasons. Caught in leather regalia at a gay bar, Vito skipped town and fell for a short-order cook in New Hampshire. If you don’t know what happens from there, we ain’t spoiler-ing it for you.

 

ALSO OUT ON DVD:

Dark Horse (Double Hope Films)

Moneyball (Sony Pictures)

What’s Your Number (20th Century Fox)

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