Did anyone watch?

Betty White solidified her status as TV’s golden girl of the moment by drawing big ratings for her Mother’s Day hosting gig on Saturday Night Live. [The episode] averaged an 8.8 household rating/21 share in the metered markets. That is SNL’s highest rating in 18 months

(via Deadline)

Last week when the reports surfaced of actress Nicolette Sheridan filing a lawsuit against Marc Cherry (creator of the show) and ABC because of treatment she received on the set of Desperate Housewives, I shrugged. It seemed like a bitter axed actress who wanted to get back at her former employer for terminating her from one of the biggest gigs in television. Though when I read that part of her lawsuit pertained to reportedly being slapped by Cherry it raised my eyebrow.

I remember hearing rumors a year or so ago about there being a big blow up on set resulting in him slapping her in the face, but it seemed so ridiculous no one believed it. Of course now it seems there may be some truth to it all this time later. Not only has Nicollette cited it in her lawsuit, but former cast-mate Eva Longoria has confirmed that the incident did in fact happen, though according to her not necessarily maliciously.

“They did have a thing on set. I guess it was a couple years ago. It’s so long ago, the actual incident, and I wasn’t on set when it happened. Apparently, this incident had happened, and she felt it was wrong.

Longoria adds the context that Cherry was actually showing Nicolette how to do a scene in which Edie’s husband played by Neal McDonough slaps her.

“Something happened on set regarding them doing a scene. She was doing a scene, and … he was showing her how to do a scene. Honestly, I wish I knew [what happened]. During that time too, I didn’t work with Nicollette’s character.”

She also adds that Cherry “could not harm a fly, he’s just so sweet,” then said, “Nicollette’s a sweet girl, too.”

Then there’s a conflicting article from the NY Daily News where a “source” close to the show indicates Sheridan wasn’t the only woman on the show who had conflicts with Cherry.  Teri Hatcher apparently doesn’t find Cherry’s behavior completely kosher either.

The snitch adds that while Teri Hatcher is equally distressed by Cherry’s overbearing behavior, she’s unlikely to join Nicollette in her fight.

“Sometimes Teri doesn’t appreciate Marc’s ‘humor,’” says the source, while a rep for Hatcher didn’t comment by deadline. “But that doesn’t mean she’s going to get involved with this mess anytime soon.”

The Daily News article also implies that the rest of the women on the show are secretly supporting Sheridan but are afraid to do so publicly for fear of being killed off the program as her character was.

I’m not sure who to believe at this point.  I find the whole thing to be pretty shocking considering Cherry has always come across as cheerful, witty, and personable in all of his appearances on television to promote the program, and has always seemed to have so much respect and adoration for his actresses.  That said, appearances can be just that–appearances.

What I found most troubling out of this whole ordeal, was the strange language used in Sheridan’s lawsuit that seemed to imply she thought Cherry treated her badly because he is a gay man and she is a straight woman.  Which everyone pretty much agreed was about the strangest thing ever.  But after this new article by the Daily Beast where some former producers have broken their silence about Cherry’s treatment of female writers, it might start to make a bit more sense, and be much more angering.

The producers say they cannot imagine Cherry ever being physically abusive with the intention of hurting someone, but the one thing they all agree on is that he creates a difficult work environment especially for women.

One source said:

“He hates women. It’s apparent on set that he’s a fan of cute, gay men, not women.”

Another:

“He will dress you down in front of the staff. He will assault an idea,” said another. “He is very confrontational in this way. He has hissy fits.”

The biggest problem I have is with this part of the article which discusses the unfair way in which female writers were treated on the program.

It’s the more general charges in Sheridan’s suit that are bringing out a chorus of “Amens” among some former staffers, who strongly echo the actress’ claims of gender discrimination and a harsh work environment, saying the conditions are more severe than on other television shows.

Ironically, given the show’s subject matter, female writers on the show get the worst of it, and are mostly kept out of the “polishing room,” instead relegated to their “caves.” This person said that the writing “posse” that Cherry surrounds himself with and most treasures, consists of mostly straight men.

The former staffers also say that while the show tends to deal with issues very specific to women, he listens mostly to the male writers and is incredibly dismissive to the women who write for the program.  The situation is so bad, they say, that they have begun to refer to themselves as “the unwashed”.

The Daily Beast points out that of the 39 different writers who have written for the program since it premiered in 2004, only 14 have been female.  Not only that, but several of those writing stints were short lived.  Julia Sweeney left only a few months after she began to go to SNL.  And Alexandra Cunningham just recently left the program to go develop new shows for NBC (though to be fair, she was offered a huge seven figure deal).

Of course, these statistics for women writers on the show, as depressing as they may be, are much more favorable than the average primetime series is in general.  Which is obviously a travesty in and of itself. Take a look at these stats on the state of female writers in Hollywood.  In 2007 only 24% of the writers in television were female.  Not only that, but there is a wage gap in terms of what the working female writers earn versus their male counterparts.  When women make up more than half of the population this is not acceptable.

And if Marc Cherry is in fact giving preferential treatment to the male writers on his program, he’s contributing to the problem.  Which is not only discriminatory and unfair to these very talented women who deserve better but also detrimental to the quality of the program which is supposed to be about…you know, women.

T

The new season of HBO’s mega-hit True Blood isn’t too far away and gay creator Alan Ball is throwing us a bone (no pun intended) on a new character named Alcide who, in true True Blood is shirtless quite often, and even has a nude scene. ‘Cause you know, it’s HBO.

“There is definitely some [sexual] energy between the two of them. It’s not like either one of them is looking for romance, but they’re thrown into several intense situations [and] it’s hard not to bond on a deeper level.

The first shirtless scene [Joe] had I was like, ‘Who has those abs?’ He’s in crazy peak physical condition. He’s eating nothing but pure protein. And of course, this being True Blood, he’s already shot his first naked scene. Hello, werewolves when they shift — no clothes!”

The third season premiere airs June 12th. Set your tivos!

P.S. Anna Paquin recently revealed in a PSA that she is bisexual.

The issue has been talked about many times before, by Women and Hollywood blogger Melissa Silverstein as well as many other prominent female writers/directors/producers who struggle to get financing for their films. But it’s rare that young actresses are so vocal about the social inequities for women when it comes to Hollywood.

Oscar nominee Ellen Page spoke out in an interview with The Guardian about the difference between being pro-choice and pro-abortion as well as about the unfairness female-centric films encounter when they aren’t successful.

I am a feminist and I am totally pro-choice, but what’s funny is when you say that people assume that you are pro-abortion. I don’t love abortion but I want women to be able to choose and I don’t want white dudes in an office being able to make laws on things like this. I mean what are we going to do – go back to clothes hangers?

If there’s a movie starring a man that tanks, then I don’t see an article about the fact that the movie starred a man and that must be why it bombed. Then a film comes out where a woman is in the lead, or a movie comes out where a bunch of girls are roller derbying, and it doesn’t make much money and you see articles about how women can’t carry a film.

I love it. I loved Whip It, and I love Ellen Page.

Shooting is nearly finished for Burlesque, a contemporary musical that focuses on a neo-burlesque club in Los Angeles, loosely inspired by Bob Fosse’s Cabaret. Entertainment Tonight recently sat down with the cast to get the scoop on what the movie’s about and what it’s like working with the legendary Cher. The film stars a league of notable actors such as Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars, Couples Retreat), Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), the now Oscar-nominated Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada, The Lovely Bones), and Alan Cumming (X-Men 2). That’s not to mention two powerhouse pop divas who co-headline the film, Cher and Christina Aguilera, both of whom will be singing in the film.

Burlesque marks Cher’s first real role in about 10 years, minus a small cameo in 2003’s Stuck On You, and Christina Aguilera’s big screen debut. The movie focuses on a fledgling burlesque club owned by Tess (Cher) in which Nikki (Bell) is the premier dancer. Ali leaves her small midwestern town and heads to L.A. where she discovers the club, and turns everything around for Tess when she’s given a chance to perform and blows everyone away.

It’s been ten years since Aguilera’s debut album and she’s had plenty of opportunities to do films but has held off until now. Unlike contemporaries such as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Beyonce, after all this time she has yet to appear in any feature films because she was waiting for just the right project. She told Marie Claire in January, “I didn’t want to do something that was easy for me. I’ve actually had my character rewritten to be tougher and a little more spunky.” Aguilera also tells Entertainment Tonight, “I’ve always had tremendous respect for [Cher]. A woman who’s done everything before anyone did it.”

Plenty of pop stars have tried foraying into acting and it didn’t turn out very well. Mariah Carey and Madonna come to mind among many others whose acting projects have become infamous and earned them Razzie nominations. When asked about Christina’s acting chops, Cher had glowing things to say. “I’m shocked, but she’s really good. And the other day we were hamming it up so badly, it was so old — like vaudevillians we might as well have been. And she was keeping up. I mean she was hot. She was really up there. Her game is good.”

Aguilera and Cher recently made an appearance at the Golden Globes to do some early film promotion (Burlesque hits theaters Thanksgiving weekend) which created quite the buzz as both women have been known to do. Certainly Screen Gems is hoping the women will be able to return to the ceremony next January as nominees. With such talented actors and a script by Erin Brockovich scribe Susannah Grant, it isn’t a long shot to predict it just might happen.

Below is the full Entertainment Tonight interview with the cast of Burlesque.

Newsweek has an article on ten black women in North Carolina who are either missing or dead, in what might be a case of a serial killer.  The murders began in 2005, and have received no national attention until now–except not really.

Ten women have been found slain or have been declared missing in Rocky Mount, N.C., in recent years. But the rest of the country hasn’t heard about a possible serial killer stalking the young women in this Southern town of 60,000. The latest victim, Elizabeth Jane Smallwood, was identified on Oct. 12. Why have the Rocky Mount homicides been largely ignored?

It’s impossible to deny that these stories would have received more attention had the victims been middle to upper-middle class suburban white girls, and the article discusses that very issue.

Here he speaks to local news about his attack, which he says he never wants to see the video of, and comments on the allegations that the men beat him because he was soliciting for sex.

And the bigots strike again.  This time they’re after one of our country’s limited excellent public school teachers.

A Southwestern High School English teacher has been suspended after reports he had students in his classes to read an article about homsexuality in the animal kingdom.

Delong is said to have allowed students to read the article “The Gay Animal Kingdom” from the June 7, 2006, edition of Seed magazine. Seed magazine is a science and culture publication.

The article by Jonah Lehrer talks about the research of Joan Roughgarden, a biology professor at Stanford University who said she has documented homosexual societies among the more than 450 animal species.

School district secretary Pat Milner said a special School Board meeting has been set for 6 p.m. Monday at the district office in Piasa to discuss personnel/employee discipline.

God forbid we introduce an article about science in a school!  The community including many of Delong’s former students have rallied around him and have even created a Facebook group in his honor.

This is huge, people! The first pro-gay federal legislation in history! Equality, here we come.

The cast of 5-time Grammy winning pop diva Christina Aguilera’s movie debut Burlesque is shaping up to be a mighty impressive one. So far we have Christina herself, playing a small-town girl from the midwest with a big voice, Cher, the owner of a Los Angeles neo-burlesque club that Christina finds herself in, Veronica Mars‘ Kristen Bell as the rival who Christina knocks off her perch, Twilight’s Cam Giganget–Christina’s love interest, Stanley Tucci–whose role is still unknown, and now today the news has broke that Tony winner for Cabaret Alan Cumming has a part in the film.

Most known probably for his roles in X2: X-Men United, Spice World, Spy Kids, Cumming is actually quite an accomplished actor with great roles in smaller films like Urbania, Investigating Sex, and Suffering Man’s Charity, as well as a ton of great theater work.  One role in particular, his critically acclaimed run as the MC in the 1998 revival of Cabaret won him a Tony award.

In an interview with Sirius XM radio’s Live On Broadway on Wednesday morning Cumming revealed that he’ll be starring in the film as well as singing a song for the soundtrack with Cher and Christina Aguilera.

Cumming and Bell have already worked together on a musical project in a movie called Reefer Madness from 2005.

Julianne Hough of Dancing With The Stars fame has also been confirmed as being a part of the cast, playing Christina’s pregnant friend.

The film is set to be released around Thanksgiving of 2010.