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Even in increasingly tolerant times, rare is a portrayal of a gay man on TV as well-rounded as Scotty Granger's was on Platinum Hit. The show's second runner-up openly presented exactly who he was inside (per the demands of a songwriting competition) without ever seeming like he was reducing himself to a stereotype or defining his entire existence by his sexuality. In fact, Scotty's sensitive, thorough portrayal may be the show's greatest contribution to pop culture (that is, until some of its talented contestants make good on their potential).

We talked to Scotty about the show's handling of his sexuality, why he uses the word "lifestyle" to describe it, how the show helped with his craft and why he was one of the only cast members to bond with Platinum Hit antagonist Nick...

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Scotty Granger

While only three episodes of Bravo’s songwriting competition Platinum Hit have aired, it’s probably safe to say that out contestant Scotty Granger has established himself as the show’s frontrunner. After all, he’s won two of the hook writing challenges and two of the final songwriting challenges, managing to win the approval of the show’s judges Jewel and the very hard to please Kara DioGuardi.

Granger describes his style of songwriting as a cross between R&B and pop, and cites Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Elton John as influences. And which singer would Granger most like to hear croon one of his songs? Celine Dion.

AfterElton.com recently caught up with Granger to discuss the ups and downs of being on a competitive reality show, which Platinum Hit host is Glinda the Good Witch (and which definitely isn’t!), as well as his...

Photo by Williams & Hirakawa/Bravo

Platinum Hit, Bravo's newest reality show, debuted this week. This time producers are looking for the next great songwriter. They've chosen 12 upcoming composers, who will take the viewer on the journey to explore the creative process. The winner will get $100,000 in cash, a publishing deal with Sony and Bmi Songwriters The Writing Camp and a record deal with RCA/Jive. The rest will be sent home one by one. Based on the premiere we are making our predictions for the order of their elimination.

In the first hook challenge the contestants had 30 minutes to come up with a full chorus about the city of Los Angeles. Four of them were selected by judges Jewel and Kara Dioguardi as the best of the group. These four then got to select their teams from the remaining contestants, who would turn their hook into a fleshed out song.

The producers and judges of Platinum Hit clearly do not care about widows and orphans. How else to explain the craven ouster of Nevin James, a self-described “leader of men” and “great artist,” who had grand plans to spend the inaugural season of Bravo’s new competitive songwriting series at the intersection of Late Husband Lane and Motherless Child Blvd.?

In all seriousness, though, judges Kara DioGuardi and Jewel (along with guest panelists Jermaine Dupri and Jive’s Trevor Jerideau) probably made the right move in booting the contestant whose sole contribution to his team’s composition — the line “they want you to lose,...

Back before Bravo became the "go to" network for botoxed housewives, the channel was best known for being the home of quality  competitive reality programming (well, at least a lot of the time). That, of course, included Project Runway, one of the premiere reality series on U. S. television, as well as Top Chef, the show that finally managed to unseat The Amazing Race as the reigning Emmy reality show champion.

While Bravo still seems intent on putting a Housewives franchise in every state in America, the network hasn't given up on the competitive reality genre, having just this week launched Platinum Hit, a competitive songwriting show featuring Jewel and Kara DioGuardi as judges.

So is Platinum Hit Bravo's next Work of Art, the surprisingly engaging show about artists that was a surprise hit last summer? Or is it more the awful Project Runway rip-off The Fashion Show? (For the purposes of this article,...