Contents:
- HOW JEFF HILLER SMASHED GAY TV TROP ON HBO’S SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE
- ‘ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED’ EXAM THE GAY MAN BEHD THE MOVIE STAR
HOW JEFF HILLER SMASHED GAY TV TROP ON HBO’S SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE
”) When Joel v her to “Choir Practice” — a semi-sanctned baret soiree that draws gay rints and other ee spirs om the muny, held after-hours a mall church — she begs to fd her voice and her place, as well as to untangle the hidn ms wh her own Everett’s hometown, Manhattan, Kan., “Somebody Somewhere” was created by Hannah Bos and Pl Thureen, who wrote for “High Matenance, ” a high-THC study of oddball Brooklyn. Sam seeth wh long-held anger at her self-pyg mother and her sister Tricia (Mary Cathere Garrison), who had a “love the sner, hate the s” attu toward Holly, who was gay. His Joel is like a sweet, middle-aged, gay Richie Cunngham wh a wry w he sav for his iends and a dreamy optimism he pours to his homema visn board, which the cynil Sam mocks him for.
Somebody Somewhere is, ostensibly, about Sam’s journey to rega her footg after the ath of her (openly gay) sister, Holly, whom she returned home to re for through a long illns. An active, always-weled member of Fah Prbyterian Church — and such a popular figure the ia is briefly floated that he bee a lay mister — Joel affirms repeatedly throughout the show that spe nservative evangelil’s equent, wispread persecutn of gay people, he n’t help but fd a fort spirualy. A rdamom ndle-lovg, Zumba dancg, Vamix-vetg, big-hearted gay man, Joel is a unique example of how the spiratnal poster platu “bloom where your planted” n actually be a ll for muny vtment — not settlg.
) All the while, queer characters like Joel chew the one-dimensnal trope of “gay bt iend who livers sassy zgers” to showse somethg far more lumo: a warm, lovg gay man livg his joy (and stggl) ral Ameri. ”Everett is the face—and ocsnally the ebullient voice—of “Somebody Somewhere, ” but the show’s real draws are the timate iendship between Sam and Joel, a tug-of-war between her wound cynicism and his buoyant scery, and the red-state settg where queer middle-aged folks like Joel, a gay churchgoer, and Fred, a trans agriculture profsor, have rved out pockets for themselv. (Instanc of overt homophobia are rare on the show, but an ambient social nservatism do sometim t on the daily liv of the queer characters, who are quick to flip the nfn of normi to their own bemed mirth.
‘ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED’ EXAM THE GAY MAN BEHD THE MOVIE STAR
The drama stars the boisteroly funny Bridget Everett as Sam, an aimls 40-somethg queer woman grapplg wh loss as she mov back to her hometown, where she fds an empowerg muny her openly gay worker, Joel (played by Jeff Hiller), and a gay choir group full of proud misfs. Somebody Somewhere opens as Sam strik up a iendship wh Joel, her gay Christian lleague and former classmate, and he nudg her toward live performance, troducg her to a group of like-md outsirs town. It wouldn’t be that relign was srng him bee he’s gay or whatever.
Ambassador Blasts Anti-LGBTQ CrackdownAtomic Blon: Our Film Crics Discs ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’Actor Tom Holland’s Gay Sex Scene Sparks Controversy. Hiller plays Joel, a sweet, gay, church-lovg 40-somethg livg Hiller, who hails om Texas, related to the character. She’s got queer iends, queer fay, queer fans –– the latter of which she urted while performg her alt-baret (alt as she’s been known to sg about butthol to a ulele-acpanied tune) at New York Cy gay bars.
Among them are Joel (openly gay actor Jeff Hiller) and Fred Ro (edian and NYC drag kg performer Murray Hill). You got your start gay bars, right?