On network TV, the lesbian drama continues on ABC's daytime drama All My Children, as Bianca (Eden Riegel) pines for the now-departed Lena (Olga Sosnovska) and Maggie (Elizabeth Hendrickson) pines for Bianca. Most of the viewers know Bianca and Lena's relationship is (unfortunately) dead in the water with Sosnovska no longer working on the series, but it's fun in a drinking-game sort of way to see the writers come up with one lame excuse after another to put off the Bianca-Maggie pairing by pretending there's still a "triangle."

As one of the few (probably) bisexual characters on television, Maggie's coming-out process has been interesting to watch, even if it's also painful at times.

Meanwhile, back on basic cable, we can find lesbians on two reality series: Bravo’s Blow Out and Animal Planet’s upcoming King of the Jungle. On Blow Out, the uber-coiffed Jonathan Antin (his hair looks like it belongs on a Ken doll) opens a salon in Beverly Hills with the assistance of a number of hip young things, including pink-haired lesbian Jenn MacDonald.

Jenn specializes in hair extensions (which is somewhat suspicious, since she herself has very short hair), and she gushes on the official website, “The show is an exciting opportunity to put myself in a new situation, and its also a great tool for letting people see what is possible with extensions.” She doesn’t sound like your typical lesbian, but on closer examination, her official bio also notes that she lives with “her partner, three dogs and a cat.” It’s hard to get any dykier than that.

That is, unless you’re Cynthia, the lesbian contestant on Animal Planet’s Survivor-meets-Wild Kingdom reality series King of the Jungle which premiered on Tuesday. Hailing from Pittsburgh, Cynthia is a recently-married (to a woman) bartender with six cats and two dogs. King of the Jungle involves twelve contestants competing for the title of “King of the Jungle” and the opportunity to star in a one-hour Animal Planet television special, so Cynthia’s populous pet household makes a certain amount of sense. But in a sign that Cynthia, once again, is not your stereotypical lesbian, she declares on the show’s official website: “The one thing I brought with me that I could not live without was a razor. I just did not want to get all Sasquatch, you know?”

Viewers who are interested in watching a clean-shaven Cynthia fight for supremacy can catch new episodes of King of the Jungle on Animal Planet on Tuesdays, and repeats on Sundays.

We can look forward to more lesbians on TV in August. First up is the August 1st premiere of Showtime's reality series The American Candidate, which follows ten independent candidates campaigning to be elected President of the United States. Among the contestants is openly gay Chrissy Gephardt, daughter of former presidential candidate Dick Gephardt. Acording to her official bio on The American Candidate website, Gephardt is a P.R. consultant "in a committed relationship" (with girlfriend Amy Loder) who believes in "equality for every American." Heck, I'll vote for her!

Later in August, HBO’s hard-hitting police drama The Wire returns for a third season in August with more of lesbian Detective Shakima Greggs (Sonja Sohn).

If none of the shows above strike your fancy, you can catch a repeat of The Ranch, Showtime's new original movie about a modern-day Nevada brothel. Interestingly, the movie--which includes a lesbian prostitute who is in love with a straight prostitute--was originally under consideration as a television series for Showtime, but Showtime chose to pick up The L Word instead (good choice).

While it may seem an interminable wait before Bette, Tina, Shane, Alice and Dana will make an appearance in your living room again, this summer fare ought to keep you at least mildly entertained in the meantime. If you don’t have cable, pick up a bag of popcorn and invite yourself over to a cable-ready friend’s house—it's not The L Word, but it's better than watching repeats of Will and Grace so many times that Karen actually starts to make sense.

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