What To Watch This Week on TV: Solve Halle Berry's Space Case; See Some 'Johnsons,' 'Sex' - VIDEO

Check out our weekly guide to make sure you're catching the big premieres, crucial episodes and the stuff you won't admit you watch when no one's looking.

— Bravo is going to keep making shows about shrill women screaming at each other, and I’m going to keep telling you about them. This time it’s adult women who compete in pageants, aptly titled Game of Crowns. It debuts Sunday at 9 p.m., and it's got all the best/worst hallmarks of reality trash TV. Immobilized faces! Drama! Sequined gowns! Death threats! It’s like Amber Atkins and Becky Ann Leeman, all grown up.

More picks and clips, including Halle Berry's spooky space series and the returns of Masters of Sex and The Bridge, AFTER THE JUMP...

 

— Unlike Vegas, what happens in space doesn’t always stay there. Just ask Halle Berry’s character Molly in the new CBS sci-fi thriller Extant, premiering Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern. She, apparently, had herself a close encounter of the sexy kind and now -- NASA, don’t preach -- she’s in trouble, deep. Her mysterious pregnancy may have big implications for the human race, among others.

 

— Fans of Run Lola Run will recognize German actress Franka Potente when she joins this season of The Bridge, premiering Wednesday at 10 p.m. on FX.

 

— No, The Almighty Johnsons isn’t about what you wish it was. But, it does tell the story of a bunch of brothers with the powers of Norse gods. Catch the premiere Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern on Syfy.

 

— If you like your television burns slow and hot, warm up to the second season premiere of Masters of Sex, Sunday at 10 p.m. on Showtime. Salacious as the content may be, tune in for a pair of knockout performances by stars Lizzy Caplan and Michael Sheen.

What are you watching this week?

Homoerotic Showmance Blooms On Big Brother: VIDEO

Does Big Brother 16 already have its first showmance? House guests Frankie (who is pop singer Ariana Grande's brother) and Zach (a golf enthusiast from Florida) have formed quite the bond. Says Zach of his closeness to Frankie, "I like gay people. I'm straight and I only date women but Frankie is just one of the greatest people I've ever met."

Watch an official clip from CBS on the pair's PDA along with a fan-created montage of some of their most intimate moments, set to (what else?) "The Way" by Ariana Grande, AFTER THE JUMP...

Star Wars Fan Creates 'Leaked' Episode VII Footage: VIDEO

As previously reported, Star Wars: Episode VII has begun shooting, causing simultaneous joy and consternation among devottees of the Sci-Fi franchise. Released last week was "leaked footage" created by fan Fan Frank Wunderlich who proves again that Star War fans are probably the most devoted in the galaxy. 

Catch a 'sneak peak' of things to come, AFTER THE JUMP...

Lesbian Journalist Julie Bindel Says Sexual Orientation Is a Choice

In her new book Straight Expectations, Julie Bindel argues that sexual orientation is a choice.  The journalist, campaigner, and feminist also says that people believe that they are born gay because of “internalised doctrine.”

In an interview in today’s Independent, Bindel also argues that there is no biological explanation for homosexuality and that there “has to be some kind of choice, as well as some deep-rooted, embedded responses that developed through different experiences in our childhood.”

Bindel, who with her partner co-founded Justice for Women which campaigns for female victims of domestic violence, says that her arguments regarding the causes of homosexuality have been “drowned out” by obsessed scientists and by those who use the gay gene argument to provoke sympathy.

Asked how and why people would choose to be gay in countries with oppressive anti-homosexuality laws, Bindel says:

“I don’t know.  All I know is I’ve never been convinced by a scientific argument, or seen any evidence that is compelling that there is something innate about our sexuality. What I’m suggesting is, there are people who could go one way or the other and happily choose to be lesbian or gay.”

However, writing in The Independent, Patrick Strudwick says that Bindel claims that she herself did not make that choice:

“Because I needed to leave home – there was nothing there for me in Darlington – and pursue my feminist possibilities, that meant starting a new life and all that was open to me. I fell in with a crowd [in Leeds] who spoke about lesbianism as part of women’s liberation. I never chose to be attracted to women.”

Strudwick also claims that what Bindel means by sexual preference being a choice is actually making a decision “to have a gay relationship, identify as gay, come out and lead a gay life (whatever that is).”

(image via twitter)

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1583

SHARK ATTACK: Grandma gets a surprise at the International Spy Museum.

BLACK BEAR: Lumberjack uses giant claw to remove milk can from bear's head in Wisconsin.

BEN CARSON: Politicians are promoting pot to make America dumb and distract from Benghazi.

THE ANIMAL WHISPERER: Zoo behaviorist helps out a giraffe, a seal, and a tegu.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

News: Dolly Parton, Electric Shock, NASA Rocket, Madonna

World's earliest erotic graffiti found on island in Aegean, and it's gay.

Dolly Parton may adopt dog abandoned at Glastonbury Festival.

Neil Patrick Harris sells Sherman Oaks home for $3 million+.

Students prefer electric shock to being alone with their thoughts: "Two-thirds of men pressed a button to deliver a painful jolt during a 15-minute spell of solitude. One man – an outlier – found thinking so disagreeable he opted for a shock 190 times."

Napster co-founder Sean Parker buys Ellen DeGeneres's mansion for $55 million.

Police investigate two possible hate crimes at San Francisco Pride: "In the first attack, two women on Saturday evening were ganged up on in the city's South of Market district, said San Francisco Police spokesman Albie Esparza. Five males between the ages of 16 and 20 yelled homophobic slurs at the women as they kicked, punched and knocked them to the ground, Esparza said. Later that night, a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a gay rights activist group that dresses up as nuns, and the person's husband were attacked by three men and a woman in the Castro District, the city's center of gay life, Esparza said."

What do Prince Harry and Tom Hardy talk about at Polo matches?

Charlie Hunnam's back stars in new Calvin Klein 'Reveal' campaign.

Conchita Wurst wins “Premio Madrid Orgullo-Muestra-T” award at Madrid Pride.

Laura Palmer's house for sale: "The Everett, Wash., home can be yours for $549,950. The four-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bath house at 708 33rd Street was built in 1930."

Lady Gaga attacks Madonna fans on Twitter.

Key West's Island House taken off the market: "According to Smead, Island House’s owner Jon Allen decide that since he as been unable to find 'the right buyer who loves the Island House like we do, he’d rather hold on to the hotel.'  Smead was unable to confirm at this time if the property might return to the market in the future."

What motivates people to use sunblock?

Male model fix: Tarik Kaljanac.

Three Boeing fuselages fell into a Montana river after a train derailment.

NASA and Boeing sign deal for $2.8 billion massive rocket: "The rocket will be used to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, and to help us explore the outer reaches of the solar system."

Al Jazeera: Gay Republican congressional candidate Carl DeMaio is no darling of the LGBT establishment.

Madonna shows up for jury duty in Manhattan.

Queers for the Climate launches #SaveTheStraights campaign to raise awareness about climate change: "It’s a very tongue-in-cheek way to frame climate change. Maybe to be even more specific, and be a bomb thrower, [the problem is] mostly probably rich, straight white men – the CEOs of all the big fossil fuel companies, and the Koch brothers, and the folks that are obviously not just destroying the climate, but destroying our democracy. It’s kind of a broad-stroke, stereotypical answer, but I think that the gay community has an interesting contribution to make, because many of the people challenging LGBT equality in the U.S. have been the standard bearers of the patriarchy right."