By Romeo San Vicente
Sean Hayes is playing that 'Hollywood Game'
It's not the same kind of exposure as a weekly sitcom brings, but Sean Hayes is still out there in front of the camera, whether it's with his upcoming recurring role on "Smash"'s second season or unrecognizably nebbishy as Larry in last year's unexpectedly funny "The Three Stooges." But the real money and power come when you pull the strings, as Hayes has learned in his time as producer of "Grimm" and "Hot in Cleveland." So it's no shock to learn that the comic actor has a goofy game show up his sleeve, too. "Hollywood Game Night," based on his own idea, will place two contestants in a Hollywood cocktail party setting to mingle with celebrities (better name: "Drinking With The Stars") and compete for cash prizes. NBC has already ordered eight episodes for an unspecified future date. Now to get some big names who'll drink the contestants under the table and/or be cruel enough players sabotage their chances. Somebody get Lindsay Lohan and Tommy Lee Jones on the phone.
Logo turns back time for Cher
Did you know Cher could write? Neither did we. But the Oscar-winner is working with co-writer Ron Zimmerman on a drama pilot for gay cable channel Logo and she just might star in it, too. The script has no title just yet, but word is that Logo is looking for the period drama, to be set in 1960s Hollywood, to give them another hit show so that reruns of "Bewitched" aren't all they have up their sleeve over there besides "RuPaul's Drag Race." And Hollywood in the 1960s is a world Cher remembers well, so the whole thing could take on an air of autobiography if she wants to spill the dirt. Word is that the show is not specifically gay, in spite of Logo's participation. And Cher's participation. And… oh who's kidding whom? It's going to be really gay, especially if she's writing a part for herself as a 22-year-old pop star ingenue.
'The L Word' is still a thing
This might be news to you, but Showtime is still cashing in on "The L Word." It all seems very long ago and far away since the days when the fashionable world of Los Angeles lesbians soaped it up on premium cable. And we don't really know anybody who watches "The Real L Word" and its contrived, scripted "reality," yet apparently it's still on TV and has a viewership of some sort. But David Nevins, who makes these sorts of things happen at the cable channel, is eyeing new, different sort of life for the brand as a stand-alone documentary. The idea: get out of New York and Los Angeles, hit the road and make a real documentary (or two, or three, or more) focusing on real lesbian communities in the places cameras usually don't go, like the Midwest and the South and other places with no Prada boutiques or skateboard/smoothie/hair salon hybrids. Could gritty, true lives of gritty, true lesbians be the franchise's next-phase salvation? It's all in the ambiguously defined research stage right now, but get ready: this could all turn into something… what's the right word… real.
Academy Awards get the documentary treatment with TCM
Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman already have their own Academy Awards as the team behind 1984's "The Times of Harvey Milk" and 1989's "Common Threads: Stories From The Quilt." So who better to direct a documentary feature about the Oscars themselves? The filmmaking partnership is shooting material now for a feature-length doc for Turner Classic Movies, one that will focus less on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself and more on the history of the awards: the trends in nomination, the patterns of history that find themselves reflected in winners and losers, the snubs and oversights and upsets and controversies – in other words, the things people are genuinely interested in. Set to air during the channel's Oscar Month in 2014, here's hoping they secure that footage of Rob Lowe singing to Snow White. That was the best.
