Dec 08, 2006  |  By: BRIAN MOYLAN  | COMMENTS     

It’s long been a joke that if all gay people went on strike, no one would be able to get their hair done, Broadway shows would close down and there wouldn’t be any daytime talk show hosts (thanks Rosie and Ellen!).

The new A&E made-for-television comedy “Wedding Wars,” which premieres Monday, Dec. 11, at 9 p.m., runs with that joke and explores a world where a gay wedding planner (John Stamos) starts a nationwide protest when he refuses to plan a wedding until gays have equal marriage rights.

“Two people from A&E pitched the idea and if we liked it we could produce it,” says Craig Zadan, who executive produced the movie along with his life and business partner Neil Meron. “Instantly we said yes. We’ve made every kind of movie but the one movie we hadn’t made was a movie in the tone of [1993’s] ‘Dave,’ [starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver].

“It was a romantic comedy and charming and adorable and touching and said more about politics and the American presidency than most political movies, because it did it in an adorable way. When the movie was over, you felt like there was a message there, but you didn’t feel like someone was on their soapbox lecturing at you.”

MERON AND ZADAN use a similar subversive storytelling mode in “Wedding Wars,” simultaneously educating and entertaining their audiences.

The story is the classic stuff of romantic comedies. When Ben (“Grey’s Anatomy’s” Eric Dane), a staffer for the governor of Maine proposes to his boss’ daughter, Maggie (Bonnie Somerville), she suggests that Ben’s gay brother Shel (John Stamos) plan the wedding.

The brothers haven’t had the best relationship since Shel came out of the closet, and Maggie thinks this will bring them closer together. She’s right, and things go swimmingly, until the governor (James Brolin) comes out against same-sex marriage rights, a stance that Ben supports. Shel decides to quit the wedding in protest.

“At first it’s a knee-jerk reaction to go on strike,” says Stamos, who says that he had great chemistry with costar Sean Maher, who plays Shel’s live-in boyfriend (and, yes, they kiss). “Through the thing he learns about what gay marriage is missing.”

As Shel discovers more about his cause, more people join his strike (in front of the governor’s mansion, natch). The stereotypical joke would be a bunch of hairdressers and flower shop owners on the line, but there’s a hysterical scene where an entire television news broadcast is shut down when all the gay workers walk out.

Of course, with all the gays off duty, Ben and Maggie are forced to hire a tacky (but really funny) wedding planner who covers everything in gold lamé. Will the gays come to the rescue and save the wedding? Will the governor see the light about same-sex marriage rights? Will Shel propose to his boyfriend? It all comes together in a great, happy, but realistic ending.

AND THERE IS PLENTY to learn from the movie.

“What we want [the audience] to take away is the fact that, obviously, gay people deserve the same rights as anyone else,” Meron says. “We wanted to seduce people with the charm and likeability of the characters and that they will be convinced that what Shel is asking for is the right thing because they like him and they trust him.”

Both Meron and Zadan have a track record of wooing audiences. They have an Oscar for their work on “Chicago” and have produced acclaimed television movies about Judy Garland, the Beach Boys, Ronald and Nancy Reagan and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” fighter Margarethe Cammermeyer.

In 2003, “The Reagans” was originally slated to run as a miniseries on CBS, but was shuttled off to Showtime (both are owned by Viacom) when conservatives protested the way the movie dealt with then-President Reagan’s reaction to the AIDS crisis.

“We’re used to doing movies that raise tremendous controversy,” Zadan says. “The best way for us to achieve change is for us to make movies that are incredibly entertaining and captivating. When you go into someone’s living room and you bring attractive actors who are riveting, you have people who love the characters so much that they forget the subject matter. When it’s over you, have a different view of the topic than before tuning in to the movie.”

Even Stamos learned something during filming, which was especially hard for him, since he had a bad case of bronchitis while shooting in Canada (where the movie’s gay director Jim Fall, of “Trick” fame, ...