Queer as E!

Hal Sparks, former host of E! Entertainment Television's Talk Soup, is thisclose to signing as one of the lead characters in the American remake of the controversial gay-themed British television series Queer as Folk. Showtime's version of Queer will center on two twenty-something male characters and the 17-year-old boyfriend of one of them. This isn't the first time hosting Talk Soup has led to a high profile job as a homosexual character -- remember when Greg Kinnear got nominated for an Oscar for his work in As Good As it Gets? Also committing to the Queer pilot is director Russell Mulcahy, who has directed the Highlander flicks, but is perhaps best-known for making the Duran Duran guys look hot in those '80s videos like "Hungry Like the Wolf."