Best.
Lesbian. Week. Ever.
by Sarah
Warn,
AfterEllen.com Editor
A
weekly column highlighting lesbian pop culture news
Friday,
February 17, 2006
LESBIANS
AND CATS - LIKE PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE
Gay TV channel Logo
announced this week that it has four original scripted series
in development, including Slink, an animated series
about five lesbian cats who inherit a mansion in Malibu, and
The Rules: A Lesbian Survival Guide, a comedy about
a single lesbian looking for love, based on a short film by
Michelle Paradise and Lee Friedlander.
Series
in consideration that did not make the cut reportedly include
If These Chain Wallets Could Talk, Closeted Celebrities
on (Thin) Ice, and the L Word musical Betty's
Revenge.
FIT
FOR A LESBIAN
The third season of VH1's Celebrity
Fit Club, which ends this month, is getting rave
reviews from AfterEllen.com readers (at least, from the emails
I've received) for its matter-of-fact inclusion of Chastity
Bono's girlfriend and its sensitive portrayal of Chastity's
struggle to face her fears and lose weight.
If
you haven't seen the show yet, there's still time: this Sunday
(Feb 19th) Chastity confronts a fellow contestant with a drug
problem (Jeff Conaway, not Kate Moss), and suddenly it's a
celebrity smack-down! My money's on Chas over the guy from
Grease any day.
I
DON'T SEE IT AS A SERIES. MAYBE A MOVIE. Arrested
Development officially signed off last week,
with the airing of the brilliant last four episodes of
its third and final season (on Fox, at least) back-to-back
last Friday.
What
does co-star Portia de Rossi have lined up next? Nothing
concrete, as far as I can tell, but she's still waiting
to find out if Arrested will be running on another
network: ABC and Showtime have both made offers to pick
up the series, and creator Mitch Hurwitz has until June
15th to make his decision. Take the Showtime deal, Mitch,
or you'll be making a huge mistake!
ULTRA
DISAPPOINTING
There's good news and bad news about Ultra, the
Barbara Hall-created series based on the comic book of
the same name that recently received a pilot order from
CBS. The good? Imagine
Me and You's Lena
Headey has been cast in the lead role, as the writer
who discovers she's a super-hero. The bad? Her lesbian
sidekick from the comic, Jen/Cowgirl, isn't being written
into the series, at least according to the pilot script
I've seen.
Just
for that, Barbara, I take back all the good things I said
about Joan of Arcadia.
BUT
WILL SHE BE RUNNING SLO-MO ON THE BEACH WITH HER LAPTOP?
BECAUSE SAND AND COMPUTERS REALLY DON'T MIX...
On the heels of making Her Line of Fire, here!
Networks has announced they're making another lesbian
action/thriller movie. Trapped--which begins
filming this month and will air on here TV later this
year--stars former Baywatch: Hawaii star Alexandra
Paul (pictured), Nicholas Turturro (NYPD Blue),
and out lesbian actress Michelle
Wolff (Mango Kiss) as Alexandra's girlfriend
(you gotta give here! some credit: their films may be
low-budget, but they usually include at least one openly
gay or lesbian actor).
Here's
how here! describes the film:
In
Trapped, Alexandra Paul plays Samantha, an
internet security expert who is struggling to balance
work, her relationship with her girlfriend and the raising
of her temperamental 16-year old daughter, Gwen. While
on their way to a spa to spend much-needed mother/daughter
quality time, Samantha and Gwen are kidnapped by the
mysterious Adrien (Dennis Christopher). Using Gwen as
leverage, Adrien forces Samantha to hack her way into
an FBI database and locate a woman hidden in the Witness
Protection Program. In
a race against time, Samantha must break free of her
kidnappers, save her daughter, and foil Adrien's plot
to hunt down and kill the witness.
A
movie about lesbians and computers?! It's my
dream come true!...Uh, I mean, it sounds okay. Maybe I'll
see it. If I'm not doing something incredibly athletic
that weekend.
Friday
afternooon update: a reader (thanks
Paula!) just reminded me that Alexandra Paul's twin sister
Caroline is an out lesbian firefighter, and wrote a book
about it called Fighting
Fire--I've read it, and it's pretty good. Another
reason to check out the film! (like we needed one)
ODDS
AND ENDS Anne
Heche has been cast as the lead in the ABC drama series
Men in Trees, about a psychiatrist who moves
to Alaska when her husband cheats on her, only to find
herself surrounded by available men.
Due
to low ratings, UPN has decided to delay the broadcast
of new episodes of Veronica Mars--including the
one with the lesbian cheerleader--until March, making
this the first time in TV history a lesbian-themed episode
has been moved out of a Sweeps period.
And
last but not least, the contestants for the next round
of America's
Next Top Model (debuting March 8th) have been
revealed, and so far, none of them appear to be openly
queer. But you know how the old joke goes: what's the
difference between a bisexual woman and a straight woman?
One week in a house full of models.
That's
it for this week! Check back next Friday for a new installment
of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. or read past
installments here.
