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Pretty Dudes is an American LGBTQ digital dramedy created by Chance Calloway that tells the story of a group of friends in Southern California who navigate in and out of platonic and romantic relationships. Predominantly featuring an inclusive and intersectional cast and crew, the series stars an ensemble that includes Xavier Avila, Tiffany Commons, Bryan Michael Nuñez, Kyle Rezzarday, Manny Shih, Joshuah Noah Snel, Aria Song, Tae Song, Yoshi Sudarso, and Olivia Thai. Pretty Dudes aired initially on YouTube and streams on Amazon Prime Video and VOD service Stoopid Ambitious as of 2019.

Premise

Set in the greater Los Angeles area, the series follows a group of millennial friends of varying races, genders, and backgrounds as they navigate platonic and romantic relationships. Photographer Zario (Bryan Michael Nuñez), business law student Ellington (Xavier Avila), gamer Alexander (Kyle Rezzarday), and doumi Jay (Tae Song) live with model Sunji (Yoshi Sudarso), where they are frequently visited by hard-drinking neighbor Eagle (Olivia Thai). After entering a bet to get Zario a new boyfriend, resentments and betrayals cause friction in the group. The second season expands the main group to include painter Kish (Tiffany Commons), art gallery owner December (Aria Song), Ellington's younger brother Marshall (Joshuah Noah Snel), and December's younger brother Boaz (Manny Shih).

Cast and characters

Main cast

Recurring

• Stacy Snyder as Mandy
• Cesar Cipriano as Shane Cortez
• Chelsea Gray as Ty
• Kelsey Toussant as Calligraphy "Callie" Reynolds
• Stanley Wong as Erwin Lee
• Leo Lam as Gregory
• Carlin James as Elijah
• Nicko Sabado as Lando
• Courtney Grant as Tevin
• Sammy Cantu as Ken Dahl (season 2)
• Charlit Dae as Ram Takada (season 2)
• Tatiana A. Lee as Geneva Fauntleroy (season 2)
• Anthony Ma as Michael Michigan (season 2)
• Brennan Mejia as Carver Gomez-Pacheco (season 2)
• Peter Adrian Sudarso as Quincy (season 2)
• Angelique Maurnae as Armoni Chantal (season 2)
• Henita Telo as Fable (season 2)
• Amira Gray as Nia (season 2)
• Dickie Hearts as Chance (season 1)
• Michael Bow as Genie (season 1)
• Clifford Cisneros as Zach Largaespada (season 1)
• Tony Garbanzos as Patrick (season 1)
• Beau Sia as Stranger (season 1)

Guest

• Dion Basco as Samuel ("All-American Type")
• Osric Chau as Vincint ("The Death of Romeo")
• Giovannie Espiritu
• Wilson Lai as Korey ("Spectrum")
• Avalon Penrose as White Kish ("Chicos Lindos")

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Soundtrack

Season 1

• How We Break ("Pretty Dudes" Anthem) by Matt Almodiel, Chance Calloway and Peter Su
• Overthinking by COAH
• Man Made Mess by Tim Be Told
• Invisible World (Disappear) by Paul Dateh
• Stuck On You by Marc Hightower
• What You Have by Nathan Ray Penland
• Old-Fashioned Love by Peter Su
• Underneath by Brandyn Burnette
• Wasted by Tim Be Told
• Orion by Ryan Mitchell Grey
• Change the World by Sivan Levi
• Santa Barbara by Peter Su

Season 2

• How We Break (A.J. Sealy Remix) by Matt Almodiel, Chance Calloway and Peter Su
• Nobody Freakin' by Megan Vice

Short films and other media

Pretty Dudes: Caught Gay-Handed

Caught Gay-Handed was the very first Pretty Dudes-related project, released April 30, 2017.

How We Break ("Pretty Dudes" Anthem)

Chance Calloway and Gerry Maravilla co-directed the Malibu-set music video for the series anthem. Featuring Nuñez in an unnamed role implied to be Zario, other cast members also appear in the video alongside the song's singers Matt Almodiel, Calloway and Peter Su. The song and several remixes were released as an EP compilation.

All tracks are written by MattAlmodiel, Chance Calloway and Peter Su

Pretty Dudes: The Double Entendre

Containing two episodes, "Bravo Double Delta" and "Brother's Keeper," this short was co-written by all of the season 2 writers, Chance Calloway, Christopher Edelen, and Andrea Lee.

This short doesn't seem to be in canon with the actual plot of season 2. Among other things, The Dude House is a different location, singer Tanerélle plays Kish (actress Tiffany Commons has been cast in the same role for season two), and Sammy Cantu plays a character named Aza Keeper, where his season two character is named Ken Dahl.

Pretty Dudes: The Novel

Pretty Dudes: The Novel, a novelization of the first season was released on July 7, 2020. ISBN 9781955382427

RAM (Like the Verb)

In 2024, Calloway released RAM (Like the Verb), which centered on Charlit Dae's season two character Ram Takada. The film premiered on the film festival circuit.

Reception

Critical reception

The show's first season received a positive response from critics who mostly praised its diversity and inclusive storylines. Philip Hernandez of Black Talent TV called Pretty Dudes "a one a kind web series." Asyiqin Haron of Geeks of Color called the show "incredibly diverse," highlighting the "great storytelling." It was listed as one of "9 Dope, Black Web Series To Dive into for the Summer" by Shadow and Act, called "extraordinary" and "the rare series that showcases nuanced friendship between gay and straight men" by Jordan Simon who went on to add, "If you love Noah's Arc, you will enjoy this.". While noting that Pretty Dudes seemed "created for the gay male and female gaze," Devin Randall complimented the "truly fleshed out story" in a review for Instinct Magazine. RIZEup Magazine called the series "trendsetting." In a negative review, queerguru said the series has a "lightweight plot" "intended to be watched only by other millenials."

Awards and nominations

References

1. Casino, Khier (November 23, 2016). "New 'Magic Mike' Parody Will Have a Cast of All Sexy Asian Men". NextShark. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
2. Amazon Video: Pretty Dudes. Retrieved July 1, 2019
3. Stoopid Ambitious: Pretty Dudes. Retrieved December 24, 2019
4. Nepales, Ruben (August 16, 2018). "A Fil-Am actor's life: Cesar Cipriano". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
5. "Heather Matarazzo joins webseries Pretty Dudes as director". July 13, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
6. Stoopid Ambitious Productions (October 13, 2019). "How We Break (Pretty Dudes Anthem)". Vimeo OTT. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
7. Tim Be Told (May 1, 2014). "Tim Be Told - Man Made Mess (FULL AUDIO) - Official Music Video". YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
8. Paul Dateh (October 23, 2016). "Paul Dateh - Invisible World (Disappear) - Official Music Video". YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
9. Marc Hightower (January 14, 2017). "Marc Hightower - Stuck On You". YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
10. Nathan Ray Penland (August 14, 2017). "What You Have - Nathan Ray Penland". YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
11. EMAN8 (July 6, 2016). "Brandyn Burnette - Underneath". YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
12. petersumusic (January 19, 2017). "Santa Barbara - Peter Su [Official Music Video]". YouTube. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
13. Megan Vice (March 18, 2018). "Megan Vice - Nobody Freakin' (Official Video)". YouTube. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
14. "Matt Almodiel, Chance Calloway and Peter Su – How We Break ("Pretty Dudes" Anthem)". July 4, 2017. Retrieved July 14, 2019 – via YouTube.
15. Borama, Jennifer (June 30, 2019). "10 Things You Didn't Know About Tanerélle". TVOvermind. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
16. Pretty Dudes: The Novel. CSRC Storytelling. July 7, 2020.
17. "Pretty Dudes (Pretty Dudes, #1)".
18. Hernandez, Philip. "LOOK WHO'S NEXT: Pretty Dudes". Black Talent TV. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
19. Haron, Asyiqin (January 14, 2017). "'Pretty Dudes' Web Series by Chance Calloway [Review]". Geeks of Color. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
20. Simon, Jordan (June 13, 2018). "9 Dope, Black Web Series To Dive into for the Summer". Shadow and Act. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
21. Randall, Devin (June 6, 2018). ""Pretty Dudes" Is An LGBTQ Web Series With Hot Guys, Diverse Storytelling, And A Lot of Heart". Instinct Magazine. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
22. "50 Trendsetters To Watch #37: "Pretty Dudes"". March 15, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
23. "Pretty Dudes: a web series for other pretty dudes". October 31, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
24. "2017 NYPS Network Awards". Nyps Network. December 27, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
25. "Asians on Film Festival of Shorts 2018 – AWARD WINNERS". January 29, 2018. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
26. "AUDIENCE AWARDS PRESENTS 2019 LGBTQ SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL". Archived from the original on April 21, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
27. "AUDIENCE AWARDS PRESENTS 2019 COMEDY SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL". Archived from the original on April 25, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
28. "Awards of APRIL – MAY 2024". June 1, 2024. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
29. "Congratulations to director, Chance Calloway!". Facebook. July 11, 2024. Retrieved August 17, 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Pretty Dudes at IMDb

• 2015 American television series debuts
• 2010s American comedy-drama television series
• American English-language television shows
• LGBTQ African-American culture
• 2010s American black sitcoms
• Asian-American television
• 2010s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series
• American comedy web series
• 2010s American single-camera sitcoms
• YouTube original programming
• American LGBTQ-related web series