Sony
In Which Of His Shows Should Greg Berlanti Be Deploying His Broken Hearts Club Cast Members?
Before he ran all of television, Greg Berlanti wrote and directed the 2000 gay softball romcom The Broken Hearts Club. We think some of that movie's stars should pop by some of his current productions.
When CBS's Supergirl premiered in October, one of the fun DC Universe references in the pilot episode was when Dean Cain popped up as Jeremiah Danvers, foster parent to Kara, later to be known as Supergirl. As pretty much everyone remembers, Cain had played Kara's cousin Superman back in the '90s in The Adventures of Lois & Clark. But, as fewer people probably remember, Cain and Supergirl EP Greg Berlanti had worked together before -- on the feature film The Broken Hearts Club, which Berlanti wrote and directed, and in which Cain appeared as an up-and-coming actor. What could have been easier for Berlanti than to text his former star and ask a favour? (Except that since TBHC came out in 2000 -- a time so different from our own that it's a plot point that Cain's character Cole shares a house phone with his platonic roommate, I MEAN CAN YOU EVEN -- so it's possible Berlanti had to ask around a little before getting Cain's current cell number.)
If you watch The Broken Hearts Club today -- which I did, over the holidays, never having seen it before -- a couple of things strike you. One is that every gay male character in it wears the most gigantic pants you literally ever saw. They're seriously the pant equivalent of burkas for how much they leave to potential hookups' imaginations. Even straight guys today wouldn't wear jeans or chinos that big unless they were each standing in one pant leg to do a comedy bit. The other is that a lot of these baby actors went on to make pretty impressive careers for themselves, just like their old boss Berlanti did. Maybe it's time for some of them to give fans a treat and pull a Dean Cain, popping up on Berlantis' shows and reminding TBHC fans of gayer, baggier, softballier times.
Timothy Olyphant
TBHC Character Brief: Dennis, a waiter and amateur photographer, and our protagonist. Early on in the film, he decides he's no longer going to engage in sex outside a relationship, and also that it's incumbent upon him to make platonic friends with Kevin, who's just come out. Both those resolutions are compromised when he starts to develop real feelings for his supposedly platonic pal.
Most Fitting Berlanti Show To Visit: Supergirl.
As: Sid Chivers, Cat Grant's old colleague/flame...
TBHC Reference: ...who's also a photographer determined to capture National City's extraordinary heroine.
Justin Theroux
TBHC Character Brief: Marshall, on-again off-again boyfriend to neurotic Howie and sometime pothead.
Most Fitting Berlanti Show To Visit: Arrow.
As: Simon Queen, Oliver's even more dashing cousin.
TBHC Reference: Simon is a Mob boss who controls the cultivation and distribution of "pikitia" -- an illegal herb grown to be dried and smoked or eaten -- in six states.
Zach Braff
TBHC Character Brief: Benji, a bleached-blond twink who prefers raver pants -- even more gigantic than the norm of the day! -- and gets in over his head when he starts dating a gym queen (The Librarians's Christian Kane!).
Most Fitting Berlanti Show To Visit: The Flash.
As: A metahuman villain known as Corona...
TBHC Reference: ...who can emit poison gas in a cloud around his head.
Mary McCormack
TBHC Character Brief: Anne, lesbian sister to Dennis's Patrick.
Most Fitting Berlanti Show To Visit: The Mysteries Of Laura.
As: Sharon Higgins, a journalist assigned by the New York Times Magazine to shadow the titular Laura for a week and find out exactly how she manages to be both a mom and a cop...
TBHC Reference: ...and becomes so enamoured of Laura's strength and hair that she makes a pass at her.
Nia Long
TBHC Character Brief: Leslie, Anne's combative girlfriend; she and Anne convince Patrick -- somewhat against his will, since he and Leslie have never gotten along -- to donate his sperm so that Leslie and Anne can have a baby (and...obviously Leslie's the one who gets inseminated, because ew).
Most Fitting Berlanti Show To Visit: The Flash.
As: Dr. Elizabeth Stone...
TBHC Reference: ...an OB/GYN who is astonished to learn she's a metahuman who's suddenly developed the ability to gestate and deliver clones of herself who grow to adulthood in less than twelve hours.
Andrew Keegan
TBHC Character Brief: Kevin, twenty-three-year-old just-out "newbie."
Most Fitting Berlanti Show To Visit: Legends Of Tomorrow.
As: Physics postdoc Armando Dantoni...
TBHC Reference: ...whose close study under Prof. Martin Stein seems to keep getting closer and closer in ways that neither of them expected.
John Mahoney
TBHC Character Brief: Restaurateur, softball team manager, half-assed drag queen, and beloved father figure Jack.
Most Fitting Berlanti Show To Visit: Blindspot.
As: U.S. President Arthur Mitchum, who gets brought up to speed via high-level FBI briefings on the curious case of the infamously tattooed "Jane" and develops a personal interest in her, arranging an unorthodox one-on-one meeting...
TBHC Reference: ...during which he asks her to join the West Wing softball team.