TheBacklot.com

TheBacklot.com (TheBacklot), founded in January 2005 as AfterElton (AfterElton.com), was a culture website that focused on the portrayal of gay and bisexual men in the media, and was the companion site of the lesbian-focused AfterEllen (AfterEllen.com).^[1] TheBacklot was dissolved in June 2015, and its content was merged with the website NewNowNext, owned by Logo TV.^[2]

TheBacklot

Type of site	Blog, news
Available in	English
Owner	Logo
Created by	Sarah Warn
URL	thebacklot.com
Commercial	Commercial
Registration	Optional
Launched	January 2005
Current status	Online (under Logo subsidiary NewNowNext.com)

History

TheBacklot was originally known under the name AfterElton and was founded by Sarah Warn, Michael Jensen, and Brent Hartinger. Warn initially served as editor-in-chief of both AfterElton and AfterEllen. Jensen became Editor in Chief of AfterElton in November 2005 and served in the position until September 25, 2011. Dennis Ayers, formerly the site's managing editor, took over as Editor in Chief.^[3][4]

The site was not affiliated with Elton John, although its original name refers to the milestone for gay men when John publicly came out. The site featured television, film, music, books, and celebrity news. It published articles, regular columns, reviews, and recaps of television shows with gay and bisexual characters, and maintained several blogs, including the "Meme" by Ed Kennedy.^[5]

AfterElton (along with AfterEllen) was acquired by cable television channel Logo in 2006.^[6] On January 12, 2012, the site announced that Louis Virtel had been hired as its West Coast entertainment editor.^[7] On January 31, 2013, Dennis Ayers announced that AfterElton would be changing its name to TheBacklot.com in April.^[8] The change was motivated by a desire to separate the website from its "AfterEllen's little brother" origin and to reflect the general "focus on Hollywood and the film and television industry".^[8] The relaunch under the new name took place on April 17, 2013.^{[citation needed]}

On June 29, 2015, Ayers announced that TheBacklot was merging with NewNowNext, an LGBT-themed entertainment website owned by Logo. TheBacklot name was discontinued and Dan Avery became Editor-in-Chief of the combined site.^[2]

Hot 100

The "Hot 100" was an annual readers poll, begun in 2007, of the "top names in film, television, music, sports and fashion".^[9]

Hot 100

Year	Winner	Top ten	Ref.
2007	Jake Gyllenhaal	2nd: Chris Evans 3rd: Daniel Craig 4th: Gale Harold 5th: Taye Diggs 6th: Ryan Reynolds 7th: Hugh Jackman 8th: T. R. Knight 9th: Ryan Phillippe 10th: John Barrowman	[10]
2008	Jake Gyllenhaal	2nd: John Barrowman 3rd: Luke Macfarlane 4th: Cheyenne Jackson 5th: Neil Patrick Harris 6th: Gale Harold 7th: Van Hansis 8th: Chris Evans 9th: Anderson Cooper 10th: Ryan Reynolds	[11]
2009	Neil Patrick Harris	2nd: John Barrowman 3rd: Luke Macfarlane 4th: Jake Gyllenhaal 5th: Jensen Ackles 6th: Chris Evans 7th: Cheyenne Jackson 8th: Hugh Jackman 9th: Gale Harold 10th: James Franco	[12]
2010	Neil Patrick Harris	2nd: Scott Evans 3rd: John Barrowman 4th: Luke Macfarlane 5th: Adam Lambert 6th: Ricky Martin 7th: Cheyenne Jackson 8th: Jake Gyllenhaal 9th: Van Hansis 10th: Chris Evans	[13]
2011	Darren Criss	2nd: Adam Lambert 3rd: Chris Colfer 4th: Neil Patrick Harris 5th: John Barrowman 6th: Luke Macfarlane 7th: Jonathan Groff 8th: Jensen Ackles 9th: Anderson Cooper 10th: Ricky Martin	[14]
2012	Darren Criss	2nd: Chris Colfer 3rd: Matt Bomer 4th: Jared Padalecki 5th: Neil Patrick Harris 6th: Jensen Ackles 7th: Chris Evans 8th: John Barrowman 9th: Harry Shum Jr. 10th: Adam Lambert	[15]
2013	Matt Bomer	2nd: Darren Criss 3rd: Chris Colfer 4th: Adam Lambert 5th: Dylan O'Brien 6th: Dan Feuerriegel 7th: John Barrowman 8th: Ryan Gosling 9th: Tyler Hoechlin 10th: Neil Patrick Harris	[16]

References

1. "Erosion Media Launches AfterElton.com" (Press release). Erosion Media. 3 January 2005. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
2. Ayers, Dennis (June 29, 2015). "Changes At TheBacklot". TheBacklot. Archived from the original on July 3, 2015. Retrieved July 28, 2015.
3. Ayers, Dennis (September 25, 2011). "Looking Toward AE's Future". AfterElton. Archived from the original on November 28, 2011.
4. Ayers, Dennis (October 28, 2011). "The AfterElton Agenda: New Contributors, New Content, All Thumbs". AfterElton. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
5. AfterElton Morning Meme
6. Warn, Sarah (June 5, 2006). "Letter from the Editor: Announcing our Acquisition by Logo". AfterEllen. Archived from the original on September 25, 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
7. Ayers, Dennis (January 2, 2012). "The AE Agenda: New Hires, Site Fixes and Spam Wars". AfterElton. Archived from the original on January 6, 2012. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
8. Ayers, Dennis (January 31, 2013). "R.I.P. AfterElton. And What the Hell is "The Backlot"?". TheBacklot. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013.
9. Logo (April 10, 2009). "AfterEllen.com and AfterElton.com Heat Things Up With Their Third Annual "Hot 100" List" (Press release). New York: Viacom Media Networks. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
10. Jensen, Michael (July 23, 2007). "The AfterElton.com Hot 100 List". NewNowNext. Archived from the original on September 19, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
11. Stevenson, Alexander (June 2008). "AfterElton's Hot 100 for 2008!". NewNowNext. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
12. Stevenson, Alexander (May 11, 2009). "The 2009 AfterElton Hot 100". NewNowNext. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
13. Stevenson, Alexander (May 17, 2010). "Presenting The 2010 AfterElton Hot 100!". NewNowNext. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
14. Stevenson, Alexander (May 23, 2011). "Presenting the 2011 AfterElton Hot 100... The World's Hottest Men as Chosen By Our Readers". NewNowNext. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
15. Stevenson, Alexander (June 26, 2012). "Announcing the 2012 AfterElton Hot 100!". NewNowNext. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
16. Stevenson, Alexander (June 17, 2013). "TheBacklot.com 2013 Hot 100!". NewNowNext. Archived from the original on 2017-08-08. Retrieved February 22, 2018.