KYLE'S BED AND BREAKFAST

At Kyle's B&B, located in a scenic tourist town, every guest is gay, and every day is a drama. Despite the down-to-earth proprietor's desire to live a quiet life, his simple mission—to provide shelter to those wayward souls who find their way to his door—means there's a never-ending supply of guys who need to find themselves. Guests include Kyle's queeny friend Richard; high-powered executive Lance; young, tough Eduardo; closeted baseball player Brad Steel; and straight-talking Brooklynite Nick. The men live out their lives in the shared living room, chewing over their troubles, offering advice and usually taking their shirts off to reveal washboard abs. Since this is a soap opera, the couplings are too myriad to list, but in the spirit of any long-running daytime drama, almost every logical possibility is explored. Serious issues are addressed: gay fatherhood, AIDS, Brad's adamant refusal to come out and the tyranny of the body-beautiful cultures of the gay community (a bit much in a comic whose art lingers lovingly on every chiseled detail of a character's anatomy). For all his pat conclusions and leaden dialogue, Fox has a clear affection for all of his flawed but lovable characters, and his ability to come up with endless plot twists makes this a guilty pleasure. (Sept.)