Deep Inside Hollywood
By Romeo San VicenteKath and Kim Try Out an American Accent
Translating a hit show from another country can be tricky. For every hit like Queer as Folk or Ugly Betty is a Coupling or a failed Absolutely Fabulous pilot that no one ever sees. But the hit Australian comedy Kath & Kim (a sort of down-market Ab Fab), which has proven popular on US cable, is a cult hit with queer audiences, so an American remake is on the way.
Its pedigree is solid. Cool indie star Selma Blair (A Dirty Shame) and Saturday Night Live alum Molly Shannon will play the off-kilter pair, and the pilot’s being directed by Freaks and Geeks’s Paul Feig. With the right creative tone and marketing (aka pandering to queer audiences), the finished product could be, like Betty, another gay household staple.
Kathy Griffin: The Show Remains the Same
What happens when a Hollywood D-lister’s career rises to the level of a C- or B-lister? That’s the burning issue at stake as Bravo greenlights a fourth season of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List.
Not to worry, however—the self-and-everyone-else-deprecating comedian hasn’t suddenly started lunching with Renee Zellweger. But Griffin has seen her stock go way up since D-List began airing (even as her controversial Emmy-win speech angered people who never watched the show in the first place). She has become the comic of choice among many queer fans.
According to Griffin, the only thing that may change in the new season is the introduction of uniforms for her staff. Otherwise, it’ll be open season on Hollywood, as usual. No matter what happens, expect hilarity to ensue when the new episodes air later this year.
Where Are They Now? Chad Allen Knows…
Gay men are known—sometimes correctly, sometimes wrongly so—for their love of actresses of a certain age. And while the cultural reasons for that connection are deep and plentiful enough for a book or five on the subject, the actors in question still need to work. So, what better place for them to do their job than in a gay-themed project?
Enter Margot Kidder (Superman), Sean Young (Bladerunner), and Morgan Fairchild (Flamingo Road), all of whom will have a new opportunity to entertain their devoted queer followings when they guest in two upcoming Donald Strachey mysteries, Ice Blues and On the Other Hand, Death. The films, starring Chad Allen as Strachey, both have wrapped. They will feature at least one of the women—Kidder—in a lesbian role. Look for both to air later in 2008 on Here TV.
Romeo San Vicente recently solved the mystery of his own popularity with men: It turns out that he’s devastatingly handsome. He can be reached care of this publication, or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.