It’s that time of year—GMMTV upfronts. They announced a whopping 34 projects plus updates on the Love of Siam musical and Scarlet Heart, so there’s lots to talk about. I’m pleased to say that I’m at least interested in the majority of them, and that of the five I’m most excited about, 3 of them are from the GL list. Finally, the girls get some crazy tropes to work with!

First though, I did talk about this on twitter, but I saw people being all negative like, can’t wait to never see these projects or for them to get completely changed, which is just. It isn’t as though GMMTV is the only one who does this! There are so many pilots from other companies that we still haven’t seen hide nor hair of, and many of them change in production because, you know, they’re pilots. Proof of concept. But whatever, you gotta uniquely hate GMMTV to get woke fujoshi points I guess.

Anyway, much like last year I’m going to award superlatives because going one by one would take forever. There’s definitely some trends—fake dating, same name trope, rebirth (which I’m thrilled about), amnesia (again), office romance, and sugar babies/friends with benefits. There’s a definite increase in stories about adults, which probably correlates with the primary demographic of GMMTV getting older.

Biggest Surprise: There were a bunch of big surprises, but a full-scale period action show about the Thai-Chinese mafia with GreatBright as the b couple was nowhere near my literal bingo card, aside from thinking there would probably be a historical drama. This looks like a classic Hong Kong action film but gay, and I couldn’t be happier. Do I wish Great and Bright were the leads? Okay, maybe, but that’s just because I love Great so much.

I do need to give a shout out to the tease of possible Sing/Chimon b couple, which is definitely the biggest possible surprise of all time. If that actually end up happening, I’ll die in real life probably.

No One Cares About This As Much As Me: Two of the least viewed trailers are for Unlucky Bae and Wish upon a star, probably partially because they’re both starring new couples. For my part, I’m delighted by the premise of Unlucky Bae—a mistaken curse is such a fun and funny set up for a romcom, and the couple they cast seem very charming, plus it has Aun and Stamp as a horrible b couple.

As for Wish upon a star, I love Pahn, and am so excited she gets to star in a GL. This one is a rebirth story, which is great for me personally as someone who periodically goes into the Novel Updates and searches the rebirth tag for anything interesting. I can’t tell if this show is going to be entirely in the past—the set-up is giving me Lovely Runner a bit, so it could go either way. I also got the vibe that Pahn might have had a crush on Fond’s character, which would thrill me to no end.

Actively Annoyed This Isn’t Already Out: I've been waiting for Jan to be in a GL, and it was well worth the wait for futch Jan + nerd femme Jingjing in Enemies with Benefits. Office enemies who are hiding their fwb relationship is giving Bed Friends but hopefully without the dark af backstory.

I’m also so ready for Twenty One, not just because I love Junior and Mark, but because they put Nut and Hong in it as the potential b couple. They were playing very coy in the interview about whether or not they’ll kiss, but their characters do have a toxic yaoi sequel novel, so I am hoping. Thrilled to see Nut is once again playing an annoying man, he does so well at it.

Going to Make Me Cry: Gotta give this one to 17th Spring—it’s a classic Director New, one of his emotional youth dramas that he does so well at, and it’s got Aston, who is my actual biological child. Honestly, when it comes to BLs, Director New has been the one to get me the closest to crying, so an intimate school drama that deals with grief and HIV is bound to get me good.

Y’all I Don’t Know About This One: Love’s Echoes was my first uhhh guys because GMMTV has not had a great track record with disability narratives in the last couple years; even Moonlight Chicken, which was better than the others, had the borderline paternalistic trope of “hearing person helps deaf person learn sign language/integrate into society.” The premise feels like it could very easily slip into stereotypes and problematic tropes.

But then Her showed up and ooh boy even before knowing that apparently Namtan is Junior post-transition (was Arpo always trans? Did she transition for revenge? What tf is happening there???), I was having big “oh no there’s going to be discourse over whether or not this counts as a GL if it’s Junior in Namtan’s body.” I thought it was going to be a My Stand-In situation, which would be…troubling on some levels, but not as much as this.

Horny Jail: This is a tie between EmiBonnie in Moonshadow and WilliamEst in You Maniac, though WinnySatang are making a great case for themselves in My Professional Boyfriend. Emi and Bonnie are in my opinion the most convincing of all the GMMTV GL couples when it comes to physical intimacy, so it makes a lot of sense that they get the deranged toxic sugar baby relationship show. And I’m delighted to hear that it’s directed by Lesbian Icon P’Fon, who also directed them in Us.

And then there’s William and Est. Someone saw how unbelievably horny they were in ThamePo, a show where the vibe was not really horny 24/7. So someone said, give them a show where they can be belligerent and horny at the same time. I’m really thrilled by the we don’t like each other but we’re fake dating and also fucking concept, especially with them both lowkey sucking. It’s like a sexy fanfic concept and I love it.

Best Fujobait: Look, both Mr. Kill and Arrest and Action are being very coy about whether they’re going to go bromance or BL, and both of those trailers were tremendously fujobait, though Mr. Kill had a romantic song playing over the end, so maybe it takes the cake. I truly did not think we were actually going to get DewTee in a show together, and I nearly shrieked when they showed his face. TBH, I’ll watch this regardless, because it’s giving L and Light, and that’s my original yaoi ship.

Meanwhile, Director Dome decided to give a truly unhinged concept to Sky and Nani, and it’s getting so meta toward the end with the fake fan edit and their boss being like “just kiss for us.” I’m excited to see them play frenemies again, though it does crack me up that Nani keeps getting cast in action shows despite his complaints. (I just had the monkey’s paw thought of what if they kiss and it’s still not a BL. I would die and have to fight Dome for real.)

Not Entirely Sure What’s Going On Here But I’m Into It: Oxytoxin and Kiss Me, Remember are both look completely bananas. Oxytoxin I can’t even tell what the genre is supposed to be, but the trailer was gorgeous and I’m intrigued by the premise of a wildly popular friend group being disrupted by the arrival of a girl who their leader falls for. As for Kiss Me, Remember, how old is Barcode supposed to be? Is he an amnesiac assassin? It doesn’t matter, it’s such a bonkers funny premise and Barcode has finally correctly been made a top.

And the rest:

• I always knew that Jojo would be the one to make JimmySea interesting to me; their pilot for I Will Always Save You is the most chemistry I think they’ve had, and they are letting Sea be handsome and charismatic, as he deserves. I also think their chemistry is tastiest when they’re at each other’s throats, so this seems promising for me.

• Of the three employee/CEO shows, I think the BounPrem one has me the most interested because it’s a much funnier concept. Taking an internship out of spite because the CEO sold you a haunted house? Iconic behavior honestly.

• I don’t know that I think Replay looks good, but I will watch it regardless, even if they keep putting JossGawin, who I at best feel neutral about, into shows featuring people I love. Roommate Chaos is similar, in that I’m like, will this be good? But I have been loving Surf and Java in Head 2 Head, and the other two couples are fun too, so I’m sure I’ll be there even if it isn’t good.

• When it comes to the school shows, I will watch probably all of them because they picked actors I find very charming. I am still distressed by Almond and Progress when Progress is still only sixteen and Almond is too good at looking like he wants to eat him, but they’re in Director New’s hands. Mick and Luke are pretty solid choices as younger versions of New and Tay, plus I adore Mick. And KenPaul will be in all of them, so that’s a plus.

• Gotta shout out The Spooky Love, which is killing me since it’s, like, ghost Stranger Than Fiction, and My Professional Boyfriend, which is fake dating + sugar baby + mafia, so it’s really got everything.

There’s honestly so much to talk about—it isn’t as diverse in genre as last year’s upfronts, but there’s still a lot of variety. I get the concerns about there being too many projects, and to be honest I don’t disagree, but they’re clearly trying to give as many of their actors and couples shows as possible. There’s been complaining about the shorter episode runs of their shows lately, but for the most part I think a lot of these stories can be done better and more concisely in 10 episodes. I just hope they can still afford longer episode counts to shows that could use the extra time.

Anyway, that’s all for this Yaoisgiving. For those of you who celebrate, have a great Thanksgiving, and for everyone else, happy Thursday. Go help boost You Maniac’s views because it’s cracking me up that it’s the most viewed pilot by over 200k.

urs,

hk