By Romeo San Vicente
cut/ Raven-Symone. Photo: Debby Wong
It's almost time to hate-watch 'Fire Island'
Did you watch "Finding Prince Charming"? "The A-List: New York"? "The A-List: Dallas"? "My Husband's Not Gay"? What, you think you're too good for those kinds of shows? OK, you probably are. But we're the opposite of good, so we watched "all" of them, and we can honestly say each one made us better human beings: smarter, stronger, healthier, wiser. And thanks to Logo's ongoing efforts to make momentary celebrities out of gay men who have really amazing chests, we're all about to be gifted with "Fire Island." It's the story of a beautiful summer on Fire Island, one shared by six gay men who were cast from their respective very popular Instagram accounts to be nearly (or maybe totally) naked while pretending to be friends and fighting about stupid stuff while drunk. In other words, our favorite thing on TV that isn't Wendy Williams. Logo plans to launch this assault on quality and taste this spring, but we wish it were here already.
Sarah Paulson finds 'Lost Girls'
Amazon Studios has another future hit on its hands with "Lost Girls," and we're going to assume that it will have everything to do with our current favorite lesbian, Sarah Paulson. The show is a serial killer drama – based on reporter Robert Kolker's 2013 nonfiction book of the same name – to be directed by documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus ("What Happened, Miss Simone?") in her first narrative project. Up-and-coming screenwriter Michael Werwie (this is his first major credit) wrote the adaptation, which involves a Long Island mother (Paulson) searching for her missing daughter. And then the bodies of four female sex workers are discovered in the woods. Gruesome, yes, but also true, and after Paulson's Emmy-winning performance as Marcia Clark in "American Crime Story: The People vs O.J. Simpson," we're ready to follow her down any path, no matter how dark. Be on the lookout for this one.
Say 'Hello Again' to T.R. Knight and Cheyenne Jackson
Hey, remember T.R. Knight? He was a staple on "Grey's Anatomy" until leaving the series after an unfortunate incident with a nasty gay slur on set (Google that bit of ancient queer history if you need refreshing). And then he seemed to lie low for quite a while, popping up here and there on shows like "The Good Wife," and most recently, a profile-resuscitating turn on ABC's miniseries "When We Rise." Now he and fellow queer actor Cheyenne Jackson ("American Horror Story") will star in the film "Hello Again." Theater fans will know the source material as the 1994 off-Broadway musical from Michael John LaChiusa (inspired by Arthur Schnitzler's "La Ronde") that explores 10 brief love affairs that take place across 10 separate periods of New York City history. And to show you they mean to do this one properly, here's the rest of the impressive cast, no strangers to song and dance: Audra McDonald, Martha Plimpton, "Glee" alum's Jenna Ushkowitz and Nolan Gerard Funk, Rumer Willis, and "The Following"'s Sam Underwood. We're guessing a late 2017 rollout, probably at the big autumn film festivals. Stay tuned.
That's still Raven
Blame "Girl Meets World," if you must, but here comes another vintage sitcom revamp. Well, not exceptionally vintage, if we're being honest, since the sitcom in question is "That's So Raven," which ran for about a hundred episodes between the years 2003 and 2007. And yes, we did, in fact, watch it and not merely crib information from Wikipedia, because we had Disney Channel-addicted nieces and nephews, now in their 20s (translation: advertisers' best friends now making little Disney Channel addicts of their own). Anyway, here comes more, as Raven-Symone reprises her role as the psychic fashion designer tween, now grown up, divorced, and mother to twins. Surprise! One of the kids has inherited mom's special powers, allowing the hijinks machine to crank into overdrive. And if you were wondering how former cast members will figure into the plot, Raven's old pal Chelsea (Anneliese van der Pol) is back for the fun, as a single mom who moves in with Raven, making for every sitcom's favorite trope, the blended family. Did we say blame "Girl Meets World"? We meant "Fuller House."
