Sex-advice columnist Dan Savage spoke to EW exclusively about shooting his new HBO pilot for a talk-show based on his popular syndicated column Savage Love. There’s no word yet when he might hear if HBO will pick up the series, but he says early indications were positive. The pilot — also called Savage Love — features Savage discussing the latest sex news, welcoming guest Olivia Munn from Attack of the Show! (a “geek sex superstar,” he says), reporting a field piece from a youth-oriented church in LA that discourages masturbation, and answering advice questions from the audience.
“We’re trying to make sure the show wasn’t the typical TV stuff about sex, where the host doesn’t seem to have ever had sex and certainly has no aberrant sexual interests and presumes the audience feels the same way,” he says. “I don’t want to take that usual comedic tone of derisive mockery. I think we’re all in it together — we all look ridiculous having sex, and we all feel ridiculous when we’re done, and we’ve all done ridiculous things. There needs to be this sense of camaraderie.”
If Savage Love becomes a series, Savage hopes to have a mix of celebrity guests (on his wish list: the Jonas Brothers) and lesser-known authors, like Daniel Bergner (The Other Side of Desire). He also says that future field pieces would distinguish themselves from that other carnal-centric HBO series. “Real Sex is great,” he says. “We don’t want to recreate Real Sex: to go to the dildo factory and look at the dildos; to go to the SM party and look at the SMers. It’s not interesting. I know there are kinky people in the world — I’ve dated a lot of them.” Savage says he’s most interested in “the intersection of politics and sex in unexpected places. Although we may end up at a dildo factory every once in awhile.”
I love Dan Savage and the way that he encourages sex-positive education and discussion. I’m very much looking forward to how his column turned podcast will turn into a show. Thankfully it’ll be on HBO!
I love Dan Savage and would love to see him on TV. What a concept – adults being adult about sex.
I love his column. If the pilot is picked up, I would love to watch it, just to hear him tell an audience member to DTMFA!!!
But seriously, for all the shock n awe that some of his readers ask him, I love when he can help people who think there’s something wrong with how they feel. He does a lot of good. We need someone like that out there with a larger audience to hear what he has to say.
I really hope the show does well, but I also hope it doesn’t mean the end of his excellent weekly podcast. I’ve been listening since nearly the very beginning and don’t think I could do without it.
The Jonas Brothers? Savage’s intelligence buys the farm far too often at the hand of his subnormal sense of humor. Savage should kick the show off with a detailed analysis as to why he draws attention to his homosexuality so often in every which way. The last time I saw him on HBO, he was on Maher playfully hitting on Ashton Kutcher…continually…to the point where it wasn’t funny anymore and all of the sudden, Kutcher revealed that Savage had been sending him lewd emails to sex parties in the past. Or maybe Savage can discuss the politics of why it’s hard for some people to take him seriously on any matter in politics seeing how the only things he ever seems to talk abut are his sexuality, sex, and gay marriage (which is one and the same with his sexuality). Or how he never ceases his attack on public officials who beat back gay rights in any way and even only every so often, only to perform a velleity of posting a love letter on his blog written by a notorious commentator without any forethought if there was already a rapport between them. That commentator, from what I and many others know, has history with Republican public officials, and it’s the only thing about him that he keeps tucked away. It would also be nice to hear Savage talk about…how many hours of volunteer hours he’s donated to each and every gay alliance (if any). Because for the most part, Savage seems to only care about himself, and being an essential ingredient in this so-called movement.
Is it too much to ask to have a show with the subject matter of sex without the spotlight on a foolish pig with a teenager’s sense of humor, equally blockheaded guests with their combined two ounces of brains? Something new would be just that. This? This is nothing new. Savage is what you get when you make Adam Corrola take a shower.
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