Arts & Entertainment

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW TELEVISION: ‘One Big Happy’ lineup

Lily and Jane team up, ‘Looking’ and ‘Orange’ return while ‘Mad Men’ signs off

Published

11 years ago

March 5, 2015

Santiago Melli-Huber

Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright in ‘House of Cards’ (Photo by David Giesbrecht; courtesy Netflix)

Produced by Ellen DeGeneres, “One Big Happy” stars Elisha Cuthbert as a lesbian who carries her best friend’s (Nick Zano) baby. The show premieres March 17 on NBC at 9:30 p.m.

“Empire,” created by Danny Strong and Lee Daniels, who is openly gay, airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Fox. Taraji P. Henson steals the show as Cookie, the ex-wife of Terrance Howard’s character, a music mogul pitting his three sons, one of whom is gay, against each other for control of the company. The show, which is based partly on Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” is enjoying extremely high ratings and has been renewed for a second season.

The third season of Netflix hit “House of Cards” was released Feb. 27 (all 13 episodes) and continues Frank Underwood’s (Kevin Spacey’s) shady dealings.

Ellie Kemper and Jane Krakowski star in “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” available on Netflix today (March 6). The show, created by Tina Fey, also stars Titus Burgess (D’Fwan, “30 Rock”) as a gay singer working as a Times Square robot.

A scene from ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.’ (Photo by Eric Liebowitz; courtesy Netflix)

Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda star in “Grace and Frankie,” a new Netflix show about two long-time rivals who come together when their husbands announce they plan to marry each other.

Season four of “Girls” continues on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. and has been picked up for a fifth season. The season finale will air on March 22.

“Looking” airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on HBO. Daniel Franzese (Damien, “Mean Girls”) joined the cast for season two. The show focuses on a group of gay friends living in San Francisco.

Winter is coming in the middle of spring when season five of “Game of Thrones” premieres April 12 at 9 p.m. on HBO. Catch all of the drama, dragons and unexpected deaths of your favorite characters (probably).

“Orange is the New Black” returns to Netflix on June 12. The website’s juggernaut show has been praised for its groundbreaking representation of LBT women of color.

Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block and his boyfriend Harley Rodriguez are contestants on Season 26 of “The Amazing Race.” All teams this season are couples, including five teams meeting for the first time on the show as blind dates. One such team is composed of two young men named Bergen and Kurt. The show airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on CBS.

Season 20 of “Dancing with the Stars” premieres March 16 at 8 p.m. Contestants include out athlete Michael Sam, actress Suzanne Somers and soul legend Patti LaBelle, who recently appeared in “American Horror Story: Freak Show.”

Zachary Quinto and Uma Thurman star in “The Slap,” narrated by Victor Garber. Quinto plays a man dealing with the aftermath of slapping someone else’s misbehaved child. The miniseries currently airs Thursdays on NBC at 8 p.m.

“Reign” airs on the CW at 9 p.m. on Thursdays. The historical fiction focuses on the early years of Mary, Queen of Scots. It features several intimate scenes between female characters. Caitlin Stasey, a star of the show, describes herself as “mostly gay.”

“The Last Man On Earth” premiered last weekend on Fox. The show stars Will Forte searching the country for signs of other living humans after earth’s entire population is wiped out. The cast includes Kristen Schaal and Mary Steenburgen. It airs Sunday nights at 9:30 p.m.

“The Walking Dead” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on AMC. A recent episode of the show featured its first gay male character, Aaron, kissing his boyfriend Eric. The 90-minute season finale will air March 29.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as President Selina Meyer, following her character’s political ascension at the end of the previous season of “Veep.” Season four premieres on HBO April 12 at 10:30 p.m.

“Penny Dreadful” returns to Showtime for season two on May 3 at 10 p.m. Season one of the show featured a kiss between star Reeve Carney’s character Dorian Gray (yes, that Dorian Gray) and Josh Hartnett’s character.

“Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” continue to dominate Twitter on Thursday nights on ABC at 8 and 9 p.m., respectively. Both shows feature racially diverse casts and several queer characters, as does “How To Get Away With Murder,” the third Thursday night Shondaland show, which recently ended its first season.

The second half of the final season of “Mad Men” premieres April 5 at 10 p.m. on AMC. Throughout its run, the show has featured several gay characters. The series finale will air May 17.

The sixth season of “Community,” a consistently doomed show with a cult following, will premiere April 17 on Yahoo! Screen, which will fulfill half of fans’ rallying cry of “six seasons and a movie.” Martin Mull and Lesley Ann Warren (“Clue” co-stars) will reunite when they appear as the parents of Gillian Jacobs’s character Britta.

A Netflix Show, “Marvel’s Daredevil,” premieres April 10. The show stars Charlie Cox as the titular blind superhero as well as “True Blood’s” Deborah Ann Woll and PFLAG supporter Rosario Dawson.

A scene from ‘Marvel’s Daredevil.’ (Photo by Barry Wetcher; courtesy Netflix)

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Photos

PHOTOS: Denali at Pitchers

‘Drag Race’ alum performs at Thirst Trap

Published

11 hours ago

April 14, 2026

Michael Key

Denali performs at the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show at Pitchers DC on April 9. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

Arts & Entertainment

In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI

‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’

Published

2 days ago

April 13, 2026

Baltimore Banner

Last year, Baltimore Center Stage refused to give up its DEI focus in the face of losing federal funding. They've tripled down. (Photo by Ulysses Muñoz of the Baltimore Banner)

By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.

Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.

“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

Books

Susan Lucci on love, loss, and ‘All My Children’

New book chronicles life of iconic soap star

Published

2 days ago

April 13, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy of Blackstone Publishing)

‘La Lucci’
By Susan Lucci with Laura Morton
c.2026, Blackstone Publishing
$29.99/196 pages

They’re among the world’s greatest love stories.

You know them well: Marc Antony and Cleopatra. Abelard and Heloise. Phoebe and Langley. Cliff and Nina. Jesse and Angie, Opal and Palmer, Palmer and Daisy, Tad and Dixie. Now read “La Lucci” by Susan Lucci, with Laura Morton, and you might also think of Susan and Helmut.

When she was a very small girl, Susan Lucci loved to perform. Also when she was young, she learned that words have power. She vowed to use them for good for the rest of her life.

Her parents, she says, were supportive and her family, loving. Because of her Italian heritage, she was “ethnic looking” but Lucci’s mother was careful to point out dark-haired beauties on TV and elsewhere, giving Lucci a foundation of confidence.

That’s just one of the things for which Lucci says she’s grateful. In fact, she says, “Prayers of gratitude are how I begin and end each day.”

She is particularly grateful for becoming a mother to her two adult children, and to the doctors who saved her son’s life when he was a newborn.

Lucci writes about gratitude for her long career. She was a keystone character on TV’s “All My Children,” and she learned a lot from older actors on the show, and from Agnes Nixon, the creator of it. She says she still keeps in touch with many of her former costars.

She is thankful for her mother’s caretakers, who stepped in when dementia struck. Grateful for more doctors, who did heart-saving work when Lucci had a clogged artery. Grateful for friends, opportunities, life, grandchildren, and a career that continues.

And she’s grateful for the love she shared with her husband, Helmut Huber, who died nearly four years ago. Grateful for the chance to grieve, to heal, and to continue.

And yet, she says of her husband: “He was never timid, but I know he was afraid at the end, and that kills me down to my soul.”

“It’s been 15 years since Erica Kane and I parted ways,” says author Susan Lucci (with Laura Morton), and she says that people still approach her to confirm or deny rumors of the show’s resurrection. There’s still no answer to that here (sorry, fans), but what you’ll find inside “La Lucci” is still exceptionally generous.

If this book were just filled with stories, you’d like it just fine. If it was only about Lucci’s faith and her gratitude – words that happen to appear very frequently here – you’d still like reading it. But Lucci tells her stories of family, children and “All My Children,” while also offering help to couples who’ve endured miscarriage, women who’ve had heart problems, and widow(ers) who are spinning and need the kindness of someone who’s lived loss, too.

These are the other things you’ll find in “La Lucci,” in a voice you’ll hear in your head, if you spent your lunch hours glued to the TV back in the day. It’s a comfortable, fun read for fans. It’s a story you’ll love.

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