August 3, 2001 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11

on the airoff the press

Dinosaurs and muppets get Mr. Noodle recognized

by John Graves

Look for openly gay, HIV-positive actor Michael Jeter in the newly released film, Jurassic Park III. Jeter told TV Guide Hollywood Grapevine columnist Mark Schwed, in the June 14 issue that little children still recognized him as Elmo's friend, Mr. Noodle, from Sesame Street. A group of schoolchildren spotted him when he was in Cleveland this past year filming Welcome to Collinwood and Jeter told Schwed, "My hair was died white, I was in old clothes, and they still said, 'It's Mr. Noodle!' They look to me as someone who's already a friend. I like that," he added.

Ellen to go for the laughs this time

Out lesbian actress and comedian Ellen Degeneres spoke with USA Today's Bill Keveney (July 26) about how she just wants to make people laugh on her upcoming new sitcom, The Ellen Show, scheduled to debut on CBS September 21.

"I think what happened on the last show is it got to be too issue-oriented, and I take responsibility for that. That was something that I felt I needed to do."

"It's all about funny this time," she said, talking about her new show in which she plays Ellen Richmond, a lesbian Internet executive who returns to the small town where she as born and becomes a high school guidance counselor.

The fact that she is a lesbian just coming out of a relationship is just one facet of her character, Degeneres told Keveney, saying, "We deal with it as much as we deal with the fact that she's a woman."

When asked about the traditionally younger, family-oriented audience expected for the Friday at 8 PM time slot CBS has scheduled to air her new show, Degeneres quipped, "I'm thrilled. I'm hoping we can move to Sunday mornings at 7 eventually."

So gay on BBC America

For those of you who get the BBC America channel on cable, check out the new talk show, So Graham Norton, hosted by Graham Norton, an openly gay Irishman who has won three British Emmy Awards for the show.

Now in its 5th season in England, Norton

Norton, who hopes to have Cher, Madonna and Shirley Bassey on his show someday, told Bianco that if the show catches on here, he might have his own show on American television. Norton told Bianco, “It's like a toe in the water. Let's see what people make of this... But if it does take off, sure, I'd love to work here. This is the home of television. This is what everyone should aspire to." NYPD Pink

Openly gay actor Bill Brochtrup, who plays gay police assistant John Irvin on NYPD Blue told People magazine (July 30) that he was a bit surprised when he was asked to join the USO tour in the Middle East this past month.

"I just thought it was a funny mix because of the 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy,” Brochtrup said.

"We had an amazing time," Brochtrup went on. "It wasn't like the old tours with Bob Hope and the Andrews Sisters singing. It was more of a meet and greet."

Speaking of next season on NYPD Blue, Brochtrup told Souter, "I am hoping for more friction between mine and Dennis Farnz's character (all-around bigot Det. Andy Sipowicz). It makes it more fun."

Describing how the relationship between the two characters has evolved Brochtrup said, "At the end of my first season, he shook my hand. A couple of seasons later, he gave me a hug. Now I am baby-sitting his son."

Speaking about his own character's development, Brochtrup added, "I would be happy to do some crime solving. Or nudity. Six Feet Under and through the roof

Six feet Under, HBO's cable series featuring Michael C. Hall as David Fisher, the closeted gay son of a family that owns and operates a funeral home is doing well in the ratings according to a report in the July 3 issue of Soap Opera Digest. According to the Digest, Six feet Under debuted on June 3 with a 7.8 rating in households who get HBO. Then, when HBO moved the show to air right after the hit series, Sex and the City, the ratings for Six feet Under rose to 11.3 on June 8, nearly as high as Sex and the City, which garnered a 12.2 rating.

has a wax figure of himself on display in the Nightline goes gay

famous Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. USA Today television correspondent Robert Bianco says the show, which features outrainterviews with guests little known in geous America and a weekly tour of Internet sex sites, "is less a talk show than a comedy with guest and audience participation."

Bianco says that, despite the notoriously bad interviews and Internet sex site tour, Norton has never been at a loss to get celebrities to appear on the show. Over the last 4 years, Boy George, Joan Rivers, Lauren Bacall, Catherine Deneuve and Sophia Loren have appeared as guests on Norton's show. Norton told Bianco, "They understand the sensibility of the show, and hopefully they can relax and enjoy it. They don't know what's going to happen to them, but they know that, actually, it won't be that bad. Gentle joshing, but I hope it's never perceived as vicious or cruel."

USA Today Inside TV columnist Peter Johnson (July 25) wrote that anchor Ted Koppel told him, "I was astonished to learn just how many retired people were married 15, 20, 25 years, raised children and had grandchildren, only to finally come out in their 40s and 50s."

Koppel discovered this fact when he went into a lesbian and gay retirement home in Florida to interview residents for A Matter of Choice? Gay Life in America, a special report on the experience of gay men and lesbians living in America set to air over 5 days on ABC's Nightline this Fall.

Koppel told Johnson he believes this is due to homophobia and a society that teaches people to "settle down and have children. What seems to be true of so many young people who are gay," Koppel went on, "is that they have nowhere to turn. They per-

ceive themselves as so totally out of step, so they sublimate those feelings of being different and try to be the same.'

Despite media focus on more sensational stories about the LGBT community, hate crimes and gay rights marches, Koppel told Johnson, "The gay community at large is very dull, as most of us in the heterosexual community are. They live normal, unexciting lives, go to church, to bowling leagues and they have problems with their jobs that are unrelated to their sexuality."

"In fact, sex plays a relatively minor role in their lives, as it does for most of us,” Koppel concluded.

In spite of this finding of mediocrity, the title ABC chose for the special report has caused quite a controversy itself. The title, A Matter of Choice? Gay Life in America, drew dozens of protests shortly after ABC announced the show on July 23 from lesbian and gay viewers who know, like most of us, that being lesbian or gay is not a choice.

In a statement, Cathy Renna, news media director of GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said, “A Matter of Choice? is an easy title that piques curiosity and stirs controversy, but it does so at the expense of the people it's profiling."

Renna said the title, "misrepresents the nature of sexual orientation and perpetuates the outdated but still harmful stereotype that one's sexual orientation is merely a simple choice."

Renna added that while GLAAD hopes

the series will be a groundbreaking look at what it means to be gay in America, the title "threatens to taint the experience for viewers."

Reacting to the protest, Nightline executive producer Tom Bettag said, "Two months in advance, we've never had this kind of thing before. That the title and one punctuation point would raise this much controversy is really quite remarkable."

Although the controversy over the title prompted Bettag to post an explanation on the ABC News Web site, ABC will not be changing the title of the report arguing that although many homosexuals believe the question has been resolved, scientific and religious arguments remain. "It is our job to ask the questions that make society examine itself," Bettag added.

Tentatively scheduled for September, A Matter of Choice? Gay Life in America will examine teen-agers struggling with their sexual identity, the experiences of people in a homosexual retirement community and the aftermath of a gay community's uprising after a hate crime in Roanoke, Virginia.

Renna said, "It's just really an unfortunate decision not to reconsider this title."

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.

Handy Home Improvement by MARQUEZ RENOVATIONS

"We Measure Up!"

Carpentry Electric Plumbing Painting

Drywall/Plaster Wallpaper

Kitchen

Bath

Bonded, Insured, Workmanship Warranty

Free Estimates 216-941-4150

Email: marreno@aol.com

Mon-Fri 8am-4pm

BBB 1.

Susan M. Weaver

Attorney at Law

Rainbow World Travel

(216) 228-6990

Lesbian and Gay Tours and Destinations... Leisure and Business Travel

For Information Contact: Carol Beck

14601 Detroit Ave. Lakewood, OH. 44107 e-mail: cbeck40@hotmail.com

Bankruptcy

Estate Planning

DUI

• Injury

"Personalized Solutions for all

Legal Matters"

Free Initial Consultation

Please make a note of our new number (216) 363-5220

Offices in Cleveland & Rocky River