October 2007 Archives

Luke still can't walk and he is PISSED!
Today's episode of "As the World Turns" was dominated by Luke's struggle with his injuries from when Noah's crazy dad tried to off him. Poor Noah is just a sad and confused boyfriend, wanting Luke to be positive and work on rehab.
He is being such a bitch and at one point says to his mother: "I'm just tired of trying to be normal!"
Then later, when he falls out of his wheelchair at a Halloween carnival, he says to her: "Mom, if you ask me if I want to talk, I'm gonna run you over."
Noah comes over after the carnival incident and admits that he was scared when Luke fell and the episode ends with Luke saying: This isn't what I want. Us."
Will they ever be happy again? Will they ever make out again? Will Luke ever comb his hair again?
Stay tuned.
Here are the scenes from today:

Today, Jane Pauley turns 57 years old.
So where is she?
I kinda miss seeing the classiest news anchor in the business on TV these days and hope she returns in some new venture soon. Back at a time when I still had crushes on girls, Jane Pauley was one of my biggest ones. She replaced Barbara Walters on "Today" when she was just 25. I'd watch her on "The Today Show" in junior high school when she had this long, blonde hair, and just be transfixed by her perfect diction and great wit.

She started out with Tom Brokaw then was paired with Bryant Gumbel and while these men could not be more different, Pauley had great chemistry with both. When NBC decided to try and make Jane share the spotlight with Deborah Norville the show in 1989, she quit after 13 years.
This resulted in a viewer revolt that took the show years to recover from. They under-estimated the loyalty of Pauley's audience and just how nice it was for people to have her part of our lives. But the whole affair only boosted Jane's popularity as she made the covers of "Life" and "People" magazine and became substitute anchor on the NBC Nightly News. She went on to co-anchor "Dateline NBC" for more than a decade - the first successful newsmagazine in that network's history - then quit a few years ago to take on a syndicated talk show that only lasted a year.
Since then,. nothing!
Happy birthday Jane, miss ya.

Nikki Blonsky is a movie star, but it seems like she hasn’t been told yet.
The talented “Hairspray” star, who turns 19 next week, is one of the most unassuming and friendly actresses I’ve ever encountered on a red carpet and her talent should take her far in films.
But to go from unknown high school student to singing and dancing on the big screen opposite the likes of John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer and Christopher Walken is enough to make anybody’s head spin.
“It’s really interesting to me,” Nikki told me when we chatted at last week’s Hollywood Film Festival. “I feel like I’m just kind of watching myself do it from across the street. It’s a very surreal experience but, it’s wonderful.”
She was working at a Cold Stone Creamery store when she learned that she had been cast as Tracy and her acting experience consisted of the many roles she played in productions at Great Neck South Senior High School which included Madame Thenardier in “Les Misérables” and Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd.”
She dreamed of playing Tracy ever since seeing the Broadway production of “Hairpsray” a few years ago. Her spirited performance in the movie got raves and she already completed a role in the film “Harold.”
“I’m just honored that I’m getting to make movies and that I’m a working actress,” she says. “That’s all that’s important to me. The fame is fun but at the end of the day, the fact that I’m working and supporting myself and, hopefully my family someday, that’s all that matters to me.”
So, I had to know: does she ever just wanna jump onto a garbage truck - the way she did in “Hairspray” - and just belt out a tune as she rides down the street?
“Absolutely! I’m gonna go to the fire department next, I’m gonna sing on the tow truck. Wherever. I’m gonna hit every truck in town!”
"Hairpray" is out on DVD on Nov. 20!

The "Men of Laguna Beach" calendar started out as part of the campaign to save Laguna Beach's famed Boom Boom Room. That effort failed but, thankfully, the calendar lives on! There was a recent launch party in Laguna (pictured above) and the boys will be in West Hollywood next Tuesday, Nov. 6 for a couple of events: A calendar signing at A Different Light Bookstore, 8853 Santa Monica Blvd., and an after-party at Beige from 10:00 pm til 2:00 am. Beige, located at Falcon Restaurant and Bar, 7213 Sunset Blvd. (between Fairfax and LaBrea).
All proceeds from the sale of our 2008 Men of Laguna Beach Calendar go to support The Laguna Beach HIV Advisory Committee, the Laguna Beach Resources Center and SAVE the BOOM!!!

Bob and Lee throw a Halloween party and real-pregnant Dannielle comes as fake-pregnant BREE! Check out this terrific clip and at the last, we catch a glimpse of Tuc Watkins in costume.
Enjoy!

I didn't write my thoughts about Sunday's episode of "Brothers & Sisters" yet so want to do that now. The focus was split between Kitty's pregancy and Sarah's custody battle with a little adulterous Tommy and pill-popping Justin peppered in.
But what I kept noticing, and feeling, was the strength Sally Field as Nora brought to the episode. I'm one of six children. There are five Walker children. Moms of broods that big just have a certain way about them and this is why Sally, as Nora, reminds me of my mom.
When Sarah's estranged husband, creepy Joe, comes to pick up the kids after Sarah loses primary custody, Nora shows up - unannounced - for the transfer of the kids. She was just there and didn't have to say much - her face said it all. And when Kitty was getting morning sickness, Nora just knew she was pregnant and even before it was confirmed, had her nose deep in a book of baby names.
Sally's performance is pitch-perfect. It's the best work of her career. It's no wonder she won the Emmy and that Rachel Griffith was nominated. These two women are the cream of the crop in what is an excellent ensemble.
AfterElton.com is doing some terrific recaps of each episode. It's a must-read for any fan.

The photo has nothing to do with the scathing review but I just thought it was kinda funny. In the Cheers & Jeers section of TV Guide, Isaiah Washington gets the kind of "Jeer" that is every actor's nightmare and I feel it is my duty to share it with you word, for word:
"JEERS to Isaiah Washington for his tragically lethargic performance on Bionic Woman. The former Grey's Anatomy lightning rod was clearoly brought onto NBC's sci-fi remake to generate controversy - and ratings - but he sucks the life out of every scene. As Antonio Pope, the trainer/guru of Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan), he's adopted a too-cool-for-acting style, mumbling his lines and only coming to life when he's kicking somebody's ass. Washington needs to take a cue from his Bionic cast mate Katee Sackhoff and amp his energy level up several notches. He should be better, stronger...and less boring."

Ouch!

We all know that Roger Federer rules the world of men's tennis. But for this cool new photo for Disney by Annie Leibowitz, he becomes King Arthur. His regal bearing just makes him a natural, don't ya think?
My friend Henry, a rabid Roger fan, will love this!

OK, so it wasn't a national poll or anything - just the opinions of the editors of TV Guide. But they seem to have made a good choice in including Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi among the top 10 power couples in TV. The magazine quotes theenvelope.com's Tom O'Neil tells the mag: "Ellen and Portia aren't just Hollywood's token lesbian power couple. They shatter all stereotypes. A few years ago, it would have been unimaginable to think that a lesbian would be the only Hollywood star entrusted to host the Oscars, Emmys and Grammys, but Ellen's been ringmaster at all three. Portia's a proven talent in her own right, not a lesbian trophy wife."
Bravo!
Among my other faves on the list Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick and Ken Olin and Patricia Wettig.

To look at her, it does not seem possible that Cheryl Ladd made her debut on "Charlie's Angels" 30 years ago last month. She still looks remarkably like she did during the days when she was picked to replace Farrah Fawcett on a show fondly remembered by fans like me.
I didn't want to scare Cheryl when I caught up with her this week by telling her that I had bought the single of her hit song "Think it Over" way back in 1978. It peaked at number 38 on the Billboard charts! So, just kept the conversation on safe ground like talking about the legacy of "Charlie's Angels" and her current role on NBC's "Las Vegas."
Things start off on a funny note when I tell Cheryl, now 56, how little she has changed since her days as an angel and she said: "Your eyes must be going, honey (laughs)."

The series ended after five seaosns in 1981 with Cheryl starring in four of those years. She came along at a critical time when Fawcett unexpectedly quit after just one year and the show's future was threatened. But Ladd fit right in with co-stars Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith and ratings remained high.
"I'm still recognized and people still love 'Charlie's Angels,'" sahe says. "it's still showing somewhere as you know. It's amazing how many fans we still have from that show and how much they still love us. They feel like we're their buddies and it's just a great feeling."
Does she ever get tired of still being asked about a show that ended more than 25 years ago. It's not like she hasn't been busy with other things such as hewr 1994–1996 series "One West Waikiki." taking over for Bernadette Peters in the Broadway production of "Annie Get Your Gun," witing a few books ("The Adventures of Little Nettie Windship," "Token Chick: A Woman’s Guide To Golfing With The Boys"), and appearing in a slew of feature films including "Purple Hearts," "Poison Ivy" and "Millennium," and television movies such as "Grace Kelly," "Death in California," and "Changes." She also has a new DVD out called "Know Menopause: Inside & Out" and can be heard on the complete series of the 70s cartoon "Josie and the Pussycats!" released in September. Cheryl was the signing voice of Melody Valentine.
"For awhile, when ["Charlie's Angels] was over at first, I wanted to move on from it," she says. "But now, everything's a blessing you know? People just love it so much. I embrace it."
Since 2007, she has been a semi-regular on "Las Vegas" playing Jillian Deline who was married to James Caan's character. Caan left the show las tyear after the fourth season and was replaced bt a new character played by Tom Selleck.
But Cheryl's character is still around and she's happy about that.
"One of the blessings is I don't have to wear the bikinis anymore which is so great!" she jokes before adding, "This is such a great cast and wonderful people to work with. One of the reasons I've hung in here with it foir all these years is because it's just delightful to come here to work. Great cast. Great crew. Great people. And you know, when you've done it as long as I've done it, that's really an important thing - who you're working with and where you go to work and how you're treated. It's very important."
The actress was divorced from David Ladd during the run of "Charlie's Angels" and since 1981, has been married to record producer Brian Russell. Cheryl's daughter, Jordan Ladd, is now quite a successful actress in her own right ("Hostel: Part II," "Grindhouse," "Inland Empire") and stepdaughter., Lyndsay Russell, recently made Cheryl Ladd - gasp! - a grandmother.
"I'm enjoying all that, the little first time moments in our lives."

Caught a screening of "Lions for Lambs" last night in Westwood. It was a thrill to see Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise at the top of their games as a reporter and U.S. Senator, respectively. We get to be a fly on the wall in a one-hour interview as the senator tries to sell a new military operation to the skeptical reporter.
I'll say this about Streep, a woman who has been nominated for an Academy Award a record 14 times and, somehow, has only won twice and not since 19i83 for "Sophie's Choice." She will get another Oscar nod for her performance here which was perfect down to every little detail such as note-taking and just the weariness she lets us see as she sits in the chair in the senator's lobby, then later has a showdown with her editor. She goes toe-to-toe with the charismatic Cruise character in the movie's best scenes and helps elevate him to his best work since "Magnolia." It's nice to see Tom Cruise, actor, instead of Tom Cruise, superstar. You just could not take your eyes off of Cruise and I enjoyed the hell out of both performances.
Even though Streep is top-billed with Robert Redford, her co-star in the wonderful "Out of Africa" more than 20 years ago, they share no scenes together here. Redford plays a university professor in California trying to inspire a young and promising student - the same way her inspired two earlier students who, to his horror, enlisted to serve in the military and are sent on a mission to Afghanistan. It's taking place at the same time as the Cruise-Streep interview and the Redford meeting with the student which ties the movie together and really makes you think about the war, our current administration, and the price paid.

I try not to think about Bill O'Reilly too much because, well, he turns my stomach. But wanted to post this video from his show when his minions decided the best place to interview Rosie O'Donnell was at a Long Beach book signing as fans, including a handicapped young guy in a wheelchair, waited.
After this stupidity ended, Rosie just went on with her business, signing books, taking pictures with fans and going over to the boy in the wheelchair and having a sweet conversation with him. I'm trying to find a way to link to THAT video.

Nice!
Just spotted this on TMZ.com. For those of ytou who saw Mario Lopez's shower scene on "Nip/Tuck" last season, this is a modest look for him. But still! Maybe he'll wear this tro the Halloween event in West Hollywood tomorrow night and maybe I'll run into him!

I know this is about the silliest thing I I've written in just, days. But here goes: I was looking at this picture of Jake Silberman and Van Hansis Paper Magazine's Nightlife Awards in NYC and thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if Noah and Luke of "As the World Turns" were REALLY gay and in love off-screen?"
It's ridiculous I know. It's like straight women watching Neil Patrick Harris on "Jow I Met You Mother" or T.R. Knight on "Grey's Anatomy" and wishing they were straight because they are also so terrific (and adorable) in their roles.

...with these images of Josh Duhamel, I hope you'll go over to my HOLLYWOOD JOE site to check out my interview with the star of "Las Vegas," "Transformers" and, of course, "Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!" I was on the set of "Vegas" yesterday and watched Josh film a scene then covered a little celebration that had marking the show's 100th episode.

The show "Life Is Wild" hasn't even been on my radar. But after spotting these pictures on the Ohlala blog of actor Andrew St. John,. I think I may have to give the show a look.
I don't have room for any new shows, but, who am I to ignore such beauty?

It's Neil Patrick Harris.
I prefer him as Barney, personally.

Jonathan "JT" Taylor of San Francisco was named U.S. Mr. Gay 2008 on Saturday night at a ceremony in Hollywood. He beat out 19 other other contestants from around the copuntry at the 3rd Annual U.S. Mr. Gay Competition National Finale and Awards Gala at the Music Box Theater.
Taylor, 27, now moveson to represent the United States at the Mr. Gay International Competition Grand Finale when contestants from arounfd the world gather from January 17-20, 2008. The first runner up spot was awarded to Green Bay, WI, Josh Robers, and the second runner up spot went to Derek B. Moates of Birmingham, AL.
The competition was hosted by comedian Alec Mapa.

Shirley Jones is a national treasure amd it was so great to talk to her after the LA AIDS Walk a few weekends ago.
We all know her from her role as Shirley Partridge in the classic 1970s show "The Partridge Family" that also starred her step-son David Cassidy. But that was only her professional second act. Before that, she was a major movie star who had the female leads in the classic musicals "Oklahoma," "The Music Man" and "Carousel" and she won the 1961 Academy Award for her performance as prostitute Lulu Bains in "Elmer Gantry."
Since the end of "Partridge Family" in 1974, Shirley has been busy with her third act which this year included both an Emmy nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her dramatic performance in "Hidden Place." At 73, Shirley still gives concerts around the country, is in demand for guest spots on various TV shows and is still landing roles in movies like last year's outrageous and raunchy comedy "Grandma's Boy."
I caught up with the lovely Miss Jones last weekend at the AIDS Walk Los Angeles and we had a little chat.

Greg: You look so fantastic. I could still see you driving that bus on "The Partridge Family."
Shirley: [hearty laugh] I'm glad I'm not driving it anymore!
Greg: You're an Oscar winning movie movie star, a television icon. Is it kind of nice to go through life that way?
Shirley: It's wonderful. I've been very, very fortunate. I really have because it's not an easy gig to be an actress. I have sons and they're all in the business and it's a tough road.
Greg: I've heard a little something about your sons.
Shirley: {chuckles) Yes, Shaun, Patrick, Ryan and David. It's a tough road and they've had a lot of problems. I, for some strange reason, was able to kind of float through. I feel very fortunate.
[note: Shirley starred opposite son Patrick in a 2004 Broadway revival of the musical "42nd Street}
Greg: We're fortunate in that we get to watch you. Especially on all those old musicals. Are you glad to see some of them coming out on DVD?
Shirley: Oh yes. And I have little children coming backstage now when I do my concerts saying they've seen me in "The Music Man" or "Oklahoma" and it's wonderful. It's just wonderful that the music will go on forever.
Greg: Those same kids haven't seen "Elmer Gantry" have they?
Shirley: No! [laughs] Or "Grandma's Boy."

Here are a trio of images of Shirley, through the years...

Shirley Jones in "Oklahoma"

Shirley Jones opposite Burt Lancaster in her Oscar-winning performance in "Elmer Gantry." She shattered her wholesome image for awhile...

Shirley was divorced from the late actor Jack Cassidy who is the father of her three sons and stepson David. For the past 30 years, she has been married to the eccentic actor Marty Ingels. He remains his wife's biggest fan.

I know what you're thinking. This post is just an escuse for Greg to post some shirtless pictures of the very hunky star of "The Bachelor" Brad Womack who has been tagged as the "sexiest bachelor ever."
Well, you would be partly right but I do have some things to say about this show which airs tonight on ABC and is down to four final women hoping Brad will pick them. I watched the second season of this show way back when then again last year when Andy Baldwin seemed to being back some credibility to it, But even the earnest Andy, pictured canoodling with another woman last month, didn't follow through with plans to marry the lovely Tessa.

Which brings me to this conclusion: the show is a sham! Andy wasn't looking to get married and Brad probably isn't either. And even if they were, to pick your bride from some sort of cattle call stacks the deck against you. From what I understand, no couple has ever met on the show and gotten married except for Trista who was "The Bachelorette" and recently gave birth. That is one happy ending in I don't know how many seasons of "The Bachelor."

But that being said, Brad really is nice to look at and I've caught the show here and there in recent weeks. I just don't want him or the producers to think I'm buying it for a minute. And for the women who participate, I hope it doesn't hurt as much as it looks like it does on TV. Brad is a hot guy, but these beautiful women should not have any problems finding someone just as good, if not better.

Lily Tomlin with the heroic Judy Shepard at the Saturday night event in Los Angeles. Judy who has not stopped trying to make the world a better place since the hate-crime murder of her son Matthew. God bless her.

The dashing T.R. Knight lends major star power and grace to any event he attends...

She always shows her true colors and that's why we love Cyndi Lauper, our outspoken straight ally...

The talented Peter Paige (opening in "The History Boys" next week in LA!) and a lovely light in our lives, Judith Light.

Sorry I missed all the fun!

Oh, this is rich.
The vile Ann Coulter invaded West Hollywood Friday night, eating a Murano - a new restaurant owned by gay circuit party promoter Jeffrey Sanker and lesbian night club owners Robin Gans and Sandy Sachs. She's the same Ann Coulter who called John Edwards a "f****t" and who thinks Jews need to be perfected.
Piece of work.
Rick Jacobs, who was eating there and saw Coulter, writes of the horrifying sight in the The Huffington Post and here are some excerpts and above is a picture taken with a cell phone posted on Towleroad.com this mornng:
Toward the end of dinner, one of my companions insisted that the painfully thin, emotive, long blond haired thing in a small black dress with nearly exposed bosoms was none other than Ann Coulter. I did not believe him. Why would Ann Coulter, who hates homosexuals, go to dinner at gay ground zero? Why would she spend her hard earned gay-bashing royalties to enrich Jeffrey Sanker and otherwise support gay-owned businesses? .....

..... Notorious people have the right to dine where they please. I also think that they have to eat their own cooking. It's quite simple, really. If a person makes her money by being famous and that person has an addiction problem, she has the right to privacy to solve that problem. But if she proclaims her sobriety to get out of jail and then shows up at a bar, she has to expect that her public might inquire as to her truth. You can't have it both ways: sober for the police and the press; publicly drunk for real. In time, you are caught in the lie. It's one or the other, fame or privacy. .....

..... When the manager came by with our check, he said, "Look, I'm sorry she's here, but I have to serve her." The staff were clearly appalled when they realized who was in their midst. Did Hitler eat kosher food even as he worked out the final solution?

Kudos to Marc Cherry and the writers on "Desperate Housewives" which has returned to the level of crackling comedy and superb dialogue from its glorious first year. Every episode of this fourth season has been hugely satisfying as the neighbors interact more, Bree and Orson have proven to be a wonderful comic couple (now that Orson's not a killer anymore, of course), Andrew is being given sharply witty dialogue again (of sister Danielle he says to Bree: "You've known her all these years and you still haven't figured out how that lentil of a brain works?"), and - best of all, the new additions to Wisteria Lane are absolutely delicious and inspired: Dana Delaney as the complicated Katherine Mayfair and Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm as the new gay couple on the street who know how to hold their own in a neighborhoood dispute.
Te episode begins with Katherine and several of the other ladies on the street completely aghast at an ugly sculpture fountain the men have had constructed on their front lawn.
"Of all the gay men in the world, we have to get the two without taste," says Bree (Marcia Cross) who has snappy, funny lines all episode long.

After Bree complains about the gay couple's taste, Mrs. McClusky suggests Bree go talk to them since "you got a kid who came flying out of the closet and a husband who's looking for the door knob." THAT cracked me up.
When everyone looks shocked by the remark, McClusky cracks: "What? Yoiu've all seen him."
Katherine and Lynette both run for head of the newly revived neighborhood association and the sequence of their door-to-door campaigning is a hoot! Katherine wins and is ready to begin a reign of terror starting with forcing Bob and Lee to get rid of the fountain. But the couple surprises them when they make clear that they are aware why she and her husband had to leave Chicago and that the ugly fountain stays.
Watkins and Rahm are perfect casting choices with Rahm getting a lot of the funnier lines and Watkins getting a few in of his own. To the homophobic and dowdy Ida at the homeowners meeting, he whipsers; "If you ever want to talk fashion, we're here for you."
And, of course, it's nice to see them finally get Watkins out of his business suit and into some snug-fitting polo shirts to show off his terrific physique. Hey, if he's got it, let us see it!

I think People magazine oughta just go ahead and reserve their next "Sexiest Man Alive" cover for Adam Levine, lead singer of Maroon 5. I mean, c'mon, how many times ya gonna give the prize to Brad Pitt or George Clooney before the whole thing just loses credibility.
So yes, I am beginning a campaign for Adam to get the coveted title! Anywho, here are an image I snagged off Kennethinthe212 (go there for more pics!) and a clip of the new "Wake-Up Call" video, director's cut:

If ya think about it, "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" was the movie that really first showed Neil Patrick Harris in a new light. If not for that funny flick, I doubt CBS would have thought to cast him in his Emmy-nominated role of Barney in "How I Met Your Mother."
I loved his wild and confident performance in the movie and he's back for the sequel "Harold and Kumar 2." Neil Patrick Harris is da bomb...

To see the movie's trailer, click HERE and watch for NPH at the end...

I really regret not going to see the late Charles Nelson Reilly's stage show "The Life of Reilly" when it was playing in North Hollywood a few years back. But all is not lost. A film adaptaion of the acclaimed one man show will begin an exclusive engagement at Nuart in Los Angeles, November 9-15. I'm so there.
Charles, who died this spring, is a part of my childhood from watching reruns of "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and, best of all, watching him spar with my favorite, Brett Somers, on "The Match Game." I gotta share a "Match Game" clip before I go any further:

OK, I feel better now.
Here is a description of the flm "The Life of Reilly" from some publicity material I just got: "If, in 1940, you had a lobotomized aunt, an institutionalized father, a racist mother, and were the only gay kid on the block, what do you think the odds would be that you'd end up a Tony winner, a staple of television and a generational icon? The cliché goes that truth is stranger than fiction; in this case, it's also funnier and more heartbreaking. Charles Nelson Reilly, famous for his game show innuendos and X Files guest appearances, takes us through his bizarre, star-studded, tragic, hilarious and ultimately amazing life with a potent blend of tenderness and quick one-liners. An adaptation of Mr. Reilly's acclaimed one-man show, photographed for the screen during his final two performances in North Hollywood, California."
Here is a trailer for the film:

To learm mpre about the movie, go to its website and enjoy!

Landmark's Nuart Theatre, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd, West Los Angeles (310) 281-8223 ... Showtimes: Fri-Sun at 12:30, 2:50, 5:10, 7:30 & 9:50; Mon-Thu at
5:10, 7:30 & 9:50

Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson got the lion’s share of attention for their roles in the movie musical “Dreamgirls,” but fans of the film know that film would not have been the same without the third member of the fictional Dreamettes: Anika Noni Rose.
She had already won the Tony Award as the daughter in the Broadway musical “Caroline, or Change” when she was cast in “Dreamgirls,” the second-highest movie musical of all time. If you have the two-disc DVD of the movie and have watched the extras, you can see a video of Anika's "Dreamgirls" audition and you will see a performance so stunning that you knew she just had to be a part of the film.
She knocked it out. of. the. park.
Since the film's release, Anika has been getting more film work, sang at the Academy Awards, and is looking ahad to more opportunities.

Whatever “Dreamgirls” has done for me is not finished,” Anika told me recently. “People are just starting to realize who I am and it’s brought me to a lot of people’s attention.
She has been mighty busy making films in the past year including the hit TV miniseries “The Starter Wife” and the features “One Part Sugar” and “The No. Ladies Detective Agency” with Anthony Minghella.
“Anthony Minghella wouldn’t have known who I was \[before “Dreamgirls”\]. It’s the snowball effect. Work begets work and that’s where I am. I’m still auditioning, but people know who I am and they know the quality of my work.”
Anika may have played sweet Lorell in “Dreamgirls,” but off-screen, she is a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind about the state of the world.
While I'm quite aware of how talented Anika is, what I did not know about her is how passionate she is about what is going on in the world and how unafraid she is to speak her mind about it. When I saw her at last weekend's AIDS Walk, she had sung a rousing rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" but before that, she gave one helluva speech about our country and our leadership and how she believes it has its priorities in all the wrong places.
She expanded on it when we had a talk later that day.
“I feel like, honestly, there’s so much s*** going on, and we’re so busy pretending and throwing up pictures of random celebrities in rehab and having hit a curb. Who cares? There are things going on in life that we need to pay attention to. Pay attention to the fact that it’s fall and it’s 70 damned degrees in New York. So while we’re pretending global warming isn’t happening, our grandchildren are going to burn the hell up. I’m just tired of people covering things up and if I have a moment where I can say something, maybe somebody hears me. I may be preaching to the choir but so be it. I need to say what I feel, that I’m tired of people talking for us.”

You go!

Sara Ramirez didn't join the cast of "Grey's Anatomy" until its second season but she has been in the thick of things as Dr. Callie Torres who this year, a surgeon who has been promoted to head surgeon. But it is her love-life on the show that has been getting most of the attention lately with her messy split from George O'Malley (T.R. Knight).
"Like all the other characters on the show, I think Callie has her flaws, her issues, her hang-ups," Sara told me recently. "We don’t know all the ins-and-outs of why she truly was with George. I think there wasa pure love there but I’m sure Callie has other issues behind clinging onto something that just isn’t right.”
The "Grey's Anatomy" set, which had more than its share of real-life drama last season, seems to beck on track. Sara says things are "Great!"
"It’s work, it’s play, it’s fun. It can be long hours but it’s a great time, I feel, in my life. I just feel so lucky and so blessed and grateful. I try and just go to work and do the best job that I can and learn and grow as an actor.”
So, how 'bout some scoop on future storylines?
\[laughs\] I can’t tell you! But I’m curious to see.“They out everybody through a little something here and there so I don’t think Callie will be left out of that. She’ll have to go through some downs. But, I look forward to seeing her go through some ups. It would be nice to have her find her true love.
But I’m not sure what they have planned for her.”
While the role on "Grey's" has made Sara (pronounced Sa-Da) known to television audiences, the New York theater scene has been aware of her for some time now. She won the 2005 Tony Award for her performance as The Lady of the Lake in "Monty Python's Spamalot."
Sara is certain she will return to the stage at some point: “I consider New York and theater my home, my home base where I sort of grew up. I miss it and I hope they’ll have me back whether it’s a musical - it doesn’t have to be on Broadway - or a play. I’m up for that. I miss the theater, I miss the whole symbiotic relationship between actor and audience and being on stage. The live factor."
I had to tell Sara that I’ll never forget when she sang her big number from ‘Spamalot’ on the Tonys the year she won. I thought, ‘WHO is that girl?’
Sara: “Oh! Thank you.”

...and the sex blog OhLaLa was there to capture the "Dante's Cove" star with boyfriend Ryan Barry who will be the December cover boy of DNA magazine. Don't hate him because he's beautiful! The jewelry line is called, Fly Naked. I dunno, isn't that kinda dangerous? What if ya spill hot coffee on yer lap?

...We all want to know who the hunky guy is escorting her into court on Friday!!!

Is there a more beautiful sight in men's tennis (other than Andy Roddick's abs, of course) than world number one Roger Federer on the tennis court in full flight. He won his match Friday at the men's tournament in Basel and is trying to win his seventh tournament of the year. When you've already won Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, your year's already pretty much awesome.

Had the chance to interview Julian McMahon and Dylan Walsh at a crazy event tonight at the Hollywood & Highland complex. There were screaming fans everywhere with cameras flashing as the two handsome leads of the F/X hit "Nip/Tuck" slowly made their way down a press line of mostly television reporters as they promoted the show's fifth season which begins on Tuesday.
But there's a big change to the show: it relocates from Miami to L.A. (where it has been filmed all along). It was great to talk to Dylan who answered every question thoughtfully. Julian seemed to lose interest once the cameras were no longer on. But this print and online reporter did his best to get what I could from him.
Of the location change, Walsh said: "It's a different vibe for this reason: we always had to hide this city because we always had to make it seem like Miami so all the landmarks like Grauman's Chinese and Pink's Hot Dogs, we had to hide. Now, we get to show them off. So that's kind of liberating and i think it's great for the show."

Greg: Did you two have much influence in the show changing location and the direction for the fifth season?
Julian: "Well, you know, I pretty much told them what to write.
Greg: Are these the end of the press line answers?
Julian: A little bit. No! We're the actors, we get our scripts and we, you know, do the best that we can with it, you know?
Greg: Last season, I was kind of hoping you two would get together [romantically] for an episode or two.
Julian: Me and him?
Greg: Yeah, that was kind of hot, that almost kissing scene you guys had. Was it always decided that it would only go so far?
Julian: The one in bed, right? That was funny, huh? Well, I always thought that the show should end on the two of us getting together, whatever season that is - season six or whatever. It should just end up with these two saying, 'You know, I just can't live without you."

Dylan: From the first season, that's been the joke between us, that that's where the show's going. But, you know, we've always said a thousand times that it's two heterosexual guys that love each other. I think it was explored more [last season] out of some people's sort of half-joking kind of wondering about it. Fans saying that as a joke. So I thought it was kind of cheeky to explore it but I don't think it was that serious ultimately."
Greg: When all this started, did you think, 'This is just another gig or did you know you had something special?
Dylan: I thought it could take off just because it was a great script and it was a great premise. Just reading the script and then when we shot the pilot, I felt like it could be successful. You don't ever know, but I had a feeling it could be."

Greg: What about working with Rosie [O'Donnell]? Last season, [Julian] had a scene where he's rolling around with her on a fur rug. I know she's already shot some new episodes this season.
Julian: Well, i don't think anyone needs to be told that Rosie can be funny sometimes. Obviously the circumstance in which we filmed it was pretty hysterical and ridiculous and the two of us had a good laugh and had some fun doing it. She comes back this year, she won the power ball or something and she comes back with all this money and she wants all these things done. She's hysterical. She hooks up with Oliver Platt's character so you can imagine the two of them together in a consult. It's pretty ridiculous.
Greg: Are there any other guest stars you can tell us about?
Dylan: Lauren Hutton plays a publicist that helps us out. Oliver Platt plays the showrunner of the show within the show that we work on. Bradley Cooper plahys a plastic surgeon in that show - he's kind of like one of us on steroids, totally over-the-top nonsense - really funny. Portia de Rossi comes on the show. I don't want to ruin it and say why or how.
Tune in and you'll see.

Before they did just one last interview and started signing autographs for fans, I asked the guys what else they have been up to, acting-wise, besides the series.
Dylan: I have a movie I'm to premiere in just a few nights with Danny DeVito, it's called "Just Add Water."
Greg: Do we see a different side of you?
Dylan: Uh, yeah.
Julian: The back side.
Dylan: [laughs] No.

Here is a video of an interview conducted for A Socialite's Life:

Barack Obama's presidential campaigh has been taking a hammering since it announced that Donnie McClurkin would be among the featured singers on the candidate's gospel tour in South Carolina this weekend.
But the fact that McClurkin, who has struggled with his sexuality for year, has called homosexuality a “curse” that runs against “the intention of God” would be included was a slap to Obama's cash-laden gay constituency. The senator has since added gay minister Andy Sidden to the tour. He spoke to The Advocate about the controversy and here are some excerpts:

The Advocate: How did this happen? Was Mr. McClurkin vetted?
Senator Obama: Obviously, not vetted to the extent that people were aware of his attitudes with respect to gay and lesbians, LGBT issues -- at least not vetted as well as I would have liked to see. Having said that, we viewed this simply as an opportunity to have a gospel concert as part of our overall outreach, and since he was singing at a concert along with a number of other artists, as opposed to being a spokesperson for us, probably it didn’t undergo the same kind of vet that someone who was serving as a surrogate for me might have.

The Advocate: . I know you’re in a difficult position here trying to balance these two constituencies -- but by keeping McClurkin on the tour, didn't you essentially choose your Christian constituency over your gay constituency?
Senator Obama: No, I profoundly disagree with that. This is not a situation where I have backed off my positions one iota. You’re talking to somebody who talked about gay Americans in his convention speech in 2004, who talked about them in his announcement speech for the president of the United States, who talks about gay Americans almost constantly in his stump speeches. If there’s somebody out there who’s been more consistent in including LGBT Americans in his or her vision of what America should be, then I would be interested in knowing who that person is.

To read the article in it's entirety, go to Advocate.com

OK, I'm right there as far as Christian Bale being number one. Ever since "American Psycho," I've pretty much been smitten. He never gives a bad performance and, most recently, he was terrific opposite Russell Crowe in "3:10 to Yuma." And, of course, he's the best Batman of all even though I'll always have a special place in my heart for Val Kilmer at the Caped Crusader.
But this list, which is from a reader poll, is not diverse at all. Where is Denzel Washington? Jamie Foxx? These are two of the sexiest men in movies and certainly should rate above TOM SELLECK? C'mon! Even Rob Lowe, cute as he is, wouldn't make the cut. Those who did were such obvious choices as Brad Pitt, James Dean, Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson, Cary Grant, George Clooney, Sean Connery, Richard Gere and Leonardo DiCaprio. Also included is Josh Holloway who is a surprise but when you think about it, is damned sexy.
Here are my faves from the list which you can find in its entirety on EW.com:

Eric Bana!

Paul Newman!

Marlon Brando!

Gerard Buitler!

I tuned in expecting that the scene of a shirtless and buffer-then-we-thought Christopher Gorham would be the highlight. Well, it went by in a flash. It was a nice flash but even better was the sweetness of this episode and how Henry and Betty try and stay away from each other and just can't do it. Good thing. They are adorable together with the chemistry between Gorham and America Fererra just perfect.
In the end, they just throw caution to the wind and decide to be together - for now.

I had missed the last few episodes so I was shocked to see sweet Justin acting all cool and rebvellious. He took his mom's car joyriding and crashed it into a tree! He was acting, well, straight! It was horrible! By episode's end, Hilda realizes that her son needs more of her attention and that she had been too busy spending all her time with other widows she met at the cemetery (this little subplot was a hoot!). Hopefully, fashion-loving Justin returns next week.

And finally, Marc has a date. At first, he is all hot for Gus the underwear model who agrees to go out with him. Then he casually cancles plans to watch "Psycho" with photographer Cliff who isn't as physically beautiful as dumb Gus, but about 1o times as sweet and about 100 times as smart. Episode ends with them holding hands watching the movie...
Until next week...

Speaking of being the second Darrin, I had a great time chatting with Robert Hays yesterday at the SAG event after we were introduced by Kent McCord. It's really fun to ask random and goofy questions to people who are good sports.
I had to know, what was it like to be the second "Roy" on the short-lived CBS series "Bette" which ran for 17 episodes during the 2000-2001 season. I had watched every episode and remember that toward the end, Kevin Dunn was replaced as Roy by Hays. Sadly, the star of "Airplane" was only in one show before CBS pulled the plug and broke my heart.
Hays: "Actually I filmed two but one didn't air."
Greg: Did you kind of feel like the second Darrin?
Hayes: Of course I was! Absolutely. But I liked the way they revealed me. I had my head in the refrigerator and they were talking about the second Darrin and other people on soap operas and all of those situations where they just replace somebody without saying anything. And I suddenly pop up and they don't say anything, they just keep going like nothing happened. It was a lot of fun. The people were very funny on that show."

Hayes is still busy taking on roles in films and television. I had forgotten he was in the late 70s series "Angie" with Donna Pescow and Doris Roberts until I told my sister - and pop culture touchstone - who I had talked to at the SAG event. When I mentioned Robert Hays, she said: "He was in 'Angie!' I loved that show."
Robert also starred in the series "Starman" and "Iron Man."

During the ceremony yesterday for the Screen Actors Guild's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I chatted up Jack Coleman, one of the stars of the NBC hit "Heroes." We talked about his current show, which you can read about on HOLLYWOOD JOE but I also wanted to talk about his long-running stint on "Dynasty." Coleman, who had only done a year on a daytime soap, was brought in to replace Al Corley in the role of Steven Carrington, the gay son of Blake and Alexis (Robert Forsyth and Joan Collins).
I wanted to know if it was kind of like being the second Darrin on "Bewitched" when Dick Sargeant replaced Dick York: "The only hard part was that they had to curl my hair every day to make it look like Al Corley's. When you've got hair straighter than Pete Rose, it's not easy. After a couple of seasons it was like, "OK, put that curler away or I'm gonna smack you.'

I confess, I have not posted very much about the reaction to J.K. Rowling's recent remarks that the character of Dumbledore in her "Harry Potter" books is gay. Why? Because I really don't care. But I do care about the reaction it is inciting and what it tells us about people.
Take for example, Bill O’Reilly and what he said during a conversation with Dennis Miller:

O’REILLY: There are millions of Americans who feel that the media and the educational system is trying to indoctrinate their children to a certain way of life, and that includes parity for homosexuals with heterosexuals.
And that’s what this Rowling thing is all about, because she sells so many books. So many kids read it, that she comes out and says, “Oh, Dumbledore is gay, and that’s great.” And this — it’s another in the indoctrination thing. That’s what the belief system is among some Americans.

MILLER: I’ll be honest with you. I don’t think you can indoctrinate a kid into being gay. You might indoctrinate him into trying it once and him going, “I guess I’m not gay.”

O’REILLY: No, but tolerance. It’s — you know, he’s not going to be gay, but it’s tolerance of it.

MILLER: Good.

Greg's two cents: I can't believe ANYBODY thinks Bill O'Reilly makes the world a better place.

Sorry for the lack of posts all day. I was in Hollywood covering the unveiling of the Screen Actors Guild's star on the Walk of Fame. It was a wonderful event and so good to see some of my favorite old stars (Diahann Carroll, Lanie Kazan, Kent McCord) and new stars including Ben Foster. To read about the morning, please go to my HOLLYWOOD JOE blog. There will be more from this event as soon as I find some time to write about it!
But now, I'm back off to Hollywood for an event for "Nip/Tuck" to be attended by BOTH Julian McMahon and Dylan Walsh.
I'll have it all for you late tonight or early tomorrow!

I just don't think Lance Bass has been doing enough publicity for his new book "Out of Sync." Ha! So far he's been on "The View," "Tyra Banks," "Good Morning America" and "20/20" and this week also found the time to be the center of attention at a book party in NYC. These photos are countesy of PinkistheNewBlog which always has a way with headlines and captions.

...aside from the usual terrific acting and writing and wonderfulness of America Ferrera, Vanessa Williams, Eric Mabius, Judith Light and the rest of the stellar cast. This is the episode where we get our first glimpse of the new boyfriend of Michael Urie's charcter. And then an equally if not better reason: we get to see the beefcake side of the gorgeous Christopher Gorham who plays nerdy Henry but shows that under all the nerdness is a stud waiting to bust out.

This actor, Chace Crawford, is about as beautiful as they come. But he is only a small reason why I am hooked on this new CW show "Gossip Girl." Like "The OC" did so well, "Gossip" also has terrific storylines and first-rate actors in the parental roles including the super-talented Margaret Colin and Kelly Rutherford as the moms of the show's key young women Blake and Serena. Then there is Matthew Settle who plays dad to Penn Badgley's character of Dan (my favorite) and how great to see Sam Robards in the role of Crawford's character. Sam's last recurring gig was as Greg Brock during the final season of "The West Wing" but you may know him best from the "Running With Scissors" episode of "Sex and the City" when he played Tony Reymi, the male version of Samantha Jones (Kim Catrall). Sam's father is the late Jason Robards. His mother? The great Lauren Bacall.

I'll never forget the shock backstage at the 2006 Academy Awards when "Brokeback Mountain," already the winner for best screenplay and best director, lost the best picture prize to "Crash." Now "Crash" was a fine film, but really? Which film will stand the test of time? It's no contest.
Anyway, Adam Vary, who I have worked many an award show with, writes a very interesting article in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly. Here is a piece of it with a link at the end:
...Brokeback was more than a movie. It was a phenomenon that commanded the cultural conversation for months, from Jay Leno to YouTube to the cover of The New Yorker. More important, it proved that straight audiences would snap up tickets to a same-sex romance. Since then, a few gay-themed films have been released (e.g., Notes on a Scandal). But seemingly no studio — nor any studio art-house division — has greenlit a film with a gay lead character. ''I don't think any studio responded by saying, 'Quick, dust off whatever gay dramas we have!''' says one former studio head. As surprising as it seemed that Brokeback could lose the Oscar to Crash, the real shock is just now setting in: Brokeback may have changed nothing.

Click HERE to read the rest of Adam's article.

It's already the 12th edition of CBS' "Amazing Race," the best reality show on television with the Emmys and the ratings to prove it. What I like most is that more often then not, there is a same-sex couple among the participants and this season will be no exception.
Kate Lewis and Pat Hendrickson are Lesbian Episcopal Clergy from Thousand Oaks who are eager for the adventure of a lifetime. Kate is 45 and Pat is 65.
I'll be rooting for them as the show sends 11 teams - each comprised of two people who have a pre-existing relationship - on a trek around the world for approximately 30 days. At every destination, each couple will compete in a series of challenges, some mental and some physical. Only when the tasks have been completed will they learn their next destination. Couples who are farthest behind will gradually be eliminated as the contest progresses, with the first team to arrive at the final destination winning $1 million.

...I nominate him for best actor. I don't watch much daytime TV these days but have seen much over the years. I have never seen a performance that is so consistently real. It is an astounding thing to watch - especially a scene like today when Van's character of Luke has to try and calm the fears and anxieties of boyfriend Noah who is suffering from guilt over his big father shooting Luke: "You may be messed up and we may not have some happy, fairy tail ending, but don't you for a second tell me that that man is right about anything - especially about you. You may not know who you are but he doesn't know one thing about you."
And the writing is so damned good when it comes to these two characters. Noah had earlier told Luke: "When I first met you, when I was still following my father's playbook, the thing that got me about you is you have this calm thing. I want to be near that because I don't have it."
Here is the clip with the best scene between Luke and Noah at the end:

I'm convinced Ash Christian is some kind of Steven Spleiberg-like genius in the making.
Think back to when you were 22, what were you doing then? I was in college drinking beer from a keg pretending to like girls. Ash would never have had time for that. He was too busy making his first movie - "Fat Girls" - a movie that is superb and finally getting a theatrical release when it premieres at LA's Regent Showcase theater Nov. 2 with plans for expansion after that.

Ash has created this wonderfully enjoyable movie about a gay high school kid and his "Rubenesque" best friend Sabrina who are suffering through the indignities of being "different" in high school. While Sabrina is indeed a fat girl, the point of the movie is that anyone who has ever been an outsider has an inner "fat girl" and can identify with the characters in this touching, and very, very funny movie.
“There are so many movies out there of the hot people having sex in the bathroom or whatever," Ash told me recently. "When I was growing up in Paris, Texas, I didn't have a movie that I understood. I just really wanted to do something that captured my life so I didnt feel like an outsider. I wanted to make people feel normal."
Ash survived growing up feeling like a loner by putting a lot of energy into his art. He left Texas at 17 moved to LA where he was soon getting scores of acting jobs including a role on "Six Feet Under." He wrote "Fat Girls" at 19 and directed it at 20.
“I raised the money, I was always going to be the [lead] guy. That was never really an issue. It was such a low budget, under $100,000. I raised it in about a month and wrote it in about a month."
Key to the flm's success was the casting of Ashley Fink as Sabrina.
“I audtioned her in LA before I went to Texas to fund raise," Ash said. "I met with 15 actresses her size and she came in and she was Sabrina.”
Fat Girls" was set to film in Canton, Tx. but the day before the 18-day shoot was to begin, the city government put the kibosh on things after they learned the main character in the film was a gay teen. Nearby Waxahachie, Tx. welcomed them and the movie got made on schedule.
“We shot for 14 days which is crazy, unheard of. We had locations locked in Canton and we had deposits on a hotel, props and food. They kicked us out. They said, 'You can't shoot on any public property, you can't use our schools, we don't want to be a part of this.' We went to Waxachachie and with little fighting, we got free reign.”
So how did this kid not even old enough to legally drink able to remain focused in the face of that kind of potential setback?
“I made up my mind early on that this was going to happen no matter what, come hell or high water and was going happen no matter what. We made it happen because we had to."
Once the movie was made, it was a matter of getting it accepted into film festivals and Ash caught a big break when the film was chosen to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Now that it is finally being released, Ash said, “It feels great. It's been a really long road to get it here, really fighting all the way. It feels awesome for your first movie to be in theaters, especially when you're 22 years old. We still had to really fight to close out a deal. it was always a battle. But i liked it., it's fun to fight.”
The theatrical run will be followed closely by the DVD release around Christmas.
Sounds like the perfect stocking stuffer!
Ash is busy working on his second movie, "Mangus," which he hopes will begin shooting this winter. He will again star and direct. He describes it this way: "It's about a boy who wants to play Jesus Christ in his high school's production of "Jesus Chirst Spectacular" but loses his legs in drunk driving accident. The school board takes away his roie and it's about his fight to become Jesus Christ again."
But for now, it's all about promoting "Fat Girls" and hoping audiences will embrace it as much as film festival crowds did: “You’ll never see another movie like it. It's a fun comedy in times that are very funny and you should probably laugh It was healing for me. I don't even feel like so much of a fat girl anymore.”

Here is a link to the film's OFFICIAL WEBSITE

I'm not sure how I happened upon this but I thought it was so much fun! The year is 1975 at an Elton John concert with him singing "The Bitch is Back." You may recognize one of his back-up singers: it's a cery curly-haired Billie Jean King!
EnjoY!

Out director Adam Shankman is no stranger to box office success with such hits as "Cheaper by the Dozen 2," "The Pacifier," and "Bringing Down the House" on his resume as well as the highly-regarded "A Walk to Remember" starring Mandy Moore.
But Adam really knocked it out of the park with "Hairspray," one of the highest-grossing musicals of all time. He directed a cast that included newcomer Nikki Blonsky and other young stars including Zac Efron and Amanda Bynes and such screen vets as John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken and Queen Latifah.
We had a chat at this week's Hollywood Film Festival Awards.
Greg: There's aleady been a "Hairspray" movie and a stage musical. Was it daunting for you to take the musical movie on?
Adam: "I went for it. I felt like this was my assignment. John Waters told me to make this one my own. And so I just went to the material and decided to go for it. If I had any doubts, the movie couldn't have been made. It had to be, 'This is how I see it. This is how I want it. This is what it's gonna be.'
Greg: There were some who were critical of the casting of Travolta as Edna, that they wanted to see a real drag queen play it like Divine did in the original movie.
Adam: It's ridiculous. He's the greatest. The role is always played by a man and John is the greatest movie musical star of our generation. It's literally like perfect casting. I don't think audiences would have responded to the character if it had been a real drag queen. I think that's embracing the other material and we already got that. We did that one already."
Greg: Well, what do you do for an encore? What's next?
Adam: I'm doing an Adam Sandler movie called "Bedtime Stories." That's a big [2008] holiday movie, a lot of CG and kids. It's very sweet. So I'm just starting that and as a producer, I have 'Step Up 2 the Streets' out in January and a movie called 'Seventeen" with Zac Efron that we start shooting on Dec. 3."

Ya know, Lance Bass makes a good impression. How nice it is to see somebody who is out, young, cute and talented out sharing his story with America. Here are two more appearances from this week promoting his book "Out of Sync." First is Lance's visit with the ladies of "The View." (above) It was Elsabeth's last day forever - I mean, for awhile - and Joy was home with a cold. The clip below is Lance being chatted up on Tyra Banks.

Have I ever mentioned my favorite gay soap, "Dante's Cove" to you before?
OK, OK,. only about a million times.
Well, some good news: here! Networks announced Tuesday that Season 1 of the gothic soap is now available at PlantOut Inc.’s Gay.com and PlanetOut.co in the form of webisodes. The show "Dante’s Cove" will be available for the first time ever online on an unlimited basis via Gay.com.
“This year, it became abundantly clear that television audiences are looking for options when it comes to watching their favorite shows,” Paul Colichman, President and CEO of here! Networks said in a statement. “Dante’s Cove, now entering its third successful season, is the perfect vehicle through which here! Networks can attract new subscribers while also acknowledging our audience’s interest in internet-driven viewing options.”

Robert Ginepri may not win many matches on the men's pro tennis tour, but he sure has great form! Here he is competing Tuesday at the Swiss Indoors...

I usually only see Oprah Winrey's show if I'm still up blogging or something and the late-night encore comes on. But Wednesday's show looks like it will be worth catching in the daylight hours: called "Gay Around the World," among Oprah's guests will be the articulate John Amaechi, the first NBA player - retired or active - to come out as a gay man. John is the kind of articulate, even-keeled and well-evolved person you like to see and hear talking about life as a gay man.
Oprah's website provides a PREVIEW and describes the others guests as someone was arrested and spent a year in jail. Another says she was so fearful, she moved to a different country. And, a prince's secret was so taboo, it ripped his royal family apart."
I guess the happy gay stories will be on another show - or maybe that will be John's roile.

Lance Bass, heavily promoting his new book "Out of Sync," has been on tons of shows in the past week or so including an appearance this morning on "The View" which marked the last appearance by Elisabeth Hasselbeck until her scheduled return from maternity leave in January.

I've missed all of the interviews but just found the "20/20" story on him that aired on Friday (above) and yesterday's "Good Morming America" interview (below) with the cute Chris Cuomo...

...Ryan Reynolds. He is one of Out In Hollywood's favorite straight actors. Sure, you may think it's because he looks so good, but he's also a fine actor as he showed up playing three characters in the indie drama "The Nines" and he's also been sweet and funny in "Just Friends" and was completely naked in "Buying the Cow."
Ryan turns 31 today...

Last night at the Hollywood Film Festival Awards, a stunning and slender Kirstie Alley was on hand to present her "best male friend" John Travolta the award for best supporting actor for his turn as the very overweight Enda in "Hairspray."
That's the thing about Alley, I kinda miss her carryong around some of those Edna-like pounds. Mostly, I just miss "Fat Actress," her Showtime series that lasted only one season but continues to enjoy continued life as part of my DVD library.
My friend Eddie and I have had some of our biggest laughing fits - ever - watching this show. While Alley did not stroll the red carpet last night, the very funny Rachael Harris did. Harris played Kevyn, Alley's hair and makeup artist, on the show. She kept the fictionalized Kirstie looking good and was always ready with plenty of advice. She was sort of Alley's "paid" friend.
Harris, now on ABC's "Notes from the Underbelly," did walk the red carpet and I called her over to tell her how much I loved the show.
"I have heard there are certain sects of people who just can't let it die, they love it so much...I had the best time of my life, I love Kirstie and I talk to her every now and then. We've asked her to guest on 'Notes from the Underbelly" but she's been all busy, the whole Jenny Craig bull***t.""
I wondered if there had initially been a fear that if Alley had lost weight, that would have meant the end of the show which never made it to a second season anyway.
"No. The plan was always that she was gonna lose weight. I just think they had creative differences."
Well, we'll always have those 12 episodes...
"

I don't mean to sound pretentious but this is what happened: My friend, Craig, and I had lunch at the Chateau Marmont on Sunday (the place where Britney allegedly has been banned from for smearing food on her face) and on the way out, we stopped at the little newsstand in the lobby and noticed the current issue of People magazine. There are George Clooney and Matthew McConaughey...in love! The cover seems to imply they are in love with each OTHER!
OK, it has occured to me that I could have written this post without mentioning the Chateau Marmont but I had never been there so it was kinda exciting for me! Had the burger. Craig did too. So, so good. This group of ladies - about 12 of them - at the table next to us were having some kind of wedding shower. They seemed very nice but what was eerie was that they all looked almost exactly alike! Blonde, rich and "refreshed."
Meow.

One of my favorite movies of 2007 is "3:10 to Yuma" which stars Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. But the actor who stole every scene he was in was Ben Foster, who played Crowe's loyal companion, Charlie Prince. Much has been written about whether Charlie is merely a loyal friend or if he is so in love with this man that he will do anything for him.
So last night at the Hollywood Film Festival Awards, I asked Foster himself for his thoughts about it:
Q. Is your character in love with Russell Crowe?
A. I think devotion was the root and love is definitely a beautiful form of that. How that manifested sexually? I think that's up to the audience. I think it's more about pure loyalty.
Q. I'm gonna go with you being in love with him.
A. Very good! Enjoy it.
We also talked about his working with the Oscar winning Crowe who has been prone to bad press over the years: "Russell Crowe is, in my opinion, the most misrepresented actor that we have, completely bulls***. He's one of the most generous people I've ever had the blessing of working with."
Foster's thoughts on the box office performance of "Yuma" : It's done extraordinary. The fact that it was number one in the country and the fact that it is still pulling in an audience, it's remarkable. I'm really proud of it."

... would rather work out in the sun than in a gym. That way all the photogs can capture his every move, and share them with us!

The plan was for me to attend this little tea party at the Beverly Hilton this afternoon for Richard Gere who was being honored as actor of the year at the Hollywood Film Festival. Then I had been invited to the awards after-party. This afternoon, I'm blogging away and wonder: "What am I gonna do between the tea party and the after party? That's a four hour gap!"
I make some calls and manage to get a spot on the red carpet for arrivals and into the awards themselves even though it was in the back at a table where we would not be served dinner. No prob, at the Gere party, I had already feasted on lamb chops and these to die for potstickers. Delish.
OK, so the red carpet was chaos! So many reporters smashed up against each other trying to get the attention of the stars as they made their way down the red carpet. I will have a full report on the red carpet scene on my HOLLYWOOD JOE blog later today.

But here are some of my impressions for Out In Hollywood readers: Ben Affleck, who I have never scene in the flesh before, is actually better looking in person. He is very, very handsome and well-spoken. His brother, Casey Affleck, isn't the tall, dark and handsome leading man that Ben is, but he's pretty darn good looking too and is having one heckuva year. ......
Nikki Blonsky is just such a breath of fresh air. While her co-star Zac Efron seemed pained on the red carpet, Nikki was bubbly and happy and looked like a million bucks. She talked to everyone and even spelled out the name of her dress designer without prompting. I hope she never changes ..... I did not know that Janeane Garofalo had these massive tatoos. She wore a sleeveless dress and there they were! Hello! ......Janet Jackson is probably a really nice person but there is this detatchment there that is slightly unappealing .... John Travolta and Kelly Preston can work a press line together effortlessly. They segue between anwering questions together in a finishing each olther's sentences way or they answer different questions at the same time to different reports all the while still linking hands ...... Marcia Gay Harden told me she keeps her Oscar in her office in Harlem .....Richard Gere likes to talk. And talk. And talk.

...at pictures of Tom Brady? I sure don't!

I'm so glad that Kennethinthe212 has an eagle eye for all the good pics of beautiful Brady - these are from the weekend I believe.
Enjoy!

Lucky me. I got to chat up Ryan Seacrest, Tony Griffin and Ty Treadway Friday night at the 53t\rd Annual Young Musicians Fund Gala celebrating Merv Griffin. For a recap of the event, go to my HOLLYWOOD JOE blog. I've already posted the interview with Michael Feinstein and still to come this week are fun interviews with Seacrest, the oh-so-handsome Treadway, gorgeous singer Freda Payne ("Dand of Gold") as well as a trio of veteran actrresses: Jane Withers, Anne Jeffries and Ann Rutherford.
Merv's son came with his wife and two daughters and could not have been nice...and he has such great hair!

The last time I saw Michael Feinstein was more than 10 years ago when he was making an appearance at a Borders store in Long Beach. I was among the locals who showed up and sat around the piano as he played a handful of songs then he signed copies of his new CD.
I saw Michael again on Friday night at the Beverly Hilton at the Young Musicians Foundation Gala celebrating Merv Griffin and we got the chance to talk a little bit about being an out performer.
"I was never in te closet but people started noticing or talking about it. But my life hasn't changed at all since I started getting attention for my personal life. It's not something that I think about because I live in L.A. and New York where it isn't an issue. I think about all the kids though for whom it is an issue and I'm proud of the fact that I can be who I am. So maybe it can give some inspiration to somebody who may be going through a time where they don't feel they can be themselves."
Michael is plenty busy these days professionally. He owns a popular nightclub Feinsteins at the Lowes Regency which has been running for eight years and draw top talent night after night: "It's amazing, it's going great guns. We've had a true cross-section of show business so it's been fantastic."
He's also writing a musical that he says is going to be produced next year in London called "The Gold Room" and is working on an album of unsung Sinatra songs that will also be a television special next spring: "These are songs that he sung live that he didn't record, songs that were written for him that he intended to sing that he never got around to singing. There's a whole bunch of material that kinda fell though the cracks."
Feinstein was honored to be among the performers at the Friday night gala: "I was pretty close with Merv. I say pretty close - he didn't tell me all his imtimate secrets - but I spent a lot of time with him. I was at his home in La Quinta and points beyond. We spent a great deal of time together, usually around the piano discussing music and songs. He was such a generous, brilliant, sweet guy, a man of his word and a person who is so deeply missed not because of his power but because of what he gave from his soul."

Why can't he dress like this when he's delivering the news? I'm just askin. This is the silver fox at a NYC screening of "Planet in Peril" this weekend.
Sigh...

I loved the three girls (Sally Field, Rachel Griffin and Calista Flockhart) going off for a spa weekend together because the comedy from that situation was much-needed after the heaviness of the episodes revolving around Justin's recovery and the marital problems of Tommy and Sara.
But the scenes that I was most interested involved uncle Saul (Ron Rifkin) and his emerging sexuality.
Milo has invited him to a party at his home where all the guests are, you guessed it, gay men! And Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) is one of the waiters! We get to see just how un comfortable Saul is with himself and get a glimpse into how difficult a journey this has been and still will be for him.

Scotty tells Kevin he saw Saul there: "It was a big, gay cocktail party - you never told me your uncle's gay...The way he and this Miolo guy were looking at each other...Kevin, it's time to take off the Prada shades."
Kevin goes to Saul and asks him, point blank, "Are you gay?" Saul does not confirm it. Kevin assumes he is and his hurt over his own coming out starts to come through and he says his uncle could have supported him when his father just made him feel lucky that he was allowed to retain the love of his family.
This is the first inkling we get that the late Walker patriarch may not have been so happy about having a gay son. I hope we learn more down the road.
Later, Kevin and Saul have a heart-to-heart, more civil and Kevin begins to say to hois uncle: "I'm sure you think I had things a lot easier...but you don't have to hide anything."
Saul's response: "I'm not gay. I'm not gay."

We've got a long ways to go...

Jake Gyllenhaal's new fim "Rendition" barely cracked the top 10 in its debut weekend. Getting even more attention is Jake's appearances at premieres and film fests in Europe with co-star Reese Witherspoon and interviews like this really interesting one that appears in the UK's Telegraph.
Here is the section of the piece that we want to know about, the part that dashes our wishful thinking:

I haven't asked who he is dating, but since he raised the subject, he did make some intriguingly ambiguous comments about his sexual orientation at the time Brokeback Mountain came out. A broad grin spreads across his face and he covers his head with his hands. 'I know, I know.' He is single at the moment. For several years he had an on-off affair with Kirsten Dunst. And yet?…
I quote something he said about homosexuality: 'I don't think I'd be afraid of it if it happened.' What on earth did he mean by that? 'Nothing like that has ever happened to me. I live in a different world. What I was trying to say was why leave out possibilities in my life? It wasn't meant to be provocative.'
So let's get it on the record: is he saying he is open to persuasion? 'No, I am not open to persuasion myself, but the idea of homosexuality is acceptable to me. I grew up in a city where half the people I know are gay. Both of my godfathers are gay.'
Paul Newman is gay! He laughs again. 'No, he's my celebrity godfather.' What's a celebrity godfather? 'That's the godfather that the media give you. He's a close friend of my family. He taught me to drive. I have literal godfathers and celebrity godfathers.'
I see. And Jamie Lee Curtis, is she a celebrity godmother or a literal godmother? 'Both. That's why it is confusing growing up in Hollywood.'
OK, having established that he is not bisexual, was he being quite calculating when he allowed people to think he was? 'It was meant as a way of saying it was important for Heath [Ledger, his co-star in Brokeback Mountain] and I to have the movie exist as the movie, but also to have people know it was two straight actors playing those parts.'
I think I follow. The chemistry and tension wouldn't have worked as well if two gay actors had been playing those roles, and because they were both straight it made their sexual awkwardness more convincing, more like it might be for two cowboys. 'Exactly. Here are these two lonely people who find themselves through love. Love has no bounds and these two people found a connection in this massive, lonely landscape of Wyoming.'
Presumably he got nasty letters from homophobes.
'Determining what was nasty and what was nice was always going to be hard for me with that movie. But yes, I got an insight into homophobia that I wouldn't normally have encountered.'

Poor Susan (Teri Hatcher). Mike (James Denton) thought her clumsy mishaps were so cute he fell in love with her. Her new gay neighbors Bob (Tuc Watkins) and Lee (Kevin Rahm)?
Notsomuch.
She welcomes her new next door neighbors onto Wisteria Lane and immediately inserts foot in mouth. They tell her they are partners.
Susan: You're partners! What business?
She's told they are life partners and blurts out: "That's super! I've seen a lot of cable so I get it."
Says Lee: "I'm glad we can live up to your stereotype.
It goes downhill from there as Susan makes several pathetic attempts to make the guys like her with disastrous results.
It was all very funny but what was even more fun this episode was the return of evil Andrew (Shawn Pyfrom)! Now the guy who seemed to have a lobotomy last season has taken his naughty pills again and seems intent on making his mother's life miserable.
Nice to have ya back Andrew!

As for Tuc Watkins, it's great to see him in prime-time (he is continuing to commute to the East Coast to film scenes for "One Life to Live." AfterElton.com editor Michael Jensen snagged an interview with this handsome and talented actor and I recommend yiou read it.
Here is just a sample:
AE: You’re obviously a very handsome man and you’ve caused a number of our readers to swoon so I have to ask, do you already have a desperate househusband or housewife of your own?
TW: I’m terribly flattered that I’m making people swoon. I haven’t heard that term in a long time, but you know if gay guys can identify with my character, then I think I’m doing my job right. And if straight people think I’m doing a believable job, then I’ve done my job.
As an actor, I think that we all . . . actors sort of hide behind characters that we play. I think we know a little bit too much about actors and in the advent of entertainment television programs and periodicals and things like that, actors become celebrities. But our job is sort of to be a cipher, so I sort of hide behind the characters that I play.

AE: You have played gay several times before. I’ve been told some actors still hesitate to take gay roles. Is that ever a consideration for you?
TW: I don’t think so. We’re not living in the 50s or even the 80s anymore and there are more and more minority type characters and gay characters that are just great, interesting characters to play, and I think that’s really what an actor looks for. I’ve played a lot of gay characters. I’ve played a lot of straight characters. Playing a gay character is very similar to playing a straight character. You just employ a better sense of humor, style and class, so I don’t think anyone has that trepidation about playing roles like that anymore.

Click HERE to read the interview in its entirety...Meanwhile, here's another clip from last night's show:

I was having dinner last week with a younger person, in his 20s, who remarked when the topic of Keifer Sutherland came up: "He's so hot! I'd let him do me bareback."
I did not laugh. I was quietly horrified. And yet, not completely surprised that someone that age might not have the same fear that I have had all my adult life about catching AIDS though unsafe sex. During the opening ceremonies of AIDS Walk Los Angeles this morning, I was happy to hear so many of the speakers address this very problem regarding the younger generation who doesn't look at AIDS as a death sentence and are not as careful with their bodies as they need to be.
"Grey's Anatomy" star T.R. Knight told the crowd: "Even though we read a lot that things are changing in this fight against AIDS, it's so easy to get lulled into a false sense of security - especially the yoiunger people who are just exploring their sexuality. Whether you're gay like me or straight or anywhere in between, I think we need to continue to teach each other and talk to each other especially if our parents or our schools don't do an adequate job. I think that's the way to fight it."
Kimberly McCullough, whose character of Robin Scorpio was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS on "General Hospital" 12 years ago, has been an active participant in the AIDS Walk for years - organizing a team of walkers from the soap who have raised tens iof thousands of dollars over the years.
McCullough told me that even though her character is make-believe, she is very concerned for the youth of today:"They totally don't get it. Just in general, kids, their minds are generally in the wrong place. One of my best friends teaches sex education at Planned Parenthood and she said it is worse than ever - they really don't know what's going on. In the beginning, it was super scary because we knew nothing about it, Now they just assume because we know about it and because there are drugs out there to maintain it, that they don't have to worry as much. Until we have a cure, we have to treat it the same way."
Andrea Bowen, who plays Teri Hatcher's daugher on "Desperate Housewives," told me about how much she had learned aboyt HIV/AIDS while starring in the TV movie "Girl Positive" about a teenage girl who becomes infected.
"As much as people don't want to think about it, it's natural and normal [for teens] to be examining what their sexuality and it's so important to be safe about it and so important to get the message out there instead of turning out backs to it and say that it's not happening."

Andrea (pictured above on Sunday with Hal Sparks) did a lot of research for her character in "Girl Positive" and said, "It's just so shocking. I thought I knew everything I needed to because of the industry that I'm in, it's kind of talked about more often, and I grew up doing a lot of theater and Broadway and it's talked about a lot there. But I was so shocked to find out how many young people between the ages of 18-25 are infected with HIV daily and they don't even know it and they don't know how to protect themselves. Yes, it's talked about but not nearly as much as I think it should be."
"Dreamgirls" star Anika Noni Rose was blunt when she addressed the crowd that had converged upon San Vicente in West Hollywood to watch the star-studded ceremony. She had recently been to Botswana and said while there, "I found out that there is not a teenager who doesn't know at least one to two people who have died of AIDS...Everyday, those people walk in life. They walk looking forward to living, looking forward to doing things, thinking about their mortality but thinking about how to live and move forward...While we're worried about giving our children condoms in health class, while we're worried about telling them about sexual education, in reality, maybe we should actually put some condoms in the classroom, in the gym, in the auditorium, in the back room where you know somebody's gettin' it. Put the condoms out and let these children know {applause] because we're looking at something that we've gotten complacent about, that we've gotten comfortable with, that we know there are drugs and we know there are ways to deal with it. But if we don't teach the babies, we're gonna really have some problems.

Congratulations to the more than 300.000 people who participated in the AIDS Walk Los Angeles this morning who raised a record $3,905,725!
I've never covered AIDS Walk LA as a reporter before, I showed up at West Hollywood Park this morning not knowing what to expect. What took place was an unforgettable time that included watching the opening ceremonies from the photographer's pit and interviewing such stars as the ever-popular T.R. Knight, the great diva Jenifer Lewis (singing in photo, above), Oscar winner Shirley Jones, Tony winner Anika Noni Rose, Tony winner Sara Ramirez, the wonderful Ana Ortiz of "Ugly Betty," Andrea Bowen of "Desperate Housewives," Kimberly McCullough of "Genderal Hospital" and daytime television legend Deidre Hall of "Days of Our Lives."

"I've never been good with public speaking but it's something I'm trying to work on," T.R. (pictured above with Ana Ortiz and Sara Ramierez) told me backstage. He still got a rock star reception from the crowd. who he had a message for. "I think teaching is what's most important and it's not taught in the schools, in many of the schools. People marched in D.C. and remember the AIDS quilt and how monumental that was? There's a new generation of people who might not know about that. All you can do is try to teach and try to inform."
Caught T.R. just before he left to walk the route himself, accompanied by Ramirez, his on-screen wife on "Grey's Anatomy." I didn't get a chance to interview everyone but did get in a quick hello to the fab Wilson Cruz who was very funny and charming while onstage and the gorgeous Thea Gill and Michelle Wolff of "Dante's Cove." Also there were DreamWorks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jai Rodriguez of "Queer Eye," Darryl Stephens of "Noah's Arc," Kelly Carlson ("Nip/Tuck"), a very long-haired Hal Sparks ("Queer as Folk"), Faith Ford ("Murphy Brown," "Hope & Faith") and current Frontiers' cover man Marcellas Reynolds.
Anika, one of the stars of "Dreamgirls," sent the walkers off with a rousing rendition of the powerful ballad "You'll Never Walk Alone" and told me she had never sung it in public before "It's a beautiful song and it holds so much to what is going on here, what is going on in this world. People need something that's going to keep them moving, keep them stepping upwards instead of sitting down and getting stuck in the fear and the hurt of what's going on. Move into the light of what's going on."

Anika had been introduced to the crowd by Shirley Jones, Mrs. Partridge to many but also one of the great stars in movie musical history ("Oklahoma," "The Music Man") and an Oscar winner for "Elmer Gantry." I will post our chat sometime this week.
I surprised myself at how giddy I felt interviewing Ana Ortiz who plays Hilda on "Ugly Betty." I gushed: "I feel like I know you. It's Justin's mom! It's Betty's sister!"
Gawd. And this was not the first time I have interviewed her. But Ana just laughed and said, "Everybody knows a Hilda, right?"
"This was a wonderful opportunity actually for me to come out and express my views and it's just such an honor to be a part of it. That last moment, when Anika was singing and everybody started walking, it was so incredibly moving. It's really wonderful to see all walks of life here. I mean, literally, there's not one single group that's not represented and it goes to show you that this is not relegated from one group or another. It's everybody's problem."
Deidre Hall had only a few hours earlier touched down at LAX after a long flight from Australia. But she didn't want to miss participating in the event with her son, David.
Fifteen years ago, when Hall was going through the surrogacy process to have her son, she had a lawyer who helped her through all of it. On the day David was born, Aug, 23, 1992, the lawyer was in the same hospital dying of AIDS.
"The last thing he saw was a picture of David being born. And today, David and I are walking it together and it's sort of a tribute to Marcus and all the people that we've loved and lost."
In the coming days, I'll be posting additional interviews from AIDS Walk on both this blog and HOLLYWOOD JOE so look for them. But for now, I gotta meet a new friend for lunch so I'll conclude with my favorite interview of the morning: Jenifer Lewis. She got things rolling with a bring-the-house-down performance of "I Know Where I've Been" which had such resonance with the crowd and if anyone there was not familiar with Lewis beforehand, they would never forget her now. She arrived on stage to polite applause, she left to a wild ovation.
That, is a star.
It was an experience and I was so glad to be able to tell her that after.
"You ain't gonna get me in front of a crowd that big and that loving and that wonderful - to get up this early in the morning and do that - I'm gonna show out as much as I possibly can. It's what I do darling. I breathe this, i breathe it all. There's no gay benefit, breast cancer, inner-city children that I am not there. If I'm called, I am there."

Well, whaddaya know...it's Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore!
J.K. Rowling revealed this Friday night during a book signing after a young fan asked if Dumbledore finds true love.
Answered the author: "Dumbledore is gay."
Te response from the audience? Gasps and applause.
According to the Associated Press, Rowling said Dumbledore was infatuated with rival Gellert Grindelwald, who was later offed in a battle between the good and bad wizards.
"Falling in love can blind us to an extent," she said of Dumbledore's feelings. The author added that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down" and that his love was a "great tragedy."

As Adam on "Dante's Cove," Jon Fleming's character is understandably in love with the gorgeous and thoughtful Toby played by Charlie David. They were buddies in high school and hang out, shirtless, all the time but Toby just isn't that into Adam - at least romantically.
At least in episode one which had its debut on here! TV on Friday.
I talked to Jon last week at the premiere event for the show to try and find out more.
"Basically, you'll find out that I've been cut off from my trust find. I had been living at Dante's Cove off my parent's money, partying and stuff. My parents basically say, 'Move back to New York or you're cut off.' But Adam's love for Toby prevails and he decides to stay at Dante's Cove and fight it out. Even though, as we saw [in the season two finale] he was rejected by Toby. Toby said he just wanted to be a friend. But Adam won't quit and he'll keep fighting for Toby even if he's penniless. He's not gonna take no for an immediate answer."

I suggest that maybe Adam has some kind of showdown with Kevin (Gregory Michael) who is Toby's true love.
Fleming likes the idea: "I think we should get a little boxing ring and have Toby be the main prize. Have Adam and Kevin just duke it out for Toby. Winner takes all."
Fleming was a bit taken aback by all the hoopla surrounding the premiere event in LA on Tuesday night with hundreds of fans and friends packed into the theater. It was a far cry from a year earlier when "one of the actresses on the show had a party and I watched it eating Funions and drinking beer."
Everything about this new season just seems better, says the handsome actor.
"I feel like everything is really tied in compared to last season when each character kind of had their own little story going on. But this season, everybody is more together and everyone has scenes with Grace (Tracy Scoggins). She's the landlady. Everyone has their own drama, their own love story. But at the same time, you'll see everyone come together for one joint purpose toward the end."
Stay tuned!

In the film "Transamerica," about a pre-op transgendered woman (played by Felicity Huffman) who finds out she has long ago fathered a son, the character must go to the home of her parents to ask for help - including the mother from who she has been estranged.
That mother was played by the great actress Fionnula Flanagan and the performance was so extraordinary that I will never forget it. So, it was great to have a chat recently with Flanagan which appears on my HOLLYWOOD JOE site which you can go to to read in its entirety.
But here is an excerpt from our discussion about "Transamerica"...
"I think pictures like 'Transamerica' that have something to say, that showed, why should you have to live what's a stealth life? Why should you have to live in the shadows and always afraid? Always less than or treated less than if you choose to be different? If you are born different? If your lifestyle is different? If you love and care for the people around you and you do your best to make the universe a better place, then aren't you entitled to be treated olike everybody else? To be treated well?"
I mention that Felicity Huffman's character in the movie certainly could have used a mother like Flannigan in the film - and not the monster mother who she portrayed.
"But you know, give her her due, the character I played. She did have the tiniest little change - a little bit of redemption. It wasn't much but given where she came from, it was considerable."

There were plenty of hot love scenes during the episode of "Dante's Cove" that was screened at the third season premiere earlier this week but the steamiest did not involve any of the show's beefcake stars: it was between new regulars Michelle Wolff (Brit) and Jenny Shimizo (Elena) who were in the throes of passion when they were rudely interrupted by Grace (Tracy Scoggins) in ine of the episodes funniest moments.
"It was actually so natural," Shimizo says of the graphic sex scene. "It was great working with another lesbian out actress. There was not a lot of talking about it or setting up a shot. Coming into season three and this cast, is all so very professioinal, it's very easy to do these really uncomfortable scenes."
Michelle has had a guest role on the show in season two but it now far more prominent while Jenny is completely new to the show.
"It's been amazing," Michelle says of her expanded role. "The character just really worked for the show so they ended up making it a series regular. What's great about Brit this season is that she's really the only one who doesn't want to believe in the magic so she actually ends up as a foil to all this other magic going on."
And playing opposite Shimizo has only added to the fun.
"She's an amazing actress and such a great name in the community so it's really wonderful to have her join and to have more out actors and actresses on the show. I just think it's really important. Not that gay people can't play straight or straight people can't be gay. I think that we're all actors so we do it. But it's really nice that a gay-themed show and a gay network is employing more and more out gay actors and actresses. It's really exciting. I was the only lesbian on the show last season."
Shimizo had never seen the show before because "I actually don't own a TV or have cable but now this is gonna be an inspiration to get both."
"I'm just so grateful to be on a show that already has a huge fan base. Keep watching! This is season is gonna be way better than one and two. Trust me."

I gotta skip off to an event but will have weekend posts featuring some of the sensational female cast members of "Dante's Cove" as well as some other surprises.
I came across some YouTube clips from "Oz" and "Brothers & Sisters" while searching for something else and could not resist posting them.
Here is the famous laundry room scene from OZ followed by a nice compilation of moments from the Beecher-Keller love story. Did Lee Tergeson and Christopher Meloni make out a lot or WHAT? They could teach those "Dante's Cove," "Queer as Folk" and "Dawson's Creek" dudes the art of an on-screen same-sex kiss!

Happy Friday!

Who watches "Weeds"?
If you do, then you already know that Elizabeth Perkins pretty much steals the show each week as the manipulative Celia. I mean, she plays the best bitch on TV! I've posted an interview with Elizabeth on HOLLYWOOD JOE that I hope you'll give a read.
While she was happy to talk about "Weeds" which led to some pretty funny quotes, but she didn't seem to want to talk much about the "Flintstones" movie. She was Wilma and Rosie O'Donnell was Betty Rubble and Elizabeth Taylor played Wilma's mother Pearl Slaghoople!
Oh well, I'll always remember it fondly.

This is just my favorite bro-mance, Lance Armstrong and Matthew McConaughey. They don't seem to spend as much time together these days but were once quite a shirtless fixture taking jogs on the beach and riding bikes etc. I miss those days. The 7-time Tour de France champ and the movie hunk were together this week at the premiere of CNN's "Planet in Peril," in which Anderson Cooper, Jeff Corwin, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta explore the earth’s environmental issues.
Here are a few other pics from the event, including some of the silver fox, Anderson:

Charlie David was last to arrive to the "Dante's Cove" premiere earlier this week in L.A. but he was not pulling a star turn. This well-spoken, thoughtful actor with leading man looks is far too modest for that kind of thing and each time I see him, I am more and more impressed at his work ethic and focus. He is in post-production right now on "Mulligans," a movie he wrote, produced and stars in along with Thea Gill and others. It is in post-production now with the plan of entering it into film festivals in the spring. Charlie also has roles in two movies that screened at Outfest this summer: "A Four Letter Word" and "Kiss the Bride" to be released next year.
With the third season premiere of "Dante's" tonight on here! TV, expect for Charlie's character of Toby to be just as prominent as he has been in previous seasons, and just as gorgeous. Here is some of our conversation:
Greg: How did things on "Mulligans" go?
Charlie: "The shooting went off really without a hitch. Thea is amazing. There are scenes that she does that make me weep - they are literally so good. She plays the mother of my best friend. It's her husband that I end up having an affair with."
Greg: You little tart. (both laugh) What was it like to juggle acting in a film that you've written and are also producing?
Charlie: It was great overall. There were challenges as we got the script to the production draft of it. It's definitely a challenge producing a film - it was my first feature to produce. From raising the funds to pulling all the pieces together, I found out that I definitely have an affinity for it, I love to do it so I'll be walking down that path again.
Greg: I really liked you in "A Four Letter Word" because it was a character very different from Toby. You were this big liar.
Charlie: I was a pathologically lying prostitute. We shot that in Manhattan. It was so fun to play not the good guy next door, to play a little bit more of the antagonist.

Greg: OK, "Dante's Cove." Here it is the third season and here we are at this event surrounded by all this hoopla.
Charlie: "It's great to see people excited about the show, our fan base is growing and people are supportive of it. For a gay and lesbian show to be going into its third season on a LGBT channel, it's pretty exciting and nice to be a part of."
Greg: Do you like the direction the show is going?
Charlie: I don't know what's happening! I haven't seen any of this season. I remember what we shot but how they end up cutting it together is quite a different thing (laughs) so I'm excited to see it as well.

I see naked people.
I saw so many of them for so long that after awhile, I actually began to mostly pay attention to the songs they were singing in the new film "Naked Boys Singing" which had a high-energy premiere last night at the Regency Landmark Theatre on LaBrea.
Virtually the entire cast of talented singers and dancers were there (with their clothes on) but I missed their introduction, getting there just in time to give producer Kirkland Tibbles a hug before the movie started.
The movie is based on the long-running off-Broadway musical comedy review featuring 16 original songs and director Troy Christian landed some real talent for the production. Obviously they had to look good naked which wasn't really a problem since these are first-rate singers and dancers. Things start off very fun with the number "Gratuitous Nudity" and it is true, early on in the film, you do start to forget (a little bit) that they are naked. This is a movie I want the soundtrack from - especially for the numbers "The Naked Maid," "Fight the Urge," "Jack's Song," "Nothin' But the Radio On" and my absolute fave: "Perky Little Porn Star." Also really loved the soaring ballad "Kris Look What You've Missed."
Since I missed the arrivals line before the film and wanted to skip the after-party (enough parties for me this week!), I snagged interviews with three cast members as they made their way out of the theater.
Jason Curie, whose big numbers were "The Entertainer" (a real show-stopper), ""Robert Mitchum," and "Fight the Urge" told me he had absolutely no hestiation about being nude on the big screen.
"I've been nude on stage before and actually in some short films. Nudity to me isn't an issue, it's kind of never been a big deal," said Jason (pictured, above). "It was really exciting to watch it with everybody here and see the positive response. I wasn't nervous until 'The Entertainer' came on then it was kind of a rush of, 'Oh God, here we go.' People laughed once the heels got up on the piano and there we go."
After the opening number, Kevin Stea kicks things off wonderfully with the upbeat and fun "The Naked Maid" which had great choregraphy and props. For Stea, the opening night was "kind of nerve-racking. I have lots of friends here and I definitely feel my shyness coming out. Most of my work that I do for camera, you don't ever get to see the audience reaction to it. Being here with the audience and being naked in front of everybody, it's, startling. I'm happy that the reaction is really positive. If they were booing me then I'd be really upset. I'd be running out the door."
He is confident that gay men will like the movie but he is hopeful for widespread appeal: "Give it a go, leave your inhibitions at home and enjoy the ride. Enjoy the courage of the csst asnd the insight of the writers who wrote the songs. There's a lot of entertainment as well as a really strong message. Hopefully, when people come they won't necessarily just be looking for nudity and that by the end of the film, they won't even notice the nudity anymore because hopefully the pieces will stand on their own."
I had to know: is it hard to dance naked?
Said Kevin: "It depends on the temprature (laughs). Yeah, there are definitely other considerations that you have to think about when you're dancing naked - especially dancing as much as I was dancing.

As I left the theater, I spotted Joseph Keane (pictured, above) waiting for his car. He had brought the house down with his big number "Perky Porn Star" and I wanted to get his thoughts about the night.
"I was really excited about my number so I wasn't really nervous," he said. "It's difficult to do anything naked in front of anyone but yourself. But the process was really fun but it was really nerve-racking at first."
Joseph added: "I didn't have any trepitdation about beiing nude. I more was concerned about the material having not seen it before auditioning. But after talking with Kirkland Tibbles and Troy Christian about their vision, I was really excited."
The title is provocative and the actors certainly are nude, but Joseph assures there is nothing to be afraid of: "Personally for me, I wouldn't have signed on unless I could show this to my mom and my grandma and all my family members so I say go out and see it. I think there's a lot of stereotypes with male nudity and this is just a funloving show that happens to show a lot of make nudity. I think that "The Full Monty" was a big success and I think this is gonna be too."

Thank you Ohlala blog! for this revealing look of Christopher Gorham who makes Betty's heart flutter (and ours) each week as the adorable Henry on ABC's "Ugly Betty." This show is a terrific break for Gorham who has more than paid his dues on a series of low-rated quality shows including my faves "Popular" and "Out Of Practice."
But who knew he was such a stud?
Nice.

There are so many new movies coming out today that I had a hard time sorting through everything for my weekly BOX OFFICE BUZZ column. But, I give it a go so please check it out. I gotta figure the movie I'm gonna see first is "Rendition" because of, well, JAKE! Mr. Gyllenhaal has a coupla Oscar-winning co-stars who you might have heard of: Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep. ...I saw the superb "Eastern Promises" last weekend and have been meaning to post about it because it is one of my favorite movies of the year. I'll do it today or tomorrow.

I love anyone who cusses this much in an interview because that means she's being herself. I'm talking about Rosie Perez and her interview in the new issue of Out Magazine.
A few excerpts:
The star of such films as "Do the Right Thing" and "Fearless" is returning to the Broadway stage for the revival of Terrence McNally’s "The Ritz." Perez plays the role of Googie Gomez, originated by Rita Moreno. Googie is a talentless chanteuse who wants to be thought of as a rising star à la Bette Midler.
OUT: Hi, Rosie. So how are you approaching Googie’s very bad singing?
PEREZ: It’s just so difficult for me! [Laughs] I’m really channeling three people -- Ethel Merman, one of my cousins (I can’t say her name because she’ll kill me and she’s so clueless she’ll never guess it’s her when she sees it), and Boy Shakira.
OUT: Have you talked to the original Googie, Rita Moreno?
PEREZ: I called her and said, “I’m asking for your blessing. I’ve got big shoes to fill.” She said, “Bullsh*t. You can do this. Just remember that Googie is a real person and you’ll win...and change your f***ing cell phone message. It’s f***ing rude.” And she hung up on me! I don’t think it’s rude at all. It says, “This is R.P. Please don’t leave a long, irritating message, and I’ll get back to you when I feel like it. Have a blessed day and God bless you.” Don’t you hate when people ramble on and on?
OUT: I read that you choreographed "In Living Color." Did you work with the immortal J. Lo?
PEREZ: I’m the one that hired her, even though she tells everyone Keenan [Ivory Wayans] was. He didn’t want her because she was overweight and didn’t dance that well, but I said, “She has star quality.” He said, “Your job depends on it.” And I thought, Oh, sh*t.

When I was face-to-face with Jennifer Beals this week, I didn't blurt out how much I loved her in "Flashdance." I'm sure it must be annoying to be reminded of a movie you made almost 25 years ago. But I did tell her how absolutely remarkable she looks - ageless.
"Oh, thank you. You're nice," she says, "It takes a village. Hair and make-up."
So what about the future of "The L Word," the drama on "Showtime" that Beals as headlined Bette Porter, an Ivy League educated lesbian.
"We've just almost finished our fifth season and we have our fingers crossed for a sixth season and that would be unprecedented in Showtime history I think, to go past five seasons," she says. " So, we'll see and hopefully the success of the show will help us in reaching that mark."
Beals has nothing but praise for Showtimes which has provided her with plenty of work over the years including in the drama "The Twilight of the Golds."
"To work for Showtime is a dream, I've worked for Showtime for a very, very long time. They're really a very, very hands-off company and very supportive of different."
Beals has been plenty busy over the past two decades,. mixing features with TV movies and guest spots on series. Among her more memorable movies, in my mind, are "Devil in a Blue Dress," "The Last Days of Disco," "Vampire's Kiss" and "The Anniversary Party." Her most recent TV movie was "My Name is Sarah" which aired this year.
As we wrapped up our talk, I just blurted out: "I still remember that TV series you did with Lisa Hartman and Drew Barrymore!" It was on CBS and was called "200 Malibu Road" and aired in 1992.
"Yes," she said, suddenly looking pained. "That was a long time ago."

There are those of us who miss "Noah's Arc" and don't underrstand what Logo is thinking by taking this wonderful show off the air. Of course, one of opur favorites on the show was Jensen Atwood so how cool it is to have him join the cast of "Dante's Cove." He's flirting with the men and the women and in the first episode, airing Friday night on here! TV, he has a sex scene that you won't soon forget.
We had a nice chat at the premiere Tuesday:
Greg: What is happening with this planned 'Noah's Arc' movie? Have you started it yet?
Jensen: Well, it hasn't started. There have been talks. I wish I could say more. Unfortunately I can't make them do anything.
Greg: Have you seen a script?
Jensen: I haven't.
Greg: Do you have to keep your schedule open for it?
Jensen: Well, I have to pay my bills so if I can find work, I have to take it... I"m riding the 'Dante's Cove' wave right now, it's all about 'Dante's Cove.'
Greg: That love scene with Gabriel was pretty steamy in episode one. How different was that from being with Darryl Stephens on 'Noah's Arc.'?
Jensen: Very different because they're drastically different roles. I have gone from Wade who is in a relationship - his first gay relationship and he's coming into his own."
Greg: You are a huge sex symbol. How does that feel?
Jensen: [laughs] It's flattering. It's not on purpose but I'm glad it exists.
Greg: And what about, as a straight man, having all that attention from gay men?
Jensen: Well, as a human being, it's great and it's flattering for people to recognize you or the work that you do. It's humbling more than anything...I've always been cool with things."

Anyone who watches "Dante's Cove" probably wants Toby (Charlie David) and Kevin (Gregory Michael) to end up together in the end, just as they were in the beginning. But in the meantime, I am digging the chemistry between Kevin and Ambrosios (William Gregory Lee). Caught up with the adorable Greg Michael at the show's big premiere event on Tuesday.

"I love having all these people here. It's awesome," Greg said as he surveyed the frenzied scene outside the Regent theater. "It's good seeing you as always, I always read the blog. I'm not gonna lie to you, I probably check it like once a week."
I want to know how he deals with being the object of affection of so many gay men: "Very tenderly, with love and care. Gotta be smooth, gotta say, 'Thank you, I appreciate it. I'm taken...maybe I'm not. You gotta tease them a little bit. Give them what they want then take it away. I try and play a little game. You try and be vague about everything."
So Greg is straight and brought his girlfriend to the event.
"Where is she, the hussy?" I joke.
We both crack up. Then he tells me: "I'm happy. It's tough to be in a relationship in Hollywood, it really is. Especially being on a show like this. It's time consuming trying to juggle a relationship and a career but it's going well. "
I tell Greg that finding out he is straight is as heartbreaking for "Dante" fans as finding out Matthew Rhys of "Brothers & Sisters" is straight.
"MATTHEW RHYS is straight?!?" Greg says, genuinely surprised. "I'm devastated! I actually didn't know that. That's pretty disappointing.":
Don't we know it.

I love this picture of Rafael Nadal who is seen here serving during a victory over Andy Murray of Britain at the Madrid Masters. Nadal has not played since an early loss at the U.S. Open about six weeks ago. If he makes it to the final here, he would likely face his arch-rival Roger Federer who also won Thursday. Federer's victory was significant because he thrashed a player named Guillermo Canas who during a rough patch for Roger earlier this year, beat the world's top player two tournaments in a row! King Roger was finally able to show Canas who rules.

Apparently that's what at least one fan thinks.
A "Brothers & Sisters" blog, excerpted on AfterElton.com today, features an interview with Matthew Rhys and some very funny answers from the man who plays our beloved Kevin Walker who says he does not feel at all famous: "I’ve never been recognized at home. I’ve been recognized twice, here, and one of the times was a woman who said, “How do they make your head look SO BIG on TV?!” If that’s being famous – it’s not that great."

Also, sorry for the lack of posts so far today. The deaths of Hollywood legends Joey Bishop and Deborah Kerr have kept me busy on my Hollywood Joe blog until now. But, I'm all yours for the afternoon. Fresh posts to come.

I've already gone public with my new favorite guilty pleasure: "Gossip Girl." I love the two rich girl leads and REALLY love the guys - especially Penn Badgley's adorable character of Dan who reminds me of a less-geeky version of Seth Cohen on "The OC." Badgely did an interview with E! Online that was very revealing.
Here are some excerpts:
Badgley: "I can’t imagine why anyone would compare me to Seth Cohen! That’s just absolutely crazy! [Laughs.] No, I think, on the page, Dan started out like a Seth Cohen in New York....I try to make him unique and not just a bumbling, awkward kid but a charming and innocent kid. You know, Adam Brody has his thing, and he’s great at that, but I wanted to do something a little different. People are probably going to see the similarities at any chance they can and be like, 'Oh, he’s just trying to be Adam Brody.' I’ve already gotten that in a lot of the reviews, but I think if you pay a little more attention, I’m actually doing something very different.

Q. Are you familiar with the Gossip Girl book series at all?
A. I read about 40 pages of the first book, just to get the idea and the tone. Then I realized there’s really no point, because we’re not emulating the books. We’re only using the premise as a platform to go off and do our own thing. But fans of the books won’t be disappointed, because we’re going to bring the same kind of fun entertainment: a little bit of trash but a lot of substance.

Q. In the books, Dan has a bi-curious element, no? He has questioned his sexuality.
A. Yeah, I think he’s straight-up gay in the books. But I don’t think network TV really has the balls to make one of their [teenage] series regulars gay. Let's say the show builds up to become a big hit, then I think they'd maybe explore it in year three or four. It would be an interesting thing to do. It could bring in a whole different demographic.

I really should not drink on a school night - not even a little bit.
Last night, Frontiers Magazine held a big bash in West Hollywood at the hotspot Eleven to celebrate it's LA's Most Eligible issue which featured the marvelous Marcellas Reynolds on the cover and 14 other LGBT men and women. I float in around 7 p.m. and somebody tells me the vodka drinks are free. I like free. I'm standing in line and a real nice guy who I've met at various functions asks what I'm drinking and I say vodka and cranberry. He hands the bartender some money and I think it's a tip so I take my drink and begin my mingle.
Hey! There's Marcellas! I go over and give him a big hug and we have a n ice gab. His friend, a beautiful woman, was late in picking the cover boy up so he was late to his own party. I tell him that it reminds me of the episode of "Rhoda" when Phyllis (Cloris Leachman) forgets to pick Rhoda (Valerie Harper) up for her own wedding!
Marcellas laughs but I'm not sure if it's a courtesy laugh or if he really gets this pop culture reference to this classic episode from the spinoff series of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show.". He IS younger than me. Anyway, Rhoda has to take the subway to her own wedding.
I'm sipping this vodka and cranberry on an empty stomach. Where, oh where are the appetizers? Guys with trays were scattered around so I found one who had little crab cakes on his tray. Very little. Had a few of those. Had a few shrimp another guy was offering.
I run into Chris Lissota, president of the LA chapter of the National Gay & Lesbian Journalists Assn. We had a meeting on Sunday. I was not there. He wonders if I got the e-mail about it. Gulp. I did. I forgot. Chris and I discuss my future on the board. I wonder if I have time to continue to serve after two years with two blogs to do etc. This really handsome (and muscular) realtor is in our vicinity so in an effort to change the subject, I start chatting him up. "Oh, what brings you here?" "What do you do?"
By this time, I've finished the drink and perhaps am a little silly. A really sweet guy who reads this blog comes up to introduce himself and, as a joke, I introduce handsome (and muscular) realtor as my boyfriend. Realtor plays along and tells the guy we've been together for 10 years. It's hysterical. We start making up this backstory and for the rest of the night, we'd bump into each other and keep adding to the story.
Me: "You take such good care of me. I can't believe you bought me that car."
Realtor: "And I'm gonna have it detailed for you too!"
I'm not sure if this is funny to anyone else but to us, it is a riot. My friend Mark Kellam arrives and I say, "Hey Mark! (I think I'm a bit loud by now). He wants to get a drink so I say, "The vodka drinks are free!" We got to the bar, we each order one. i say to Mark, "i shouldn't have another one but I love free drinks."
Bartender serves them up and says: "That'll be $18."
I think he's kidding. I ask him, "Are you kidding?"
He is not.
I say i don't want my drink then (mostly because I only have a $5 bill in my pocket). Mark is just horrified and hands the guy a $20: "I'll pay for his."
Now I'm wondering if that first drink was free...hmmm. Well anyway, Mark and I start gabbing and working the room and I see Michael Kearns whose film, "Nine Lives" had its big screening last night at the Egyptian in Hollywood. I told him I love the movie and had written about one of its stars, Steve Callahan. "I SAW that," Michael said. "I was gonna e-mail you about it."
We're gonna talk solon about an AIDS fundraiser he's organizing. Anyway, say bye to Kearns and tell Mark, "I REALLY need some food" but there is no more. I keep sipping my second drink and we start talking to a guy named Aaron Savvy. Wait, I think it was just me at this point. Mark had gone over to sit with some other friends. OK, so I start talking to Aaron. Why? Well, because he was one of the only guys at the party without a shirt on. He is working as a model tonight, handing out fliers for CityBoyz fashion menswear. He tells me he's a model and a trainer and is trying to get him own reality show off the ground. I'm not sure how that'll go but one thing is for sure, Aaron should be seen SOMEWHERE. He gave me a card and said to check out his MySpace page. And that led me to a few YouTube clips, one of which I post for you here:

Anyway, I got home safe and sound after hanging out for a few hours, having dinner and sobering up. Those not free drinks were awfully strong.

I have had the biggest crush on Cameron Mathison for years.. Yes, that means I've watched an eipsode or two of "All My Children" and, smart show that it is, he has often been shirtless for one reason or another. Now that gorgeous physique, handsome face and beautiful smile are on display for even more to see each week on "Dancing With the Stars."
What I did not realize until just now is that E! Online's Marc Malkin has been conducting a little Q&A with my dreamboat each week after "DWTS."
Here is a LINK to this week's chat. Cameron and his partner, Edyta Sliwinska, got their highest score yet—a 27 out of 30. Ya gotta figure he got some extra points for that awesome sleeveless Superman T-shirt!
Sigh...

It was so great to share last night with the cast of "Dante's Cove" as they celebrated the kick-off of the third season of their show. It bows on here! TV Friday. I've only seen episode one but it looks like this may be the best season yet. I somehow got seated with the cast, one seat over from Thea Gill and in back of Michelle Wolff and Tracy Scoggins. Tracy should feel very validated because her performance had the audience at the Regent Showcase Theatre in stitches and they went wild for the brawl between her and Thea Gill. Very Alexis and Krystal Carrington.
The entire cast showed up for the event, including newcomers Jensen Atwood ("Noah's Arc"), Reichen Lemkuhl and Jill Bennett who seemed to have her own fan club in the theater, so rabid did they get each time she was on screen.
All are terrific additions to the show. I'm going to be sharing interviews in the coming days with various cast members but today, I'll start with Reichen.
He appears very nude in a scene with Jon Fleming (pictured, above), confessed to me that he had some issues with his naked rear-end but it was difficult to imagine why: "We're doing some groundbreaking things and we all did our best," he said. "I loved my scenes with Tracy and I was really, I don't know, I was really judgmental about my butt (laughs). Jon Fleming is great, a very nice, gentle guy, very cool. The director made me feel so comfortable on the set, the rest of the cast made me feel so welcome on my first day so it was just an all-around good experience."
Reichen may have won CBS' "Amazing Race" and written the book "Here's What We'll Say," but his acting resume is still skimpy. He hopes to beef it up in the future and is in negotiations for a project that he doesn't want to jinx by talking about.
He did the horror film "The Scorned" and has had some guest spots on several TV shows but hopes "Dante's" will lead to more opportunities.
"I'm going to keep focusing on television and film and stay creative," he said.
I wondered if it was difficult for Reichen to launch an acting career since people might have preconceived notions of him from "Amazing Race" or his former relationship with Lance Bass.
"I think sometimes people who have been on reality TV don't necessarily have goals for the creative side of entertainment. I do. It's up to me to prove that I can do it. That's my goal."
Has he had to develop a thick skin?
Answered Reichen: "Yes, thicker than ever."

I confess. My fashion sense is nil so I mostly wear solid black and navy blue just to keep life simple. But even I know that Carson Kressley of "Queer Eye" wears some pretty funky duds for a so-called fashion expert.
But Carson is a riot and other than gazing at Kyan Douglas, is my favorite part of the show.
Well, now he's breaking out with the end of "Queer Eye" in sight, he has inked a deal for his own reality program on the CW network to air in early 2008.
It's called "Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants" and will have at least eight episodes. It focuses on mother and daughter pairs who want to compete in both the Miss and Mrs. USA Pageant. The pairs will all be living together in a house in L.A., and will undergo weekly “de-sashing” ceremonies.
Love it. Should be nice and bitchy.
In addition to the honor of making it to the very end, the winning mother-daughter team will also win a cash prize - $100,000.

Sorry for the slow trickle of items so far this morning. I'm going to go on a posting roll now so fasten your seatbelts! First off, I'm looking forward to reading Lance Bass' upcoming book, "Out of Sync" - especially if his interview with GQ magazine is any indication of how revealing he wll be. PAGE SIX revealed a few todbits today: Lance says he came out to Britney Spears before he told many of his other friends because he felt bad for her - and it was the last time they spoke!
Ouch!
"It was the night of her first wedding, actually," Bass said "I was in Vegas with her, her dancers, her manager, and my boyfriend at the time . . . Her manager had already gotten rid of [her first husband] Jason [Alexander] - they'd flown him home. Britney was upset about what she had done. I felt bad for her. I knew she was about to go through a lot of crap. I felt the need to share something. So I sat her on my bed, and I'm like, Well, I'm gay!" Spears was "surprised. I was always the Southern gentleman."
Instead of making them closer, they are almost strangers now.
"I tried. She's my neighbor in Beverly Hills. She lives next door. I tried to get in touch with her - I wanted to be that friend to help her."
Also in GQ, Bass says he and his bandmates had suspcions about somebody else, somebody who went on to date Britney, Cameron Diaz and now Jessica Biel.
"We thought Justin [Timberlake] was gay," Bass says, "because he told us he wanted to do a gay part in a movie."
And this:"We thought Chris [Kirkpatrick] was gay because he used to hang out with a choreographer."
Bass did harbor resentment toward Timberlake over the demise of 'N Sync, but he's now cool with what went down. "I'm proud of him. There's no anger, but there's disappointment. We were starting to get respect – and Grammy nominations. And he kind of took that respect to get past the boy-band stigma. Hopefully, he'll throw us a bone and do another 'N Sync album or a song, because the rest of us loved it. It was our life – touring, making albums."

Poor beautiful Robby Ginepri had the misfortune of drawing world champ Roger Federer as an opponent in the first round of the Madrid Masters this week. But the American hearthrob gave it a good fight before going down 7-6, 6-4 to the Federer express.
Love the shirts Robby...love 'em.

In the current issue of "The Advocate," Emmy winner Sally Field sounds much like her television alter-ego Nora Walker when talking about Matthew Rhys, who plays her son Kevin (asif you didn't already know!).
"Everyone just falls in love with Matthew," Field says. "He's so funny and genuine and very, very talented."
It's pointed out that she seems very maternal toward him: "I feel nauseatingly maternal to all of these young people. I really feel like I'd kill anybody who'd hurt him - you know, that kind of thing."
She says Nora is protective of Kevin because of him "having a harder row to hoe in life because of his sexuality.
But what she's really worried about is him getting in a productive, loving relationship, because he can't seem to find anybody that's of value to stay with."
Spoken like a true mother.
Field says her three on-screen sons - Rhys, Dae Annable and Balthazar Getty are just as close off-screen: "They've all adopted each other. It's completely weird. They go on vacations together. They go out together, then come back and say, 'Oh, we had a great time last night.' And just like the mother, I'm like, 'What about me?'"

Poor Larry Craig. All the senator wanted to do that day in a bathroom in a Minnesota airport that day was to relieve himself: "I walked into a bathroom, I walked into a sting...I use bathrooms to go to the bathroom."
Sure, pal.
Anywho, judge for yourself. Here's a clip:

...is now working with puppets. I think it's pretty adorable actually. If truth be known, I'd watch this silver fox read the yellow pages. There, I said it.
Now take a look at the fun side of Anderson Cooper:

The first year that "Dante's Cove" premiered, Gregory Michael watched it at home with some fellow castmates. Last night, the campy gothic sudser on here! TV had its third season premiere in true Hollywood style: red carpet entrances, hundreds of fans and friends, a showing of the first episode on the big screen of the Regent Showcase Theatre and an after-party to celebrate at Eleven in West Hollywood.
I am a big fan of this show but I had never watched it with an audience before and that was an experience. Many of Tracy Scoggins's lines as the delicious Grace were fully appreciated by the crowd and boy, those steamy love scenes with hot guys like Gregory, Charlie David, Jon Fleming, Jensen Atwood, Reichen Lehmkul, Gabriel Romero and William Gregory Lee...whew!
We were shown the first episode of the new season, which premieres Friday night.
I will have an extended recap of the evening in a little bit.

Almost three years ago now, I was assigned by a magazine to profile Lauren Bacall. But the only time she had available in order to meet our deadline was 10:30 a.m. LONDON TIME! That meant 2:30 a.m. L.A. time for me. I called at the appointed hour and the hotel operator said there was no answer. I asked him to try again. Still no answer. I call back 10 minutes later, he rings, she answers.
Her first words to me: "You're late!"
Yikes! I blamed the operator and we settled into this great conversation about a 60-plus year career of up and downs in movies and her great Broadway triumphs. So great was their love, It's impossible to talk to Bacall without Humphrey Bogart coming up even though he's been gone for 50 years now. I knew all about their love story because when I was maybe 12 or 13, I bought a paperback copy of her autobiography "My Myself" and read every page. I read it again and again because it told of an epic life filled with movie stars and presidents and all kinds of adventure and drama. I think this gay kid from the OC most admired the determination of Bacall who may be a Hollywood legend, but had to endure plenty of personal and professional setbacks.
Anyway, at the end of our middle-of-the-night interview, Bacall said to me: "Next time I am in Los Angeles, we must meet face to face."
It took three years but that meeting finally took place last night at the Women In Hollywood Tribute in Beverly Hills. To read my piece on Bacall, please click on over to my Hollywood Joe blog and enjoy!

I can't think of worse PR for the dog rescue agency Mutts and Moms than making Ellen DeGeneres cry on national television. Our Ellen, the one who dances, tells jokes and brings such sunshine into millions of homes each days. The reason for Ellen's on-air tears?
She was pleading with the dog rescue agency to return an adopted dog she had given to her hairdresser and two girls because it didn't get along with her cats. Ellen and Portia de Rossi adopted Iggy, a Brussels Griffon mix, on Sept. 20. But when things didn't work out, DeGeneres gave the dog to her hairdresser.
It seems that In doing so, Ellen violated an agreement with the agency because she failed to inform them of the handoff. So the agency, which sounds kinda scary to me, called Ellen to ask about Iggy, she told them she found another home for the dog.
Big mistake.
The agency then sends someone to the hairdresser's home on Sunday who takes the dog away.
Give me, a break.
Ellen says she spent $3,000 having the dog neutered and trained to be with her cats. But the dog had too much energy and was too rambunctious. The fine print of the dog adoption says the dog was to go back to the agency.
Ellen admits she didn't read it all and she thought she'd done "a good thing" by finding another "loving home for the dog" because she couldn't keep it.
"Because I did it wrong, those people went and took that dog out of their home, and took it away from those kids," Ellen said, teary-eyed. "I feel totally responsible for it and I'm so sorry. I'm begging them to give that dog back to that family. It's not their fault. It's my fault. I shouldn't have given the dog away. Just please give the dog back to those little girls."

Matthew Rhys (Kevin on "Brothers & Sisters" not only turns in a realistic and appealing performance on the shoiw each week, but he's a straight actor who doesn't have any kind of issues with kissing other men - on-screen.
That doesn't mean it doesn't take some getting used to.
"I remember the first time I kissed a guy onstage in rehearsals for a play, feeling like near-electric shock. I was like, What's that?It was because he had a beard. Also, when you kiss a girl, you slightly take control, you know-you assert a role," he says in an interview with The Advocate.
Rhys says with men, he finds himself sort of jockeying for control.
"Some people say kissing's more intimate than sex, and I sort of agree. It's like the ultimate intimate thing."

Tomorrow: Sally Field on Rhys and his on-screen siblings.

What a great break for Clay Aiken. The still-silent-about-his-sexuality singer is heading to Broadway where he will join the cast of the Tony Award winning musical "Monty Python's Spamalot." He will make his debut in January in the role originated by Tony winner David Hyde Pierce through May 4.
Director Mike Nichols said in a statement: "Clay Aiken is amazing beyond that glorious voice. Turns out he is an excellent comic actor and a master of character."

Hmm.

Wait a minute! Neil Patrick Harris may be gay in real life, but hios character on "How I Met Your Mother" is a skirt-chasing hetero...isn't he? And isn't his pal Marshall MARRIED to an adorable woman?
WHAT is going on here???
I gotta direct you to AfterElton.com to find out...

Did Meredith Viera think she was still on "The View" this morning? "The Today Show" co-host was interviewing Jake Gyllenhaal about his new film "Rendition" and also asked him about "Brokeback Mountain," the film which resulted in his first Academy Award nomination.
But her phrasing of the question just resulted in the while thing falling apart:
Meredith: "Did you have any idea what you were sitting on so to speak?"
Jake: "Very well put."

Oh, we are long past the days of the prim Jane Pauley...

Dick Gephardt and his lesbian daughter, Chrissy, appeared in CNN with Wolf Blitzer to promote a film that I think will change a lot of hearts and minds. It's a superb documentary called "For the Bible Tells Me So" and the Gephardts are among the handful of Christian families with gay children profiled. We follow their journeys. Some endings are happy, and some are not...

Related posts:
- The Man Behind "For the Bible Tells Me So"
- Experiencing "For the Bible Tells Me So"

Don't get your hopes up. Elisabeth Hasselbeck is only beginning her maternity leave a few weeks early because her football playing hubby has been traded to Arizona so they have to move and get settled before she gives birth.
"Don't get so excited that the Republican is gone so soon," she told the audience. "I will be back."
Whoopi Goldberg, whose politics are about as far apart from Elisabeth as Rosie O'Donnell's are, was kind and said: "I have become accustomed to this Republican."

Elisabeth's last day, for awhile, will be Oct. 25

I just HAD to watch "the View" this morning since Sen. Hillary Clinton was stopping by. I thought she knocked it out of the park, just came off so smart, so at ease. Elisabeth Hasselbeck just sat off to the side, almost entirely silent as Clinton said "We desperately need some changes - that seems to be accepted." She said, if elected, she will begin to carefully withdraw troops from Iraq and try and rebuild America's standing in the world.
"The era of cowboy dipomacy is over, we're going to listen again."
Of Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize: "I'm thrilled he won the Nobel Peace Prize...absolutely thrilled. Maybe now, when I'm president, we can get something done on global warming."

If I were Elisabeth Hasselbeck, I would be sitting there thinking: "How could I have put my cart behind the wrong horse all these years? How could I have gone to that state dinner and cozied up to the president at the White House? How could I have supported an administration that has its priorities all wrong and done so much harm to our country?"

But instead, she was probably sitting there thinking: "I hate that bitch."

Prior to the Clinton segment, Hot Topics were amusing as the ladies talked a bit about Ann Coulter's recent comments about Jews needing to be "perfected" by Christians.
Whoopi Goldberg: "I don't want to get into an ugly spat with her...I'm never going to understand her....Who the hell is this woman> Who is she?"
Barbara Walters: "She wants an ugly spat because she wants to sell more books."
Joy Behar: "I can't stand her...This is a woman who thinks 'Schindler's List' is a comedy."

Dammit if I didn't get choked up again at the end of this clip of today's scenes between Luke and Noah on "As the World Turns." Somebody pass me a tissue please. These guys just wipe me out.
Noah says to Luke at one point, "Maybe we can pick things up where we left off when you get out of here?" Luke responds: "What we had was short and it was so good and I'll never forget it...But that doesn't mean I think we can have a future together..."
To see what happens, take a look..

Donald Trump is such a twit.
He's got a new book out so, of course, he's got to revive his stupid feud with Rosie O'Donnell so can get publicity. And here I am, contributing to the publicity. The combover king, who once refered to Rosie as a "fat pig," was on "The Today Show" this morning and said: “Rosie’s a degenerate and we understand that.”
We? Who is we?
Trump "complained" to Meredith Vieira, that he’s still asked about the very public name-calling feud that began last December when she was still a co-host of “The View.”
“She follows me like the plague,” he said. On a recent trip to Toronto to open a new building, reporters asked, “Could you say something about Rosie?” he said. “It’s not going to go away.”
Of course not Trump, you'll never let it go away.

Rosie O'Donnell isn't giving interviews to promote her new book "Celebrity Detox" and maybe she should. The book is at number 54 as of right now on the Amazon.com hot sellers list. I was at the Barnes & Noble Friday night at The Grove (saw the kid from 'Everybody Hates Chris') and flipped through it. Still haven't made the buy though.
Anywho, Rosie may not give interviews, but she still relates her thoughts via her blog and here is what she wrote over the weekend about her first book signing in Manhattan:
"i was worried the night b4 that no one would show up, the book was attacked before delivery... i dont think i would want it hearing all the crap i had about it twisted...some kind of mean spirited expose of all things horrid -
except me terrorist loving me ...r u now or have u ever been a communist... scary times...

there r cameras outside barnes and noble, of course of course, we sneak in the back... people r snaked thru the stacks i see a mom with twin 9 month old girls double stroller she lets me hold one and so it begins the exchange - hello i c u and u me...after 2 hours the most beautiful blue eyed woman turns the corner she must be in her 80’s... her smile is huge her tiny body sturdy yet fragile. marion. we sit and talk, she has driven from albany with her daughter who could be my double...
there r times when the love of strangers renders me weak ...show up, open up, give 2 receive

"Desperate Housewives" is off to a kick-ass start this season with the first three episodes first-rate. But, we haven't seen much of our favorite gay teen, Andrew Van de Kamp (Shawn Pyfrom), so far. That changes on Sunday on the same episode that introduces us to the new gay couple in town. The men throw a Haloween party and Andrew goes all out with the costume.
He males a lovely young woman...

I don't like dishonest people and I don't like hypocrites. That's why I don't like Sen. Larry Craig. And now, in an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC to air Tuesday night, Craig is playing the victim.
The Idaho senator bitterly criticized Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, for whom he had worked as a liaison to the Senate, for abandoning him in his hour of need after he acknowledged that he had been arrested in an airport bathroom sex sting: “He not only threw me under his campaign bus, he backed up and ran over me again,” Craig acknowledged that he was in “the toughest fight of my political life,” but said: “I'm a fighter. ... I don’t just walk away from a fight.”
Craig pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct after an undercover officer said he exhibited behavior consistent with that of someone seeking a sexual encounter. He unsuccessfully sought to withdraw his plea last week.
Craig told Lauer that he kept the arrest quiet because “I didn’t want to embarrass my wife, my kids, Idaho and my friends...I made a very big mistake, I should have told my wife. I should have told my kids. And most importantly, I should have told counsel.”
When asked by Lauer if he knew of the reputation of the restroom where he was arrested, Craig says say “No — not at all.” The restroom has been described as a hotspot for anonymous sexual encounters between gay men.
“I had no reason to know that,” he says. “I don't use the Internet. I don't have a computer at my desk. I e-mail with my Blackberry...I walked into an entrapment and a sting.”
His wife, Suzanne, joined him for the interview and continued to play then role of loyal political spouse. She said after she learned of her hubby's arrest: “I felt like the floor was falling out from under me” when Craig told her that the story was going to break. It happened right here in this room...And I felt like almost like I was going down a drain for a few moments.”
She insists this is not a marriage of convenience to cover up a gay lifestyle: “People know me and know that I would never do that. That's almost like selling your soul for something.”
Craig says of his wife: “I love this woman very, very much. The day I found her, I fell deeply in love. And we're heading toward our 25th anniversary.”

And the nominees for best actor in a political scandal are...

...is on his newly-launched official website.
Currently on Broadway appearing in "Hairspray," Bass will be qute visible in the next few weeks as the publication of his new memoir "Out of Sync" draws near. He'll be interviewed by Elizabeth Vargas on "20-20" Friday and next week, there is a plethora of TV appearance ranging from "Tyra Banks" to "Entertainment Tonight." The site also states that Lance is featured in the November issue of "GQ."

I think Kevin and Scotty are one of television's great couples. The chemistry between the actors (Matthew Rhys and Luke MacFarlane) who play these characters on "Brothers & Sisters" is certainly equal to that of Calista Flockhart and Rob Lowe if not better.

So last we saw Scotty, he had slept with Kevin on Valentine's Day when Kevin was trying to make Chad (Jason Lewis) jealous. I wondered how Scotty would re-enter Kevin's life in a believable way. The writers had him come to Kevin for legal assistance (pro bono) after he got a DUI from a homophobic officer and wants to fight it.
Before I go on, I must remark: Luke MacFarlane is absolutely beautiful and radiate such a sweetness as this character. I am so glad to see him back on this show. The fact that this character has struck such a chord with the fans is all credit to the actor, I think.

So Kevin gets Scotty off the hook and he is paid back by Scotty cooking dinner for him at the fancy dinner he interns at as part of chef's school which he now attends. After, when Scotty moves in to kiss Kevin, he is stopped when Kevin explains: "I'm in a relationship."
Kev suggests this insread: "We were never friends...maybe we can try that."
Meanwhile, Sally Field spent the entire episode playing the concerned mother as Justin fights severe pain and resists taking meds because of his addict past. Dave Annable and Field are so good in these scenes - sp believable and real. I believe Field as Nora every moment she is on screen and think she may need room on the shelf for yet another Emmy.

But my favorite line of the episode was uttered by Saul and, while golfing with Tommy and his insufferable father-in-law, finds the experience so revolting he says, "I'd rather spend an entire dinner party sitting next to Britney Spears."
Ouch!!

I hope to someday soon interview Patti LuPone. But until that happens, I'm happy to see that Steve Rothaus of the Miami Herald did speak to the Tony winning star of "Evita," and such Broadway productions as "Sweeney Todd," "Anything Goes," "Master Class" (which I saw her perform in 1996) and her terrific one-woman show "Patti LuPone on Broadway."
Right now, the big question is whether or not LuPone will headline a Broadway production of "Gypsy." That, I would make a special trip across the country for. But the star would only say "something may happen" and nothing more, not wanting to jinx things.
''I want opportunity, whatever that opportunity is,'' LuPone said. ``What audiences want is connection. I know this because I'm onstage. Somehow we've gotten a very far way from the human connection between actor and audience. Our producers have lost sight that the actors are the storytellers. Not a flying helicopter or a flying chandelier.''
One of the great tragedies of LuPone's career - and for rabid fans like me - is never having seen her as Norma Desmond in "Sunset Boulevard." She was contracted to do the Broadway production and had originated the role in London. But Glenn Close's Los Angeles run in the show was so successful that she was tapped to take it to Broadway by producer-composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.
''That was a deeply, deeply painful experience,'' LuPone said. ``Do I ever want to see Andrew Lloyd Webber again? No. I'll never get over that.''
Neither will her fans.

Melissa Etheridge gave an interivew to OK! magazine about her life with wife Tammy Lynn Michaels and about being clear of breast cancer for three years.
"I know in my heart I don't have cancer. I love being healthy. I'm actually more healthy than I was before. Once you start putting the right stuff into your body, it'll bounce back. Cancer made me stop and look at my life and get a clear perspective of what I'm here to do and what life is about."
On the couple's twins: "Having two is relentless. It's double the joy, double the fun. I don't think anyone masters parenthood. I think being a parent is knowing how to love. Sometimes love is disclipline, sometimes love is humor, sometimes it's listening. Having children is the most rewarding thing in my life."
On Tammy Lynn: "When I was first diagnosed, Tammy said to me, 'Good morning cancer pants! [laughs] You gotta laugh at that. My hair statted to fall out in clumps and she called me Sgt. Patches. She kept it light and supported me through the whole thing."

Novak Djokovic is the third best tennis player in the world and at 20, a major heartthrob. On Sunday, he won his fifth tournament of 2007 in Vienna. But things get a little tougher this week at the Madrid Masters because the two players ranked above him - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal - are also in the draw. I think Novak is the best thing to happen in tennis in a long time not just because he's not afraid to knock off the big guys, but because he's thoughtful, articulate and has shown he is a lot of fun with his dead-on imitations of various players and post-match tradition of taking off his shirt and throwing it into the crowd.
While Novak was busy winning his tournament, Federer and Nadal arrived in Madrid and posed wth statues of themselves. The statues are nice, but they don't do either of these very attractive champions justice!

- 2007 Wimbledon, U.S. and Australian Open champion Roger Federer...

...2007 French Open champion Rafael Nadal

I've cleared my calendar next Sunday night, ready for the one-two punch of "Desperate Housewives" and "Brothers & Sisters." Both have major gay storyline developments and it's all so much for me that I have to do this in separate posts or I'll faint.
(OK, a little dramatic but it IS exciting!)
OK ladies of Wisteria Lane, there's a coupla new hotties in town to rival Mike (James Denton) in the studsvile department - particularly tall, dark and handsome Tuc Watkins. He and Kevin Rahm play Bob and Lee and they move into the Applewhite house between Susan and Gabby.
"They've escaped the big city at Bob's insistence so it's kind of a 'Green Acres' thing," Watkins says in the new TV Guide. "Bob loves the suburbs, Lee's a bitch and hates it."
Things get off to a bumpy start as the couple squares off against Susan (Teri Hatcher) over the fountain they've put on their front lawn. All the neighbors hate it and it also leads to a power struggle between Lynette (Felicity Huffman) and Katherine (Dana Delaney) over who will run the homeowner's association.

To try and make friends with their neighbors, Bob and Lee throw a Halloween party but, Watkins explains, it backfires: "We invite some of our friends from the city, and not only do they humiliate us, they incriminate us." TV Guide writes that there is buzz that one of the men may have been involved in...(gasp!)...pornography! Imagine Bree's reaction?
"C'mon, this is 'Desperate Housewives.' I don't think you're allowed on the show unless you're hiding something," Rahm says.
While Watkins is best known as David Vickers on "One Life to Live" and played a gay television executive for two seasons on Showtimes late, great series "Beggars and Choosers," Rahm is best known for his work on "Judging Amy."
Says Rahm: "Rumor is, they were wooing David Beckham and Robbie Williams, and that made a lot of actors want these roles."

More photos of the couple and the housewives can be found on the Televisionista site.

I'm almost as excited as when I was a kid and CBS was going to be having its once-a-year broadcast of "The Wizard of Oz." (Yes, this is before VCRs, ok?)
So what am I so excited about? Scotty (Luke MacFarlane) is back on "Brothers & Sisters" tomorrow night. I wasn't able to get a preview episode so I'm just gonna have to wait until 10 p.m. and take it all in. Poor Kevin (Matthew Rhys) is on his own after the cute preacher boyfriend took off for some two-year foreign posting. (We really know that he's in Nevada...on CBS' "Viva Laughlin!). He meets up with Scotty somehow, somewhere and here's a wild guess: it's at a restaurant! I'm not genius, I'm just saying because of the photos and all.
Aren't they adorable together?

I can't believe this. I'm sitting here in the newsroom and just finished watching the YouTube clip of Luke and Noah on "As the World Turns." The final moments made me tear up and almost led to one of those boo-hoo cries. What the? I have been overtired lately.
So Noah has still not visited Luke saying, "I'm the last person he wants to see right now because of what my dad did to him."
Of course, that's not true. Watch and see what happens:

This was posted on Hollywood Joe earlier today but I wanted to share it here in its entirety:

I'm a 70s kid so as you can imagine, sitting with hundreds of people singing the theme to "The Brady Bunch" led by Marcia Brady herself (Maureen McCormick), it was almost enough make a grown man cry - almost.
McCormick also asked the audience to stretch with her by looking up at the ceiling and smile, then turning to the left and smile and turn to the right and smile: "Now you know how we felt shooting the main titles for 'The Brady Bunch!'"
Didn't you always want to be in one of those squares or live in the Brady house? I sure did. Didn't even matter that I'd have to share a room with Greg, Peter and Bobby. Wait a minute, I'm getting off track here.
McCormick, who I chatted with before the show and will share that conversation with you in a future post, was joined by such TV icons from the 60s, 70s and 80s as Lindsay Wagner ("Bionic Woman"), John Schneider ("Dukes of Hazzard"), and William Daniels and Bonnie Bartlett ("St. Elsewhere") Thursday night for the Televison Academy's "Another Opening, Another Show: A Celebration of TV Theme Music" event which showcased TV theme songs from the 50s to the present.
I learned so many things: Did you know that "Welcome Back Kotter" was originally called just plain "Kotter"? Gabe Kaplan's 70s sitcom was renamed after John Sebastian brought his song "Welcome Back" to producers to use as a theme? Both the show, and the song, were big hits. Did you know that each character on "The Addams Family" had their OWN theme music or that "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "The Real McCoys" were the first shows to use theme songs to set up the story?
Schneider teamed with "Yes, Dear" star Jean Louisa Kelly for a medly of songs including his version of the "I Love Lucy" theme, first heard with lyrics when Lucy tells Ricky she's having a aby. Kelly, meanwhile, managed to turn the "Mickey Mouse Club" theme into a saucy torch song which led Schneider to crack that "Walt Disney is no longer frozen."
McCormick paid tribute to the song's lyricist, Sherwood Schwartz, who was also the show's creator and producer. Schwartz also wrote the lyrics to the theme of his show "Gilligan's Island" which the audience sang to when the entire opening credits were shown.
One of the highlights was a discussion with composer Vic Mizzy who wrote the finger-snapping theme to "The Addams Family" and the classic "Green Acres" opening featuring the show's stars Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor.
Of the"Addams" theme Mizzy said: "Two finger snaps and you live in Bel Air...the best thing that happened was I got publishing rights." Of "Green Acres," he said of Gabor: "After hearing her sing, I said, 'Talk it. Make believe you're a snob on Park Avenue. She only sang the last note and, thankfully, we got it on the first take."
I knew every word to that and plenty of other themes. This isn't the kind of evening that you would initially think would be kind of a blast, but for a kid who watched "The Brady Bunch" on Friday nights after having McDonald's for dinner (family Friday night tradition), it really was...a blast!

Luke Hansis (Luke Snyder) and Jake Silberman (Noah Mayer) are really the best - and in many ways most realistic - gay couples daytime television has ever had. Their performances on "As the World Turns" have hooked us into the Luke and Noah loves story and made us care. And we really like the kisses which they perform very well.
The two actors spoke with Advocate.com recently and here are some of the excerpts:

ON FAN RESPONSE:
Jake: The fan response has been really great to both the individual characters and where we're taking the relationship. Noah and Luke were voted top couple in a Soap Opera Digest poll. The funny thing is, a lot of people want them to be happy, but a lot want them to suffer heartache and tragedy -- because that's what couples on daytime TV do. It's a good sign, actually.
Van: They've been really supportive. I get tons of mail and almost all of it is positive. If it’s a negative letter or e-mail, it's usually people who can't see past their own limitations and prejudices. And they don’t have a very good grasp of grammar or punctuation.
ON BEING SUCH A FOCUS OF ATTENTION:
Van: It does throw you a bit, especially since this was my first big role on television. You go from waiting tables to doing interviews with national magazines and people saying that you changed their lives. It's definitely tricky.
Jake: I knew what the role was when I signed on, but I guess I'm jaded -- I honestly didn’t think it would get so much press. Of course, I'm grateful and honored to be telling this story and doing it in an interesting and respectful way.

To read the entire interview, go to Advocate.com.

OK, Marcia Brady wasn't enough. At last night's "Celebration of TV Theme Music" at the Television Academy, I had a nice interview with Lindsay Wagner who is just about the most serene, down-to-Earth star I've met. She's pretty low-key these days, acting only occasionally. But she is remarkably unchanged from her days as Jamie Somers on "The Bionic Woman."
I was curious to find out what she thought of the new NBC show which is a "re-imagining" of her classic 70s series. The new show's ratings are OK but it can't be denied that there a lot of gay people, myself included, who have boycotted it because of the casting of Isaiah Washington.
To find out what Lindsay Wagner thinks about the show, see our interview in Hollywood Joe.

I usually share most of my television viewing habits with all of you but I've been holding out. Last weekend, I put in a screener of this WB show called "Gossip Girl" and now I'm completely hooked - kinda like I was to "Popular" and the first two seasons of "The OC." One of the characters has a gay father who left her mother for a man so I'm hoping to see that play out then there's the battle between the show's two female leads - a sort of teen Alexis-Krystal rivalry only they're in high school.
The great news is that I've just learned that the show has been renewed for a second season.
And it's not even my birthday today.

...I know her name is Maureen McCormick but she'll always be Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! to me. I'm a 70s kid who while growing up in The OC, would have McDonalds with my five siblings then watch "The Brady Bunch" and "The Partridge Family." Some of my favorite childhood memories.
So to meet Maureen last night at a Television Academy event that paid salute to TV theme songs (believe me, it was better than it sounds!) was a real treat. Maureen wouldn't reveal anything about her upcoming book, including whether or not she fooled around with Jan (Eve Plumb).
But to read what I did get out of her, go to my Hollywood Joe blog...

Is this kid amazing or WHAT? He's turning in consistently wonderful performances at Luke on "As the World Turns" then appearing in the off-Broadway production of "Die Mommy Die!" with Charles Busch. AfterElton.com has some great new pictures from the production for you to see!

Oh, the poor wife.
Larry Craig is gonna trot out his long-suffering wife, Suzanne, for an interview with Matt Lauer to be televised next week. This is his first interview since his arrest for toe-tapping in an airport restroom. I'll be interested to hear what the wife, who seems like the loyal political spouse type, will say - if anything. Is her denial genuine or is she simply living out her part of the arrangement and enjoys being a senator's wife?
Many of Craig’s Senate Republican colleagues have been pressuring Craig to resign after his June 11 in a men’s restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Craig said he would and now has changed his mind.
He had pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct after an undercover officer said he exhibited behavior consistent with that of someone seeking a sexual encounter. Craig insists it was misunderstanding and unsuccessfully sought to withdraw his plea last week.
I gotta have faith that Matt will ask this guy and his wife the tough questions but I doubt that a man who has been living this kind of life of lies will give many honest answers.

...and it is just McDreamy don't ya think?

Patrick Dempsey was wisely chosen to be the cover man for the new photo edition of Entertainment Weekly. I snagged a few pics off the Kennethinthe212 site where he has posted pretty much the whole batch.
Sigh...

Caught "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" at crowded preview screening Tuesday night. It was one of those nights: "Should I go or stay home and watch 'Dancing With the Stars'? I went and have no regrets. The critics have not been kind overall but I liked it! Cate Blanchett is such a commanding screen presence and it's nice to see her back in her Oscar-nominated role. She amazes me with all she can do. And the movie has some serious eye candy in the form of Clive Owen who looks like an old-fashioned movie idol in this flick.
Speaking of old-fashioned movie idols, George Clooney really makes "Michael Clayton" worth watching. Saw it last weekend and loved it - an old-fashioned legal thriller that is first-rate.
These are only two of five films that go into wide release today and in my BOX OFFICE BUZZ column, I try and handicap how I think each might do...

Noah is screwed up as you will see in this clip. And why not? His dad tried to kill his boyfriend, he found out his dad killed his mom, and he's riddled with guilt over Luke being paralyzed and "can't believe" he took Luke on a camping trip with "my homophobic, psycho dad.
Meanwhile, Luke is having a hard time in the hospital and is very angry. And so are his parents: with each other:

Rosie may have burned some bridges on "The View," but she and her "A League of Their Own" co-star, Madonna, remain tight. They met for a night out in NYC the other night. I still remember the first time I saw them together on the old Arsenio Hall show and they were SO funny together - just a great pair.
Talk about strong and successful women!

I'd much rather Hillary Clinton make a statement favoring gay marriage so she can truly be a presidential candidate who believes in equal rights for everybody in this country. But, for now, she has released the following statement in support of LGBT Americans - the ones she "authentically" doesn't believe should be allowed to marry each other.

"The simple act of declaring who you are has often been a moment of courage for many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) Americans. National Coming Out Day honors the brave journey many have taken out of the closet. But even now, after so much progress has been made in the fight for equality and acceptance, many in the LGBT community continue to face discrimination and harassment.
"As President, I will end the divisive politics of this administration and work to renew the promise of fairness for all Americans. This means supporting equal rights for gay and lesbian couples, ending Don't Ask Don't Tell and allowing patriotic Americans to serve their country, and finally signing into law the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and hate crimes legislation.
"So on this day, twenty years after the Second March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, let us rededicate ourselves to the ideal that all Americans should be treated equally, no matter who you are or who you love."

OK, all Americans treated equally, EXCEPT for the right to marry.

I'm not on the "Torchwood" bandwagon at this point but I love John Barrowman and found this wonderful clip posted on Queersighted that I wanted to share here:

This pair of 60-something dynamos, Elton John and Billie Jean King, presided over another year of the World Team Tennis Smash Hits event and raised over $400,000 for AIDS charities including the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The event was in Philadelphia this year but hopefully will return to the West Coast next year. I was courtside for the 2006 event and will never forget that night.
In addition to Elton and Billie Jean, close friends for more than 30 years (he wrote "Philadelphia Freedom" in hewr honor), others participating were tennis stud Andy Roddick who shows up every year, new American star John Isner, former world number one Lindsay Davenport who gave birth to a baby this summer, and Anna Kournikova who used to play on the tour.
“The quality of the tennis was fabulous and we raised a lot of money for charity,” King said. “It was a really great night.”
At a pre-match reception, more than $248,500 of the evening’s total was raised as King, John and the players participated in a live auction. Anna Kournikova kicked off the auction by buying a package that included tickets to Elton John’s Red Piano show in Las Vegas, along with dinner in his VIP suite for $35,000. Other auction Highlights: Tennis Instruction & Lunch w/ Elton John & Billie Jean King at John’s private court in London: $55,000 Sir Elton John Red Piano Concert & Dinner in Elton’s suite: $35,000 (bought by Anna Kournikova) 2008 Super Bowl Ticket Package: $20,000 Piano Bench Signed by Sir Elton John: $14,000 2008 Smash Hits Hitting Session w/ Andy Roddick: $19,000.
That last item seems like a steal!
There's a good reason why Andy is so loyal to Billie Jean: "Whenever I've played a tough match or have a good result, the first person who I get a text message from is Billie Jean.She's been so good to me throughout my career."

In this scene from the movie "Get Real," two high school guys are in love. One is the good looking jock, John, who is the big man in campus - and a huge closet case. The other is the cute social misfit Steven (right) who doesn't want to hide their secret love anymore. It's a wonderful film that I saw years ago. It's on DVD and I high recommend watching it - and having a box of tissue handy - just in case.
Anyway, the movie has just one of the ten great coming out scenes spolighted on AfterElton.com today in honor of Coming Out Day.

Liza with a Z had a gab with a South Carolina paper and was asked if she had any advice for Britney Spears since Minnelli herself has had to live through a lot of personal ups and down in the public eye, including several rehab stints and many marriages: "I just feel horrible for her. You know, she’s got a disease. And when you have a disease, you cannot help it. So it’s not your fault, but you’re responsible for it. I just feel so bad for her because I don’t think anybody really understands what’s going on. The way the press is now, she’s getting so much attention. Somebody said to me the other day, “God, you have to go to jail to get a good review.” (guffaws) It’s an interesting period. They used to have clauses and contracts where you can’t get bad publicity or you’d get fired. But now bad publicity is good publicity. I just keep working and don’t think about it much."

I love this question: Liza is asked if she had ever met a Minnelli drag queen! She said: "Oh, yes. It’s very bizarre. I was in Brazil, believe it or not. And I nearly died, because on comes this Liza Minnelli drag queen. They did a show for us. And the guy was so tall. Twice as tall as I am in a leotard. (laughing) But it was complimentary, too."

After the David Gest fiasco, Liza does not feel she's qualified to give anyone romantic advice: "No! Not anything. If I give you romantic advice, don’t take it. Look what’s happening to me. (laughing) I have the best taste in friends and the worst taste in husbands. I’m never getting married again. That’s just stupid. There’s no reason on Earth to do that."

Well, pigs DO fly.
Last we knew, Barbara Walters was plenty steamed at Star Jones in the summer of 2006 for daring to announce on "The View," ahead of schedule, that she had been fired. She still had a few weeks to go at that point but she was never let on the air again.
But Star has never spoken at ill word about Walters and after Rosie's book, making up apparently seemed like a good idea. So these former co-workers met for breakfast Wednesday at the Carlyle Hotel in NYC.
I just love all the drama of "The View."

I don't know how many people actually come out on Oct. 11 but whoever is doing so or plans to, congratulations! I'm damned glad to be out because I suffered so much being in. It's a character builder for sure! You have to come out so many times, and keep coming out, and you have to be strong and brave and know who you are. I admire everyone who has taken that step and not settled on living a secretive life or a life of lies and self-loathing.
I'd like you to check out my Out Heroes page (created a year ago and updated) where I have posted the pictures of many out famous people who are out. I'm grateful to them for being strong and brave, for showing the world who they are with a spotlight shining on them. People like actor B.D. Wong of "Law & Order: SVU" and, of course, "OZ." He hasn't gotten as much attention as say, T.R. or NPH, but he's been out for several years and even wrote a book about becoming his journey to becoming a father.
Here are some people who I plan to add to the gallery who have either come out since my last update or I had not included them before. If you can think of any glaring omissions, lemme know!

Related Items:
- Sharing their coming out stories
- Coming Out Day: DVDs to see
- Coming Out Day thoughts from 10 famous people
- Coming Out Day: Greg's Story

It was great to talk to Scott Speedman the other day. Of course we all know him as Ben Covington on "Felicity" but he's had a pretty successful feature film career since them. The "Underworld" have been the most successful, but my favorite of his film roles is in "The 24th Day."
It's an intense, basically two-person film starring Speedman and James Marsden. They play men who had a one-night stand years earlier. Speedman's character is infected with HIV by Marsden's character and passes it on to his wife. Flash-forward: he picks Marsden up in a bar a few years later, takes him home, and instead of seducing him, he trerrorizes him.
“I liked that a lot,” Speedman says of the film. “That’s the kind of thing I’d like to do more of, that kind of work in a more commercial way. We did that for about $300,000. With that type of movie, I’m going to see what I can do with a character I’ve never done.”
Speedman was superb in the film and met his match in Marsden who he says "is really good, he’s really flying now.”
To read my interview with Speedman about his new flick "Weirdsville," go over to my Hollywood Joe blog.

Poor Noah finds out that daddy killed mommy. Meanwhile, the crazy colonel is still on the loose and yet there is no guard outside Luke's hospital room. So, of course, the killer gets into the room and tries to inject Luke's IV with something but he is stopped! Just in time. For the rest, you're gonna have to watch for yourself!

Whether it's on the big screen ("Madea's Family Reunion," "Dirty Laundry," "The Preacher's Wife," ) television ("Jackie's Back!" "Strong Medicine, ""Girlfriends") or on stage ("Dreamgirls") in her own one-woman shows ("The Diva is Dismissed," "Bipolar, Bath and Beyond"), Jenifer Lewis is a force of nature and someone whose talent I greatly appreciate.
It was such thrill to talk to her at the Les Girls breast cancer fundraiser Monday night. She is as thoughtful as she is talented and says more in just a few minutes than a lot of people say in an hour. I had missed the annual Divas Simply Singing Benefit on Saturday night and Jenifer said: "You did? You missed it, and I showed up! Did 'Black Don't Crack."
Among the lines from that night: "Harriett had the railroad. Sojourner had the truth. We got Condoleezza in the White House but the girl should fix her tooth."
I told her how much I had enjoyed the film "Dirty Laundry" which screened a couple of summers ago at Outfest and wondered when the heck it would be in theaters. She said the release is now set for Dec. 19. But she hasn't been sitting around waiting for its release, not with live performances of "Bipolar" for 10 Saturdays at the LA Gay and Lesbian Center Reneberg Theatre, raising a lot of money for the center.
"I'm taking the show to New York late next year, I'm not sure exactly when yet. My daughter's 20 now, in her third year of college and I just want to be with her. I'm kind of over it. But when I do it, I enjoy myself - I'm not THAT over it. Let's face it, I am Jenifer Lewis. (laughs) I have a volume of work, a volume of work and I'm very grateful, I'm very happy to be in this business - it's what I do, how I breathe."
I wanted to know why it is that gays love her so much. I love her answer: "I think like Judy Garland and any other diva, the gay boys and girls, they relate to not only the ambition and the difference. We're not of the world, we're different. We are. I think we also relate with the struggle, the struggle of being different. We don't live normal lives, there's nothing normal about us in different lives and I think they see that. There's a crispness in knowing who you are and doing what we do..."
At this point, Sam Harris walks up to give Jenifer a big hug and he's gotta go in so I have to cut short the chat with Lewis to talk to Sam. Such problems.

Anyway, here is a clip of Jenifer's performance at the Diva's show:

Thought that might get your attention! Well, just a few more days until we can get our hands on the new issue of Out Magazine with Tom Ford on the cover. I dunno, I think this one might sell more than the one that basically outed Jodie Foster and Anderson Cooper. But there is one photo involving a bottle of fragrance and someone's bottom that is getting all of the buzz today. To see the photo that I cannot post, go to Towleroad.com which has a link.

Los Angeles Times columnist Christine Daniels, a transgendered woman whose own story has gotten a lot of attention this year, took Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others for leaving transgendered persons out of Employment Non-Discrimination Act [ENDA]. ENDA would make it illegal to fire or refuse to hire or promote anyone based simply on the employee's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Christine writes that the politicians "didn't know what hit them" when the transgender community picked itself up and fought back.
"On paper, Frank, an openly gay Democrat, seemed the right person to lead this game plan. But as September rolled on, surveys of House members showed that ENDA did not have the votes to pass if it protected transgender people, but it did if it just covered gays and lesbians. So Frank huddled with Pelosi and other Democratic leaders and decided to play Solomon with ENDA -- only with half the wisdom. On Sept. 26, Frank announced his plan to split ENDA into two bills -- one bill protecting sexual orientation, which would get introduced immediately to Congress, and another bill protecting gender identity, which Congress would get to somewhere down the line. Maybe in a year or two. Or six or seven...Big miscalculation. The strategy did not yield the usual we-got-ours run for safety. Lesbian, gay and bisexual activists stood alongside their trans sisters and brothers, and together we raised the roof. It was a beautiful noise, let me tell you.
Here is a LINK to the entire Op-Ed piece that ran in today's Los Angeles Times.

Rosie O'Donnell may not be giving any media interviews about her new book, "Celebrity Detox," but she sure as heck signed a lot of copies yesterday at a Barnes& Noble in NYC. Rosie sat and signed for three full hours which means the line musta been damned long...

Meanwhile, later in the day, Rosie unveiled a new line of paintings at New York’s New World Stages. I dunno what it all means (the painting) or anything about the technique but hey, the ocassion was enough to draw out such Rosie pals as Cyndi Lauper and Margaret Cho as well as her former co-host on "The View," Joy Behar...

Since the Dear Abby advice column is read all over the country (1,400 newspapers in all), it's nice to have the woman who writes the column, Jeanne Phillips (aka Abigail Van Buren) be in favor of gay marriage. Phillips, who took over the column for her mother several years ago, is being honored by PFLAG for her contributions to gay visibility.
Here's what Phillips has to say about gay marriage: "I believe if two people want to commit to each other, God bless 'em ... That is the highest form of commitment, for heaven's sake ... If gay Americans are not allowed to get married and have all the benefits that American citizens are entitled to by the Bill of Rights, they should get one hell of a tax break. That is my opinion."
Her mother has been a supporter of PFLAG for nearly 25 years and Phillips said the column will not change its stance: "If they are my readers, they know how I feel on the subject," she said. "I don't think I'm a flaming radical. I'm for civility in life. I'm for treating each other with respect, trying to do the best you can."

I swiped this from the Kennethinthe212 blog where you can find plenty more of Mr. Gyllenhaal promoting his new movie, "Rendition," co-starring Reese Witherspoon and some other actress I don't know if you've heard of: Meryl Streep!

The Cleveland Free Times interviewed HenryRollins and asked him why, if he's not gay, he speaks up for gay rights. A silly question, I think, but his answer explains:
"I think it's really lame what's going on with those that are gay and I'm not gay. I was raised around gay folks. I was raised in the DC area. There are a lot of gay people there. My mom had gay friends. I had gay bosses. I worked at a movie theater and got propositioned four times a weekend. It was like, "You like boys; nah, it's not going to be me." I never wanted to kick some guy's ass. Some guys are creeps. But when you see the kind of hatred exacted at these people who can't help how they feel about men, it's sad. What if it was weird to be straight? What if someone said, "What's wrong with you?" for staring at a woman? I think if Bill and Tom want to get married, they should be able to in America. If someone has a problem with that, go on your way."
On Sen. Larry "I've never been gay" Craig: "It's really ironic but if someone is gay, he should be able to express himself and not eat hand grenades every day. He [Craig] is an older guy. Coming out was not an option for him. He had to be so suppressed and so he married a woman and procreated. It's too bad that's the life he had to live, and it's especially weird if he voted for anti-gay legislation. If you put your hand under the men's room stall, that's not going to go quietly in the night. The hypocrisy is obvious in his case. I'm being easy on the guy and I shouldn't because he's an asshole."
On who he will vote for in 2008: "I will be behind the Democratic candidate. But I hope it's not Hillary [Clinton]. I'm not a fan. I think she is more politician than human. Her husband was the same way. When he spoke, I felt like I was coated in some kind of aerosol lubricant. As a traveler, I didn't mind the goodwill other countries felt toward our president. When a Democrat is president of this country, the world is friendly and it's the opposite when a Republican is in office. We'll see what happens, but Hillary is a player."

We're been hearing about it since she left "The View" and today is the day Rolsie O'Donnell's memoir, "Celebrity Detox (The Fame Game) is finally out. Rosie did a book signing at the Barnes & Noble on Fifth Ave. in NYC this afternoon and the book is currently number 25 on the Amazon.com sales charts.
My issue of TV literally just got here [working from home today] and it has some juicy tidbits that I'm just gonna lift from starting with her thoughts on The View: "I had come to understand that the showwas not produced in the spirit of art, or even adventure. It lacked a heartbeat. A pulse. Humanity - truth. It lacked a mother's touch. Perhaps that was because it was run by a man."
About herself: "I am a fat, loud, say-it-like-it-is-far-left-liberal while Barbara is a petite, poised, cautious, polite hostess. Why did we think the combination could work? Simple. I wanted her to like me. Maybe even love me. Because no matter how famous I am, a part of me is always on the outside, too heavy, too hot, too damn much.
On Barbara Walters: "I'll bet behind the glam and glitter, it hurts to be Barbara, sometimes, because, while you can hide aging, you can't erase it...Maybe it's time for her to take a break. To go off the air, find the ground, sit down. Rest. She deserves that.
Joy Behar: "In the very beginning, yes, I felt as though Joy had her claws out; she was ready to pounce, and she did...She's funny as hell, I truly think that, so I have only admiration for her talent."
Donald Trump: "I kept Trump products in my office because they reminded me that my attacker was not a human being, but a wind-up toy with Tourette's."
Elisabeth Hasselbeck: "Antiabortion, pro Bush, pro war, believes in everything I don't, and I believe in everything she doesn't. ..Right from the start I could see in the slip of this girl...something fierce and I liked that. But we had no language in common."
About Kelly Ripa: "[She] had Clay Aiken on her show...Gay rumors swirled around him...He put his hand over he mouth as a joke. She said, 'I don't know where that hand has been.' I said on air that Kelly's comment was homophobic and she called in to say how dare I. I am just saying that the whole incident looked to me like a gay person who had just had the gay card played on them."

It will be interesting to see how well the book sells and, more importantly, how good a read it is. I probably won't get a chance to read it until the weekend so if anyone has read it, I'm very interested in your impressions...

Was in Hollywood last night to cover celeb arrivals at Avalon for the Les Girls breast cancer fundraiser when I saw Sam Harris heading to the door.
"Aren't you going to do any interviews Sam?"
He laughed and said, "Sure!"
I don't think he was trying to skip the red carpet, I think he just walked in the wrong way.
It was great to see him again after we sat next to each other at a movie screening several months back and did a few Perry Pearl lines from the cancelled sitcom "The Class" in which Sam stole every scene he was in.
Sam: What movie did we see?
Greg: I don't remember!
We both laugh. I had given him a business card wit the bloig address on it and he had gone on to read my posts about him and his alter-ego Perry. Sam performed last night at the benefit - three songs.
Greg: I won't get to see you. They're not letting the riff-raff in.
Sam: Don't ever refer toi yourself as riff-raff. SHAME! Shame on you!
Greg: What are you up to now that you aren't doing "The Class" now. I'm still not over [the cancellation]?
Sam: You know, I'm not over it but I am over it because it was such a great experience and it's led to so many wonderful things and there were so many great relationships that I got to have during that show. It's brought me to a different level. For the longest time, I was the Broadway guy, the 'Star Search' guy or the record guy and to be able to do a television comedy and to be received that way, which I loved so much. My acting style without singing is just as important to me. So I'm very, very grateful for "The Class."
Greg: Are you doing any pilots?
Sam: I actually have three different television projects that I'm workign on right now. They're really in great shape so we'll see what happens. Life is good, I can't complain.
Greg: Do you have a new CD coming out?
Sam: Yes as a matter of fact. It's called "Free" and we're really just about five songs into it so [release is] not until next year. It's a pop CD, kind of political sometimes and all the different meanings of what free can be - whatever you think that is. It's so great to be at a time and at an age where I don't really give a s***. I want to say what I want and I'm just really loving my life and just kind of laying it out."
Greg: It shows on you. You look so young, the same as when you were on 'Star Trek'...I mean 'Star Search."
Sam: I might as well as been on 'Star Trek.' Well, God bless you, thank you. It was a long time ago.

For those too young to remember "Star Search," it was the "American Idol" of the day and Sam was the first winner of the male vocalist title, goijng undefeated all season long in 1983. He has gone on to release several CDs but really made his mark on Broadway in his Tony-nominated role in "The Life" as well major roles as in productions of "Grease," "Cabaret," "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "The Jazz Singer," and "The Producers."

Anything that Sam Harris is in, I wanna see.

Whoopi Goldberg has just announced that after the commercial break, they are going to have a segment on "The View" on where to find shoes for under $50! I'm sure it's a saracstic look of excitement since Anderson has more money than God. But I love the look on his face.
I think he's dreamy...

It was so great to see Marc Cherry at the Les Girls benefit in Hollywood last night so I could tell him how much I have been enjoying "Desperate Housewives" this season. It is off to a brilliant start - especially the rivalry that has developed between Bree (Marcia Cross) and the new neighbor played so terrifically by Dana Delany. In case you missed it Sunday, they had a showdown over a pie recipe that was perfectly done.
"When we first came up with the idea of the character of Katherine Mayfair played by Dana Delany, we thought it would be really fun to just have an alpha female go toe-to-toe with Bree and we've been having a lot of fun with it," he said. "Next week, Katherine goes up against Eva Longoria. She starts stepping on everybody's toes."
"The season has started off really well for us, I'm very happy with my writing staff. I think after four years I finally learned how to do the job. It's going well."

Of course, I wanted to also talk about the new gay couple of Wisteria Lane, played by Tuc Watkins and Kevin Rahm who make their first appearance a few episodes down the line.
"It's a whole different dynamic we're bringing to Wisteria Lane and we're having a lot of fun with it," Marc said.
"I hope to use them as much as I can. They guys, both of them have other projects and stuff so I sometimes have to work around their schedules but we've been having just a fantastic time and they're both really, really nice guys."
I wanted to know how Marc decided on these two particular actors: "I knew of Tuc because of 'Beggars and Choosers" and I knew of Kevin Rahm because of 'Judging Amy' so that's how I became aware of them. And they both came in and auditioned and they were good, they got the parts. When I first saw them, I was going to go a different way with the casting at one point but they were both so adorable I thought, "All my gay friends are gonna want to see them move onto the street."

He is sooooo right!

Gotta confess, I missed Meredith Viera's long-awaited return to "The View" on Monday morning. I'm not one to drop names (uh, right) but I was interviewing actor Scott Speedman on the phone when she was on. Remember him? He was Ben on "Felicity" and I'll be sharing what he's up to now in a future post.
So, I'll rely on some press accounts of Viera's return.
“I miss you guys a lot,” she told her former panelists as she ran on stage and hugged them during the show.
And Vieira’s return was anything but quiet. When asked how things were going on “Today,” she revealed she thinks Matt Lauer is rather handsome.
“It’s great,” Vieira said of working on “Today” with Lauer. “It’s like the first day of school and you’re sitting next to the cutest boy in class. He’s a great guy.”
Viera said the best part of her current job is “the variety of the show. You can be interviewing Senator Clinton one minute, the other minute you can be baking a pie.”
She admitted, laughing, to her “View” pals that she was disappointed by one of the changes at her old show since her departure: “The thing that upsets me more than anything is since I left the ratings went up.”
Vieira later told Access Hollywood that she was thrilled to have paid “The View” a return visit: “It’s a funny place to be, but it’s very nice. It’s also been fun to sit back in the green room as a guest. I have such a sense of pride...It’s kinda neat to come back and have new adventures to share and to see how far they have come and they have come along way.”

Now that "Queer Eye" has finally returned to Bravo for its final season, we get to see the gorgeous Kyan Douglas on a weekly basis again. AfterElton.com not only has exclusive interviews with part of the fab five, the site also has a separate piece of Kyan that I found interesting: first, Kyan says he and gay rights activist Greg Durham have broken off their engagement and are no longer together. Then he gets into something that really hit home for me: he talks about how he and a loved one, someone who had become an evangelical Christian, told him that they believe homosexuality is a sin. Read more about how they worked it out on AfterElton.
When I read it, I couldn't help but think back to an episode I experienced just a few weeks ago that I had not intended to share. It's personal and painful. But I've decided to share some. I'm the second youngest of six siblings and one of my older siblings is extremely homophobic. I rarely see this sibling but did recently, just by chance, while I was staying at the home of one of our parents. I thought we'd just have some innocent chit-chat but the conversation was quickly steered to this sibling's christianity and within minutes, my "lifestyle" was attacked, I was told that homosxuals are "not born that way" and that I would "go to hell" if I didn't accept Jesus Christ into my heart, and that this person "prays for me."
How I stayed calm, I'll never know. But I did.
Instead of trying to defend myself, I told the sibling that I didn't need guidance in that way, that I have access to whatever information I need. Then I asked why they felt the need to just go there with me when small talk would have been prefered. I was told this: "God is telling me to." So I asked, "If God were watching you now, is this the way he wants you to talk to your brother?"
Fortunately, my precious five-year-old nephew wandered back in after eating breakfast and that ended the conversation. It was pretty awful I must say and mostly because I felt that this sibling was lost to me - that we would never find a common ground.
But what was re-assuring to me was that I didn't feel rattled or conflicted.
I just felt sad.

Can't two young guys just fall in love without one of their dad's going all homicidal? Poor Luke. He wouldn't even let Noah kiss him during their fishing trip in case the wacko colonel saw them. Well, he could see them all right: through the barrel of a gun! Meanwhile, Luke's parents have put two-and-two together and have gone to the lake frantically looking for him: "Our son's out camping with a muderer!" screams his dad.
To see what went down, check out the clip below. It will tell you all you need to know - at least for now.

Love is in the air in the Oct. 25 episode of "Ugly Betty." Marc (Michael Urie) gets a boyfriend named Cliff (David Blue) which is great for the show, great for the character and great for viewers. We will get to see another side of Marc who most of the time is a flamoyant bitch scheming on behalf of Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams). Last season, in the episode when Marc comes out to his unaccepting mother (Patti LuPone), it was one of the best episodes to date of this fine series.
It's not a surprise that Marc would find love, but what about Justin (Marc Indelicato), the 12-year old nephew of Betty who we all assume is gay, gay, gay! And we love him for it. But producers seem intent on having Justin experience what so many gay men - including me - did when they were that age: get a girlfriend played by Ashley Rickards.
Ah, young love...

Everyone seems to be making a big deal over Prince Harry snorting vodka through his nose while on vacation with his buddies in Namibia. Hello? Who cares?
What is FAR more interesting are these pics of him getting frisky with his buddy. The booze is flowing, everyone's shirt is off. Who knows what else happened?
Ha!
But seriously, is this behavior befitting of a young man who is a 2nd Lieutenant in the Blue and Royals and third in line for the British throne?
Of course it is!

I posted my interview with David Duchovy on my Hollywood Joe site so go on over there to read it and enjoy some of the other posts too! But here is a little tidbit: David seemed amused when I brought up his memorable guest spot on "Sex and the City" when he played Carrie's seemingly normal high school sweetheart who had checked himself into an institution. He had also done those memorable spots on "The Larry Sanders Show" where Duchovny, playing a fictionalized version of himself, seems to be coming on to Gary Shandling's Larry.
"I think that I choose my guest spots wisely so maybe that has something to do with it," he says. "It would have been nice to have an ongoing thing [with Carrie] but the show was just ending at that point."
I suggested maybe he reprise his role for the film. He chuckled and said: "I think there's a lot of other guys ahead of me..."

Coming Out Day is Oct. 11. So if you are still in the closet to anybody...COME OUT!!!
But seriously, it's a deeply personal step and everyone should do it in their own time. If you want encouragement from others who have taken the step, I encourage you to read a collection of Coming Out Stories on the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's site.
Mine should be up soon but it is mainly a truncatated version of a long-assed version I posted a year ago. To read that, CLICK HERE. Meanwhile, here is sampling of stories from people who i like and admire. Here is a LINK to the site so you can read them all!!!

Jane Lynch, actress: "I have much to be grateful for in those who came before me, the die-hard activists, the loud and angry protesters, and those for whom first names will do: Ellen, Melissa and Rosie. For those who blazed the trail and made my path so much easier, I am forever in their debt. I hope that my story will lighten your load somewhat and allow you to see what is possible for you. I love you and want you to live a full and happy life being all that you are. Find the people in this world who will love you for that. I guarantee you they're out there."

Alec Mapa, actor/comic: "Coming out, standing in my own truth has been the most liberating, life affirming thing Ive ever done, personally or professionally. One of the most ironic things about my life is that I initally worried what effect coming out would have on my career when the truth is, I really didn't have one until I did. Covering up my authentic self to friends, families and co-workers required enormous energy and only fueled my own Filipino Catholic feelings of shame. The minute I stood up for myself, everybody else did too. Now, I can't imagine living any other way."

Kenneth Walsh, blogger, friend: "I came out in college during Thanksgiving break in 1988, and my mom acted as if she was completely shocked. It was kind of hard to believe, though, given the fact that when I was in junior high I heard her washing my little sister's hair in the bathroom sink and she started getting frustrated with the squirmy little girl and slammed her head against the faucet and my sister started to cry. I got concerned and poked my head in and said: "Mom, take it easy. You're hurting her," to which she snarled back at me, "Stay out of this, woman." (Yeah, she had no idea.) It's moments like these that give writers a lifetime of material to draw from!"

Just in case there was any doubt that Matthew Rhys, who plays gay attorney Kevin Walker on "Brothers & Sisters" is straight off screen, I need no further proof than the following exchange recounted in his current cover story in "The Advocate."
Writer Dennis Hensley writes:
Rhys’s clothes -- aqua polo shirt, Paper denim jeans and brown half boots from Barneys -- aren’t actually his; they’re Kevin’s, but they look good on him nonetheless. Kevin is nothing if not tasteful. “When it comes to Kevin’s costumes, they didn’t want them to sort of shout gay!” explains Rhys. So, I ask, we won’t be seeing Kevin in anything from the International Male catalog?
“What’s that?” Rhys asks blankly.

Aaaarg!!! Here are some other exceprts:
On Kevin: “I love Kevin because in his professional life you get to play the man in charge, in control, very successful, powerful, assertive,” says the 32-year old Londoner. “And on the flip side, in his personal life he’s a bit of a puppy... I love his flaws...Kevin learns from his mistakes. Under the dry sense of humor and the caustic repartee, he just wants to meet that one partner, and he hopes that’ll complete everything. I find that quite touching about him.”

Go to Advocate.com to see more of the article.

If you watched last night's episode of "Brothers & Sisters," I think it's clear why Sally Field gave the speech she did at the Emmys last month, dedicating the award to the moms waiting for their sons to come home from war. As Nora, welcoming her injured son Justin home from Iraq, Field was so real in her worry and fussing that I felt like I was watching my mom! And in the final scene, when she holds Justin as he deals with agonizing pain, it drove home the point that it is the mothers so often who are caring for their young sons when they come back injured.
But, as it so often brilliantly does, the show balanced out the heavier moments with lightness and fun - especially the road trip that Nora, Kitty (Calista Flockhart) and Kevin (Matthew Rhys) take to San Diego to pick Justin up from the hospital. Kitty is listening to an obnoxious conservative radio dude (think Rush Limbaugh) and saying he's not so bad when the host starts railing on Kitty, Nora AND Kevin as well as Kevin's boyfriend - the senator's gay brother - saying that they will be up to God knows what in the Lincoln bedroom. Kitty calls in and ends up hinting that Abraham Lincoln could've been gay etc. and her fiancee (Rob Lowe) has to do damage control. Funny stuff.
I do wonder where the presidential storyline will go though. If he's elected, it would add this sense of unreality to the show, kinda like when Roseanne won the lottery. Even being a senator kind of isolates Lowe's character from the family some so it will be interesting to see where that goes...
Anyway, the show is as good as it ever was, if not better.

Lynne Cheney has a new book out and in a CBS interview promoting it, she talked about the early dating experiences of her and Dick. Since I don't want to lose my breakfast, I'll just skip over most of that and get right down to what the mother of Mary Cheney had to say about gay people.
But at one point in the interview, which aired Sunday morning, she said Cheney "went a little insane" and broke up with her deciding he needed to date a cheerleader.
A little insane?
She writes in the book that in the 50s, when she and Dick were in high school, that times "were hard on ...kids who were gay."
In the interview with Rita Braver, she says, "...I've evolved in my way of thinking, but I think the whole society has evolved. You know, my mother had a rule which was, 'People are just people.'...That's a rule that stands one in good stead for life, whatever difference we might be talking about, whether it's race or gender or sexual orientation."
Hmmmmm. Maybe she should've told that to Karl Rove, her husband and W before they used gay marriage as a wedge issue to help get elected.
Braver then asks if it wasn't a stretch for Mrs. Cheney to accept who her daughter is - a lesbian with a partner and a baby.
Cheney: "Well, it certainly doesn't seem so now."

Meredith Viera had the good sense to stay away from the show she moderated for nine years as it sorted itself out. There was the messy departure of Star Jones followed by Rosie O'Donnell's often turbulent run on the show. Viera (pictured here with Joy Behar who turned 64 on Sunday!) of course can still be seen every weekday morning as co-host of "The Today Show" where she has proven to be a more than capable replacement for Katie Couric.
"The View" is finally in good shape again with Whoopi Goldberg a strong moderator as Viera was and Sherri Shepherd an interesting and funny addition to the mix.
I look forward to Meredith's reunion with her old pals...

This kinda thing makes me nuts.
There's an item posted Saturday on TMZ.com called "David Duchovny's gay gaffe" linked from gossip columnist Janet Charlton. It states that the audience at the Outfest Legacy Awards "clammed up" when Duchovny, introducing some Showtime clips with Marlee Matlin, joked that someone needed to cover his 8-year-old daughter's eyes.
I remember the line, I remember some mild laughter. I don't remember clamming up. Trust me, if anything happened that night that was offensive, I woulda posted it immediately.
It was nice to see Duchovny there, joking and beong teased by Showtime boss Robert Greenblatt and watching, along with the audience, a clip of his classic appearance on "The Larry Sanders Show" when he gives off the gay vibes to new best pal Larry. He showed up Thursday, posed for pictures, worked the press line without attitude, presented an award and in my mind, didn't offend anyone.
Leave him alone.

If you're already a fan of the Showtime series "Dexter" - which I am - then you are familiar with actor Erik King who plays Sgt. James Doakes. It was so fun to meet him last week at the Outfest Legacy Awards and to talk about the show which was not on my radar until this summer when I finally put in a DVD from the first season boxed set.
I was hopelessly hooked and ended up watching the entire season over three days. Erik's character is the nemesis of the show's title character played by Michael C. Hall and he really brings the confrontations to life.
Erik talks about the show and about his role in today's HOLLYWOOD JOE so go on over and check it out!

It was a mini "Queer As Folk" reunion the other night at the Outfest Legacy Awards with Peter Page (Emmett) there along with former co-stars Thea Gill (Lindsay) and Scott Lowell (Ted). I posted my chat with Peter a few days ago but haven't shared my conversations with Thea and Scott....until now!
Try to stay calm.
The lovely Thea had just seen the interview from The Advocate Party that I posted a few weeks ago of my talk with her and co-star Tracy Scoggins as they gear up for the third season premiere of "Dante's Cove" on Oct. 17 on here! TV. Fortunately, Thea liked the piece and was grateful for it.
She and Scott told me that just last weekend, several "Queer" castmates got together at Lowell's house for a night of poker including Gale Harold, Paige, Robert Gant. Michelle Clooney, and Sharon Gless.
"We had a crazy drunken poker game at my house Saturday night," Scott said. "We get together quite often."
Confesses Gill: "I still don't really know how to play poker, but I'm slowly learning. I mostly just watched and danced while the rest of them played (laughs)."
Lowell joined Gill and Paige at the DGA in support of Outfest and of Showtime's Robert Greenblatt who was being honored.
"The network was out ahead of so many people for so long on gay and lesbian issues and as soon as they called and said they were going to do this, I said I have to be there because I'm really, really proud of the network and so proud of being part of its history," he says.
It was Lowell's character on "Queer"who in the first few episodes overdoses and is left for dead and later goes from straight-laced accountant to porn site operator to meth addict.
"I was really fortunate, I really got to go through the most," Scott says. "And the show continues throughout the world and it's like every week there's a new country that all of a sudden we start getting letters from. The show is very, very big in Germany now. It's amazing to me that we haven't shot any for two years and yet it's still new to some people out there in the world and they still are so attached to it. It's one of the greatest gifts I've ever gotten."
Despite his character's dramatic storylines - or maybe because of them - getting other acting gigs hasn't been so easy after five seasons as Ted.
"I'm doing mostly writing now - that's taking up most of my energy right now - and am out panhandling for work - trying to find someone who will hire me. It's not easy," Scott admits. "It's been an odd blend of people who know the show really well and kin da can't separate the character from me so it takes some time to kind of reinvent yourself that way. Oddly enough, all I used to do was comedy before "Queer as Folk" and now they don't think I can do any comedy anymore because of "Queer as Folk." So it's not even a gay-straight thing, it's been more of a comedy-drama thing. Because we shot the show out of town, we were away for five years so it's a lot of re-introduction that takes place. It's been an interesting process."

It was terrific to see Jane Lynch at Thursday night's Outfest Legacy Awards where Judith Light and Showtime's Robert Greenblatt were honored. She was one of the evening's presenters and introduced clips from about a dozen of the "25 Films that Changed Our Lives."
Jane did the voiceover for the new public service announcement (currently airing on Logo) about LGBT film preservation and restoration. We had a quick talk on the red carpet and she continues to impress me with her thoughtful responses to questions.
"I think it's really important to preserve these films because they were considered almost exploitation films back in the 50s and 60s and now, we;re out and proud and we're telling our stories and I think it's really important that we dig back and get the stories that were told when it wasn't so easy to tell these stories and keep them fresh and alive."
Lynch could think of no one more deserving of recognition than Light: "Judith Light, I am a huge fan of hers. Not only of her work as an actor but because she was out there in the front lines of the AIDS crisis early on - before it was popular, before people started wearing the red ribbons. She was out there and she was fighting the good fight and bringing attention to this crisis in the gay community and I love her, love, love her for that. She is the real deal."
Lynch, busy as always, did a role in the feature film "alvin and the Chipmunks" which is coming out around Christmas and is currently shooting a film with cuties Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott."
Lynch, who had worked with Rudd previously in "40 Year Old Virgin," said the new film is called "Little Big Men" about two guys who get arrested and instead of going to prison they have to participate in a mentor program run by Lynch's character."

Any film Jane Lynch is in, I wanna see.

The mega-talented Wilson Cruz was at the Outfest event Thursday night and it's always nice to see his smiling face anywhere. We were both on a panel on "The Glass Closet" last week at USC and he brought the unique perspective of someone who has been an out actor since the mid-90s and came out on his own after landing a role as a gay teen on the ABC series "My So Called Life."
Wilson is currently filming a part in the feature "He's Just Not That Into You" with Drew Barrymore and we talked about that and what brought him to the Outfest Legacy Awards:
"I'm here for a number of reasons. I love the idea of the Legacy Project and what Outfest is doing to preserve our film history. I think it's important and if we don't do it, no one else will. I'm here because [honoree] Judith [Light] has been an amazing friend to me and because she's an unbelievable friend to this whole community and I love and adore her and every time I see her she gives me a big kiss and I'm here to kiss her back!"
I wanted to know which LGBT film first resonated with him: "The first gay film I remember seeing was 'Longtime Companion' and then 'Paris is Burning.' For that one, we skipped school. There were five of us, we were gays in high school and we came out to each other and saw it at this small theater. We were in San Bernardino and there was like only one theater in a 60 mile radius that was showing it. It was huge. I love that movie."
And what about the movie with Drew Barrymore?
"I'm playing Drew's best friend at work - her gay who gives her advice along with two other gay guys at work. I also interact with Ginnifer Goodwin at a party and i give her some advice as well. So you know, I'm a good gay."
So, I had to know: has he seen Jennifer Aniston - who co-stars with Barrymore - on the set?
"I haven't because the days that I was there it was Drew and then I have another week with Ginnifer Goodwin in November."

The crazy colonel takes a gun to the lake where he and son Noah and boyfriend Luke are gonna go hunting. The episode ends with hom looking through his gun with the target at Luke. We'll have to wait to see what happens but the previews have Luke in the hospital saying, "I can't feel my legs!"
That can't be good.
Dammit, just as these guys are really starting to cook. I gotta say, the sexual tension between the two is palpable and very realistic when you think of when you were that age and around a guy you were attracted to. In fact, Noah seems to be a bit more aggressive physically.
So here are the scenes from today's show...enjoy!!

For the record, I think this is being blown way out of proportion. Rosie O'Donnell joined Roseanne Barr onstage during an appearance at the comedy club Comix in NYC on Thursday night and began her comments by saying, "When I was fired by Barbara Walters..."
So now tongues are wagging, eyebrows are being raised etc. with the question of whether Rosie was pushed off of "The View" rather than leaving voluntarily.
Here's what I think: Does anyone REALLY think that if Rosie was fired that she would have not mentioned it on her blog or in her book or in an interview etc? Do you think she'd just hop onto the stage with Roseanne and mention it in passing?
I do not.

I've written a little bit about last night already but now, finally, some time to tell you ALL about it. Well, most of it. I thought the Wednesday night AFI event was gonna be my week's highlight what with chatting up Kirk Douglas and Clint Eastwood within moments of each other and talking to Angela Lansbury about "Gypsy." But last night at the Director's Guild of America theatre would be impossible to top. Outfest's Legacy Awards were too much fun.
I'm so grateful to Karen Ocamb of In Los Angeles Magazine who is THE best political reporter in town when it comes to LGBT issues, but who also can take a good picture and was kind enough to snap some for me with her camera and send them to me today. [Click HERE to read Karen's account of the evening on her blog] My favorite picture is this one with David Duchovny who I first met at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas a few years ago but didn't have a camera with me to record the meeting. So, thanks to Karen, I have our second one.
When I stumbled on the name of his new Showtime series "Californication," he said, "C'mon, you can do it. Ca-liforn-ic-ation." I'm gonna save our gab for a weekend post but let me just say that he was utterly charming and sweet in teaming with Marlee Matlin in presenting a legacy award to Showtime's Robert Greenblatt. Duchovny is one tall drink of water.
The arrivals line outside the DGA was better than I had hoped with Duchovny, Matlin, the wonderful actress Foinula Flanagan ("Brotherhood"), Jane Lynch, Wilson Cruz, a mini "Queer as Folk" reunion consisting of Peter Paige, Scott Lowell and Thea Gill, three cast members of Showtime's "Dexter" including the very cool Erik King who I gabbed with about his show both outside then at the after-party.
Erik could not have been nicer and my full interviiew with him will run Sunday in my HOLLYWOOD JOE blog. His character of Sgt. James Doakes on "Dexter" is fierce and fascinating and is the nemesis of series star Michael C. Hall's character. I'm not sure if Doakes is a good guy or a kinda bad guy but Erik King (pictured with me) is one cool guy.
Honoree Judith Light, always gorgeous, posed on the red carpet with "Ugly Betty" co-star Michael Urie who was very un-Marc like in presenting her with her award. Judith came over and gave Karen a warm hug and me a kiss on the cheek before they rushed her on in.
I headed to the very front because that's where I like to sit (plus, didn't bring my glasses, OK?) and found myself next to Steve Kmetko and one of his friends. Steve had planned to be in Chicago teaching this fall but instead is sticking around awhile to sell his house and is working as a freelance reporter for FOX 11. It's great to see him back on the airwaves. He's fit and trim and handsome as ever. I wanted to know if he knew what had ever happened to Kathleen Sullivan with whom he launched "E! News Daily" with in the early 90s. He lost touch with her which isn't surprising since she seems to have fallen off the radar at least professionally.

The program itself was fast-paced, full of great movie clips and wonderful presenters and speeches by Light, Greenblatt and outgoing Outfest exec. director Steven Gutwilleg. But Caroline Rhea, the hostess, was a RIOT! Funny, funny woman down to the core...and naughty too.
The hilarious Rhea, far more potty-mouthed than on television, hosted the event and no celeb not in attendance was safe. She shared her addiction to "Dancing With the Stars" but joked: "I voted for Wayne Newton...I thought it was Marie Osmond." She also told an unflattering story about an Oscar-winning actress who she refused to name (She said her name rhymed with "Gay Runaway") who she met at last year's event and said to Rhea that she was directing a film and "I need a younger, thinner version of you...we're not young anymore."
"She's 119 and I'm 38!" Rhea said, the audience roaring."I wanted to be nice to her because everyone says she's evil and maybe everyone's wrong."
"They were RIGHT."
Rhea described honoree Light as "my favorite prostitute in the history of television - ever. She made me the hooker that I am today." She was referring to Light's celebrated run as housewive-turned-prostitute Karen Wolek on ABC's "One Life To Live," a role that won her two Emmys.
The audience was shown brief clips from "The 25 Films that Changed Our Lives" which celebrates such groundbreaking LGBT films as "Parting Glances," "Making Love" "Desert Hearts," and "Longtime Companion." The Outfest Legacy Project is dedicated to film preservation and restoration.
I saw the restored "Parting Glances" in the same theater this summer during Outfest and it is a night I will never forget.
The after-party was really hopping and showed no sign of letting up when I left around 11. I hung out with a new journalist friend, Naz (there we are in that little picture) and he was doing his first arrivals line. He said my chatter relaxed him since he was a bit nervous about it all. I'm sure he'll do great. I also made a new actor friend named Daniel Hepner and he told me so much about the local LA theater scene which was helpful since I am going to the Ovation Awards next month for local productions. We were hungry so I showed him my trick of non-chalantly planting yourself near the door where the trays of appetizers are coming out of to have your pick. It worked like a charm.
Just a fantastic night and from it I promise interviews with Wilson Cruz, Erik King, David Duchovny, Jane Lynch and Fionula Flanagan that wil either appear here or in Hollywood Joe (I'll tease here with a link if that's the case). Congrats to Judith Light and Showtime's Bob Greenblatt and to Outfest!

It was awfully nice to see Peter Paige last night at the Outfest Legacy Awards. Best known as Emmett from his five seasons on "Queer As Folk," anyone familiar with his other work knows just how talented this guy is. He directed and starred in the indie film "Say Uncle" which screened at Outfest a few summers ago and is available on DVD, and my favorite thing he did was an episode of "Grey's Anatomy" as a patient who has some kind of disorder where he must tell the truth. It waa a brilliant performance.
What most impresses me about Peter is that he makes his own opportunities and is something of a triple threat as an actor-writer-director and he is just as adept on stage as he is on screen.
Anyway, here is some of our conversation last night:
Greg: Hi Peter. Whatcha up to?
Peter: I'm working my ass off. I just directed a movie that I'm cutting right now, it's called "Leaving Barstow.' Michelle Clooney is one of the leads, a kid named Kevin Sheridan who wrote the film stars in it, Steven Culp is in it and Ryan Carnes. It's good stuff. It's very charming and I'm very excited about it.'
Peter tells me there is "no gay" in the film and there is also no Peter except for the voiceover.
Peter: "It's my second feature. I like mixing it up a lot. I also sold a pilot as a writer so my writing partner and I are doing rewrites on that right now and I start rehearsals [today] for "The History Boys" at the Ahmanson."
Greg: You're in 'History Boys"? That's great! Which part?
Peter. I play Erwin, the new teacher.
Greg: Oh, the teacher who gets all that attention from that hot little boy?
Peter: [laughs] You're just right down to sex! Yes, I get seduced in the last scene but in the three-and-a-half hours before that, I'm teaching the boys other things. It's such a monster of a play and an incredible monster of a role too. I'm a little overwhelmed but so it goes. It's good to feel scared.
Greg: Do you feel like you still have to break free of Emmett?
Peter: You know, I certainly have felt that way. I quite honestly feel it breaking up as we speak. I feel it happening, i feel a shift happening. It takes a couple of years, you take jobs here and there and people go, "Wait a second, that guy's really an actor. And then the stink starts to wear off of you. People remember you from [a certain role] but they are ready to see you in something else. It takes awhile."
Greg: Well, great. I'm really excited about seeing you in "History Boys."
Peter: You're the best. Look forward to seeing you there!

Before I dish about who I sat with, gabbed with etc. in the next post, I'll tell you about Judith Light being the first straight ally in the 25 year history of Outfest to be honored with an Outfest Legacy Award. What was cool about the audience was that everyone there seemed to be quite aware of what Judith means to Outfest and to the LGBT community in general, how much she has done for us in over the last 25 years or so.
It's not for awards or PR. She is a woman who was horrfied by the AIDS epidemic and the government's lack of action when people, including her friends, were dying. She is a strong advocate for equal rights which hits home because, as she said last night, her publicist of 30 years and his partner - who are family to her - can't get married the way she and her husband did.
"Not only do I stand with you now and forever, I am enternally grateful to you," she said in her very moving speech.
Judith's "Ugly Betty" co-star Michael Urie was on hand for a very warm introduction sayiing that the causes and organizations she has helped is like reading out of the community yellow pages because there were so many. Last night's award was for her support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender films.
"You are my teachers, you are my role models," she said. "You risk everything to be authentic. Do you know how rare that is in this culture? ...People who are out and who are willing to risk in order to lead."
"...This community gets itself. You recognize the importance of your history.'

Her comments made me and others so proud to be out and trying to be authentic. How wonderful to have someone acknowledge that in such an insightful way.
Great actress, great lady.

BTW, my friend Karen Ocamb has a wonderful account of the evening in her blog including the entire text of Judith's speech. Check it out!

I have many interviews to share with you from last night's Outfest Legacy Awards in the next few hours so stay tuned! But I want to start by sharing that Outfest Executive Director Steven Gutwillig is going to be leaving the orgainization after more than a decade to pursue other opportunities.
This isn't one of those forced-out situations - Steven is beyond well-regarded and respected and his work in getting LGBT films preserved and restored is a passion that I think will be his lasting legacy. "For Outfest, this is the cause of our lifetime and our commitment is immeasurable," he said last night at the awards gala.
Steven is living proof that one person can make a difference and I hope we can get a real chat for him for this blog before he leaves Outfest at the end of the year.
Before Judith Light received her award, Steven took to the stage at the DGA Theater in West Hollywood and said: "It's nice to be at this podium in this very special room one last time. (The DGA is the main headquarters for Outfest's summer festival)...Outfest has been more than just my job these past 10 years, it has been my calling."
Steven has always seemed pretty modest but he has given inspiring, brilliant speeches each year on opening night, some of which I will never forget - particularly the one he gave before the 2004 elections which really framed what was at stake better than anything else I heard that year.
Anyway, he tried to leave the stage quickly but was soon surrounded by a prolonged standing ovation. I hope he knows how much his work is appreciated.

Isn't AfterElton.com editor Michael Jensen just the best to post this clip in his Best. Gay. Week. Ever. column today. It's just the kiss - the really good second kiss - between Noah and Luke on "As the World Turns."
Enjoy!

We all wish Matthew Rhys were gay, right?
But, alas, he only plays gay on television. But he does it so very well on "Brothers & Sisters" where he is Kevin Walker, dreamboat lawyer navigating his way through life with a big family and some very handsome boyfriends.
The Advocate features Matthew on its next cover. Queerty.com has posted a few nibbles already:

Author Dennis Hensley;s article reads: At a burger stand in the heart of West Hollywood, Calif., Matthew Rhys was straight-bashed. Sort of, anyway. “This huge, muscley guy came up to me and went ‘gay power’ and sort of punched me… Then the man went, “You’re gay, right?” I went, “No, I’m not.” he went, “You’re not? Oh, I feel betrayed…”
Rhys also tells Hensley that playing gay has some unforeseen romantic advantages.
When you’re in a relationship with a girl, you go to set and you go, ‘I’m going to make out with [Sex and the City’s] Jason Lewis.’ And they go, ‘Oh, you lucky thing,’ and they feel totally secure about it. But if you go to set and you have to make out with a hot blond girl, then you have the argument.
And what of that kiss with Jason Lewis, who reportedly didn’t dig the idea. “He was a consummate professional.”

Will have more from Rhys asap!

On Hollywood Joe today, I have a link to a funny little clip that has the much-married Elizabeth Taylor proclaiming that she will NOT be getting married for a ninth time. While searching for the clip on YouTube, I came across the funniest clip of Taylor clumsily - and endearingly - struggling her way through two award show presentations. The first is at the 1981 Tony Awards, when she was nominated for "The Little Foxes" and the second is at the 2001 Golden Globe Awards.
You must see this:

Sure, she looks silly in those clips, but if any of you wondered how she earned the title of most beautiful woman in the world, this clip from 1959's "suddenly Last Summer" will answer all your questions:

And for an encore, watch Elizabeth Taylor SING to Len Cariou in the 1977 film "a Little Night Music."

My viewings of "Saturday Night Live" has been hit-and-miss in recent years but I'm glad I caught the show last weekend for the hilarious short 'I Ran" which so brilliantly mocked Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's contention that there are no gay peeps in his country.
Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen and Maroon 5's Adam Levine (plus a Jake Gyllenhaal cameo) make this a classic that people just won't stop talking about.
Samberg tells the New York Times that the film was meant for fun but doesn't deny the political undertone: "No one around here is super fired-up about a guy who is denying the Holocaust and saying there are no homosexuals in his country.'"

I'm so glad that Tom Brady seems to love the camera almost as much as he loves playing football. The New England Patriot quarterback has a new ad campaign for Stetson cologne and further proves that he is simply incapable of taking a bad picture.
Such a handsome man...

To see all of the pictures, here is a SHORTCUT to the Stenson site.

Well, whaddaya know. Discgraced Larry Craig, more famous for his men's room tap tap tap than anything he may have accomplished as a senator from Idaho, suffered a legal setback earlier today when a judge ruled that he can't take back his guilty plea.
Craig was supposed to resign last month but look who now says he ain't going anwhere:

"I am extremely disappointed with the ruling issued today," Craigf said in a statement issued this afternoon. "I am innocent of the charges against me. I continue to work with my legal team to explore my additional legal options. I will continue to serve Idaho in the United States Senate, and there are several reasons for that. As I continued to work for Idaho over the past three weeks here in the Senate, I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively."
"Over the course of my three terms in the Senate and five terms in the House, I have accumulated seniority and important committee assignments that are valuable to Idaho, not the least of which are my seats on the Appropriations Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee. A replacement would be highly unlikely to obtain these posts. In addition, I will continue my effort to clear my name in the Senate Ethics Committee - something that is not possible if I am not serving in the Senate. When my term has expired, I will retire and not seek reelection. I hope this provides the certainty Idaho needs and deserves."

Oh, the Republicans gotta LOVE him.

Denise Richards has called Charlie Sheen many thing, but this is the first time gay has entered into the war of words in this divorced couple's long, drawn-out custody battles over their kids. I'm not sure if I feel worse for the Spears-KFed tots ot the Sheen-Richards girls.
The latest salvo from Denise: Pictures of Sheen's "erect penis" that Richards says he used for his profile on sex sites are also included, which Richards claims he e-mailed to "approximately 30 women."Richards says Sheen even visited gay pornography sites - "which I found even more disturbing because I felt that the boys looked underage," the documents state.
Sheen said through his spokesman, "I will not dignify the majority of these allegations with any measure of response. On its best day it remains laughable and inane."

So last night was really one of those big star-studded events where REAL stars came out and made their way down the red carpet. I went to the ArcLight in Hollywood to cover the 40th Anniversary of the American Film Institute. Ten classic movies were playing in different auditoriums and stars from each of them were on hand to introduce them and chat a bit. I gabbed with Kirk Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Tippi Hedren, Rob Reiner, Talia Shire and Alfred Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia, before the movies began.
But, being the super-gay man that I am, I was most excited to chat with Angela Lansbury. I never really watched much of "Murder, She Wrote," but I am a big fan of the musical "Gypsy" which Lansbury won one of her four Tony Awards for. I have the soundtrack of her show as well as others by Merman, Bernadette Peters, Tyne Daly and Bette Midler who did a TV movie version.
There is word that Patti LuPone might be doing a Broadway run as Mama Rose as well and I wanted to know what Miss Lansbury thought of it: "That's exciting, that's wonderful. You know, 'Gypsy' is one of the great book musicals of all time and it takes a great personality to do it. Patti's got it. We're all different, we all bring something different to the table. Bernadette did it and i did it and Patti's gonna do it and Tyne [Daly]."
Talking to Angela Lansbury about "Gypsy." Too cool.
To read a full account of my night at the AFI event, go on over to my other blog, HOLLYWOOD JOE, and enjoy!

Tap. Tap. Tap.
I have news about the ongoing saga of Idaho Senator Larry Craig who anounced his resignation in a dramatic press conference but now, looks like he is gonna stay put in the Senate until he exhausts all his legal options. Who knows? Maybe he won't resign - maybe he can take back his resignation just like he's trying to do with hos guilty plea?
Anyway, a Minnesota judge in Hennepin County has rejected Craig's request to withdraw his guilty plea for disorderly conduct stemming from his arrest in a Minneapolis airport men's room in June. The judge wrote that Craig
"entered the guilty plea "accurately, voluntarily and intelligently."
I dunno. Seems like this guy isn't a shoo-in to do things "intelligently."

There's always been sort of a flirtation going on between "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest and judge Simon Cowell. I suppose it was only a matter of time before they ended up together at some hotel, shirtless, in a swimming pool. Ha! For more pics of this odd couple, check out JustJared.com...

Well, this is kinda cool. Out actor George Takei of "Star Trek" and "Heroes" fame, has had a piece outer space named for him. An asteroid between Mars and Jupiter has been renamed 7307 Takei in honor of the actor, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original ''Star Trek'' series and movies.
''I am now a heavenly body,'' Takei tells the Associated Press. ''I found out about it yesterday. ... I was blown away. It came out of the clear, blue sky -- just like an asteroid.''
This isn't just some fly-by-night honor. The renaming of 7307 Takei had to be approved by the International Astronomical Union's Committee on Small Body Nomenclature. About 14,000 asteroid names have been approved by the panel, while about 165,000 asteroids have been identified and numbered.
I think there should be an Out In Hollywood astroid!!

I know we've all been dazzled by the ads for Calvin Klein's new fragrance MAN. Well, the OhLalaParis blog is not only providing these fab pics, but telling us that the hot 22 year old model in the ads is Garrett Neff.

Remember when Reichen was with Chip and they won "The Amazing Race"? AfterElton.com looks back on some of the gay reality show winners in a really nice look back and update today. It's worth a look!

I've met Ryan Gosling twice and both times, he has just come off as such a nice and down-to-Earch guy. The first time was at the "Hotel Rwanda" premiere a few years back and he didn't know I was a reporter. My friend and I wanted to snap a photo with him and he waved us in the VIP section and was just great. Then last night, chatted him up on the red carpet at the premiere of his terrific new movie, "Lars and the Real Girl." After I talked to Ryan and his sister, Mandy, one of the other reporters remarked: "Can you believe he and Britney Spears were on The Mickey Mouse Club together?
Their lives certainly have taken different turns. Ryan is an example of what happens when you put your work first and celebrity down the list a bit. Britney, obviously, has done it the other way around.
To read my interview with Ryan and some of the others involved in "Lars," (including co-star Paul Schneider, below) pay a visit to my blog Hollywood Joe.

I'm not saying Larry Birkhead is a good guy - I don't know that. But he is pretty cute. So Howard K. Stern,. who has always given me the creeps, could do a lot worse as far as people being accused of having a gay affair with. Anyway, Stern is fiercely denying gay allegations made by former MSNBC host Rita Cosby in her book about Anna Nicole Smith and on Tuesday slapped her with a $60 million libel lawsuit.
So Tom Cruise of him!
The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, seeks $10 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages from Cosby and Hachette Book Group USA.
As you know, Smith died of an accidental drug overdose in Florida in February at 39. Stern initially claimed to have fathered Smith's young daughter, Dannielynn, but Birkhead eventually proved he was the dad. The lawsuit says the book falsely accuses Stern of criminal lewd acts, homosexual acts, illegal possession and use of cocaine, conspiring to commit murder and kidnapping for ransom.

I want to start with a clip from yesterday's episode of "The View" where Whoopi, prodded by Barbara, got kinda saucy when talking about Nancy Pelosi's handsome hubby as well as Paul Newman...and Joanne Woodward! Fun stuff...

Meanwhile, on today's show, things got real heated when the ladies discussed Hillary Clinton's proposal that every child born in the U.S. get some kind of $5,000 bond for later use. Barbara said that if the amount of money being used for the Iraq War were given to kids instead, the figure would be $70,000 per kid.
So Elisabeth pipes in and says: "Maybe this would cause less abortions in the world."
Whoopi turns serious and decides to take Miss Conservative down a peg when she says that she should show more reverence for the women who have had abortions, each who has her own individual circumstances.
"Have you ever been in that position?" Whoopi asked. "Then back off. It's the hardest decision that a woman ever has to make."

Will have plenty of fresh items up shortly. Lost my cell phone. It's a mini-nightmare.

- greg

Noooooooooo! I got home from the premiere of the new Ryan Gosling film, "Lars and the Real Girl," just in time to see the last 10 minutes of the "Dancing With the Stars" results show. I was a little surprised to see Albert Reed and his partner in the bottom two but figured we'd all have a nice farewell for Wayne Newton who had gotten the lowest judge's score the day prior.
Instead, Albert is gone! I felt like we were just getting to know each other!
"I'm a little stunned, but we did the best we could," Albert told viewers. "That's all you can ask for."
Albert had received 21 points on Monday from judges and was deemed a dark horse by one. He just doesn't have the fan base that the other celebs have, I think, but he did gain some new fans in the past two weeks - including me!

I didn't realize Luke's dad was so hot! But, I digress. The real story here is Noah's wacko dad and what his next move is. He's at Luke's family farm, Luke's dad has invited him to dinner, and I just feel like everyone is gonna end up tied up in the barn or something.
"I still get the feeling your dad doesn't like me very much and I know he doesn't like the idea of us," Luke tells a frisky Noah whose advances he must fend off as he tries to set the dinner table.
Before the whole gang got together, it was an interesting contrast in father-son scenes: Luke dancing around to his iPod when his dad comes in and he tells him, barely able to contain his excitement: "There's a really good chance that things could work out between me and Noah."
Cut to the scene of Noah and wacko dad who says to his son as they sit in a restaurant: "You have no idea how far I'm willing to go to do what's right for you, Noah."
Here is a clip of Tuesday's scenes involving Luke, Noah and the two daddies:

You know that I hate to be mean and the Diana Ross item I just posted was painful to do. But I think doing my new blog, Hollywood Joe, has made me a bit snarkier and mean-spirited. I'll try and reign myself in but in the meantime, isn't Clay Aiken packing on the pounds?
I make that and other observations in Hollywood Joe - give it a read, give it a chance!

After 45 years-plus of superstardom, it's not like Diana Ross can schlep around Beverly Hills without being noticed. But the supreme one looked anything but in these photos where she appears to be in need of a dye job, a bra, and her usual razzle dazzle. Miss Ross is 63 now and I'm sure upkeep is more difficult but this future Kennedy Center Honoree has set the standard for glam and it's kinda shocking to see her looking undone.
Still love her though...

It's another week before we get to see Rosie O'Donnell's new book, "Celebrity Detox." But bits of it are getting out including this content earlier today: Roie says she and Barbara Walters are friends who have found "a way to love" each other.
I dunno, Barbara is probably real pissed and hurt over Rosie's suggestion that she retire. O'Donnell also writes that she felt betrayed bvy Walters during her very public dust-up with Donald Trump.
"You're a liar," O'Donnell recalls shouting repeatedly at Walters before they went on the air. Later, Rosie told Walters: "… you did not defend me. And I have been a good, loyal daughter to you. And I want you to be a good mother to me. Don't let the bad man hurt me."
On Donald Trump: "Totally creepy. He was sadistic in a deeply disturbing way. It was like seeing a specimen squirming on a slide in a high school science class...Donald, for some reason, also reminded me a lot of the garden slugs we used to get on our front steps when we were kids."

On Elisabeth Hasselbeck: "She continued to appall me with her almost glib comments about torture, and who is right and who is wrong, but the feeling of baseline love stayed."

On Anna Nicole Smith: "A celebrity cannot exist without her audience. That is why I hold the audience responsible in part for Anna Nicole Smith's death. Fame is what killed that girl, and not only did America watch her demise, America abetted it, by either saying nothing, or worse, tuning in."

Albert Reed may be described as a "model" on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," but he's an actor too who had a rol in the wonderful movie "Shelter" which really wowed us at LA's Outfest this summer. He wasn't one of the leads in this movie about an artist and surfer who falls in love with his best friend's older brother, but he is in some scenes. I've gotta watch it again to assess his performance. He sure looks great in a wet suit, and, out of one.
Below is a clip of his first performance on "DWTS" which includes some bio stuff:

Related posts:
Outfest 2007: Don't Miss the Gay Surfing Flick: Shelter

Maksim Chnerkovskiy is to blame. The dancer, paired with Scary Spice, is just the most graceful and beautiful man out there this season - and that's saying something in a field with the gorgeous Cameron Matheson, model Albert Reed, boxing champ Floyd Mayweather, and smolderingly sexy Brazilian race car driver Helio Castroneves.
What I like most about Maksim is that he loves his gay fans.
"I don't want to sound shallow but, obviously, everybody likes attention and I appreciate it," he told me at an ABC party in August. "I want everybody to understand that I appreciate it. I'm not kind of looking for it and I'm not asking for it but the fact that it's there makes me very happy. I hope that people like my character as well as the looks. I'm very comfortable with being admired by men and women. I come from a dance world and a lot of dancers are homosexual and there's nothing wrong with that. I think some of the most talented people on the planet are gay men so it''s not a problem. I just want to create a positive character for myself."

Here is Mathison and his partner and while I have a big crush, my favorite dancer of the night was Marie Osmond! Is she just the best or what? Such a great smile, so much personality and such a hard work ethic. I think she's gonna be a real fan favorite. She looks sensational too for someone who is raising eight kids! And there was Donny rooting her on from the sidelines. He is working for "The Insider" as its "Dancing" correspondent...

Rosie woulda been in heaven.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi guested on "The View" this morning and was seated right next to the show's resident right-winger Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Pelosi, talking about the Iraq War asked, "How much longer should our troops risk their lives?"
Elisabeth quickly pointed out that deaths were down in September so "the surge is working."
Pelosi: "With all due respect, there's still people dying - over 3,800 [U.S. soldiers]." The speaker pointed out that the federal government spends $5.5 billion in cancer research each year - amount that pays for TWO DAYS of the war.
"That's misplaced," Pelosi said.
Elisabeth chirped in with something like how you should pay for both and I felt like screaming at the TV: "With what? Your paycheck? Your relatives going to war?" Whoopi had to point the finger to shhhh Elisabeth when she was about to interrupt Pelosi and Barbara Walters grabbed her hand another time.
Let the guest speak Hasselbeck - we have to listen to YOU every day.
Yesterday, Chris Matthews joined the lady and somehow, he fared better than Pelosi did as far as shutting Hasselbeck down. Matthews admitted that he had voted to "W" in 2000 bit now says, "I was wrong." He went on to say that Bush "fell into the wrong crowd," chiefly Dick Cheney. Matthews believes there currently is "a 40 percent" chance that Hillary Clinton will be the next president and got a laugh when he described the differences between the two parties when it comes to selecting their nominees: "Democrats like to fall in love, Republicans fall in line."
Matthews believes that Hillary Clinton has become a much better listener which she likely got from her husband who "is so smart about listening." He then added that "W" "doesn't have a huge curiosity factor."
Walters had said recently that when she saw Mrs. Bush at an ABC News off-the-record gathering, she approached her about appearing on "The View." She said the First Lady's look was one of when hell freezes over.
As long as they keep the vile Ann Coulter away. She was the opening interview on "The Today Show" this morning being grilled by Meredith Viera. I thought I was having a nightmare.
That woman, is Satan in a miniskirt.

With my friend Michelle in town this week, it feels so great to have Will & Grace back together...Just like it is to have Carrie and Stanford together on the set of "Sex and the City: The Movie."
I.Can't. Wait.
All these pics coming from the shoot are just building up anticipation to a fervish pitch...at least it is as far as I'm concerned!

...wearing a T-shirt AND a really ugly head band. What's THAT about?

So, whaddaya do when you get to be picked to be on the cover of the New York firefighters 2008 calendar and your wild past comes back to haunt you? Michael Biserta, who it was discovered had bared all in a 'Boys Gone Wild" video when he was younger, has decided to make a calendar of his own after the FDNY cancelled the charity calendar that featured this smoking hot firefighter on the cover.
Biserta has signed a deal with On Display Men and will be doing the photo shoot next week in New York City. The calendar will be available by late October 2007 at OnDisplayMen.com and MichaelBiserta.com.
And whaddaya know? I happen to be in need of a 2008 calendar!

Nice interview in the new issue of TV Guide magazine with Michael Urie who plays Marc St. James on ABC's "Ugly Betty." You all know it's one of my favorite shows and having seen the first two episodes of the new season, I can tell you that it continues to be terrific.
Here are some excerpts from the interview:
On what Urie and his television alter-ego have in common: "I love my job and he loves his job. But I'm not fashionable or mean. Marc and Amanda are pretty much Michael and Becki [Newton] - we're goofy like that."
(The character of Marc St. James is also gay, but Urie does not say if that is something he has in common with the character.)
Marc gets a boyfriend on "Betty" this season. Does Urie has an off-screen significant other?
"I'm single and I have lots of friends, but I'm sort of married to the work. But I'm moving into a bigger apartment, so there might be room for a significant other at some point."
On being recognized in public: "It's crazy! Last night at the grocery store was the first time anybody called my name, "Michael Urie!"...Luckily, I don't feel like when I get recognized people think, 'Yuck, there's THAT guy." They like the show and are really nice about it."

He was so cute when he was fat...and now he's even cuter after losing all that weight on "Celebrity Fit Club." Queerty.com has posted a buncha cool pics of Ross' b-day party. That's some good lookin' cake but I bet it doesn't compare to the pecan pie at Dupars!

Did you see it? What'd ya think? Kitty (Calista Flockhart) is starting to really bug me and I feel bad about that. I blame her for any audience erosion! It's just nice to have "B&S" be an established and respected show now in its sophomore season. Last season, I kind of nervously checked the ratings each week to make sure it was holding its own so that we could see more, more and more of the Walker clan - especially Kevin (Matthew Rhys, above) kissing yet another boy. Oh yeah, whose the boy? He's Jason MacAllister (Eric Winters) who Kevin is in a relationship with. Well, at least he was, Jason, a preacher, is leaving the country to do some religious work in Africa. Winters (pictured, below) is in the new new CBS drama "Viva Laughlin" so had to be written out, for now.

AfterElton.com has done a nice ratings breakdown on "B&S" and some of my other faves like "Desperate Housewives" and "Ugly Betty."

My friend Kenneth in the 212 makes no secret of his big ol' crush on actor Ed Burns. I totally get it. Ed Burns is hot! I met him a few summers ago when he came to Outfest in LA to present his wonderful movie, "The Groomsmen." He is a gifted actor, writer and director, and I really like his voice for some reason. Anywho, Kenneth posted these pics a few weeks ago, I loaded them but forgot to post until now. Enjoy!

...and just for kicks, here is a picture of Kenneth with Ed which he has posted on his blog. Kenneth has a boyfriend and Ed is married to a gorgeous model, but don't they look cute together?

Filming "Australia" opposite Nicole Kidman in well, Australia, Hugh Jackman made it to the beach over the weekend. He is delish. I spotted these pix over at A Socialite's Life which has a pretty hilarious made-up exchange between the two women looking at Hugh. Go over there to read it because there's some words in there that I know The Daily News would want me to put on the blog! After this flick wraps, Hugh is gonna start filming the "X-Men" spin-off "Wolverine."
This is one busy - and very buff - dude!

I like the Edwards women and Cate Edwards is certainly her mother's daughter.
Cate Edwards took questions in Des Moines Sunday at a campaign appearance and was asked her position on gay rights, specifically gay marriage.
"I'm on my mom's side with this, not my dad's," she said. "It's the word 'marriage' that he is hung up on...It's not about gay rights...He very much does not understand–he has trouble, I guess, with the term 'gay marriage.' I don't...I'm not going to try to defend him on that because I don't agree with it, but that's where he stands. But I don't want it to be understood as not standing for gay rights because that's certainly not true."

I like the daughter. Not happy though with the dad or most of the other Democratic candidates for not being in favor of gay marriage publicly.

I'm so excited about this! A designer named Rami Kashou, who is a close friend of my co-worker and pal, Rachel Uranga, is one of seven gay designers who will be on Bravo's "Project Runway" when it makes its season debut on Nov. 14. Rami had some designs in LA Fashion Week several months back but I couldn't figure out how to shrink the size of the giant pics Rachel e-mailed me. Anyway, Rami lived next door to Rachel in Echo Park, is a very interesting person and makes a terrific brunch! I'm very glad he will be getting this kind of exposure. And I'm very glad to see how very gay the roster of contestants is, according to AfterElton.com. First off, there's openly gay Tim Gunn and Michael Kors who serve as mentor and head judge, respectively.
Gay men competing will be Rami, Jack, Chris, Ricky, Steven, Christian, and Marion. That leaves only one straight guy on the show in addition to the seven female contestants.
I'm rooting for Rami and might even watch the show this season!

Oh, I'm sorry. Did you think there were only hot men on "Dante's Cove"? My fault. I haven't written much about the fabulous women in the here! TV show which will have its third season premiere Oct 19. I recently talked to the show's most seasoned actresses, the gorgeous Tracy Scoggins and Thea Gill who play dueling sisters with supernatural powers.
Scoggins' first scene has her character of Grace Neville landing face down in the ground, covered in dirt and grass, cursing her sister, Diana Childs: "The bloody Cow! I'm going to make her suffer!"
She told me at the Advocate party a few weeks back that those lines were improvised which, to me, shows that she is really having a good time with what is a very juicy part. While her Grace has been mostly wicked up until now, I noticed she is beginning to show some softer sides.
Says Scoggins: "My father had this theory: 'Show people your strength and they'll take notice. Show them your weakness and they'll take heart.' And I think that's what we'll see a little bit more of in Grace in season three. You'll start to see her softer underbelly and see why she is the way she is, why betrayal has affected her so. She's wicked because she's been devastated. Her heart is so scarred. I think in season three she might start to have a little salve on her heart."
I remember Tracy best from the "Dynasty" spinoff, "The Colbys" which also starred Barbara Stanwyck and Charlton Heston, among others. Scoggins has stayed busy with plenty of other shows since then but she is very much in the moment, enjoying the popularity of "Dante's."
"I'm not much on thinking ahead or looking back," she says. "I always say you can look back but don't stare. I'm very proud to be on something that's groundbreaking. I know pride is one of the seven deadly sins so I'm a sinner because I'm really proud of 'Dante's Cove.'"
So is Thea Gill, the actress who had best been known to queer audiences for her part as Lindsay on "Queer As Folk" for its entire five-year run. While Lindsay was kind, Diana is an entirely different type of character to play. In the season's first episode, she and Grace duke it out. I tell her that the fight scene between her and Scroggins is very Krystle-Alexis on "Dynasty" and she said, "I think that's what they were going for.'
She feels like she is really getting a handle on her character now.
"In the second season, I didn't quite know what to make of it. But in the third season, I started to understand what the show's about and how I could contribute to it and so I kind of went into my own fantasy world and brought as much of my intense life to it as possible so the intensity of the witch in me came out in full force. I let it all hang out. It's a very high intense show. In all the great horror films, there's a heightened intensity and that's what I was striving for and, of course, having a little bit of fun and having a sense of humor."
Between "Dante's Cove" and "Queer as Folk," Gill has a fan base anyone would envy: "Gay audiences are especially loyal and supportive and I think that's why I came aboard 'Dante's Cove.' I'm lucky to be able to be loved that way."

I usually share the more Hollywood-ish times of my life with you in this blog. But I reserve the right to write about the less glam parts of life once in awhile. I had some events planned for this weekend in LA but my 5-year-old nephew, just the light of my life, has a cough and couldn't go on a long-planned day at Universal Studios for his big sister's 14th birthday. He asked if his uncle Greg could babysit him.
Schedule instantly cleared.
I took him to my mom's house in the OC on Saturday evening and we had just an enchanted time watching "Shrek" and "101 Dalmations" before he drifted off to sleep, looking like an angel. But before leaving LA, my friends Michelle and Mark (I wrote about their blog M&M on Friday) called and wanted to know what time we were meeting for dinner. They were just into LA from Seattle.
Me: "You're HERE? Now? I thought we were having dinner NEXT Saturday!"
Uh oh.
We agree to have sort of a late lunch at the Farmer's Market so I could still fetch my nephew at a reasonable hour. We have been in touch but not seen each other in the flesh for FOUR YEARS. We just start blabbing away. Michelle is here to speak at a journalism conference at USC where she used to teach and she is full of useful technical advice about my new blog, Hollywood Joe. Mark looked far better than I expected him to since he has been battling brain cancer for nearly a year. He was very much his smart and witty self and I enjoyed catching up and talking about movies and I wanted to know about his treatments. I loved when he told me that since his illness, he eats ice cream whenever he feels like it.

Speaking of dessert, Michelle went over and bought us a half of a pecan pie from Dupars and I had intended to have just a bite or two since, lately, I've been feeling about as fat as Shelly Winters in the "Poseidon Adventure." Well, this pie is like crack cocaine - competely and utterly addicting. Seriously, one of the most delicious pies - ever! Michelle even took a picture of it!
OK, flash forward to Sunday morning. I'm feeding my nephew breakfast and the doorbell rings. It's my mom's next door neighbor, looking stricken. His longtime partner, who had lived next door to my mom for nearly 40 years, had just died like an hour earlier. He was 91.
The reason this had some significance for me was that he was the first gay person I ever knew. He had moved to our cul-de-sac with his wife and four kids initially but after a few years, they divorced and he embraced his gayness with abandon.
I remember being maybe 11 years old and him throwing a big party one summer night. All of us kids on the street were out playing what we called Ditch 'Em, a team version of Hide and Seek. We all got intrigued by the fact that all these men were pulling up and parking on our street. Me and one of my neighbors who would end up being the first boy I ever slept with, crept up to the front door as the party was underway and peaked into the kitchen window. I saw two men making out. I was just fascinated, not grossed out at all. This is in the 70s when there were not many images of gay men kissing in the media.
We ran and told the others because, well, that was what you were supposed to do. It became kind of a show and most of the other kids were acting grossed out etc. I was just quietly fascinated.
His children began arriving throughout today, my mom went over to console the widowed partner, and I tried to keep my nephew entertained all day. What's so fun is that when they're five, they think it's really fun to watch you do your laundry and wash your car and watch you blog.
The circle of life I guess...