For promising West Hollywood photographer Dennis (Timothy Olyphant), his friends - exasperating as they are - are the ones who make single gay life bearable.

He loves them but they drive him crazy. He hates them yet can't imagine life without them. He can't find a moment's peace from them - but they're always there when he needs them. As he prepares to celebrate his 28th birthday Dennis laments, "I can't decide if my friends are the best or worst thing that ever happened to me."

The Broken Hearts Club is a fresh, funny, real story about a group of gay men in Hollywood, their lovers and friends, and the often hilarious, occasionally poignant space in between. That is if they can get any space at all.

According to writer/director Greg Berlanti, it's also about something everyone can relate to: "how screwy and dysfunctional friends can be, but also how wonderful." Dennis' eclectic crew of pals is certainly living proof of Berlanti's statement.

There's Benji (Zach Braff), the innocent youth with spiky hair and a penchant for gym bodies. Howie (Matt McGrath), the psychology grad student who thinks too much and lives too little. Cole (Dean Cain), the charismatic actor who accidentally steals everybody's guy. Rounding out the crew is Patrick (Ben Weber), the cynical quipster with a fragile heart. And Taylor (Billy Porter), the drama queen who until recently prided himself in his long-term relationship.

Providing sage advice-and, for several of the guys, steady work-is Jack (John Mahoney), beloved patriarch, softball coach and part-time drag performer whose restaurant is a social haven for the gang.

Into the mix steps Kevin (Andrew Keegan), Cole's latest abandoned conquest and a "newbie," a young man not quite out of the closet. Dennis takes it upon himself to show Kevin the ropes as a newly outed gay man.

With the notable exception of elder statesman Jack, their lives are in various states of disarray. Howie lacks the discipline to resist his sexy pot-smoking ex-boyfriend while Patrick's lesbian sister (Mary McCormack) has just solicited his sperm to father a child with her despotic girlfriend (Nia Long).

Meanwhile, Benji can't introduce a new love interest to the group without somebody else moving in on him and Taylor gets bad news via phone from Hawaii, he's been dumped. Dennis simply worries he might never truly forge his own path or have a life outside this crazy, bickering bunch.

As they make their ways in the world with and without each other, they are suddenly faced with an unexpected tragedy. The group finds comfort the only way they ever have-together. "I can't remember when I first realized I was gay, only the first time I knew it was okay," says Kevin. "It was when I met these guys-my friends."

All the main characters are gay

The Broken Hearts Club is a fresh, funny, real story about a group of gay men in Hollywood, their lovers and friends, and the often hilarious, occasionally poignant space in between - that is if they can get any space at all.

According to writer/director Greg Berlanti, it's also about something everyone can relate to: "how screwy and dysfunctional friends can be, but also how wonderful."

Anne: We just want your sperm, we're not asking you to move in.

Patrick: Taylor's boyfriend broke up with him from Hawaii, Howie went home with Marshall...again, Cole slept with Benji's quasi-boyfriend, and my sister ends the evening with a plea for my sperm. It's like one big gay soap opera! I keep waiting for Sue Ellen to wander into my living room and tell me that she's secretly bought controlling interest in my oil company!

Jack: Everyone can't be straight. Everyone can't be beautiful. Everyone can't be the same, Patrick. Some people are just gay and average. They're the strongest I think.

Dennis: Benji, there isn't a straight man in America who doesn't refer to anyone as 'girlfriend' but his girlfriend.
Benji: I know, but I was so butch when I said it.

Howie: I hat this city. Everyone's better looking than me.

Dennis: A lot of people ask me when I first knew I was gay. Fact is, I don't know. But what I do remember, what I can recall, is when I first realized it was Okay: It was when I met these guys. My friends.

Howie: Dumb gorgeous people should not be allowed to use literature when competing in the pickup pool. It's like bald people wearing hats...it's deceiving.

Kevin: You scared me.
Dennis: It's my house, I'm allowed to do that.

Kevin: I don't get you guys. Is that all you do, you just sit around and talk about guys?
Dennis: Either that, or we talk about guys.

Dennis: I can't decide if my friends are the best or worst thing that ever happened to me.

Taylor: I was left for another man. And not just any other man, a trainer. A trainer named Dash. I was left for a punctuation mark.

Dennis: Where is my living room?
Taylor: Oh it's still here, I just shifted it around a little.
Dennis: No, this is YOUR living room. You didn't shift my living room around, you shifted my living room out and your living room in. So, where is my living room?
Taylor: Distributed evenly around the house.
Dennis: Distribute it back.
Taylor: It took me all day!
Dennis: So now you'll be done in time to set your curlers for bed.
Taylor: Okay Dennis, look at it this way: a new furniture arrangement is like a new hairstyle, you have to live with it for a few days before you can tell whether you really like it or not.
Dennis: That is not true. I haven't had a shag, but I wouldn't have to live with one for a few days to know that I don't want one.

Cole: Thank God you're home.
Dennis: Thanks to Mufasa here, it's now a Tunisian hut.
Taylor: Why do I even try?!

Taylor: I hear Kip Rodgers is a big fag.
Dennis: Kip Rodgers is not gay, he's married.
Taylor: Oh please, that's right up there with "He's not gay, he's in a fraternity.

Benji: It's called being horny.
Howie: It's not horny. I know horny. I've taken a lecture series on horny.
Benji: They have lecture series on horny?

Dennis: I've been crazy about you ever since you lit the candles. You were the wish.

Patrick: What is it with lesbians and candles?

Patrick: Leslie, queen of bitch-town, your people have come to take you home.

Patrick: Oh great! This is what I get for trying to be a friend.
Taylor: Well we obviously have two different interpretations of that word!
Patrick: What's that supposed to mean?
Taylor: It means that when it comes to men, you delight in being the bearer of bad news for all of us. You can disguise it all you want under the guise of 'Patrick's Good Advice' but it ain't shit but a pin...trying to pop all of our relationship balloons! Yeah, I knew Paul was sleeping with other people, but he told me we'd work it out. He promised we'd work it out.
Patrick: He lied!

Taylor: No Streisand, no Bette, no Judy?! What the fuck's a fairy supposed to do around here in case of an emergency?
Patrick: There's gotta be something.
Howie: I'm looking.
[pulls out a CD]
Howie: Celine Dion?
Taylor: In Hell!!

Dennis: Is that the girl from 'Young and the Restless'?
Howie: I'm so over Y&R.

Cole: Is there a sentence that you don't start with "as a person in a long-term relationship"?
Taylor: It speaks on my authority, in matters of the heart.
Cole: It speaks of your boyfriend's insanity!

Howie: There isn't a movie in the cinema canon that depicts a gay character that we would aspire to be. What are our options...noble, suffering AIDS victims, the friends of noble suffering AIDS victims, sex addicts, common street hustlers and the newest addition to the lot, stylish confidantes to lovelorn women. Just once I would like to see someone who is not sick, hasn't been laid in about three months and is behind on his student loans.
Benji: And that is someone you would aspire to be?
Taylor: Right?

Patrick: I couldn't do it.
Leslie: See I told you he was gonna start some shit.
Anne: You couldn't do it?
Patrick: I need material.
Anne: They don't have material?
Patrick: Well the whole "Hustler" ouvre isn't exactly helping my cause right now.
Howie: Oh my God it's embarrassing to even be seen in here! You owe me so big for this hag! You know my issues with buying porno.
Leslie: Hurry up!!

Leslie: You see, I told you we should've just drugged him and jerked him off.
Patrick: Drugged me and...is this the woman that you want to become a mother with?
Anne: She's serious, too.

Marshall: I hang on because I love you, and I wait patiently for you to calm down and wake up and realize that you love me too. You hang on because it's easy.
Howie: When you say it like that I sound like an asshole!

Dennis: I thought my mom would be cooler, she was a 60's love child. When she caught me smoking pot with my friends all she said was 'I hope you didn't pay market for that'. But when I told her I was gay she didn't speak to me for a month.
Kevin: How is she now?
Dennis: Better. She still refers to the homosexual community as 'The Gays', like they live on her block.
Dennis [in a feminine voice]: 'Dennis, I heard The Gays had a parade...did you go'?

Howie: Meanwhile, don't look now but (Patrick looks). I could kill you!
Patrick: What? You act like he would never know we were checking him out.
Howie: He wouldn't even know I was a fag if I wasn't here with you and your cart full of kitchenwares.
Patrick: What planet are you living on? There isn't a person in this entire store who wouldn't pick you off the homo tree in a second!
Howie: Oh keep telling yourself that.
Patrick: Excuse me, Miss. (woman walks over) This man, you've never seen him before in your life. Tell me, fag, not a fag?
Woman: Oh I'd have to say big fag.

Patrick: All of the men in L.A. are a bunch of 10's looking for an 11. On a good night, and if the other guy's drunk enough...I'm a 6.

Howie: Look! Benji's talking to Idaho Guy!
Dennis: Who?
Howie: Idaho Guy. He's Benji's newest crush. Benji's been working out near him for weeks in hopes that Idaho Guy would notice.
Dennis: Why do you call him Idaho Guy?
Patrick: I don't know. He just kind of .. looks like he's from Idaho. It's not one of our better ones.

Cole: So, how do you and Benji know each other?
Kevin: We fold jeans at Structure.

Dennis: You told them!
Kevin: It just kind of slipped out. My mom said she made some key lime pie, and I said 'great, I love key lime pie...and I'm gay'.
Dennis: I bet she wishes she made apple pie instead.

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