Monday, May 15, 2006

Celeb Closet Watch Update



In Sunday's Washington Post, Hank Stuever, the Post's ambassador to all things queer, writes about the whimpering end of Will and Grace titled 'Will & Grace' And Gays: The Thrill Has Been Long Gone. Stuever lays on some very heavy dollops of faint praise. It's hard to belive W&G was once the daring risk-taking post-Ellen show that was going to bring gay culture into the mainstream. Maybe it did and that's why it jumped the shark somewhere near the end of year 2 of its seven year run.

Hank Stuever has never seen a closet door he didn't want to yank off the hinges, as I have discussed before. Near the very end of the Will and Grace article he gets off some fish-in-the-barrel shots at, of all people, Sean Hayes.
Jack: FYI, most people that meet me do not know that I am gay.

Will: Jack, blind and deaf people know you're gay. Dead people know you're gay!


Another sore point for those who had the energy to feel let down in a political sense by a sitcom was the elusive refusal of "Will & Grace's" breakout star, Sean Hayes, to discuss publicly whether he is gay. This made him essentially unavailable for the marshal's float at the June pride parades, even though his logic for keeping his sexuality private would strike almost anyone as somewhat sound: Hayes said over and over again that he didn't want any role he was playing, now or later, to be overshadowed by the perception that the actor is gay.

In my Celebrity Closet Watch post, I listed Sean Hayes as the lowest of the hanging fruits to be picked in a list of potentially closeted actors. His very inclusion induced eye-rolling and moans of "Oh please, girlfriend." That Stuever takes umbrage at any gay celebrity that doesn't wear a pink Speedo on the cover of The Advocate is becoming a very weary diatribe of his.

Since this is an update post, I do have to note how many blog-hits I get from people Googling® "Bradley Cooper gay". To set the record straight, so to speak, I said I was gay for Bradley Cooper. Kitchen Confidential was a show killed before it's time and Cooper tends to get more favorable reviews than the rest of the Three Days of Rain cast. About his romantic life, I have no clue one way or another which side of the plate Bradley stands on. Obviously someone knows more than me or there is a lot of wishful thinking going on.

I missed Cooper's surprise return to the also ending Alias when it aired a few weeks back. I did catch the ABC TV streaming archive of the episode. I think it's great that Alias is trying to wrap up their astoundingly complicated plot line and giving some air time to old stories like the under-used Will Tippen character. I wish more networks had online archives. It definitely was worth a few Toyota and ATT ad screens to fill me in on everything that has happened in the past three seasons since I quit watching.

CommentWhoring™:
What ending television series are you sad to see leave the air this season? And which shows are you surprised lasted this long? Here's a list of other shows ending this season to refresh your memory.

12 comments:

Gypsy said...

I'm going to miss That 70s Show. I think it's time for it to end, but it breaks my heart.

Impetua said...

I have never watched W&G in prime time, only in syndication -- and though it may not be the Super Super In Your Face Gay Show that some people want it to be, I still like it. Mostly because of Karen, whom I want both to be and to do. And I always liked Grace's gawky comedic vulnerability. And Will's neurotic repressedness. And Jack's... Just Jackness. And Rosie's Members Only jacketedness.

But then, I have been there, marched on the White House, waved the rainbow flag, bought the tie-dyed pink triangle t-shirt. Now I live in the burbs, worry about school funding, and drive a (non-Subaru) "sport wagon." I'm "post-gay."

yellojkt said...

I always found the Special Celebrity Guest Stars on W&G so frequent and over the top that I wondered if someone wasn't trying to be a little subversive with the concept. Too many guest stars is a major "jump the shark" signal.

I would only watch That 70s Show sporadically and found all the relationship permutations more confusing than even Friends. And like Happy Days, a show should end after more than half the original cast and/or the main character leaves. I guess ER and Law and Order are the exceptions that prove the rule.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to miss the Justice League, to which The Onion AV Club just gave a fitting eulogy.

As for gay-guessing, I like that basically every actor on IMDB has some thread titled "Gay?". Let me give props to somebody named danny07 for starting a "Gay?" thread on the IMDB actor entry for Buster, the MythBuster's crash test dummy.

yellojkt said...

Justice League was the cartoon Superfriends should have been. The cartoons my kid watches (Teen Titans and tons of anime) are so much cooler than anything I had.

Your Mother said...

Love the new template!

I'm sad to see Will & Grace leaving. I've not been a "Must watch every week" gal but I did record the last three episodes to watch. I'm glad to see That 70's Show leaving because without Kutcher and Grace (Kelso & Eric) the show lost some of what made it good in the first place. IMHO that is.

Jeff and Charli Lee said...

I too think your new template looks great. Refreshing!

I'm amazed at how long the Survivor concept has held up. I was tired of it after year 2. I think it quickly became an either or - either love it or hate it.

btw, thanks for the nice comment on my post today. I appreciated that.

Mooselet said...

I can't say I would be sad to see any of those shows go if I was back home and watching tv. Although I was surprised to see Malcolm in the Middle is still on. I thought it ended ages go.

yellojkt said...

Malcolm In The Middle suffered from Doogie Howser Syndrome. Once a boy genius gets old enough to drive, he just isn't cute and precocious any more.

Anonymous said...

I was one of the early fans of Will & Grace but it became easy to miss early on as you said and since then I'm not sure I've ever caught an episode that was a first run. Not sure if that is entirely to blame on the show writers though because I really don't watch tons of TV anymore. Mostly the HBO shows, L&O SVU and Jon Stewart. Anything else takes me being sick and channel surfing from my sofa. Here via Michele's site.

Karen said...

Well I'm not sure of the purpose of your Celebrity Closet Watch, but I'll just assume there's a good reason. I was never a Will & Grace watcher, but I've heard it's very good.

Here via Michele's. Have a great day!

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