When Showtime premiered its version of the UK hit Queer as Folk back in 2000, producers lamented the fact that a lot of actors -- many of whom were gay and closeted -- wouldn't even audition for the show because they were afraid of the pigeonholed as a big homo.

We'll see if those attitudes have changed at all as the production company Aid and Abet attempts to bring the gay storyline from the popular German soap Verbotene liebe (Forbidden Love) to American television.


The show's guy-on-guy storyline has become so popular on YouTube and the blogosphere that its characters, aspiring boxer Christian and his adorable BF Olli, have been given their own Brangelina-esque nickname, Chrolli. In the American version, the boys love story will unfold in Portland, Oregon so maybe they can magically fly through the trees like In Twilight. (Yeah yeah, that was Washington, but it's still the Pacific Northwest).



Aid and Abet is headed by former HBO VP Sam Martin, who has a first look deal with HBO. Could Forbidden Love be Entourage with reach-arounds? Stay tuned.