THE BEST OF REST FOR ABC!
ABC's Pushing Daisies is probably the gayest non-gay broadcast show on the fall line-up. It's written and executive-produced by the out Bryan Fuller who clearly knows his Broadway talent (Kristin Chenoweth, Ellen Greene, Swoosie Kurtz), and is about a man who is unable to be physically intimate with the person he loves. Gee, do you think that will resonate in some corners of the gay community? It's also a fantasy about outsiders told in bright colors and in whimsical tones. Again, I think us gay boys can relate.
I got to chat with Fuller after the panel, and he told me:
There are characters that we're introducing that we are going to have exploring... We're going to get gay characters on the show. None of the main characters are -- as of yet. That's not to say that things don't change in peoples lives that influence them. Nothing specific as of right now. We've got the first five episodes. I want to do a story about someone needing to to sign something posthumously for a domestic couple. I don't want to give too much away.
Kristin Chenoweth plays Olive Snook and is absolutely wonderful. Nonetheless, most of the buzz at the TCA was about her new 'do.
Earlier I reported that I had caught up with Orlando Jones who played a gay character on Anne Heche's Men in Trees and told me he had shot four episodes, only two of which had aired. I had a chance to chat with Trees' creator Jenny Bicks who said those episodes would air this season. She also had this to say about the upcoming season's gay content:
John's son George comes up to Elmo and gets involved with Terry -- Mario Cantone -- and Mario will be coming back to the show as the hairdresser ... for as many episodes as I can get him for. He's in a bunch for next season as well as ones you haven't seen yet. The five that we aired, he's in two if not three of them. It's important to me because it's a show about a town full of men that you're not going to have just straight men.
That was the interesting thing when I went up to Alaska I realized this is a place where you get to be whoever you want to be so it attracts a lot of gay men and gay women, anybody who feels like they want to live in a world where it's okay to be who you are. I wanted to represent that and I love Mario and he's been fantastic. So we're going to keep playing with his storyline. Not just in terms of his dating, but in terms of who is this guy and what did he do to end up in Alaska.
Nothing against Mario, but is a hairdresser in Alaska really the most interesting gay story to be told here? How about a gay Native Alaskan? Or a guy who likes to hunt and fish and vote Republican like most male Alaskans I know. I mean, it's not like we've never had a gay hairdresser before. Or Mario playing a gay character.
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