Darren Criss Likes Playing a 'Strong Gay Character'

For Glee newcomer Darren Criss, his character is more than just a clean-cut face with powerhouse vocals.

"After having gotten to know the show a little bit, I was really excited to see that a character like this – such a strong, gay character, especially a young, male, out-and-proud teen – was going to make its way onto network television, much less Fox," Criss, 23, tells Interview magazine.

"This is the first time I'd really seen an out student that was so young and innocent," he says, "and really struggling with the big ordeal that it is to be an out student at such an early age."

Playing gay in his role as Blaine – Kurt's "Teenage Dream" – is no big deal, he says. According to Criss, his character isn't defined by his sexual orientation – even at his tony all-boys Dalton Academy.

"[Being gay] doesn't take up a huge chunk of what really matters about Blaine," he says. "Of course, being gay really is an important part of who he is. But Blaine doesn't really think so – at least in this utopian society that he lives in at Dalton Academy, where it's almost a little too perfect to be anybody or anything. It's just kind of matter of fact."

“The Social Network” Star Armie Hammer to Play J. Edgar Hoover’s Alleged Lover in New Biopioc

Playing the Winklevoss twins to great acclaim in the hit movie The Social Network has elevated actor Armie Hammer from rising star to full-fledged stardom.

The latest proof is this: Entertainment Weekly reports that the 24-year-old actor is in talks to join Clint Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio’s upcoming J. Edgar Hoover biopic, which will now be called J. Edgar.

The screenplay is being written by Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black (Milk).

Hammer would play lawyer-turned-FBI-official — and, some say, Hoover’s lover — Clyde Tolson. Though the pair didn’t always agree on political tactics, Tolson remained a loyal friend and advisor to Hoover.

Two years ago, Hammer’s biggest role had been that of evangelist Billy Graham in the film Billy – The Early Years. And yes, he is the great-grandson of U.S. business tycoon Armand Hammer and never considered changing his name.

“I’m proud of my family name,” he said in a 2008 interview. “The only time it only hurt was in junior high school when the nicknames started. I also get a lot of questions about baking soda.”

Glee Holiday Episode Preview: See Darren Criss and Chris Colfer Duet on “Baby It’s Cold Outside”

You’re gonna love this!

This Tuesday, Glee’s holiday episode will air and it's sure to be another incredible one. Here is a wonderful highlight of Blaine (Darren Criss) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) dueting on "Baby It’s Cold Outside."

It’s just one of those scenes where you are watching it and thinking, “That’s really on network television now!” It’s a number that gay kids can see and believe that they too can be singing a holiday duet with their crush – that it is possible.

I just love it and I hope you do too!

Enjoy!

90210's Teddy and Ian Kiss

It’s been a long time coming, but after months of struggling to come to terms with his sexuality, Teddy (Trevor Donovan) kissed Ian (Kyle Riabko) on Monday night’s 90210.

Watch the scene here:

Glee Bully Max Adler Kisses & Tells About Kurt

Max Adler, who plays "Glee" football player and resident bully Dave Karofsky, doesn't know if he'll get to kiss and make up on the show anytime soon.

On the Tuesday, November 9th episode "Never Been Kissed," Karofsky's bullying escalates against openly gay show choir member Kurt (Chris Colfer) until they have a confrontation in the boys' locker room. Instead of pummeling Kurt, however, Karofsky kisses him.

The character's surprising but confused feelings is something Adler had actually considered but never thought would become reality since Karofsky had always been a one-note tormentor, either shoving other students or dousing them in slushies.

"Before this was written, I thought there's got to be a reason why he's so angry, why he's such a bully, why he's going out of his way to make other people's lives a living hell," Adler tells Zap2it. "So I toyed with it. When this developed, it was kind of cool."

Despite his suspicions, the actor was still surprised by the kiss since there hadn't been any discussion about Karofsky's sexuality previously, even behind the scenes.

"I just got the script delivered and was reading it," says Adler. "I thought, 'This is getting serious. He's not backing off. He's going to punch him.' And then I turn the page and it says, 'Karofsky kisses Kurt.' I was like, 'What?' I jumped off the couch. I was just as shocked as anybody else."

When it came to shooting the emotionally fraught scene, Adler credits Colfer with setting the tone. "Chris is one of the best actors I've ever worked with," he says. "He's just so good in every take. He gives so much."

This includes taking a staged beating each time Karofsky decides to shove Kurt into the lockers.

"I hurt him every time. He broke two ribs," Adler jokes. "Actually, Chris takes a lot of it himself. I kind of graze him and give a little nudge but he throws himself harder into the lockers than it looks like. We work it out with stunt people before so it's all coordinated. He takes the hits well. He's like a little stunt man in there."

Kurt and new friend Blaine's (Darren Criss) attempts to get Karofsky to own his sexuality and come out of the closet fail though. In fact, he's angrier than ever and the bullying continues until it comes to a head at school.

"My parents get involved," Adler reveals about the November 23rd episode titled "Furt." "My mom is not there but you meet my dad (played by Daniel Roebuck). Mike O'Malley's in the episode too. I've already shot that episode and I'm in the next four for sure."

For now, Adler is just enjoying the positive feedback from his friends, family and strangers who've found him on Twitter or Facebook.

"I was just glad to represent such a large group of people," he says. "I've gotten so many messages from people all around the world these last couple of days thanking me because either they are Karofsky, they were Karofsky or they know a Karofsky."

Apparently, the support is so strong, there's even a faction of fans who want Kurt and Karofsky to be a couple.

"I've been seeing a lot of things for 'Kurtofsky,'" reveals Adler. "There's back and forth. I've been getting all the comments for Team Dave. They want me to be Kurt's protector and his big teddy bear and want Kurt and Blaine to just be friends. But I'm sure that Darren [Criss] is getting all the Team Blaine comments."

And even though many improbable things happen on "Glee," Adler doubts that "Kurtofsky" will ever come to pass. "You heard Kurt. He thinks I'm a chubby guy who sweats too much. So I don't see him being sexually attracted to me, but obviously I am to him."

Adler, who'll be speaking at the Anti-Defamation League Concert Against Hate this weekend, was actually a First Chair All-State show choir member in high school. And even though he doesn't think "Glee" needs yet another song-and-dance guy added to the mix, he'd like to propose a certain type of song should creator Ryan Murphy decide to allow Karofsky a number.

"I like the crooners. I like Michael Bublé and Dean Martin. That's kind of my style, where I think I sound the best."

"Glee" airs Tuesday at 8:00 pm (ET) on FOX.

Glee Exclusive: Kurt's New (Boy)friend Speaks!

“My guess is as good as anybody’s,” shrugs newest Glee cast member Darren Criss of reports that his character Blaine—a charismatic, out-and-proud gay teen from a rival school—is being groomed as a love interest for Chris Colfer’s Kurt. “It’s a really big secret.”

The two meet in the November 9th episode when Kurt, who is fast becoming fed up with life at McKinley High, considers transferring to the nearby Dalton Academy, where Criss’ character is a student. “I think Blaine’s most important role is…as a mentor to Kurt,” says Criss, whose only major pre-Glee TV credit was a stint on ABC’s short-lived Eastwick. “At this point, Kurt’s [sexuality] has been such a sense of discord in his life. Blaine finds [being gay] empowering. He embraces who he is, and sees Kurt [struggling with] the same things that he had to deal with, and I think he wants to impart that knowledge.”

Criss hopes Blaine will serve as a positive role model for viewers as well, given the recent string of suicides among gay youth. “It’s great to see a strong character like this on a hit show that so many people are watching,” he says. “I can’t really think of any other gay characters on TV that are this young and sure of themselves. I hope all the kids struggling with this issue can look to a guy like Blaine and feel [inspired] by his confidence.”

Darren Criss Joins 'Glee' as Kurt's New Boyfriend?

The plot surrounding Kurt’s first boyfriend on Glee thickens. Actor-singer-songwriter Darren Criss—best known to TV audiences as Matt Dallas’ brother on Eastwick—has landed the much-talked-about new gay role on the Fox phenom.

But will he have eyes for Kurt? Maybe. Maybe not.

Per a Glee source, Criss’ character, Blaine—a cute and charismatic gay student from a rival Glee club named the Dalton Academy Warblers—will maintain a strictly platonic friendship with McKinley High’s most out and proud pupil. But could that change as the season progresses? Yes, it could.

Sounds like series creator Ryan Murphy is keeping his options open.

Ever since Murphy announced that Kurt would be getting a love interest in season 2, speculation about the identity of his suitor has run rampant. The casting of pretty boy Chord Overstreet led some to speculate that his quarterback character Sam would play that role, a theory Chris Colfer all but shot down when he said that there’s no sign of romantic tension between Sam and Kurt in the first four episodes. “Maybe it is too obvious,” he theorized. “Our writers have a way of avoiding the obvious and throwing curveballs.”

In addition to his TV work, Criss has built quite a web following as a member of the University of Michigan theater company Team StarKid. The group’s spoof, A Very Potter Musical, went viral and turned Criss (who plays the title role) into a bit of an internet star.

True Blood's Alexander Skarsgard Talks About His Guy Kiss in Vampire Sex Scene

HBO’s True Blood will have its season finale on September 12th, which will turn out to out be it's best season.

Alexander Skarsgard, who plays vampire Eric, told Entertainment that he and Talbot (Theo Alexander) really wanted the scene where Eric seduces Talbot and then kills him to be powerful for viewers: “I’d never kissed a guy before on a show or in a movie, and that was Theo’s first time as well, and we talked about it. It goes from being this romantic, beautiful scene, and they’re getting rough with each other and getting it on — and [then] the turn where Eric just slaughters him. It’s such a rich scene. I basically said, ‘We’ve got to sell it in the beginning. It’s got to be passionate and beautiful because then the payoff is going to be so much more rewarding.’”

Alexander talked about the scene in an interview with Movieline three weeks ago:

What was the energy like on set the day that you shot the sex scene?
Well, I think that whole week, Alexander [Skarsgård] and I were both a little bit anxious, but we were joking and being professional. Alexander is a great actor, though, and he helped me get beyond the physical part of the scene. I had been afraid of the scene from the very beginning — from the first moment that I held the script in my hand — but I’m glad I did it because every time you face your fears, you move forward. It was a good experience at the end of the day.

What aspect of the scene scared you?
Well, the part about kissing another man. I don’t really do that, so… I didn’t want to think of him as a woman. Many people told me, “Oh, just close your eyes and think of him as a woman.” But no, because that is a totally different energy and I had to be very present with Alex and his male energy. I had to open myself to be able to actually be attracted to him, like, really attracted to him. At the end of the day, it was fun, though.

How did you prepare for the big scene that day? Was there certain music that put you in the right frame of mind — or alcohol?
No, no, no. I remember that I went back to my trailer and I concentrated. I did some acting exercises. I was playing the archetype of a lover, so I put on a sexy, slow song and almost did like a belly dance. I tried to get into the mindset of just being sexy and not caring about your sexual preferences and just acting on that attraction.

Modern Family's Gay Kiss Has Been Filmed

After much fan pressure to have "Modern Family's" adorable gay couple share a kiss, one-half of the hilarious twosome confirms it's in the can.

"Yes, we filmed the kiss episode," Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who plays Mitchell, told E!Online's Marc Malkin. "It's a very organic kiss. People are going to be very surprised when they see it."

More than 13,000 fans took to Facebook asking the show's producers to let Cam and Mitchell share a kissing scene. In response to the movement, producers issued a statement.

It read: "Cameron and Mitchell are a loving, grounded, committed, and demonstrably affectionate couple and have been from the beginning of the series. It happens that we have an episode in the works that addresses Mitchell's slight discomfort with public displays of affection. It will air in the fall and until then, as Phil Dunphy would say, everyone please chillax."

Now that the scene has been shot, Ferguson says he's also pretty sure he delivered Eric Stonestreet's (the straight but convincingly gay Cam on the show) first man-on-man smacker saying, "I'll be shocked and offended if I wasn't."

Either way, we're sure it'll be one scene Eric and the show's fans will never forget.

Modern Family's Gay Couple Cam and Mitchell to Kiss After All

Television's most prominent homosexual couple are set to share an on-screen kiss.

Modern Family's co-creator and writer Steve Levitan has revealed that producers are preparing a 'public display of affection' episode for the program's married gay couple, Cam and Mitchell.

In fact, Levitan insists the scene was going to happen all along even before fans started to lobby for the kiss publicly, notably on a Facebook campaign.

'We've had an episode planned for a long time that dealt with that subject,' he told E! news.

'So it almost bothers us that there was a little bit of controversy about it. Because we don't want to appear that we're answering the criticism.'

In the show's breakout first season, Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) did everything from adopt an adorable daughter to travel on the extended family's Hawaiian vacation.

But they've never expressed obvious affection for each other on camera.

The controversy came to a light-hearted boil when Cam and Mitch had a dramatic airport reunion in the Hawaiian episode. While the show's straight couple smooched at the airport, Cam and Mitchell gave each other a tepid hug.

The floodgates opened as fans assumed the show's producers were blocking a kiss. Facebook campaigners set up a special page: 'Let Cam & Mitchell kiss on Modern Family.'

While the campaign never reached the giddy heights of the Facebook campaign to recruit Betty White to host Saturday Night Live, the Cam and Mitchell kiss page did make a splash with 13,465 supporters.

'Sure enough, we're dealing with public displays of affection and the power of the kiss,' said Levitan.

The actors preparing for the public display of affection didn't give details about the upcoming scene. 'But we're all proceeding and progressing and moving forward,' said Ferguson. 'There'll be lots of everything.'

“90210″ Producer Talks About Gay Storyline

it’s been confirmed that Trevor Donovan’s 90210 character of Teddy will be the one coming out of the closet this season.

Now, Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello has talked exclusively to 90210 Executive Producer Rebecca Sinclair about the storyline and she says: [We wanted] to play a coming out story that features a kid we already knew. Instead of his sexuality being the first and defining characteristic, we’ve already gotten a chance to know Teddy before he explores his sexuality. Teddy’s an athlete, he’s a famous guy’s son, he’s blonde and hunky and yes, he also has a sexual orientation and that’s a huge part of his life. In a lot of ways I think that’s more interesting than Teddy is a gay athlete, a gay famous guy’s son and a blonde and hunky gay gentleman.”

Ausiello: Did you know Teddy would be gay when he was first introduced?
Sinclair: No. We thought he was just a womanizer. But then—and this often happens with characters—we started to wonder about the deeper life of the character. Was he a womanizer, or was he really covering for something?

Ausiello: How will Teddy’s coming out story be different from Adrianna’s?
Sinclair: There are obviously an infinite number of ways that teenagers can experience the realization that they are attracted to members of the same sex. And I guess our ultimate goal would be to tell a whole range of stories that depict different facets of the issue of gayness—or non-straightness, you might say. Adrianna’s was a much lighter story. For Adrianna, having bisexual feelings was confusing but it didn’t rattle her too deeply. She realized that for her, gender was less important than the individual in terms of finding someone she wanted to date. Frankly, for Adrianna as long as her significant other dotes on her, tells her she’s amazing, and that her hair looks pretty, she doesn’t care what gender they are. With Teddy, we’re attempting to tell a much more dramatic story about a something that rattles him to his core. Though, thankfully, we live in an age where lots of teens are comfortable with their sexual orientation and are able to come out when they’re in high school or even before, we didn’t want to ignore the reality that for lots of kids the road to self-acceptance for a gay teenager isn’t easy. This is going to be a dramatic, at times painful, but hopefully ultimately cathartic journey for him.

Ausiello: How will the story unfold? Does Teddy have an epiphany?
Sinclair: As a top-tier athlete and the son of a famous—and famously womanizing—actor, Teddy has always felt the need to keep up appearances. He’s had trouble reconciling the image that the world has of him with his own true sense of self. And he’s worked hard to repress whatever homosexual feelings he’s had. But early on in this season, something shakes up the structure of his life. With stability and routine out the window, he has trouble repressing who he really is. He acts impulsively and ends up hooking up with a guy. So it’s less of an epiphany than an impulsive act that sets things in motion.

Ausiello: Let’s talk about that guy (played by Kyle Riabko).
Sinclair: Kyle is absolutely terrific, charming and talented. He plays Ian, a self-confident, funny guy who is very much out and comfortable with his gayness.

Ausiello: Is there an immediate attraction?
Sinclair: I think there is an immediate attraction. But Teddy is very uncomfortable with the feelings he has and is certainly not up for the kind of mature normal relationship that Ian has had in the past and would expect from a boyfriend.

Ausiello: How long will Kyle be around for?
Sinclair: Hopefully he will be around for a long time. Certainly for season 3.

Ausiello: 90210 doesn’t shy away from allowing its straight characters to express their sexuality. Will the show be as frank in its depiction of Teddy’s romantic relationships?
Sinclair: I hope so.

Ausiello: When did you inform Trevor that his character was going to be gay? How did that conversation go?
Sinclair: Fellow Executive Producer Jennie Urman and I called Trevor and told him the story we wanted to tell. I think he was surprised and maybe a bit taken aback initially. But as we discussed it with him and told him the kind of stories we wanted to tell, he got excited. I think he recognized that it was a good opportunity as an actor and he was excited by the idea of telling the story of a character’s journey that would mean a lot to gay teenagers and other teenagers who are learning to be honest about who they are and what they feel.

90210 Spoiler Alert! The Hunk Coming Out is...

… Teddy.

Entertainment Weekly sources have revealed that Trevor Donovan let the cat out of the bag yesterday as to him being the "outed" character on 90210 when he tweeted the following:

“I read all your tweets and know you are all curious about the ‘gay’ character this season. Let me say, gay or straight, relationships are relationships. Everyone goes through the same kind of troubles and joys. A gay storyline will have an added issue of dealing with judgment from others. Acceptance, by family, friends, society, and self is just one of the concerns the character will be going through. It is a part of life, and it should be portrayed. I was told, and am confident, [that] the storyline will be written very well and the change in the character will be organic, NOT overnight. It’s going to be a great season 3. I look forward to chatting with you all as we progress.”

Gotta love/hate Twitter! (BTW, even though Donovan didn’t actually come out and say Teddy is gay, Michael Ausiello at Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Teddy is gay.

Watch for the premiere of a new 90210 season starting September 13th on The CW.

Meet True Blood‘s Vampire King of Mississippi

Bon Temps is getting a taste of royalty this season on True Blood — or better yet, royalty is getting a taste of Bon Temps.

With the evil machinations of Maryann coming to a gruesome and goring end in the season 2 finale, the role of outright evildoer was left glaringly vacant.

Despite all the fang-flashing and glowering (mixed with a generous amount of carnal blood-sucking) they are prone to, the blood-lusters of Bon Temps can’t seem to shake that annoying habit called humanity.

In fact, Godric — the oldest and most powerful vampire that viewers had been introduced to — seemed to have come full circle, showing more compassion and understanding than most of the human characters and ultimately choosing to sacrifice himself in the name of human-vampire relations.

Well, there’s a new King in town, and his name is Russell Edgington, the Vampire King of Mississippi, and it’s safe to say that he is no Godric.

“I have plans,” actor Denis O’Hare says of his character. “I am 2,800 years old and I am the oldest and the strongest vampire.”

And when the oldest, strongest vampire in the land says that he has “plans,” think bloody redecorating on a global scale with the human race as throw pillows.

“Russell intends to take over the world,” O’Hare said. “He feels that human beings have squandered their stewardship of the earth by not treating it well. And he is an old Celt, a Druid, who was an earth-worshipper, and he feels like he needs to take over.”

The reign of terror is really more of a reign in response to human error, but according to O’Hare, Russell isn’t all doom and gloom.

“I have a boyfriend on the show,” the actor says. “Talbot — he’s a beautiful Greek man and we’ve been together 700 years.”

While it’s safe to say that none of us will ever know what it is to feel the 700-year itch, O’Hare was kind enough to let us in on the secrets to keeping a relationship together for nearly a millennium.

“When you get to be 2,800 years old, you’ve seen it all, you’ve tried all of the positions. Nothing surprises you because you’ve tasted everything,” O’Hare says with a laugh. “A marriage at that point is more than just sex. It’s about supporting each other and mutual interests. It’s about telling the truth even when it hurts. It’s about sharing a willing live human!”

Brothers & Sisters' Kevin and Scotty are Going to Have a Baby!

As last night’s episode of Brothers & Sisters drew to a close, Kevin and Scotty were laying on their bed looking at books of baby names. They even kissed!

What is the world coming to? Reality, I'd say!

Brothers and Sisters creators and writers have allowed the relationship and now marriage of Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Scotty (Luke Macfarlane) to grow over four seasons into the happiest and most solid of all of the Walker siblings.

The happy couple has been trying to have a baby via surrogate and on Sunday’s episode, found out that they are going to become daddies!

This is a beautiful thing and such a contrast to how poorly ABC daytime handled the relationship between Oliver (Scott Evans) and Kyle (Brett Claywell) by writing them off One Life to Live just as they welcomed Oliver’s baby daughter into their lives. The show blamed the gay storyline for a rating plummet but now ratings are even lower.

It’s just so nice to have things being handled differently in ABC primetime.

GLAAD's Jarret Barrios: ‘Ugly Betty’ Broke Ground for Latinos, Gays

MSNBC has a great interview with Jarret Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) where he speaks of “Ugly Betty” and how it broke ground for both the Latino and gay population.

According to the post:

More groundbreaking was the show’s handling of its gay and transgender characters, said Jarett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Although initially played for laughs, “Ugly Betty” provided a sympathetic portrait of Meade scion Alex who transforms into the stunning Alexis. And it followed the bumpy love life of Mode’s gay fashion assistant Marc St. James.

But most of all, it showed how Betty’s family accepted without fanfare Justin’s love for musicals and the latest fashion trends, a tacit acceptance of his sexuality. Then, in this final season, Justin got his first kiss with a boy.

Barrios said too often gay characters are depicted on TV as adults without families.

“A gay teen is also a son, a nephew, a grandson,” he said. “As a man who is both Latino and gay (and a father), I liked the show because it depicted really my own experience and that of so many others in the United States.”

Barrios said the show paved the way for network depictions of gay teens and families in shows such as “Glee,” “Brothers & Sisters,” and “Modern Family.”

You can read the entire post here!

Brett Claywell Talks to Entertainment Weekly About His Remarkable “One Life to Live” Storyline

Brett Claywell’s last appearance as Kyle Lewis on One Life to Live is on April 12th. We all know it’s a dumb move by the show’s producers and the network which has alienated a huge segment of new fans by writing off Kyle and his boyfriend Oliver Fish played by Scott Evans.

But if we have to look at the bright side, the story gave us the opportunity to not only fall in love with the characters, but also with the wonderful actors who inhabit them. Both have built a tremendous fan base that will no doubt follow whatever they do in the future.

Brett, who is straight in real life, has been so articulate about how playing this gay man has changed his life and it makes a lot of us so grateful that the role of Kyle was in such good hands.

Here is an excerpt of an interview Brett has done with Entertainment Weekly:

Why do you think Kish resonated with fans?
We were the first [gay] love scene in daytime. It had a lot to do with the writing, but it also has a lot to do with the way Scott and I played the roles. We made a choice in the beginning that we were going to underplay a lot of this storyline. We just wanted it to be really honest and really authentic and just simple. Just tell a love story. That was the most important thing to communicate — love between two men, honestly, on television. I think that people really responded to that because there weren’t a lot of bells and whistles.

Why the decision to go with a sex scene?
I don’t think they were intentionally building towards something. I think that scene came because of fan reaction. It was more from demand than anything. Because there is a community out there, a large percentage of people who are misrepresented in media, in television, in all forms of art.

Did you think the sex scene was explicit?
No. I keep saying that if you take Milk and you take Brokeback Mountain and you take the work we did, I feel like we stand toe-to-toe with the work that was done. But we told the story differently. The love scene between Oliver and Kyle…it was a moment where one man was finally coming to terms with sexuality after years of denying it and after his family disowns him. He was finally coming to terms and accepting the fact that he is comfortable with this man loving him. For Kyle, my character, it was a moment to be nurturing and loving towards somebody who’s going through a really hard moment to become comfortable with himself.

Read the rest of the interview at Entertainment Weekly.

“Southland” Star Michael Cudlitz: I Don’t Think John Has Any Sort of “Gay Agenda”

Eric Hegedus of the New York Post has a Q&A with Michael Cudlitz of TNT’s Southland which was canceled by NBC before the start of its second season. Michael, who plays gay cop John Cooper on the show, was very vocal with his displeasure with NBC via Twitter and it made him something of a hero to the show’s loyal fans.

TNT picked up the show and NBC had egg on its face after The Jay Leno Show tanked in the ratings. Leno running five days a week at 10 p.m. was the reason why NBC needed fewer scripted shows like Southland.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

Q: Are you feeling a little smug about NBC’s decision to cancel Jay Leno’s 10 p.m. show?
A: No. That’s like poking the monkey in the cage. They’re a major network; they’ve got issues and are gonna deal with whatever they’re gonna deal with. I hope they put five more hours of scripted drama back on television. Right now it’s about our show succeeding and getting our people back to work.

Q: You play Cooper — the gay guy — and he seems to have a lot more issues than any other character.
A: Well, that’s because he’s older. (He laughs.) It helps to deflect the audience. It’s funny that people actually make that, like, “Oh, John has so many problems — and God, he’s gay!” A lot of people are, and they got their lives going on — like their mom’s dying of cancer, or they’re abused, or had a great time growing up. It’s just one more thing; he’s really sorting out more. I don’t think John has any sort of “gay agenda” — he has a lot of personal experiences that he’s working through.

Q: Where do you think you would be if TNT hadn’t nabbed “Southland”?
A: Probably looking for more work like every other actor does when their shows go down. We are, you know, migrant workers. (He laughs.) I think you do it, you finish it, and, you know, all the tomatoes are picked here. Great, where are we going next? I don’t know — orange season! You go where the work is.

For the complete interview, click on the link to access the New York Post interview.

ABC Orders More Gay Dads

GLAAD Media Award-winner ABC is ordering up more gay dads!

On Monday, executives green lit a new comedy show by Grey's Anatomy producer Mark Gordon that includes a gay dad.

ABC has agreed to pick up the pilot for It Takes a Village, a single-camera comedy written by Casey Johnson and David Windsor (Greek) from ABC Studios, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Village is about the lives of a former couple struggling to raise their teenage son after divorcing. Both parents have moved on to new relationships, the father into an openly gay coupling.

The show comes on the heels of the success of Modern Family, an ABC comedy that includes a gay couple who are raising their adopted daughter.

And viewers of ABC's Sunday night drama Brothers & Sisters are eagerly awaiting to see whether gay couple Kevin & Scotty become dads. If that happens, the network could be playing host to three gay couples raising kids by next season.

Elton John & David Furnish to Produce Gay Broadway Play

Gay singer Elton John and his civil partner David Furnish are reportedly planning to put on a Broadway production of a gay-themed play.

Furnish is currently producing John's musical Billy Elliot at the Imperial Theatre and the pair will join the production team of Next Fall, the New York Daily News reports.

Next Fall tells the story of a gay couple in a five-year-relationship who struggle with their religious differences. It will play at the Helen Hayes Theatre from March 11th, with previews beginning on February 16th.

Furnish and John said in a statement: “We are excited to join the team bringing Geoffrey Nauffts' extraordinary play to Broadway.

“After fulfilling experiences bringing new musicals to the stage, it was seeing this inspiring and timely new work that attracted us to take on our first play."

It is hoped that their assistance will see the play brought to a wider audience.

The news follows John's duet with gay-friendly singer Lady Gaga at Sunday night's Grammy Awards.

The pair performed on a double-ended piano while smeared with dirt and have been tipped to sing together again soon.

Coming Soon...Glee's Gay Romance

Glee will reportedly feature a gay romance in its second season.

Producers of the comedy are casting for three more characters, one of whom will be a love interest for gay student Kurt.

Ryan Murphy told Entertainment Weekly: "We just announced we're doing a nationwide search for the season two cast, and [a love interest for Kurt is] one of the three roles that we're adding. And we're going to make them a power couple.

"We're not going to do the whole hiding in the shadows thing. We're going to make them popular, and out and proud and glamorous. Like prom king and king. We're doing the opposite of what's been done."

Glee, described as High School Musical for adults, has been praised for its handling of issues such as homosexuality, disability and race. Last week, it was nominated for a GLAAD award.