April 6, 2001

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 15

on the airoff the press

Paramount cancels the 'Dr. Laura' TV show

by John Graves

Paramount has canceled the Dr. Laura TV show hosted by the infamous Laura Schlessinger, who came under fire for homophobic comments about lesbians and gays made on her radio show.

In a statement, Paramount Pictures Television Group said the show, which debuted

'How do I tell my mom?'

The Star supermarket tabloid reports that actress Sharon Gless, who plays the mother of a gay son on Showtime's Queer as Folk, has been getting a lot of mail from gay teens asking for advice on coming out to their parents, hoping their parents will react with support, like Gless' character.

last September to dismal reviews and poor Najimy: 'Everyone can be bi'

ratings, taped its final episode March 29, but could continue to air through the fall. Before the cancellation, most affiliates had already moved the show to the wee hours of the morning.

Schlessinger said she was proud of the program that she called a "true alternative," saying, "I believe it could have earned a substantial audience in time, but the television advertiser boycott precluded that.”

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation praised the cancellation.

"Paramount from the beginning said 'Let the people decide'," said GLAAD executive director Joan M. Garry. "Viewers and advertisers alike have decided, and they decided to reject Dr. Laura's message of intolerance. We hope that as a function of this media outlets will think twice before giving a platform to somebody who is provocative at our expense."

Schlessinger, who draws her "Dr. Laura” title from a Columbia University doctorate in physiology, is heard on more than 400 U.S. and Canadian radio stations and attracts about 18 million listeners. She said that her goal on television as well as on radio was to "preach, teach and nag for people to do the right thing.”

Memories of the Oscars

"The high point of the [Academy Awards] night was winning the Oscar pool at Elton John's party," gay filmmaker John Waters told Us. "I got every one but one right. I got a really expensive watch."

Melissa Etheridge said her Oscar high point was "Bjork. Loved Bjork. Loved the dress [a feathered, swan-like creation by Marjan Djodjou Pejoski], and I love Bjork." Dench, Everett in Wilde classic

Best Supporting Actress nominee Judy

Kathy Najimy, who was criticized for saying she was gay at the 1994 New York Gay Games and later retracting it, is quoted in the Globe supermarket tabloid saying, "I love women. I'm proud of the ability I have to fall in love with both men and women." Everyone has the potential to be bisexual," Najimy added, "but it's fueled or

repressed by different things in your life.

Personally, I have a strong philosophy that everyone is capable of loving everybody. It just so happens my soul mate came in the form of a man."

'Centre Street' judge is outed

An African-American lesbian judge and her life partner are two of the main characters on A&E's new courtroom series 100 Centre Street.

The judge's coming-out process began when a gay newspaper published a column critical of "certain closeted public officials” who refused to speak to the mayor about his opposition to a domestic partner ordinance.

When the judge had a private meeting with the mayor, the press jumped to the conclusion that the judge was the closeted official in question. The judge, who had been trying to live quietly with her longtime partner, soon found the press trying to drum up scandal about the fact that she was a lesbian and her partner had served time in prison.

Standing by her through all this is her friend, the other main judge on the show.

The first gay years

Speaking of courtroom dramas, openly gay attorney Warren, played by actor Mackenzie Astin, is turning out to be the standout character on the new NBC series First Years.

Dench is set to star opposite gay actor Rupert NBC to air Shepard film in fall

Everett in a new film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest.

What pisses Reno off?

Lesbian comic Reno talks about how she researches material for her stand-up performances on the premier episode of her new four-part series Citizen Reno, debuting on Bravo April 6 at 10 pm, and repeating Saturday at 2:30 am.

The show, which is produced by Lily Tomlin and her partner Jane Wagner, explores Reno's real-life experiences dealing with situations that "piss her off.”

West Wing's Stockard Channing and Law & Order's Sam Waterston will play the parents of Matthew Shepard in The Matthew Shepard Story, a two-hour NBC movie based on the life and tragic death of the gay college student who was murdered because he was gay.

Shooting on the film, co-produced by Goldie Hawn's production company, begins in April with Roger Spottiswoode (And the Band Played On) directing. Broadcast is scheduled for the fall.

"We want to show what the family is like

and the moral decisions they had to make." Channing told USA Today. These decisions included not pressing for the death penalty for the perpetrators and becoming hate crime activists.

Tales from the back seat

All's Fare in Love and Vegas is the title of the new Taxicab Confessions, set in the Nevada gambling capital.

In the show, now airing on HBO. a gay man talks of his preference for one-night stands and how he avoids sex with his longtime boyfriend to reduce his lover's chances of getting an STD. Also, three people in a committed bisexual relationship talk about their lives, and a bisexual swing club dancer talks about her gender identity issues.

'Angels' as an HBO miniseries?

Director Mike Nichols is seeking to bring Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America to HBO.

Jeffrey Mostade, PCC, NCC

According to Variety's Josef Adalian, "Nichols and HBO are trying to nail down rights to the source material, which in 1994 appeared to be headed to the big screen as a Fine Line picture helmed by Robert Altman. That version never took flight. however.

Meryl Streep and Al Pacino have been mentioned with the possible miniseries; Pacino in the role of closeted attorney Roy Cohn.

HBO is now airing Nichols' cable adaptation of Wit. the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by lesbian playwright and kindergarten teacher Margaret Edson.

John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, a lesbian-gay public affairs show on Cleveland's WRUW 91.1 FM Fridays at 7 pm. and at http:// radio.cwru.edu. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contributed to this column.

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Films

Continued from page 13

All About My Mother

From Pedro Almodovar, the man who launched Antonio Banderas' career, comes the winner of the 1999 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, All About My Mother.

As usual for Almodovar, one of the few openly gay Spanish directors, the plot is thick, convoluted, and involves lots of queer people, in all senses of the word.

Among the players are transsexuals Lola (Toni Canto) and Agrado (Antonia San Juan), old friends of Manuela (Cecilia Roth), whose search for the father of her son drives the story. Esteban (Eloy Azorin) was hit by a car and died, and Manuela must tell her former husband.

Along the way, she meets Sister Rosa (Penelope Cruz), a pregnant nun, as well as Esteban's idol, Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), a lesbian stage actress, and her lover Nina (Candela Pena).

As usual with an Almodovar film, if it were any gayer, it would be Showtime's Queer as Folk.

It's a dark, disturbing, funny film. It's really hard to say much about it, without giving away a slew of twists and turns. It is, however, a great film by a great director, dealing in so many ways with the relationships between people and their mothers, both biological and adopted.

The film is being presented by Lou Giannetta, a professor at Case Western Reserve University, the same man who brought Sunday, Bloody Sunday back to the big screen at the Cinematheque last month.

All About My Mother will be shown Monday, April 23 at 7 pm only.

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