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By Pam Cole
April 22, 2006--Rosie O'Donnell has signed as executive
producer with LOGO for six-half hour episodes of a comedy sketch
series called (get this) The Big Gay Show. After a four-year
absence following her highly popular talk show, The Rosie O'Donnell
Show, she is ready to get back to television. And what better
place for the openly lesbian comedian than LOGO, the LGBT network
that was just a twinkle in the eyes of Viacom and MTV when O'Donnell
left the air in 2002.
"Rosie O'Donnell's comedic precision and unique bond with
the LGBT audience will provide an exceptional artistic foundation
for a cast of fresh and inventive performers," said Brian Graden,
president of entertainment at MTV Networks Music Group and president
of LOGO.
Details about The Big Gay Show are still "sketchy,"
but it is said to feature comedy sketches, musical numbers, and
pop culture parodies. The cast includes Erica Ash, Dion Flynn, Julie
Goldman, Stephen Guarino, Johnny McGovern, Kate McKinnon, Nicol
Paone, and Michael Serrato. Former Married ... with Children
actress and popular lesbian activist Amanda Bearse will direct.
"Dan and Joe came to me with a visionary idea for a show that
has not been done before," O'Donnell said in a news release
from LOGO. "I'm excited to be part of something new, fresh,
and hilariously creative."
O'Donnell's been busy since her television show ended:
- She got married (to longtime partner Kelli in San Francisco)
- Wrote a book ( her acclaimed autobiography, Find Me)
- Starred on Broadway (in Fiddler on the Roof)
- Appeared in a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation
as a developmentally disabled woman (Riding the Bus with My
Sister directed by Angelica Huston)
- Produced a Broadway play (the short-lived Taboo)
- Published a magazine (the now defunct McCall's)
- Executive-produced an HBO film with partner Kelli (All Aboard:
Rosie's Family Cruise, which tells the story of a gay family
cruise hosted by R Family Vacation, Kelli O'Donnell's business
with Gregg Kaminsky. The film premiered in Sundance this year
and aired in April on HBO.)
Now, O'Donnell is getting back to what she does best--television
comedy. The Big Gay Show will premiere sometime next year.
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