HOLLYWOOD: Meg Ryan._________
Meg Ryan Marries Carrie Fisher’s Best Awful
If Carrie Fisher’s life were dull, what would she write about? Alas, adventures like surviving her crazy Hollywood upbringing and having her husband leave her for another man mean she’ll never want for material. And now HBO has announced plans to turn Fisher’s latest autobiographical novel, The Best Awful, into a miniseries starring Meg Ryan. Continuing the story of Suzanne Vale—Fisher’s alter ego, who first appeared in Postcards from the Edge—Best Awful sees our heroine rebounding from divorce with the help of prescription drugs, a crazy road trip to Mexico with her tattoo artist, and yet another stint in rehab. Fisher will adapt the script herself, but no word yet as to when we’ll see Ryan fall apart and put herself back together.
Sex and the City Stud
Visits Brothers & Sisters
Even if the name doesn’t ring a bell, you know who Jason Lewis is. Samantha’s hunky boyfriend on the last season of Sex and the City? The breathtaking naked guy in the ‘Absolut Hunk’ magazine ads? That’s Lewis. And his astonishing good looks make him the perfect guy to play Chad, a closeted soap star, on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters. For a four-episode arc starting in February, Lewis’ character will meet and fall for Kevin (Matthew Rhys) at an exercise boot camp. Presumably, Chad’s sexual secrecy will put a crimp in the relationship, since the show apparently has a more serious boyfriend lined up for Kevin later in the season—strangely enough, it will be a guy Kevin meets through his arch-conservative sister, played by Calista Flockhart.
‘Str8-Acting’ on Reality TV
When some gay guy calls himself ‘straight-acting,’ do you have the slightest idea what he means? Neither does Romeo. But it’s an act that has some value, apparently, since two new reality shows will offer prizes to queer boys who can effectively pass for hetero. Lifetime’s Gay, Straight or Taken?, premiering Jan. 8, introduces a female contestant to three men, and it’s her job to figure out who’s single, who’s taken, and who plays for the other team. If she guesses correctly, she and her guy win an exotic trip; if she doesn’t, the guy and his significant other will travel instead. Then there’s GayDAR, still in the casting stage for an as-yet-unnamed network, which is looking for gay guys whose straight-boy camouflage can fool ‘a panel of experts.’ Maybe they can get Abercrombie & Fitch to be sponsors.
Fox Creating Right-Wing Daily Show
Fox News’ unapologetically right-wing-biased—aka ‘fair and balanced’—approach to the news has made the network popular among the conservative-talk-listening set. But despite their top-dog status, Fox News still wants to play the underdog card by creating a Saturday-night satirical news program that’s a sort of right-leaning Daily Show. 24 producer Joel Surnow is creating a pilot, which will be ‘anchored’ by comedians Kurt Long and Susan Yeagley. And while The Daily Show and The Colbert Report spoof homophobia (among other issues) in the government and the mass media, Romeo expects that this Bizarro-world version, set to premiere in January, will indulge in some of the antigay sentiment mocked by its progressive counterpart. Can conservatives who aren’t P.J. O’Rourke be funny? Find out next month.
Romeo San Vicente can be reached at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.