Gay.com Column: "Brothers and Sisters": The Spy and the Private Investigator

Arvin Sloane. Keith Mars. Possibly soon-to-be lovers. Now, I'm sorry if my bi-coastal shriek shattered your television set, but certain pair-ups just need to be celebrated as loudly as possible.

I don't know who on the "Brothers and Sisters" team pushed the idea of Ron Rifkin and Enrico Colantoni as lovers (here's hoping!), but such a couple would be genius on so many levels.

First of all, the two men are among the finest actors out there, with a history of amazing work behind them; my television crush on Colantoni began more than a decade ago with the sitcom "Just Shoot Me", and while I've only seen Rifkin in "Alias" and "Brothers", on his best "Alias" day Arvin Sloane could out-creep just about anyone. So these two actors have a demonstrated level of excellence in their work.

Which they will need, if they are going to play lovers on primetime television. Middle-aged gay lovers is probably not a network exec's dream couple, and while the creative team behind "Brothers" has more than proven itself, I also can't help but think of the many ways that this could go horribly wrong. So if the network steps in to interfere, or if the writers somehow bomb the storyline, you want actors who can do wonders with bad material, and I can think of few actors that would do a better job than Rifkin and Colantoni.

But more than all of this is the sheer compatibility of the match. Yes, Rifkin could have chemistry with a rock, and so could Colantoni for that matter, so it won't be surprising if they're compatible onscreen. But the fact that one is most famous as a diabolical spy, and the other is most famous as a do-gooder sheriff / private investigator - well, every time I think of them as lovers it just seems to fit.

And I haven't even mentioned the bonanza of meta-kinkiness that would be available to the writers.

So, as you can see, a Rifkin-Colantoni arc would be nothing short of heaven, both for the characters, the actors, and us. God knows Rifkin hasn't exactly been blessed with great material on "Brothers", and god knows a meaty role hasn't happened for Colantoni post-"Veronica Mars" either.

A storyline featuring them as lovers would change all that in a jiffy, and since these are two actors who've definitely earned the karma to good material, I'm going to be in the camp that's rooting for some middle-aged gay action.

Now, how do we wreck "Eli Stone" so we can get Victor Garber on board too...

"Brothers and Sisters" will hopefully be airing on ABC, on Sundays at 10 pm / 9 pm central.