Born On This Day- May 28th... Chris Colfer

At just 19, Christopher Paul Colfer of Clovis, Calif., a small town near Fresno, rose to TV stardom playing Glee's Kurt Hummel, at the time, one of the rare, realistic gay characters in prime time… & he can really sing. With no professional training, Colfer so impressed Glee creator Ryan Murphy during initial auditions that the character was written specifically for him.

A graduate of Clovis East High School, Colfer was a 3 time speech & debate champion, president of the writer’s club, & wrote & directed a musical spoof of Sweeney Todd called “Shirley Todd.” His closest friends in school were the lunch room ladies because he preferred to stay home to write than to go out with friends. He also took care of his sister, Hannah, who suffers from epilepsy that has kept her in and out of hospitals all of her life.

Colfer: “I was made fun of a lot in high school because of the way I sound & the way I was. I was a lone duck in a swan filled pond who criticized everyone. So I think everyone might be going, ‘Oh, he’s playing the gay character. Figures.’ Just because that’s how they perceived me.” Between the ages of 9 &14, Colfer performed in local plays 4 nights a week. He landed a Hollywood agent & began traveling the 8 hours round trip to LA for auditions with his mother. He tried out for about 30 roles before he was cast on Glee.

I have remained fan of Glee through the end of the just concluded 3rd season, & I am encouraged by the range of gay characters portrayed on the show. On TV, at last, gays are not drawn in non-stereotypical fashion as strictly victims, tragedies, predators or sissies. We now have characters that embrace who they are & are in loving, fulfilling relationships In this way, Kurt Hummel is bound to become a role model for teens in the midst of discovering who they are & also for adults who have been in Kurt’s shoes.

On Glee this spring, a transgender character named Unique is competing in a sing-off. On Grey’s Anatomy, a show I have never viewed, a lesbian couple is adjusting to married life, having been pronounced “wife & wife” last season.

The cultural battlefield of TV has changed since the 1980s with the very neutered portrayal of Tony Randall’s Sidney Schorr on NBC’sLove, Sidney or in the 1990s, when the Religious Right objected to Ellen coming out & Will & Grace coming on.

Today, there is very little complaining about shows like Modern Family, the #1 sitcom or Post Apocalyptic Bohemia favorite- Smash, which has 5 openly gay characters, or the refreshing sitcom-Happy Endings, which, against stereotype, has a husky & lazy gay male character, possibly based on me. Mitt Romney is known to be a fan of Modern Family.

Next season NBC has a new show from Glee creator- Ryan Murphy that features a gay couple trying to have a child & their surrogate, titled The New Normal.

Vice President Biden stated that Will & Grace: “probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody’s ever done so far.” When that sitcom began on NBC, conservatives claimed that would make homosexuality seem desirable. They were correct.

On Ellen, Ellen DeGeneres, came out on the show & in real life in 1997. DeGeneres threatened to quit a year later when ABC preceded an episode that showed her jokingly kissing a friend with a message that warned: “Due to adult content, parental discretion is advised.” Can you imagine such a notice on Modern Family or Glee?

Smash aired a funny & sweet scene of a pair of men in bed, one a Republican, after an evening of bad sex. Now, that is realism.

Steven Levitan, a co-creator of Modern Family: “We thought that when the show started, the inclusion of Cameron & Mitchell would limit our success a bit, because it will perhaps alienate a certain segment of the population.In fact, it’s turned out to be quite the opposite.”

Media watchdogs like the Parents Television Council, one of the most active conservative media groups, do occasionally speak out against TV programming, & the religious fanatics have not been silent & Glee has been scrutinized. The Media Research Center stated: “Glee merely pretends to be a show for young people while actually serving as an assault on our traditional values.”

Colfer: “I don’t personally feel a responsibility to be a role model, but as the actor, I do.” On one of the most the powerful moments to ever air on TV, Glee’s Kurt Hummel came out to his father, played by the always excellent- Mike O’Malley, in a scene that  the show’s creator. Ryan Murphy took verbatim from his life.

Murphy: “The show is about making you feel good in the end. It’s about happy endings & optimism & the power of your personal journey & making you feel that the weird thing about me is the great thing about me. I’ve done other shows with gay characters, & I will say that in many of those cases, the gay characters didn’t have a happy ending, & I thought you know what? Enough.”

Last year Colfer was named to Time Magazine's list of The 100 Most Influential Americans.

This summer, Colfer will star in Struck by Lightning, for which he wrote the screenplay. The plot revolves around a character, who is struck & killed by a bolt of lightning, & looks back on his exploits as he blackmails his fellow senior classmates into contributing to a literary magazine he is publishing.

Colfer turns 22 years old today. Times have really changed, at 22 years old, I would never have dared to be an out & proud actor. Colfer & his creation of the character of Kurt on Glee make him a hero to me.

Glee's Chord Overstreet and Emma Roberts are super loved up!

Emma Roberts and Chord Overstreet © Flynetpictures.com

According to HollywoodLife.com an insider told them that Emma Roberts and Chord Overstreet are inseparable. Even more, they can't stop their PDA! Emma, 20, and Chord, 22, have been dating for a couple of months, but kept it a secret until the start of this month. The source says, "Emma and Chord are never too far away from one another. Even if they are at the same event, you'll never see one without the other for long," and the new couple are too cute, "He’ll be talking to his friends and then steal away for a quick kiss from Emma. Or he’ll grab her hand and just give it a tug. They are definitely in the honeymoon phase of their relationship.”

Glee star trio not leaving after all

Lea Michele © Glee

Although their characters are graduating at the end of season 3, they won't be leaving Glee after all. Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy recently announced plans to let go Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer after the series third season. Saying that they owe it to the credibility of the show. However, executive producer Brad Falchuk said Sunday at the Comic-Con in San Diego that the show won't be over for the three stars. "They are not done with the show after this season, because they're graduating doesn't mean they're leaving the show. If you have Lea Michele under contract, you don't just say, 'We're going to let you go.'" He adds, "It was never our intention to let them go. They are not done with the show after this season."

Chris Colfer © Glee

Brad Falchuk also addresses the rumours swirling around, that there might be a spin-off featuring Lea, 24, Cory, 29, and Chris, 21. He says, "That was something we were planting as a possibility, but we didn't get much further than that. We're leaning against doing it. We certainly have explored it, but I think we're going to pass."

Cory Monteith © Glee

Even though I'm curious what the spin-off show in New York would have been like, I'm just as curious as to what story line Rachel Berry, Finn Hudson and Kurt Hummel will get, once they have graduated high school. Will they stay in the Glee club? Will they teach the Glee club? Or will it be something completely different, like how the trio survives after high school and what they do with their aspirations as singers and entertainers? What an anticipation and that all before the start of season 3!

How Gay Is My Emmy?

Over the weekend, I was swinging between a rattled repugnance while watching coverage of the Glenn Beck & Tea Baggers Concert at the Lincoln Memorial, & a state of sublime sentimentality & sanguine satisfaction while viewing the most gay-friendly Emmy Awards in history. I think the Emmys are now as gay as the Tony Awards. This country moves a little forward & a big step backwards on the issues surrounding acceptance of gay people & their civil rights. What better way to have a positive presence than in the world of TV, watched by nearly every household in the USA & seen by much of the rest of the world, thanks to the internet. I can’t help but reflect on how much has changed for those of us that chose to open that closet door.




A huge favorite at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia, no matter the project, out actor- Jane Lynch won for best supporting actress in a comedy for her role as coach Sue Sylvester on Glee. She kissed her wife upon hearing her name & thanked her & her "lord and creator," openly gay series creator producer Ryan Murphy. Cutie Murphy won for directing Glee, while Paris Barclay ( who’s brother Neil was one of my best friends in college), who is also out, was nominated in the same category. Murphy thanked "my great partner, Dick Miller", & stated: "Glee is about the importance of arts education, so I would like to dedicate this to all of my teachers, who taught me to sing & finger-paint." He also thanked Tom Ford for the tux. I would liked to have been a fly on the wall for that fitting.

Ryan Murphy in a Tom Ford Tux with Leah Michele... now that is gay!

Eric Stonestreet won for best supporting actor in a comedy for portraying half of a gay couple on my favorite new show- Modern Family; openly gay actors Jesse Tyler Ferguson ( the other half of the couple ) & Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother ) were also nominated. (Harris, who was also a presenter, did win an Emmy for his guest-starring role on Glee.) Modern Family went on to win Best Comedy Series for its 1st year run. Mad Men, which to me is the very definition of why TV is better than Film for artful, thoughtful entertainment, deservedly won for Best Drama. Now, if Mad Men could find a place for more storyline about closeted advertising Art Director- Sal, the greatest show on TV could be made even a bit greater.

Glee’s Lynch & Chris Colfer, who is openly gay, were part of the opening sequence featuring funny & cute host Jimmy Fallon & other TV regulars singing & dancing to Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run. Also, during his tribute to the series that had ended- 24, Law & Order & Lost, Fallon dressed as Sir Elton John & sang his own take of Candle in the Wind for 24.


Sexy Alexander Skarsgard, bisexual-Anna Paquin & Stephen Moyer, the stars of the pansexual True Blood presented an award (Paquin recently married Moyer.)  What a very hot 3some that would be!


This season on TV continues to feature gay story lines, out gay actors, straight actors playing gay, gay actors playing straight, a weekly show packed full of musical numbers, & a weekly dose of Jon Hamm. Progress. Baby Steps. Quality & comedy can help make this a better gay world.


Take a look at my friend- Bob’s fashion wrap up of last night’s awards. He always has an interesting take on all sorts of issues.

I think that Sofía Vergara is the most beautiful woman on TV, & she is wicked funny... a winning combo. After Modern Family won for Best Comedy Series there was one question on everyone's mind: When is Sofia Vergara going to run naked down Sunset Boulevard if her show won, as she promised on the red carpet before the show?

Happy 50th, Jane Lynch!

I took note of her, well actually I went crazy for her ,when I witnessed her comic brilliance opposite Jennifer Coolidge in the sublime- Best Of Show. I don’t realize at the moment that I already knew her work as a supporting roles in a series of films & TV shows, often the best thing in these projects. I had just not a had a chance to be washed over with the comic magic of Jane Lynch, I know who she is now, with 2 Emmy nominations this year.Only a decade ago, she was a 40 year old lesbian trying to make in show biz after a stint with the legendary 2nd City Troupe in Chicago.. Jane was cast is a commercial directed by Christopher Guest, & he found a place for her in the cast of Best in Show ( one of the few movies that I own). I will never, ever recover from the comic genius of Jennifer Coolidge as a rich trophy wife of a very old gentleman & Jane as her dog trainer/lover who publish the magazine- American Bitch, a publication for “lesbian purebred dog owner."

Just as I did, Jane did the whole routine of commercials & small parts in TV & film: L.A. Law, Judging Amy, The West Wing, 7th Heaven, Friends, Felicity, Arrested Development, Two and a Half Men, Weeds, Boston Legal, The L Word, Criminal Minds, Help Me Help You, Gilmore Girls, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Psych, Monk & Party Down . thing worked out better for Jane Lynch. After graduate school at Cornell, she returned to her native Chicago, & starred on stage as Carol Brady in a stage of the Brady Bunch. Post-Best in Show she has portrayed a parade of zany & inspired roles: a porn star turned folk singer in A Mighty Wind, the horny & insistent boss in The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Ricky Bobby' mother in Talladega Nights, the clueless Cindy in For Your Consideration. I think Jane was robbed of an Oscar nomination for her work as Julia Child's sister in 2009’s Julie & Julia ( still a favorite). Now I have to share her with 100s of millions of Gleeks where she inhabits one of the best characters in TV history- cherrleading coach- Sue Sylvester on Glee, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe & the Emmy. She is also nominated for an Emmy for Best Guest Star on Two & A Half Men. The most sublime moment of 2010, for me: Jane Lynch doing Madonna's Vogue on Glee.

 This spring she married her partner, Dr. Lara Embry in Massachusetts. Beautiful, talented, celebrated & out. How times have changed. I love her! She turns 50 today.

Born On This Day- May 27th... Actor/Singer Chris Colfer

I miss UGLY BETTY, which was for me, the gayest TV show ever. I don’t remember the wingnuts complaining or boycotting this show, & they shouldn’t have. Ugly Betty was represented nothing if not Family Values. For a” with it” show, Ugly Betty was at heart, very old fashioned.


Thank the TV Gods for Glee. Glee was made for me. The heightened, eccentric, & dare I say it- queer reality of the world of Glee, is the world I want to live in. I was meant to live in a universe where fully formed, orchestrated, & choreographed musical numbers burst forth as the modus operandi for expression.


Because, at a time when the ugliness of high school bullying is in the news, with tragic stories of kids victimized because they're different, Glee preaches that it's OK to be nerdy in high school. To love Broadway show tunes instead of football in high school. To be gay in high school.


It is easy for me to follow & identify with the characters on Glee. Jane Lynch’s masterful creation of Sue Sylvester is one of TV history’s top characters. I can relate to Emma’s OCD, & Rachel Berry’s Diva-ness; I had the heavy burden of simply being the best singer in my high school. I know how she suffers.


This season I have been most engaged by the character- Kurt Hummel. the fashionista & counter-tenor who is bullied by the jocks. He has a rigorous beauty regime & an impressive collection of designer attire by Marc Jacobs. Kurt is played by openly gay actor Chris Colfer. He originally auditioned for the role of Artie, singing Mr Cellophane from Chicago. Creator/Director/Producer- Ryan Murphy was so impressed by Colfer's audition he wrote the Kurt Hummel character into the show as a vehicle for him. Colfer: "It's good to have something positive, especially for kids in small towns, like myself, who need a little pick-me-up”.

Ryan Murphy: “When we started auditioning, I thought it was kind of ridiculous that we’re doing a musical about kids & expression & we don’t have the gay point of view. I thought it was important, but I would never want Chris to feel weird. More than the gay thing, he understood the thing about being the outsider because he felt that way in high school".

Growing up in Indianapolis, the son of a beauty queen and a semi-pro hockey player, Murphy asked his parents for a Vogue subscription at age 5, was ironing his own clothes at 7, & came out to his dad at 15: “Having a dad that loves you as a young man is a very powerful thing that you carry into the world. Because no matter what you do, in some weird, unconscious way, if you’re a guy, you always try to please your dad. I think it’s a great thing to put on television. You’ve seen the gay character that gets kicked out of the house or is beaten up. You haven’t seen the gay character that is teased a little bit, but wins & triumphs.”


When Chris Colfer auditioned for Murphy, the recent high school graduate with the big blue eyes & pale skin nervously walked into the audition & Ryan asked: “Why do I have the feeling you’ve been Rolf on The Sound of Music before?” Colfer: “I know I have Von Trapp written all over me, I actually was Kurt in The Sound of Music a long time ago.”


Colfer’s response to learning that his character is gay was fear. He grew up in the San Joaquin Valley, in a small town where most people wear cowboy hats & farm. Colfer: “no one has a sense of humor but they all drive trucks.” On a recent visit, Colfer noticed there were still many “Yes on 8” signs on lawns.


Colfer: “At first, I was absolutely terrified because I’m from a very conservative anti-gay town. Then people started saying, ‘Wow, your character is a lot like how Ryan Murphy would be,' & I didn’t know I was & that was good because that would also be terrifying. In the original script, they were leaning on him being overly flamboyant & I didn’t want to do that because it’s so overdone. So I made him more internal & superior.”


In the new century, TV has been representing gay people in non-stereotypical ways. We now have characters like Justin on Ugly Betty that embrace who they are & are in loving, fulfilling relationships. I was so moved by Justin’s coming out scene, which consisted of a tender dance with his BF at his sister-Hilda’s wedding. But, I have never witnessed anything as GAY as Kurt’s version of Roses’s Turn from the brilliant & complicated Laryngitis episode of Glee, earlier this month. Kurt can be a role model for young people who are just discovering who they are & also for adults who have been in Kurt’s shoes, albeit designer footwear.




Christopher Paul Colfer turns 20 years old today.

How Can I Not Love Glee?

I was having a little inner dialogue this morning about how much I appreciated last week’s Glee. I appreciated that some of the stock, one dimensional characters like cheerleader Quinn Fabray (Dianna Argon) & Football player- Puckerman (Mark Salling) have been fleshed out ,& are now complicated & are growing in dimension. There was a touching scene with Kurt (Chris Colfer) coming out to his father. Series creator Ryan Murphy cast Mr. Colfer as Kurt, although he had no previous professional experience, after an audition where the young actor told the story of his high school drama teacher not allowing Chris to sing Defying Gravity from Wicked because of his gender. He will get the chance to sing the song later this season.

What a treat to have Tony & Emmy winning Christin Chenowith as a boozy former Glee Club member. How cool was it that they give her 3 numbers? I had also remembered that the former wood shop teacher with mangled hands & a member of Accafellas, was portrayed by Tony Award winner John Lloyd Young of Jersey Boys. With theatre stalwarts Debra Monk & Victor Garber as Will’s parents, & Cheyenne Jackson to make a guest appearance, the show is making use of some of Broadway’s best.

John Lloyd Young, the only actor in Tony history to win Best Actor in a Broadway debut.

The very talented Mark Salling.

I Am Zany For Glee

Matthew Morrison in South Pacific on Broadway:

So, the Husband turns to me after the first half hour of Glee & says- “you have a big old crush on the actor playing Will, doncha? I feel a blog post about this in your future.” Well, that is true & here is the post.



The 2nd Glee episode did not disappoint. Smart writing & great acting, Jane Lynch doing anything, crazy fun musical numbers (Kanye West’s Goldigger!) & my new crush- Matthew Morrison. This show is Freaks & Geeks + High School Musical = excellent, original TV. Glee is my new favorite show & along with So you Think You Can Dance, it makes Wednesday the best night for television viewing.


Matthew Morrison has starred on Broadway as Link Larkin in Hairspray, was Tony nominated for his role as Frabrizio in the wonderful- The Light In The Piazza ( oh, how I love that musical) & on TV as Sir Harry (a role I played in college) in Once Upon A Mattress with Tracey Ullman & Carol Burnett. He just finished a long run as Lt. Cable in South Pacific on Broadway.


I think Morrison is particularly valuable as Will in Glee because his good looks are slightly off-kilter & goofy. I would really like to show my appreciation for his performance as the teacher trying to bring the Glee Club at McKinley High School back to its former glory. Yummm.



Terri to Will, while touring a pretty pink nursery in a potential house to buy-
“This is the room where our daughter or gay son will sleep”

Caught throwing up in a bathroom stall-
Rachel: “I don’t have a gag reflex”.
Emma: “Someday when you’re older, you’ll appreciate that.”

New TV

I love challenging, well produced TV shows. AMC's Mad Men is my current & possible all time favorite. I also really get into Weeds & 30 Rock. I also enjoy junk: The Real Housewives of NY, Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing with the Stars, Amazing Race, & Top Chef.

Last night the husband & I caught the new show (we DVRed it from Tuesday) - GLEE. We laughed until we cried. The show centers around the teachers & students involved in the Glee Club at McKinley High School. It is played broadly, but avoids stereotypes & cliches. The cast is excellent & off beat & features the delicious Jane Lynch as a cheer leading coach. The pilot aired on Tuesday night & the series continues in the fall. Can't wait!