The Sand Box: Sounds like a 'Plan'

What do you get when you mix (shake, never stir) one part comedy, one part uptown Manhattan and five parts flagrant homosexual? Five "Fabulous" sassy, city-smart men, better groomed and perfumed than a Miss America contestant.

So we've all seen "Queer Eye For the Straight Guy"--but what if we altered the recipe a little: four parts comedy, one part macho heterosexual, and one part downtown Buffalo? This cocktail tastes a little more like a draft beer--exactly how the "Flab Four" like it on Comedy Central's newest irreverent invention, "Straight Plan for the Gay Man."

This program comes just in time to rescue one audience demographic from complete prime-time alienation: Even Spike TV couldn't save standard cable from shows directly targeted toward the "SATC"-obsessed. While it may be a female favorite, there ain't a Sports-Illustrated subscriber in any bar around the nation who would pick a "Queer Eye" marathon over a well-assembled infomercial about mulching lawnmowers. Comedy Central, ever on the lookout for this particular population, follows up its "Man Show" with another celebration of all things manly--now, after ogling the Juggies, manly men everywhere can receive extra pats on the back as they relearn techniques of crotch-scratching, belching and turning their t-shirts inside out so the dirty part won't show on a first date.

There is definitely no "metro" in "Straight Plan"'s idea of "sexual"--judging from Environment Guy Curtis' love for home decoration in plaid, there may be no city for several hundred miles. But if you can handle a little gross-out factor and a lot of creative bathroom humor, "Straight Plan for the Gay Man" might just be the best thing to happen to your Monday nights since football season ended.