green living

WATCH: The 4 Things We Learned From The Fabulous Beekman Boys

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We’ve spent at least the past six months anticipating the gay Green Acres‘ debut, and last night Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge’s farming adventure The Fabulous Beekman Boys was finally unveiled. It’s about two homosexual partners who find agriculture so of the moment, and hilarity and green living ensue!

The whole shtick of the show is that these two professional city dwellers — Josh, a successful author and columnist; and Ridge, a former Martha Stewart Omnimedia exec — buy a farm in upstate New York and make a go at it. Because this is reality television, they must create packageable dramatics that will fit inside a 30-minute show. Except refreshingly, unlike shows like Kirstie Alley’s Big Life, the format doesn’t feel so forced. And only a little scripted; viewers will find themselves feeling like they’ve tuned into something a little more authentic.

So after watching last night’s premiere, here’s what we’ve learned.

They’re going to shove environmentalism down your throat. It is on the Planet Green network, after all, and while the show might feature a pair of gays, the real star is Mother Nature. So watch as they use biodegradable cardboard in their garden — reduce, reuse, recycle sista!

Josh* is the fragile one. If there’s one of these boys who’s going to complain about manual labor, it’s the easily bruised (and easily callused) Jonathan. He misses the comforts of the city, and will turn every task into an opportunity to remark about tough his life is.

This isn’t LOGO. Because if it were, the goats would be drag queens, the pigs would be a couple of bear daddies, and the chickens would be a scrum of twinks running around in Speedos wondering where the pool is. Also, this show features a character called “nature,” and there’s no room for that on LOGO. Something to keep in mind, however: Both Beekman and RuPaul’s Drag Race, which airs on LOGO, are produced by the candy wizards at World of Wonder.

The tagline isn’t accurate. “We make farming fabulous,” question mark? That’s like saying The Simple Life‘s Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie “make getting through the day and tying their own shoes avant garde.” There is little, if anything, “fabulous” about the Beekman farm’s adventures, and how could there be when there is goat poo everywhere? Wait till Martha Stewart herself drops in to force the boys to entertain, and things might have a shot at getting lower-case fabulous. In the meantime, there are vegetables to pick, goat structures to build, and manure to spread.

*Yes, I originally wrote “Jonathan” instead of “Josh.”

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