Arts & Entertainment

Shadow of the Big O

Gay designer Nate Berkus steps into spotlight with his own show

Published

16 years ago

September 9, 2010

The television landscape is abundantly peppered with gay characters and shows — “Mad Men,” “Glee,” the hilarious “Modern Family,” all of which have been well documented. So we’re focusing on something new that, on its surface looks innocuous, but is actually a television first — an openly gay man with his own daytime show.

“The Nate Berkus Show” premieres Monday as a syndicated daytime show cleared for 95 percent of the country including all NBC-owned-and-operated stations (check local listings here). The Chicago-based designer, who became famous for his guest appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” is launching his own program as Winfrey starts the final season of her own show. He has his own Chicago-based design firm and is a best-selling author. He also hosted the short-lived reality show “Oprah’s Big Give” in 2008.

During a media conference call Tuesday, Berkus discussed his new show, its format, some of his guests and his thoughts about being an openly gay public figure.

“I’ve never played anybody but myself on TV so it’s not my intent to anything differently now,” Berkus says. “If anything, people will be seeing more of me than they ever have before, so my day-to-day will definitely be part of the show. Being on ‘Oprah,’ I was never front and center, so this has taken some getting used to.”

The series is conceived as an exploration of a “broad range of lifestyle subjects providing take-away information and inspiration that will make a real difference in viewers’ daily lives,” according to promotional materials.

Berkus says some of the recurring segments will find him designing spaces with a 3-D gaming technology device that was designed for him, the “Nate Crate” which will ship materials to viewers all around the country to fulfill a show-issued challenge and a segment in which Berkus cohorts will comb neighborhoods for curbside trash pickup that will hopefully contain treasures worth refurbishing that will eventually be auctioned for charity. Celebrity guests will also appear. Dolly Parton and Elizabeth Edwards have already taped segments.

“The sky is the limit,” Berkus says. “I’m gonna be out there every day so everything is going through my lens. It’s my show, with my name and my stamp on everything. Viewers will see how inept I am in the kitchen, they’ll see the tension between my mother and I, they’ll really see all facets.”

While lesbians such as Rosie O’Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres and Rachel Maddow have thrived with their own shows, observers are calling Berkus’ the first show of its kind hosted by a gay man since Jim J. Bullock hosted the short-lived “Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show” in 1996. Is Berkus’ sexual orientation important or just a side note?

“It’s important for me as a person to put my best foot forward,” he says. “I don’t define myself only as being gay or only as being Jewish. I think all of us have lots of different facets. But it is an enormous responsibility for several reasons. I try to lead by example.”

Berkus says there are no immediate plans for a visit from the big O though she may “if it makes sense.” He says Winfrey taught him to “always speak my truth, remain authentic and learn to listen before I speak.”

And what about the stereotypes of being a gay designer? How has Berkus overcome that?

“I don’t know that I have,” he says. “But it hasn’t been an issue at all.”

Books

New book reveals what we can learn from animal sex

‘Poking the Squid’ on homosexuality, gender swapping, and more

Published

1 day ago

July 13, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy W.W. Norton)

‘Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex’
By Perrin Roosevelt Ireland
c.2026, W.W. Norton
$29.99 241 pages

Birds do it.

According to Cole Porter, bees do, too, but it’s not exactly what he imagined. Wild and tame, avians, insects, and mammals all have sex – although not always as you’ve been told or for reasons you might think. Even educated fleas do it and, as in the new book, “Poking the Squid” by Perrin Roosevelt Ireland, humans can learn from them all.

If you read through scientific papers on animal reproduction, you might notice something unusual: for scientists, the word “sex” means a lot of different things.

Says Ireland, “It’s used to describe behaviors, biology, life histories, and more.”

That might be because animals are not simply binary.

Take, for instance, hyenas. It’s easy for the casual observer to mistake a male hyena for a female and vice versa because of stereotypes of anatomy. Mating, for hyenas, requires subordination for the male and a nifty trick on the part of the female’s body to get things done.

Our feathered friends are no birdbrains, either: black-browed albatrosses were once thought to be monogamous but global warming seems to have changed their nesting habits sometimes. Male flamingos have sex with one another, as a territorial thing; other birds and animals form same-sex pairs for other reasons.

The Chinese mantis eats her mate after fertilization. Female snakes, alpacas, guinea pigs, and monkeys are anatomically able to enjoy sex. Genitalia between species varies quite a bit; in fact, the vaginas of ducks “are highly complex.” Lionesses will mate up to 100 times when in heat. Female damselflies will change into a “third sex” to avoid overly aggressive mating males. Bearded dragons can change their sex, if needed, as can yellow clown goby fish. And seahorse pregnancy and birth sparked a book banning in Tennessee.

So, asks Ireland, if animals, including us, vary so much in biology and life, “… why are we using the word sex like it means something, anything, consistent?!”

Pick up “Poking the Squid,” page through it a few seconds, and you’ll see that the information here is largely told through cartoon-like drawings mixed with captions. It seems to be something on the lighter side, but don’t let that artwork fool you.

Author Perrin Roosevelt Ireland offers readers solid information that cozies up to the scholarly, with hard science, philosophy, feminism, and quotations from researchers to support it, thus furthering the narrative and hitting the points squarely. If you see the art and expect something lighthearted, comic, and small-talk-worthy, you could be disappointed.

On the other hand, if you want solid, wryly serious facts, you’re in for a treat.

There’s lots of learning to be gleaned here, and some slight nudge-wink whimsy to emphasize the absurdity of wrong-headed thinking. This can make readers feel like they’re in-the-know on the jokes, and the playfulness balances the seriousness of the information well.

So, serious, scholarly, or slightly silly, none of these are negative but you’re going to know what you want from a book like this. For the right reader, someone in the mood, “Poking the Squid” is wild.

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