Archive

Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (February 13, 2009)

THIS WEEK IN QUEER WOMEN ON TV

Note: There are no spoilers about future episodes, just updates on what has already aired, but click here if you want to skip these updates and go directly to the next page.

Show/Episode: Nip/Tuck – FX, drama

What happened: Liz didn’t appear this week; Portia’s character is still dead.

What you need to know: No one noticed.

Show/Episode: Hell’s Kitchen – Fox, reality competition

What happened: No new episode this week.

What you need to know: I re-enacted an episode last night by yelling at Lori that she was microwaving the popcorn wrong.

Show/Episode: Podia Acabar o Mundo (The World Could End) – Portugal, drama

What happened: Claudia and Sonia are now living together and talking about having kids, although there are a few things they have to work out – like winning over Sonia’s disapproving father. (Thanks to AE reader shiffie for the info!)

What you need to know: Different country/language, universal lesbian baby drama.

Show/Episode: Skins – U.K., teen drama

What happened: Emily kissed her friend Naomi during a friend’s all-girl sleepover, and Naomi took drugs. Here’s a promo of the kiss:

What you need to know: In the episode that actually aired on British television, the song playing in the background during this kiss was changed from Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” to a Lily Allen song. Thank God!

Show/Episode: The L Word – Showtime, drama

What happened: Tom left Max. Alice and Tasha set Helena up on a date with a friend they both seem to want to sleep with themselves, and Helena left early to see Dylan. Jenny turned Shane’s bedroom into an office. Bette asked her old grad school roommate to make her a partner in her art gallery, which displeased Tina; then Bette and Tina met with a pregnant woman who wants to give them her child.

What you need to know: Only four episodes left!

Show/Episode: Los Hombres de Paco (Paco’s Men) – Spain, drama

What happened: Pepa and Sylvia didn’t appear this week.

What you need to know: Look for them to be back next week.

Show/Episode: All My Children – ABC, drama

What happened: Kendall asked Bianca and Reese to go back to Paris because their daughter reminds of her husband’s betrayal, and Bianca and Reese agreed to leave after the wedding. When Kendall made a mean toast about Reese at their wedding rehearsal, Reese left in tears and ended up making out with Kendall’s husband Zach.

What you need to know: The wedding takes place today and Monday.

Show/Episode: Guiding Light – CBS, drama

What happened: Nothing – Natalia and Olivia were not featured this week so far, but are expected to appear in today’s episode.

What you need to know: Otalia is still progressing, just slowly.

Show/Episode: Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love) – Germany, drama

What happened: Stella sets Carla up on a date with another woman, but Carla mistakenly thinks the date is with Stella (Carla is in love with Stella); when Stella clarifies that the date is with someone else, Carla is crushed and tells Stella to stay out of her private life. A hurt/angry Stella suggests maybe she should quit working for Stella, and is later surprised at the bartender’s suggestion that Carla’s in love with her.

What you need to know: Carla and Stella are inching towards a relationship, but Stella is still infatuated with Charlie.

Show/Episode: Emmerdale – U.K., drama

What happened: Debbie is in jail awaiting trail for killing a policeman. Jasmine tried to talk Debbie out of taking the fall for something she did, but Debbie insisted, telling Jasmine, “you’ll never make it in here.”

What you need to know: If this who-killed-the-policeman storyline drags on, it doesn’t look the girls are going to be sharing any scenes together anytime soon.

Show/Episode: Grey’s Anatomy – ABC, drama

What happened: Callie shared with Addison her feelings for Arizona, which basically boil down to “she’s hot and funny.”

What you need to know: Four out of five lesbian doctors agree. But how will Calzona ever happen if they only get two minutes per week?

That wraps up this week’s rundown of lesbian/bi women on TV – if any international readers want to send me short rundowns of what happened with the lesbian/bi storylines on your favorite shows, please email me on Thursdays at [email protected].

– by Sarah Warn

This page contains information about this week’s Grey’s Anatomy episode. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, click here to go directly to the next page.

GREY’S ANATOMY PROCESSES THE CALZONA KISS

Well, we all saw the smooch. So now, in the grand lesbian tradition, the processing begins.

Thursday’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy featured Callie (Sara Ramirez) telling Addison (Kate Walsh, in town for a very special, very hyped multi-episode crossover arc) what happened in – where else? – a chapel.

When last we saw the nascent lesbian couple Calzona, sunny Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) had laid an unexpected kiss on celibate Callie in the bar bathroom. After making her interest abundantly clear, Arizona exits with a beaming smile, leaving the bewildered but also smiling Callie to stare stunned at the stalls.

Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello has an exclusive clips of Callie and Addison discussing among other things God, hot peds surgeons and butterflies this week. As Addison worries that God doesn’t know who she is, Callie says her own little prayer:

Dear God, I need your guidance. I kissed a peds surgeon. I never thought I’d end up with a woman, God. I mean, not until lately. But that’s not the problem. The problem is the peds surgeon thing. She is perky and has butterflies on her scrub cap. But she is also hot – really hot. So, help me get over the butterflies. Amen.

OK, so the butterfly metaphor was kinda cute. But I still can’t help but be wary of how the Grey’s writers will handle this relationship. Jessica has proven lovely and likable in her brief screen time so far. But it’s not how the romance starts, but what happens next that really matters.

What has made the show so frustrating is that the writers are clearly capable of developing real and relatable lesbian storylines. For my money, Brooke Smith’s “You Are Glasses” epiphany ranks among the best LGBT self-realization/coming-out scenes in television history. But then the Callica relationship ended in such a dishonorable, dishonest way with Erica vanishing into The Parking Lot of No Return. Lord, I still get angry/sad/homicidal each time I think about how they unceremoniously fired Brooke.

So, what do I hope for from Calzona? Well, first I would advise Arizona to avoid the parking lot at all costs. Hail a taxi, take the bus, rent a hot-air balloon, anything else. Second, this thing needs to last a while. No three-episode stunt. No quickie for sweeps. You owe us something substantial, ABC. Look, even Kate Walsh is praying you come through for us on this one.

And if – big if – we do decide to come back to see how this thing plays out, don’t think it’s all water under the bridge. This isn’t a simple mulligan. This is the hard road to redemption. Forgive? Maybe. Forget? Are you crazy?

– by Dorothy Snarker

GUESS WHO’S BI ON UNITED STATES OF TARA

While one Showtime series is driving us slowly insane with its apparent multiple personality disorder, a newer series about MPD is improving with every episode.

That show, United States of Tara, has just been picked up for a second season.

Although I wasn’t quite sold on the show in the beginning, Toni Collette’s deft handling of Tara Gregson, a woman with at least four distinct personalities that manifest regularly now that she has gone off her medication, has made me a fan. In fact, I wish Tara had a full hour so we could see even more of Collette’s magic.

Overall, I think writer Diablo Cody has managed to find a balance of humor and pathos that makes the tricky subject matter work. She also provides an awesome live Twitter commentary each Sunday when Tara airs that is a must for fans of the show. I’m happy that Showtime is going to give the show a chance to grow.

The Advocate recently asked Collette if any of her personalities have “lesbian tendencies”:

T, the provocative 16-year-old girl, could probably go both ways. We haven’t seen it onscreen thus far, but she’s definitely the most overtly sexual of all the alters.

Happily, Tara’s male personality, “Buck,” is quite clearly a male, despite the fact that he is in Tara’s body:

Most people around Tara understand what she’s going through, and those who don’t understand learn very quickly … It’s not that Tara’s pretending to be a guy or dressing up as a guy. When she’s ‘Buck,’ ‘Buck’ believes that he’s ‘Buck,’ so there’s no question that he is a guy; therefore, people that know Tara treat him as a guy. He likes to go to titty bars and he flirts with girls. He’s also homophobic, actually.

OK, so a man in a woman’s body is a man. Would somebody please tell Alice?

– by the linster

PREMIERE OF PIPPA LEE REVEALS HER PRVIATE LIVES, SOME OF THEM GAY

A quick note to whoever cast Blake Lively as the 16-year-old version of Robin Wright Penn in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee: Good on ya.

No, I mean it. Seriously, wow.

The actresses star in the film based on the novel of the same name by Rebecca Miller (Personal Velocity, The Ballad of Jack and Rose), which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival this week.

A story of later-in-life crisis, Pippa Lee includes lesbian characters who are part of a cast full of beautiful women. So far so good.

Pippa follows the eponymous lead (played by Robin) as her life spins out of control after she moves to a retirement community with her much older husband, Herb (Alan Arkin). The story has a touch of the United States of Tara in its storyline, as Pippa starts expressing some of her suppressed emotions in her sleep.

Pippa’s private life and experiences are shown in the present and past. They include her childhood with her diet-pill addicted mother (Maria Bello, who signed on after Maggie Gyllenhaal dropped out). As a teenager (played by Blake), she ran away to live with her lesbian aunt Trish (Robin Weigert) and Trish’s girlfriend, Kat (Julianne Moore). Kat apparently takes S&M photos on the side, and in the book Pippa participates in some of the photo shoots.

The book also reveals that Pippa’s first sexual experience was with a female friend. No word on whether that will make it into the movie version but, you know, fingers crossed. Rounding out the cast are Monica Bellucci as Herb’s first wife, Winona Ryder as Herb’s new mistress and Keanu Reeves as Pippa’s potential love interest.

Heck, at the very least the prospect of seeing Blake in an S&M photo shoot should sell some tickets, right?

– by Dorothy Snarker

A LESBIAN AMONG THE RANKS OF WATCHMEN

We’ve kept you updated on the film version of the famous comic book series Watchmen, directed by Zack Snyder (300, Dawn of the Dead) and set for release on March 6, 2009, with a particular eye on the depiction of the female characters in the film. Garnering most of the attention in that department have been Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre (played by Carla Gugino), and her daughter, Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman).

In your comments on our posts, some of you familiar with the source material for the film have speculated about whether or not the movie version will include the lesbian character, Silhouette, from the graphic novel.

Yes, Silhouette (aka Ursula Zandt), played by Apollonia Vanova (Stargate: Atlantis, Painkiller Jane), will indeed appear in the film

The IMDB credits even list her as having a girlfriend, played by Leah Gibson (Psych, Second Sight).

That makes Silhouette a more successful lesbian than any of the ones we’ve seen in film or television in months!

While sitting in on a recent Comic-Con panel, Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons talked about the screening of some previously unseen footage from the film for fans, and how they responded to it. According to CinemaBlend.com, most of his time was spent fielding questions were about whether or not the dramatic scene in the novel involving a giant squid would be included in the film. But Gibbons did take a moment to acknowledge a lesbian scene in the film.

It’s worth noting how well the footage went over with the fans, who were especially thrilled by the opening credits, which take you through the entire history of the Minutemen and introduce you to an America full of real superheroes. Though you barely see some of the most colorful early heroes, like the Silhouette and Hooded Justice, each of them gets their little moment that only the fans may manage to notice. Plus I think the guys were particularly into the part where lesbian Silhouette strolls into Times Square at the end of World War II and kisses a lady nurse.

Well I’m glad to hear that “the guys” were enjoying the lesbian scene. Let’s hope that actual lesbians like it as much as the intended target audience did.

– by Karman Kregloe

BATWOMAN FILLS BATMAN’S BOOTS

Batman is dead. Long live Batman.

Or not.

One of the ongoing dilemmas in the DC Universe is that multiple timelines and dimensions mean multiple storylines that may or may not be consistent. Add to that the fact that superheroes, especially famous ones, return from the dead time and time again and you have infinite possibilities.

That’s why, at this weekend’s New York Comic Con, when a panel opened with “Who here thinks Batman is dead?” not a single hand went up. All DC will say is that Bruce Wayne is “elsewhere.” Which means somebody has to do the Caped Crusader’s job.

While Bat-fans debated who should take over Detective Comics, writer Greg Rucka and artist J.H. Williams III announced that this summer, DC’s flagship title will feature its first lesbian superhero: Batwoman.

Rucka said that he and Williams have been working on the title for almost two years.

Batwoman returned to the stable of superheroes – after 30 years – in 2006 DC’s 52. We learned that her identity is Kate Kane, a lesbian socialite, and that she has a past with Renee Montoya, a lesbian former police detective also featured in 52.

Despite the hype – and a nod to female writer Devin Grayson to develop a separate Batwoman series with the title character as a contemporary lesbian – the character ended up all but disappearing from 52. Grayson found out from a newspaper article that the development project was dead.

Since then, DC has sent mixed signals about the project. In fact, last year at WonderCon DC announced the Batwoman series and then denied it the next day. But the decision to put Batwoman at the helm of the publisher’s longest-running title indicates that the character’s sexual orientation wasn’t the reason for the delays.

The New York Comic Con program included a preview of Detective Comics #824:

Although we can’t tell a whole lot from the preview, I’m glad to see that at least she got some new boots to replace the high-heeled versions she wore in 52. I mean, she wouldn’t be much of a lesbian superhero if she didn’t wear comfortable shoes.

– by the linster

This page contains details about the most recent issue of the Buffy comic. If you haven’t read it yet, click here to go directly to the next page.

BUFFY COMIC #22: KENNEDY AND SATSU BOND OVER FALLING FOR A STRAIGHT WOMAN

I just got the latest issue in the Buffy Season 8 comic book series in the mail (#22 “Swell”).

It features lesbian slayers Kennedy and Satsu on the cover.

Looking all Slayer-ish.

Before I give my thoughts on this issue, here’s a rundown of what happened. (If you’ve already read the issue, you can skip to my review at the bottom.)

WHAT HAPPENED

Kennedy drops in on new Slayer squad leader Satsu for a performance evaluation. Satsu is still hung up on Buffy and a little bitter that their torrid affair didn’t turn into a lasting relationship, but Kennedy assures Satsu that “you’re not the only fool to ever wrinkle the sheets with a straight girl.”

When Satsu tries to protest that it was more than just a fling, Kennedy tells her to get over it already: “Lose the cinnamon lippy gloss you laid on her and try kissing someone how can give you their heart. Not just their body.”

What they find in the bag are Vampy Cats – stuffed animals manufactured supposedly to capitalize on Harmony’s recent rise to fame via her own MTV reality show glamorizing the vampire lifestyle (in a brilliant parody of MTV’s recent development of bad reality shows like A Double Shot at Love).

It turns out the Vampy Cats are evil, and designed to wipe out the Slayers – starting with Satsu, who unwittingly ingests a Vampy Cat and starts behaving oddly. First she dons a traditional Japanese kimono, explaining “My parents bought it for me. Before I destroyed them with my gayness.” Then she makes conservative homophobic statements, like, “Girls should kiss boys and have their babies” and criticizes the Slayers as “a bunch of self-righteous little ovaries!” And finally, she gets into a physical altercation with Kennedy (never a good idea), taunting her with “That the best you got, girl licker?” before she is finally purged of the Vampy Cat doll and comes to her lesbian senses.

In the end, the Slayers defeat the Swarm (who were sent by the current Big Bad known as Twilight); Kennedy tells Satsu “your eval’s SO getting a smiley face;” and Buffy announces that it’s time for the Slayers to adopt a much lower profile, because, thanks to Harmony’s media smear campaign, “we’re hated and feared more than the bloodsucking undead” so “we need to stop being whatever we’ve been and focus.”

The issue ends with Satsu indicating she’s finally over Buffy by telling Kennedy she’s ready to go shopping for a new flavor of lip gloss.

MY REVIEW

Overall, I enjoyed the issue, even it was a little more campy and lot less subtle than most Buffy storylines. If I had to pick a word to describe this issue, it would be “cute” – which works as a break from some of the more serious issues, but would probably get annoying on an ongoing basis.

Given the lack of visibility for lesbians in other entertainment mediums these days, it was great to have an entire issue of one of the most popular comic book series revolve around two lesbian characters (lesbians of color, no less!), and it was nice to learn more about two of the series’ less-developed characters.

The conversation between Kennedy and Satsu about Buffy will probably strike some readers as too heavy handed – as a way for the writers to drive home the point that Buffy’s straight – but I don’t think that’s their intention. I think the writers are just using this conversation as a common point of interest between Kennedy and Satsu – as an excuse to bring them together in a somewhat organic way and to show some development in Satsu’s character.

But I’m still undecided about the effectiveness of making the Swarm so cartoon-ishly sexist and homophobic. I generally don’t have any complaints about making a correlation between sexism, homophobia, and evil, but the way this was executed just seems so, well, clunky.

On the other hand, an episode about stuffed animals trying to destroy the world is pretty cartoon-ish and campy to begin with, and the storyline also shows Slayers flying helicopters and commandeering a Korean submarine, so there’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t totally make sense in this issue.

But these kind of inconsistencies/plot contrivances – how did the Slayers suddenly learn how to operate sophisticated military weapons? – will probably bug some readers more than they do me. I’m kinda willing to believe almost anything is possible in the Buffyverse. I don’t really care about minor inconsistencies as long as the stories are entertaining, at least somewhat believable, and include lines like this one from Xander:

Big Buts come with the Slayer territory these days and I probably should have reviewed that sentence before unleashing it on the sensitive womenfolk.

– by Sarah Warn

THE SOUNDS PREPARE A NEW ALBUM FOR SPRING

It was pretty exciting news last month when No Doubt announced their upcoming tour, and even more so that The Sounds would be joining them for some dates. But the Swedish synth-pop band has some exciting news of their own: a new album. Finally!

Following up 2006’s Dying to Say This to You will be Crossing the Rubicon, set to drop in May. The band, fronted by bisexual singer Maja Ivarsson, will perform a new song from the album this week on Last Call with Carson Daly, giving people a reason to actually watch Last Call with Carson Daly.

I, for one, will at least DVR the show so I can fast-forward through bobblehead’s rambling and get right to Maja’s booty shorts and microphone flinging.

The new track they’ll debut is “No One Sleeps When I’m Awake,” which the band recently played at their Hollywood Palladium show.

Before their three-month stint with No Doubt, The Sounds will also tour Europe with Fall Out Boy for three weeks in March and play more than 30 headlining shows of their own in major cities worldwide.

– by jamie murname

DREAMS DEFERRED: THE SAKIA GUNN PROJECT PLAYS AT MOMA THIS WEEKEND

Sakia Gunn was 15-years-old when she was stabbed as part of a gay hate crime in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey in 2003. A documentary about her life and death, Dreams Deferred: The Sakia Gunn Project was put together last year, and showed at NewFest: The NY LGBT Film Festival.

Dreams Deferred is being shown this Saturday at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The 58-minute-film is about the aftermath of Gunn’s murder, and how Newark has since held several rallies and vigils in remembrance of the young woman who was called a “dyke” before she was fatally stabbed. It also includes interviews with community members and shows the progress that has been made in the form of alliances, scholarships and even a day dedicated to “No Name Calling.”

Currently, the film is only available for purchase at for schools and educational institutions, so seeing it is pretty rare. MoMA will show it as part of its international documentary film festival, and will also have director Chas B. Brack on hand to answer any questions.

– by Trish Bendix

LESBIAN-ISH QUOTE OF THE WEEK NO. 1

“Surprisingly, and I really am surprised, we’ve done a lot of that stuff this year and we’ve really taken a stance and there’s not been a peep. There really isn’t. I think, to their credit, as long as we are hopefully doing it in a way that’s still funny and we’re not just wagging our finger at people, which we’re hoping that’s not what we’re doing, they’ve been great. They’ve been really supportive and they love those episodes. And then the Megan Mullally one comes along and blows the lid off it. I kept waiting for the phone call but it never came.”

The New Adventures of Old Christine creator Kari Lizer to AfterEllen.com on the lack of controversy surrounding the lesbian wedding between Christine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and Barb (Wanda Sykes) and the episode featuring Megan Mullally as a homohobic woman who makes a pass at Christine.

LESBIAN-ISH QUOTE OF THE WEEK NO. 2

“I have been made aware of [my female following] over the years, particularly around my Buffy years … I remember a lot of people leaning to Faith and Buffy having this deep down love for one another … I have a lot of lesbian-love fans out there, and a lot of gay men who still do cheers in supermarkets from Bring It On.”

– Dollhouse star Eliza Dushku to AfterEllen.com

LOVERS AND THERAPISTS

Out actresses Jill Bennett (Dante’s Cove) and Cathy DeBuono (Out at the Wedding) are starring in a new web series launching tomorrow called We Have to Stop Now, which follows “two smokin’ hot lesbian therapists as they struggle to keep up the pretence of staying together when a documentary film crew invades their home after the success of their book How To Succeed In Marriage Without Even Trying.”

New installments of the six-episode series – which is written by Ann Noble and guest stars comedian Suzanne Westenhofer – will be posted every other Saturday on Jill’s official website JillBennett.com, with additional footage running on alternate Saturdays.

Also look for Jill to guest on this week’s episode of Cherry Bomb later today.

In other web series news, the popular web series Lovers & Friends has just posted a fifth episode, which answers several questions, including “Is Sasha gonna marry James? Will Tori and Christina’s romance heat up? Is Dre’s doggish ways gonna get her in trouble? Where is Lisa?”

Sadly for viewers, the episodes does not answer the question, “Where can I find cute single women like this in my neighborhood?” Watch the episode here.

– by Sarah Warn

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

In case you missed it last Friday, Clementine Ford came out.

Wanda Sykes has been tapped to headline the White House Correspondents Association Dinner.

Episodes devoted to the lesbian wedding on All My Children will air on ABC today, Feb. 13 and Monday, Feb. 16. In a new interview this week, Executive Producer Julie Hanan Carruthers explained their thinking around the Reese and Bianca storyline (warning: spoilers and annoying rationalization).

Writer and director Shamim Sarif‘s The World Unseen swept the SAFTA awards (South African Film and Television Awards), winning nine awards total, including Best Director Feature Film, Best Writer Feature Film, Best Editor Feature Film, Best Supporting Actor (David Dennis), Best Supporting Actress (Natalie Becker), and Best Ensemble (Acting).

Oscar-nominated biopic Milk will be released on DVD on March 10.

Bisexual UK personality Rebecca Loos is pregnant and says she’s done with living a “crazy, single” life.

The American Library Association released its 2009 Rainbow List last Friday, which lists noteworthy recent LGBTQ YA books (12 out of 25 YA books include lesbians, but not clear if there are any bisexual).

Our sister site 365gay.com is now recapping each episode of The Rachel Maddow Show daily with RachelWatch (video included). For more Rachel Maddow, read this glowing profile of Rachel in The Guardian (thanks to wordhawk for the tip!).

That’s it for this week! Got the inside scoop on a hot new lesbian/bi actor/musician/TV show/film? Tell us at [email protected]. Check back next Friday for another edition of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever.

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button