HUSBANDS: Honored at the Paley Center for Media

Husbands Cast and Crew at Paley Center for Media (Photo By Rueben)

Last week the Paley Center for Media saluted, for the first time, a web series that has been making strides for same sex couples. That online series is Husbands, which comes from the creative minds of TV producer-writer extraordinaire Jane Espenson and actor-writer Brad Bell.

The first season of Husbands debuted online on September 13, 2011 and told the story of a newly dating couple named Cheeks (Brad Bell), who is a controversial tabloid personality and Brady (Sean Hemeon), who is a professional baseball player recently out of the closet. Six weeks later, they traveled to Las Vegas in celebration of a federal amendment for marriage equality, only to wind up drunk-married to each other. But once they are home, and sober, they feared that a divorce would be devastating to the cause so they stay married. Meanwhile, Cheeks’ best friend Haley, played by Alessandra Torresani (Caprica), is reluctant about their marriage, but attempts to be supportive of their decision. Special appearances in this debut season included internet celebrity and comedian Michael Buckley and actor Nathan Fillion.

The first season of Husbands consisted of 11 webisodes, each lasting under 3 minutes (except for the final episode) and received positive reviews from celebrities as well as various media outlets such as LA Weekly, AOL TV, After Elton, Out Magazine and even The New Yorker. Husbands was also named the Best Web Comedy of 2011 at TV.com. The first season of Husbands also received up to 100,000 viewers after only 10 days online and has surpassed 750,000 total views at YouTube as of last month.

With the premiere of season two set to happen only a few days after the Paley Center event, the cast, including Bell, Hemeon and Torresani and crew, Espenson, Director Jeff Greenstein and Line Producer M. Elizabeth Hughes, introduced the first two acts to an enthusiastic audience.

This time around Cheeks and Brady are settled in a new home but face more obstacles when Brady’s manager is concerned about their marriage and the Husbands have to deal with the media invading their lives even more.

The second season of Husbands has fewer episodes – only three – but the length is about the same; and the hilarity is still as strong with the guest stars being even more plentiful. This time around special appearances will be made by Dichen Lachman (Dollhouse), Amber Benson and Emma Caulfield (Buffy), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Felicia Day (The Guild), Magda Apanowicz (Caprica) and Sasha Roiz (Grimm). A few other key guest roles who have to be seen to be believed.

Fans, or those who are new to the online series, can catch the first episode of the second season of Husbands by visiting Lovehusbands. Tomorrow there will be a behind the scenes look at the making of Husbands followed by episode two next Wednesday. This routine will continue over the next few weeks so make sure you tune in to see what all the talk is about.