|
May 18, 2005 Oops... seems the big Season 5 premiere party in L.A. is taking place tonight, May 18th, not last night as many of the official websites had indicated. The cast of QAF will be at the Regent Beverly Wilshire for a reception and screening of the first episode. Photos of Sharon Gless arriving at the 2005/2006 NBC UpFront event at Radio City Music Hall Monday night are up at wireimage.com. Also on wireimage are photos of Michelle Clunie at the H.D. Buttercup Inaugural Celebrity Treasure Hunt for Charity and Cinco de Mayo after party.Thea Gill's performance in the play "Trying" recieved critical acclaim in the Vancouver Sun. Rreviewer Jo Ledingham writes, "Thea Gill is so perky and animated you just know her character has a hidden, unhappy side. And, indeed, she does. Her marriage is failing, and her work becomes both her joy and escape. While Biddle claims he doesn't want to know anything about her personal life, he is deeply aware of and sensitive to Sarah's unhappiness. Gill, costumed by Karen Matthews in the often waist-less clothing of the '60s, exudes that confident, educated, '60s spirit that said, 'I can do anything I set my mind to.' Based on the playwright's true experience, Trying is all about how trying life can be but how important "staying the course," in Biddle's words, is." As reported last month, Thea will also be involved in The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's "A Night to Create Change", which will raise funds to fight local anti-gay ballot initiatives. "Supporters across the nation are being asked to host individual parties in their homes with a goal of generating between $500 and $1000 per party to assist the Task Force's efforts to defeat state and local anti-gay ballot initiatives," says the website. "Nearly 20 such initiatives are expected on ballots across the nation over the next 6 to 24 months. The parties will be linked by two conference calls, one at 7 p.m. EDT and another at 10 p.m. EDT. Actress Thea Gill, star of Queer as Folk, will join the Task Force's Executive Director, Matt Foreman, on both calls."The Hal Sparks Band will perform at a premiere party for Season 5 of QAF at Amsterdam in Phoenix, Arizona on May 22, 2005. There will be a private meet and greet with Hal from 6pm to 7pm, then the performance by the band at 8pm, followed by the screening at 10pm.Exclusive video clips from the first episode are up at the Showtime site screening room. Coming soon, among other treats, is the Season 5 screensaver featuring memories from all five seasons of QAF. Peter Paige speaks to the NY Daily News about leaving QAF and pigging out for a change! Author Marisa Guthrie writes, "Before 'Queer as Folk' came along, three-dimensional gay characters were a rarity. Now they are part of the fabric of television. There was even a coming-out on 'The Sopranos,' that bastion of macho thugdom." Peter says, "I feel really fortunate that I can look back on this experience and know that it is more than just a TV show." [read more]Just a year ago, Paige was telling Frontiers Newsmagazine, "I have my own body issues, I freely admit that. I'm a very small step away from being a teenage girl with an eating disorder." He does not blame QAF for presenting unrealistic images, however. "That's a lot bigger than what 'Queer as Folk' does. That's the gay community; that's Hollywood-at-large. Look at the girls on 'Charmed.' Look at the cast of just about every television show. The vast majority of people are in good shape or anorexically thin." On a personal level, he notes, "This past couple of years is actually the first time that I've liked my body. I'm proud of it. I feel good about it in a way that I never have before. For me, on my journey, that's real growth."More wisdom from Peter: "A huge part of fame is letting people decide who you are. If you rely on adulation for your self-worth, you're letting them tell you you're valuable. And when they stop doing that, you have to figure out a way to make them do it again. You've got to get another fix. It's very, very easy to become invested in perpetuating your own celebrity. I can look at an actor and see if they're invested in their work or invested in their celebrity in a heartbeat." ... "The only way that I feel like a role model of any kind is that I choose to live my life out in a profession that has not traditionally been welcoming to that. When I see 16-year-old boys who stop me on the street and say, 'I came out to my family because of you,' that is one of the things I'm most proud of."Visit Hollywood.com to see a picture of Ryan Scott Greene, who will play " Brandon" this season on Queer As Folk.Hal Sparks will be appearing at the Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors event in Burbank, California, the weekend of June 4th and 5th, 2005, at the Burbank Airport Hilton and Towers, 2500 Hollywood Way. Show hours are Saturday, noon to 7pm; Saturday Evening: 8:30PM (for the First Annual Shock-N-Roll Spooktacular!); and Sunday: noon to 7pm. Hal is there to participate in a panel to promote the movie Lighting Bug, along with Robert Hall (Writer/ Director).
From eonline's Watch with Kristin column: " Queer journey's end" is a feature from Southern Voice online. Author Mike Fleming talks about the Showtime series reaching its final season with a critical eye on the U.S. social climate. "For the first time, we wanted to show gay people complete, whole — and that included having an active sex life," says Dan Lipman, who along with partner Ron Cowen adapted the British series for American television. "Did that ever bother people — both straight and gay," Lipman adds. "Sure, there are plenty of monogamous couples and gay people having children, biologically or through adoption. They’re reflected on our show," Dan Lipman says. "But people wish to deny there’s also promiscuity and drug use. Wake up, folks." Love it or hate it, 'Queer As Folk' broke ground by showing gay life’s 'joys and warts,' according to Lipman. And breaking new ground was exactly what drew veteran actress Sharon Gless to her role as smart-mouthed, big-hearted PFLAG mom Debbie Novotny, she says. "I understand a lot of people’s lives have been changed because of this show," Gless says. Years after 'Cagney & Lacey' set a new standard for female characters on television and garnered Gless two Emmy Awards and six nominations as detective Christine Cagney, she wanted to be there as TV turned yet another unwritten page. ['Queer As Folk'] was groundbreaking television," she says. "To be on two groundbreaking series in a career, that doesn’t happen very often." [read more]Speaking of Sharon, the Chicago Sun Times reports that Ms. Gless dined at Gibsons Rush Street steakery the other night with hubby Barney Rosenzweig, and is thrilled she's got another TV gig to replace 'Queer as Folk.' The former 'Cagney & Lacey' star has been tapped for Lorne Michaels' upcoming NBC midseason replacement, 'Thick & Thin,' also starring Jessica Capshaw and Martin Mull. NBC is emphasizing originality and big ideas in its 2005-06 Fall primetime schedule, and provides this description of the show: From multi Emmy-Award winning producer Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video Television comes this half-hour comedy about Mary, a formerly fat woman who embarks on a new journey as a fit and newly single woman. That's easier said than done, however, when Mary's family and friends still see her as her former self. They include her overweight mother (multiple Emmy winner Sharon Gless, "Cagney and Lacey"), her overweight younger sister, her father, and her weight-loss program buddy. But it is at the pool-and-spa company franchise she owns in suburban Florida that she finds her most unlikely confidant, her brother-in-law, the company's "leotard-ed" spokesperson named "Captain Chlorine." When a cringe-worthy misstep lands her in bed with her ex, she realizes that getting thin was less about pleasing others -- and more about being comfortable in her own skin.From Yahoo biz comes the Gay/Lesbian Consumer Online Census Releases 'Best Brands For Gay Consumers'. In the media category, several premium cable television networks are popular among gay/lesbian consumers. HBO and Showtime appear in the top five cable networks, and Showtime's program "Queer as Folk" is among the top five television shows. Mainstream television shows with gay themes, such as NBC's "Will & Grace," are also popular among gay/lesbian consumers. "While it is no surprise that gay-themed programming is important to gay/lesbian consumers, it is interesting to note that several of their television preferences require access to premium cable services," said Mr. Garber. "The gay marketplace presents desirable demographics that marketers can tap into via niche programming available on premium cable networks."
Showcase has updated their QAF page with the following synopsis: "The fifth and final season of the trailblazing, critically acclaimed drama about a group of gay friends, begins May 23rd with 14 new episodes [ed: should be 13]. Queer as Folk is still a series like no other, intertwining boundary-pushing frankness and intense drama into its unique storylines—making it a true favourite with Showcase fans. Notable cameos in season five include Rosie O'Donnell and Grammy®-winning singer/songwriter Cyndi Lauper. Airing Mondays at 10 pm ET/PT, premiering May 23." If you want some spoilers for Season 5, there's a look ahead at the new shows at 365gay.com.One of fab magazine's special features this month is about QAF, titled, "The show has never been written for straight women.” So why is Queer As Folk making women wet? - by Romy Shiller. "...straight women might be the ultimate Queer quotient when it comes to watching Queer as Folk by inhabiting that twilight-zone, the marginal, the Other – qualities of the Queer that are seemingly taking a lovey-dovey hiatus from the show within a gay context irrespective of a straight female fan base."From "Can't We All Just Get Along?" at Gfn.com: Paul Robinson, professor of humanities at Stanford University, has provided an insightful, critical analysis of the battle between the gaycons (specifically Sullivan and Bawer) and their enemies in his latest book Queer Wars: The New Gay Rights and its Critics. Those enemies are represented by Michelangelo Signorile (“Life Outside” and “Queer in America” which was reprinted in an updated version a couple of years ago) and Michael Warner (“The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics and the Ethics of Queer Life). There is even a gulf between Signorile and Warner when it comes to sexual ethics and practices advocated. Robinson saves most of his own viewpoints for the end of the book, particularly as he reflects on the impact of the early AIDS epidemic on sexual practice and ethics among gay men in particular. His presentation is very evenhanded and fair, though it is not difficult, as one reads, to see where he’s going with all of this. He ends the book with a look at the Showtime series, ”Queer As Folk” and draws illustrations from that drama to make his own point in regard to sexual politics and ethics.Peter Paige's film "Say Uncle" will premiere on Sunday, July 10th, 7PM, at the Director's Guild of America, and then later that week, will screen at the Philadephia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force will hold its third "A Night to Create Change" fundraising event on Saturday, June 4, 2005. Supporters across the nation are being asked to host individual parties in their homes with a goal of generating between $500 and $1000 per party to assist the Task Force's efforts to defeat state and local anti-gay ballot initiatives. Nearly 20 such initiatives are expected on ballots across the nation over the next 6 to 24 months. The parties will be linked by two conference calls, one at 7 p.m. EDT and another at 10 p.m. EDT. Actress Thea Gill, star of "Queer as Folk," will join the Task Force's Executive Director, Matt Foreman, on both calls. Visit temenos.net for more information From eonline.com comes GLAAD Gab: "I will tell you nothing, and you will like it! Who are these people that want spoilers?! Who are you?!" These words from Hal Sparks--former host of E!'s Talk Soup and current star of Queer as Folk--were, thankfully, somewhat in jest. I met up with him at the GLAAD Media Awards Saturday night, and he did dish on the new season starting May 22: "I will tell you Rosie O'Donnell makes an appearance, doing a three-episode arc with us. Cyndi Lauper, too. We deal with the custody issues that gay parents go through, and I think the last episode is some of the best TV we've ever done." As for Hal's character, Michael: "I get naked. We have one of the roughest sex scenes we've ever done, in the ninth episode of the show."
I ran into
From Avid.com: "The Unseen Looks Into the Future with Avid Xpress Studio" - In her recent film The Unseen, independent filmmaker
Check out some of the |
Home News Archive Current News E-mail
|