OK, I admit it: I'm on Team LC. I don't care who her opponent is — Heidi, Spencer, Audrina, my girlfriend, Kristin Cavallari — I'll support Lauren Conrad in whatever fight she's in this week. There's just something about her that I find endearing. That being said, I love The Hills. (Those who don't, I won't feel bad if you stop reading right now, unless you happen to watch the show Greek.)

Conrad will be making a guest appearance as herself on the ABC Family show about college fraternities this fall. However, we won't get to see how she acts as herself (outside of The Hills, anyway) until the season finale airs on October 28.

Greek creator Sean Smith described LC's part to Entertainment Weekly:

It's a dream sequence in which Casey and LC are best friends. Casey has a big decision she has to make, and she's like, "LC, what do I do? Advise me!"... Casey holds LC in that high esteem.

I don't know who this Casey is, but she sounds smart. … continue reading

I just finished watching the Tivo'd fourth episode ("Picking Teams") of ABC Family's Greek, and I'm so appalled, I had to blog about it. (Kinda like when something tastes really bad, and you say "ooh, this tastes gross, try it!")

When Greek debuted last month, I was pleasantly surprised at how decently it was written, how frankly it portrayed college life, and the fact that it included a well-adjusted black gay character. I wasn't overly impressed with the show's three lead female characters — Casey (Spencer Grammer), her best friend Ashleigh (Amber Stevens), and her arch-nemesis Rebecca (Dilshad Vadsaria) — who seemed like stereotypes of bitchy, backstabbing sorority girls, but I was willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt, especially because it was created by a gay man, Sean Smith.

The second and third episodes came and went, and the girls (and I use that term deliberately here, since that's how they're depicted) didn't get any better.

Casey and Amber discuss sex and infidelity (for a change)

Then came Monday night, and the infamous fourth episode.

The boys spent the episode discussing physics, drinking beer, playing floor hockey, and struggling with whether to come out to the fraternity.

The girls spent the episode having sex, scheming to have sex, or thinking up ways to use sex as a weapon. Oh, wait, I'm sorry: and drinking beer. … continue reading

Charisma Carpenter has signed on for a role in the last episode of ABC Family's series Greek. This is excellent news, especially since there's a chance of a recurring role next season. I'd hate to see her career disappear into the realm of the occasional guest star.

I can't say I've made the effort to watch Greek. Besides the fact that it's on ABC family, which I'm perhaps unfairly quick to judge as censored of all interesting content, I had my fill of doofy frat boys in college. But perhaps I've been a little hasty to judge the network and the show. As Sarah reported last week, Greek's class includes a gay college boy, and it's not the only ABC Family show to deal with gay issues positively. (By which I mean nobody turns evil or dies. Who's up for a rousing chorus of "We Are Family"?) … continue reading

This is a live blog from the bi-annual Television Critics Association conference. See more TCA live blogging here.

This morning it's all about ABC Family, specifically Greek and Kyle XY, two teen-focused ABC Family shows. I'm kinda interested in Greek, which follows a geeky freshman and his popular older sister in the fraternity and sorority system at a fictional college. Its main drawback it that it has fairly lame and stereotypical female characters except for the lead, Casey (Spencer Grammer), but it's got a gay black teen Calvin (Paul James) and they handle that pretty well.

I do wish they had the cast of Lincoln Heights here instead of Kyle XY, though. As soon as I think this, an ABC Family spokesperson comes out on stage and announces the second season premiere of Lincoln Heights: September 4th. It's like my thoughts are beaming straight to ABC Family! Some teasers for the new season of Lincoln Heights in the press release: Cassie (Erica Hubbard) and her relationship with pretty boy Charles heats up after being on hold for the summer while she was at Art Camp, and Cassie's younger siblings Tay (Mishon Ratliff) and Lizzie (Rhyon Brown) may have a "budding romance." (Not with each other, obviously. Eww.)

Back to the event at hand: the Greek panel. The promo for the show previews a lengthy upcoming scene of Calvin coming out to Rusty. It's actually an impressive scene, but I won't give away too many details because Michael's going to save it for his Best. Gay. Week. Ever. column on AfterElton.com tomorrow. [Updated to add: get the scoop on this now here.]

As ABC Family President Paul Lee talks about the success of their shows on iTunes, and online, the cast of Greek files on stage, and their average age looks to be about 20. Their eager, youthful exuberance emanates from the stage.

The first question is about Calvin and how his character's chameleon-like quality to get along with different groups relates to "his gayness." Creator Sean Smith gives a great answer, which again, I'm letting Michael keep for his column.

Now the wiseass questions begin: a reporter wants to know if any of them have actually been to college. Much laughter. Only one of the cast says yes. Yikes!

A reporter mentions that this show opened up a great conversation between her and her teenage sons. Various members of the cast enthuse about how college is about trying new things, building a new support system since you're away from your family for the first time, experimentation, etc.

I raise my hand to ask my first question at the conference. Why, aside from Casey, are all of the the show's female characters so stereotypically bitchy and backstabbing, while the male characters are much more three-dimensional and redeemable? Sean responds with an answer about wanting to introduce the stereotype of the sorority girl and then show the depth beneath that, show them as more well-rounded, etc.

So basically, they're backstabbing bitches with hearts of gold? … continue reading

In the second segment of our video blog this week (watch the first one on Lesbians and Ladies Rooms here), Lori and I rate and review the movies and TV shows we watched in the past 10 days or so, which include the new Harry Potter movie Order of the Phoenix, Gray Matters, Puccini for Beginners, Girltrash, Hell's Kitchen(Fox), Army Wives (Lifetime), Baldwin Hills (BET), Greek (ABC Family), Entourage (HBO), The Closer (TNT), Standoff (Fox), and the History Channel documentary The Star Wars Legacy.

Yes, I realize it looks like Lori and I did nothing but watch TV and movies this week, but we're discussing a few TV episodes from the previous week, too, and it's not very often that a Harry Potter movie and two lesbian movies get released around the same time. If only they would put a lesbian in a Harry Potter movie, our life would be complete!

You'll notice a few differences in this segment: We didn't use captions because it would have taken WAY too long, since we covered so much ground in this one — and as much as I like doing this vlog, I don't want to give up my entire Sunday for it. But we'll still use captions whenever it makes sense (which will be often).

We're also using this segment to introduce our new Bunny Designation System (BDS), which is sort of like a rating system, but with bunnies. It's hard to explain, but basically ... Lori likes bunnies. And it was better than anything else we could come up with. So if you don't like it, no chocolate from the Easter Bunny for you this year! … continue reading