Be Good Johnny Weir

Johnny Weir be good?  Not likely!

Johnny Weir has managed to land himself a piece of television real estate with an upcoming series on The Sundance Channel entitled "Be Good Johnny Weir."

The show will follow Johnny in his pursuits as he prepares for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.  It will feature his coaches, choreographers, costume designers, managers and the ups and downs he experiences.  For skating fans (especially Weir fans), this will no doubt be must-see t.v.  The Sundance Channel has ordered 8 episodes and the release date is yet to be determined.

This, to me, is the perfect platform for Weir who has never had any problems voicing his views and opinions.  Often times, Johnny has been criticized for focusing too much on "the fluff" and not enough on his skating.  If you recall, at the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Johnny was more concerned with the outfits in the Ice Dance Competition than his own skating and finished a disappointing 5th. 

In 2007 he switched coaches and began to focus intensely on his skating, resurrecting his career with brilliant performances at Nationals and Worlds in 2008.

Johnny found himself in a little bit of controversy at this year's National Championships in Cleveland.  Over Christmas, Johnny performed in shows in Korea and contracted a severe flu virus.  Despite little preparation time, Johnny made the decision to compete at Nationals to attempt to earn one of the three spots available for the men at the World Championships in L.A.  It was Johnny's Bronze Medal performance a year prior in Sweden that earned the U.S. those three spots.  He had the option of withdrawing from National's and petitioning to be on the team, however, he chose to compete.  Johnny's illness prevented him from skating his best and many in the skating world (Scott Hamilton included) were shocked Johnny wasn't given one of the world spots after a fifth place finish.  A year prior, Kimmie Meissner was given a World Championship spot despite finishing seventh at Nationals.  Rumors began to circulate that Johnny wasn't put on the team because he was to "feminine" and U.S. Figure Skating was attempting to promote a more manly look for men's skating.  At the same time, Skate Canada went public with their plans to make Canadian Figure Skating more appealing to a male audience (read: less gay) by getting rid of the sequins and feathers and asking their skaters to use words like "strength" and "power" to describe their programs.

And about "the question," Johnny has always been mum on the issue.  "I don't feel the need to express my sexual being because it's not part of my sport and it's private.  I can sleep with whomever I choose and it doesn't affect what I'm doing on the ice, so speculation is speculation."

To be certain, this show will be interesting.  From the interesting fashions Johnny sports, his off the wall remarks, or his enormous skating talent, it promises to be a great time!

(Photo: Getty Images)

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Needless to say Aaron Harris is crazy about figure skating! He eats, drinks, and breathes the sport! You can check out more of Aaron's figure skating thoughts at his blog, Axels, Loops, and Spins

Unless otherwise stated, no particular sexual orientation of anyone depicted is implied or should be presumed.