‘Queer Eye’ back with diverse team and positive focus

ATLANTA — “The Real World” arrived in 1992, but the realityshow revolution really came of age in the early 2000s with groundbreaking shows such as “Trading Spaces,” “Fear Factor” and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”

Many of those shows eventually went away, but many have recently made comebacks.

MTV resurrected “Fear Factor” last year. TLC’s “Trading Spaces” is returning soon. And for the first time in a decade, new episodes of “Queer Eye” have been released and became available this month on Netflix.

Netflix — already a monster in scripted shows, stand-up specials and documentaries — for the first time is producing original programming in the realm of unscripted television.

It’s using a brand that helped nudge the world into greater acceptance of gays by “making over” straight dudes in the areas of fashion, culture, cooking, grooming and design.

Although the basic bones of the show remain the same, the series has a new Fab Five — and it takes a deeper dive into bringing the best out of men.

“While we were based in Atlanta, we went to different tiny towns around Georgia,” said David Collins, creator of both the original “Queer Eye” and the revamped version.

Hunting for the new cast was a monumental effort.

Collins pared thousands of candidates to 100 — and then 40, who went to Los Angeles for three days of the “most hysterical-fun roundrobin speed dating.”

He was seeking chemistry, and he thought that he found it with the final five — a group that’s more diverse than the original crew:

Design specialist Bobby Berk

Culture maven and former “Real World: Philadelphia” cast mate Karamo Brown

Food-and-wine expert Antoni Porowski

Grooming guru Jonathan Van Ness

Fashion czar Tan France

Collins said that unlike the original, this Fab Five will be shown as more well-rounded individuals.

“They do actual direct-to-camera interviews, and we learn their backstories and journeys,” he said.

He said the show feels different, partly because he no longer has to worry about commercial breaks.

“You get a better flow,” he said. “You get these tight 35 to 46 minutes. Each episode is a different length.”

And even though the show falls into the “makeover” category, Collins views it a “make-better” show.

Said Berk in an interview: “We touch on social issues. We are helping fix them from the inside. We aren’t focusing on the negative. We want to show them what’s great about themselves.”

The five take on some difficult projects, each dubbed “heroes” for their courage to even show up on camera for such a show.

In the second episode, for example, tech guy Neal Reddy of Atlanta is a closedoff man who wears an unattractive beard and a boring T-shirt, recoils at physical contact and lives in a disheveled, dog-hair-ridden home. He hasn’t entertained anyone in his residence for a decade.

Reddy said the Fab Five showed him how good his life could be if he cared.

“It gave me a glimmer of hope,” he said. “It’s the nicest thing anyone has done for me.”