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.

Desperate Housewives‘ writer/producer Alexandra Cunningham just inked a seven figure deal with NBC to develop new original programming.

Newly discovered letters have revealed the man who inspired the film The English Patient was gay in real life, and in fact in love with a Nazi.

Feministing asks ‘Can we stop pretending beautiful women aren’t beautiful’?, in reference to the trend in television where beautiful actresses play “ugly” characters.

Apparently D.C. has an all male production of Grease currently running, production courtesy of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C.

Shana Feste, writer and director of new Susan Sarandon/Pierce Brosnan film The Greatest talks about the challenges of getting a film made as a female director.

Matt Dillon says in Italian Vanity Fair that he’d love to play gay, stating that there’s already too many limits on him, he doesn’t put any on himself.

The New York Times has an interesting map that shows the best places in Manhattan to catch a cab.  It varies depending on time of day.

Donna Langley, actresses Courteney Cox and Zoe Saldana and director of photography Cynthia Pusheck to be honored at Women in Film awards.

It would be interesting to look at which has portrayed the lgbt community better–primetime soaps or daytime soaps. If Young and the Restless is any indication, I’m going with the former.

Anyone watch the Amazing Race? I’ve been following it this season mainly ’cause of the gay brothers Sam & Dan, and I was soooo glad when Lance and Keri left last week. I also kind of have a crush on Miss USA Erica’s husband Brian, but that’s another story.

But I could not BELIEVE that Mika threw away $1 milion because the bitch did not want to go down a simple water slide WITH FLOATIES!!! If I were her husband I would’ve been crying in frustration.

He ended up having to leave the competition early because of a staph infection but he’s still kept a relatively high profile compared to other past contestants.

Now he’s upset with Oprah because of a show she recently did on HIV.  He’s written an open letter to her, blasting the show for it’s irresponsible take on the virus.

His first grievance was with the fact that some of the HIV positive women who appeared on the program chose to wear disguises.

I understand that there is a huge stigma about being HIV positive but if they wanted to remain anonymous then they should not have gone on national television! By appearing in disguise they only reaffirmed the idea that being honest and open about having HIV is NOT OK. That was a huge disservice to the HIV community. By not being open and honest they sent the message that people with HIV should hide and keep it a secret, which only adds to the stigma of living with the disease. Would someone with cancer wear a disguise? If we are taught that HIV is shameful then how can we expect people to willingly go get tested?

He also took issue with HIV positive individuals being referred to as a “loaded gun”.

Chocolate hottie Mehcad Brooks whom you may recognize from HBO’s True Blood or from season two of Desperate Housewives reveals in an interview with Honey Magazine that he refuses to get married until gay people have the same right.

Do you consider yourself the marrying kind? Do you want that?
I haven’t even gotten that far. But yeah, I want a wife, I want kids. The whole thing. But I’m also not even concerned with marrying somebody until it’s legal for everybody to get married. And what I mean by that is the whole Prop 8 thing.

Why is that cause so important to you?
I find it really offensive. I just find it really problematic when you start throwing people’s rights away. Until we get our gay brothers and sisters back into a realm of consciousness that everyone else is in, it’s just not right. A woman who’s getting married — it’s probably going to be a gay man who made her dress, and a gay man who’s doing her hair and makeup, but he can’t get married. How messed up is that?

His next project is a film by X-Files creator Chris Carter called Fencewalkers, which for whatever reason still has no plot description listed.

Now I’m off to finally watch the True Blood finale!

69 year old Kathryn Joosten of Desperate Housewives has been diagnosed with lung cancer.  You’ll know her as Mrs. McCluskey, or as Mrs. Landingham from The West Wing.  This is a recurrence of cancer she battled back in 2001.

She tells EW:

“I’ve got a little hang up here,” she said of the battle she faces. “But we’re going to handle it and move forward. I’m doing great.” The 69-year-old, who also played Mrs. Landingham on The West Wing, says her treatment may disrupt shooting on the ABC series.

And People:

The actress broke the news to her Housewives producers Monday morning as she expects her shooting schedule could be interrupted for treatment. “They’re totally supportive,” she says. “I said, ‘If you want to put it in the story line, do it! Tell anybody you want, because the public’s going to know.’ “

Joosten has won two Primetime Emmy awards for her work on Desperate Housewives and is beloved by the devoted fans of the program as the pesky, outspoken but lovable neighbor who feuded with Lynette back in season one.  I know the statistics for lung cancer aren’t very good, but I hope she can pull through.

Here’s one of my favorite scenes with Lynette and Mrs. McCluskey.

Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh talk more about “The Informant”, the film where Damon had to gain 30 lbs to play a man who blows the whistle on his company’s price-fixing scheme.

A gay man in Thunder Bay, Canada was brutally beaten by six to eight men with bricks, and will now require reconstructive surgery to deal with the damage done to his face.

Openly gay Representative Barney Frank is eyeing a position in the Obama cabinet.  I doubt it will happen, but if it did he’d be the first gay person ever in the Presidential cabinet.

Ntozake Shange was slated to write and direct the film adaptation of her play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf, but now Tyler Perry has stolen the entire film from her.

Female UK prison officer wins case against correctional facility she claims treated her unfairly for being young, female, and pretty.

More tour dates have been canceled for homophobic Jamaican singer Buju Banton.  One of his most popular songs talks about shooting gays and burning their bodies.

Proud, admitted homophobe Tim Hardaway is now working hard to save gay lives.  He says “we don’t have to accept the act, but we have to accept them as people.” How generous of you.