BOY CULTURE: Thirty-nine years ago this week, Designing Women’s “Killing All the Right People” episode aired, featuring Tony Goldwyn playing one of TV’s first gay characters battling HIV/AIDS. Goldwyn’s character hires the women to design his funeral. The episode was a personal victory for series creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, whose own mother died of AIDS complications.
You can check out my fairly extensive history of LGBTQ+ characters and events on TV right here.
HOT TICKET: The Gays Against Guns doc hits NewFest October 16. From the description:
“From the massacre at Pulse nightclub in 2016 to recent ICE killings in Minneapolis, Gays Against Guns thrusts us onto the frontlines of America’s gun violence epidemic. We witness this decade through the eyes of filmmaker Paul Rowley, an Irish immigrant who left home chasing the ‘Gay American Dream’ only to face the country’s darkest realities.
”Following the outrageous activist group Gays Against Guns, the film takes us on a rollercoaster through neon-splashed street protests and the ivory corridors of power. Personal reflections are intercut with fearless political theatre. And legendary filmmaker John Waters chimes in with his notorious wit as the group confronts gun-toting zealots and witnesses poignant stories of survival.
”An inspiring David and Goliath tale for our turbulent times, Gays Against Guns captures the power of caring for a perfect stranger.”
HUFFINGTON POST: Control of the Senate may hinge on Talarico winning in Texas.
KENNETH IN THE (212): A 30-year-late, good review of Bruce LaBruce’s No Skin Off My Ass.
THE TELEGRAPH: Come on, Luke Evans. What can be gained from giving an interview bashing “woke” in 2026? How is a guy who just starred on Broadway in Rocky Horror even dreaming of feeling this way? Can you be a pick-me gay in Frank-N-Furter fishnets?
SACRAMENO BEE: Taipei’s mayor is defending his city’s inclusivity following an unpopular gay bar raid.
EW.COM: Carson Daly and others will reunite for a TRL special.
PEOPLE: Usha Vance and her 11-week-old son almost fell right off of the stairs while exiting a helicopter. Seems soon to be carting that kid around!
POLITICO: Thanks, RFK Jr.! The outbreak of measles in Pennsylvania is the largest in the country in decades.
HOT TICKET: There she is, Miss’d America! Tickets on sale for what sounds like a riot of a pageant.
TMZ: Nasty anti-gay preacher Jim Bakker has died at 86.
EXTRATV: Robert Kelker-Kelly, soap star, dies at 62 following chest pains. His death was announced the same day as the death — from cancer — of fellow Another World actor Mark Mortimer, 59.