SNL's "A Lady's Guide to Throwing a Party"

On this past weekend's SNL, Mad Men's January Jones starred in this brilliant short film skit, spoofing her own perfect '60s Barbie doll image in this supposed 1952 instructional on hosting a cocktail party. (And just remember, if it turns out to be diarrhea, you must leave society and live in the woods as an animal.)

The Ranch Fence Goes Up, The Wall Comes Down

It was a strange coincidence the other day when, conscious that we were approaching today's 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, I was researching a piece for CBS Watch! magazine, and came across an interesting anecdote. I was interviewing Guido Meyer, who, Frank and I discovered on a press trip to Florida with the handsome German journalist last fall, is an expert on all things Dallas.

As Guido explains, one Stuttgart-based Dallas fan club, of which he is a member, is currently planning to build a replica of the Ewing family’s Southfork Ranch as a tourist attraction in

Bavaria. "Germans have always had a thing for Westerns, for Texas, and for cowboys," he says.

But the lingering affection for the series, he notes, also arises in part from the fact that for some of his countrymen, the show was particularly inspiring. Even though Dallas was never aired by the state-owned broadcasters in the communist former East Germany, viewers there were able to receive the show via West German signals. “For the people in Eastern Europe, Dallas was the West,” Guido explains. “Rich people, driving fancy cars, living on a luxurious ranch. They saw this lifestyle, and wanted it for themselves.”

I checked into his theory, and found that in his 2001 memoir Hello Darlin’, the series’ star Larry Hagman agreed. “I watched CNN’s coverage of the Berlin Wall being torn down and realized that Dallas had impacted that side of the world,” Hagman wrote. “I honestly believe that as Dallas crossed the borders into Soviet-controlled countries, it played a big part in the downfall of the Soviet empire. When people from the Eastern bloc countries saw what they were missing, they realized what a farce communism was.”

It just goes to prove: never doubt the power of television!

Talking About... Me! (And The Golden Girls)

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of appearing on Talking About..., a fabulous local New York gay talk show hosted by the handsome JC Alvarez and, for this episode, substitute hosted by the lovely and talented comedienne Cara Kilduff. I was sorry to miss regular host Jonathan Griffith as well -- but hopefully, I'll soon be invited back, whether to discuss The Q Guide to The Golden Girls... or whatever else they want!

Talking About: Jim Colucci

Talking About

Vote No on Prop 1 in Maine!

Such a simple, elegant message from the No on 1 Campaign in Maine, to protect marriage equality. I worry, though, that it doesn't counteract the lies the enemy is spreading, about how schools will be forced to teach explicit gay sex lessons, etc.

Still, it's nice to present the non-scary faces of some of the families desperately counting on voters in Maine to preserve their equal rights. If you live in Maine, please go to the polls on Tuesday and vote No on Proposition 1!

Birdie Bonus

Tonight's performance of Broadway's Bye Bye Birdie was sailing along well -- until, just a few numbers in, a panel came crashing down from the wall of the MacAfee living room set. The scene progressed, and as the next began, Conrad Birdie's screaming girl fans were forced to get in place to lament their idol's departure while Birdie's agent Albert Peterson sings "Put on a Happy Face." The problem was, the show's scenery appeared to be stuck, and the train station set had not rotated into place. And so, out popped Peterson -- aka the show's star, John Stamos. "Girls, I'll be right out to make you feel better," he ad libbed. "As soon as they fix this mess." The curtain came down -- and the best part of the show was about to start.

"I was just about to sing 'Happy Face,' and then this shit happens," Stamos mock complained. Then, as he vamped for time in front of the curtain, he first pointed out comedy legend Don Rickles in the audience. "These seats are terrible, and the show stinks!" Rickles yelled back from the orchestra.

As female audience members shouted out for Uncle Jesse, Stamos noted his Full House co-star Bob Saget, just a row behind Rickles and sitting with both family members and Paramount CEO Brad Grey. Saget initially just shouted back a hello, but as first Gina Gershon and then a clowning Bill Irwin came out to apprise us of the further delay, Stamos was able to lure Saget to jump up on stage with him and speak into his forehead mic. "You say this show opens tomorrow?" Saget was quick to joke.

And my favorite interchange of the evening: Stamos urged Gershon, "Come on -- do something from Showgirls." To which Gershon replied, "You know, I had never seen Full House before, and now I finally did -- the other day, at the dentist." Without skipping a beat, Stamos asked, "Which was more painful?"

Two New Must-Reads

On today's Frank DeCaro Show on OutQ (Sirius 109, XM 98), author Randee Dawn discussed her new book, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Unofficial Companion. And I can tell you, for any fan of show -- and of the yummilicious pairing of Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni -- the book is a must-read.

Dawn and her co-author Susan Green spent a week on the show's NYC set, and saw firsthand how an episode goes from script to screen. The book contains synopses of all 224 episodes in the show's first 10 seasons, covering right up through this past June. (As someone who has written 2 books about sitcoms, one six seasons' worth and one seven, I can tell you that covering 10 years of an hourlong show is a lot of work!) There are also bios, ratings and awards info, web links, and anything else you'd want to know about this most personal show in producer Dick Wolf's vast empire. (And the book, by the way, has Wolf's seal of approval -- he even wrote the foreword.)

And a few weeks back, Brady Bunch star Susan Olsen appeared on the show, promoting a new book she has co-authored with Ted Nichelson and the amazing "Bradyologist" Lisa Sutton, about a chapter of Brady life not everyone out there might know about: the ill-conceived but campy and hilarious-for-all-the-wrong-reasons follow-up series, The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

The book, Love to Love You Bradys: The Bizarre Story of the Brady Bunch Variety Hour, is chock full of fun, behind-the-scenes photos and factoids about a show which you just will have to see to believe. Closeted Robert Reed, now playing not just America's favorite dad, but a singing and dancing architect to boot? All the Brady members (except with Geri Reischl as a new Jan) -- often including Alice -- tap-dancing around an indoor pool in spangled '70s getups? Who doesn't want to see that?!

(2 of the 8 produced episodes of this unsurprisingly unsuccessful 1976-77 series are available on DVD.)

And this just in from Lisa Sutton: this coming Sunday, October 4, meet the authors (and perhaps some special guest Bradys!) at the West Hollywood Book Fair. A panel discussion and book signing starts at 11:15 in the People, Places & Politics Pavilion.

The Munchkins Take Manhattan

During these past few days in New York City, I've felt like I'm a witness to history.

Last night, at Central Park's historic restaurant Tavern on the Green (itself on the endangered list as it is undoubtedly due for an overhaul on 1/1/10 when it will no longer be run by the LeRoy family, the descendants of the film's producer, Mervyn), Warner Brothers and its home video department gave a big bash to celebrate the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz -- and a new blu-ray DVD box set coming out this coming Tuesday, 9/29.

In the restaurant's parking lot, a hot air balloon, much like the one belonging to the Great Oz, hovered, bearing the likenesses of the iconic film's stars. Later, inside, Oz star Judy Garland's daughter Lorna Luft performed a medley of songs from the film. As she explained in her intro to the medley, she had always resisted singing Oz songs, but had put together this arrangement just for last night's party. But as she elaborated this morning on "The Frank DeCaro Show" on OutQ (Sirius 109, XM 98), the songs she sang last night -- including "If I Only Had a Brain," "Optimistic Voices" and even the number cut from the film, "Jitterbug" -- were all deliberately chosen because they were songs Judy didn't sing in the film.

Following Lorna came Ashanti, who recently starred in The Wiz on Broadway. She deftly belted

out a loving rendition of "Over the Rainbow," and followed with another catchy song, from her new album.

But here's the part about being a witness to history: posing in front of the balloon, with stand-ins of Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and Lion, were five of the six surviving Munchkins. As John Fricke, who has authored three books about the film, explained in his intro, 124 little people worked on The Wizard of Oz. Today, six remain, the youngest, Margaret Pellegrini, at age 86.

They are the only people who remain from the cast of this iconic film. And as five of them gathered in one room, both last night and today on Frank's show on Sirius, I couldn't help but feel like I was witnessing the last of a great era. 70 years later, these performers, who came to Hollywood practically as kids, hearing of a rare big break for Little People, are still with us; and if the reaction of everyone gushing around them in these past few days is an indication, they're getting their due as living American treasures. I was happy to hear, for example, that back in November 2007, the then 8 surviving Munchkins got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Pictured below are at left, author John Fricke (holding the sign), and at right, Lorna Luft.

And in between, Meinhardt Raabe (in wheelchair), the Munchkin coroner. He is the last remaining cast member who had actual solo lines in the film. And at age 94, he performed them today on the air. We'll all always remember:

As coroner, I must aver

I thoroughly examined her.

And she's not only merely dead

She's really most sincerely dead.

Next to Raabe, with the lollipop, is 89-year-old Jerry Maren, the center member of the Lollipop Guild. After Oz, Maren went on to do quite a bit of work in Hollywood, including the "Yada Yada" episode of Seinfeld, and has two films slated for release later in 2009-10. All together now:

We represent the Lollipop Guild

The Lollipop Guild, The Lollipop Guild

And in the name of the Lollipop Guild

We'd like to welcome you to Munchkinland.

Next to Maren is Ruth Duccini, 91. She met her husband on the set of the film, and was married for a little over 50 years. She has 2 children, 4 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren -- and got a laugh on Frank's show today when she said the family doesn't really care too much about her iconic status.

In the flowerpot hat, that's Margaret Pellegrini, 86. At only 15, she took a train, by herself, from Mississippi to Hollywood for a role in the film. Make that two roles. Not only will you see her in the film in that flower pot hat, but she's also one of the "Sleepy Heads."

And at right, in the tie, that's Karl Slover, who just turned 91 on September 21. Slover says he's the smallest cast member, at 4'4". "I couldn't reach the doorknobs," he says with a laugh. Slover had the talent, though, to be cast as 4 different Munchkins -- including one in drag. Catch him as the First Trumpeter, a Munchkin soldier, the sole Sleepy Head boy, and a singer urging Dorothy to Follow the Yellow Brick Road.

As author Fricke mentioned last night, some of these people had had some rough experiences in their lives before the film. But now, they're beloved by generations well into the future, well past their time, and undoubtedly mine. That's why I feel lucky I was able to express my gratitude (and perhaps drooling fandom) in person, to be able to thank them for their roles in creating a work of art that has inspired the imaginations of many millions.

(And P.S. -- if you missed the Munchkins and Luft on this morning's "Frank DeCaro Show," catch them again tonight on the rebroadcast. They're right at the top of the show, which means 10 PM Eastern / 7 PM Pacific.)

Lenny Clarke live at Comix Tonite

At least since the underrated and prematurely cancelled ABC sitcom It's All Relative, I've been a huge fan of comedian and actor Lenny Clarke. This afternoon on "The Frank DeCaro Show" on OutQ (Sirius 109, XM 98), Clarke was hilarious as he discussed his momentous weight loss, and his great work on FX's highly regarded series Rescue Me.

If you didn't catch it, you can hear Clarke again during the rebroadcast of Frank's show, in the 2nd hour -- so I think that would be at 11 PM tonight. But here's the thing -- if you're here in NYC, you can also catch Lenny live, tonight and tomorrow at Comix, the really hip, comfortable club in the Meatpacking District. So for more Lenny tonight, tune in -- or show up!

Flash Forward again tonight

In case you missed last night's premiere of ABC's intriguing new sci-fi series Flash Forward -- it's being called the new Lost -- and in case you also missed attending that episode's screening on Wednesday night at the New York Television Festival -- here's another chance to get in on what may be this season's most mysterious hit right from the start. (Don't do what I did with Lost, which was wait until it was too late.)

Tonight at 8 PM Eastern/7 Central, ABC is showing an encore of the series' pilot -- and this time, the network's publicists are hinting -- the episode "might just contain some added material" -- whatever that means!

If you're like me, a Virgo who tries to figure out the mystery as far in advance as possible, thus driving his husband crazy, check this out. The show is already full of clues as to what caused the "Global Blackout." But in addition, a new video series at ABC.com gives us viewers access to the show's creator/showrunners David S. Goyer and Marc Guggenheim as we try to solve the mystery of just what everyone sees up ahead on April 29, 2010:

Also, ABC advises, be sure to check out the FlashForward Experience, share your FlashForward on the Mosaic Collective’s site, and watch exclusive clips in the Augmented Reality experience.

Modern Family and Cougar Town at the 5th Annual New York Television Festival

I was all set to blog today about last night, the opening night of the 5th Annual New York Television Festival, and its screenings of, and subsequent talk-back about, the new ABC shows Modern Family and Cougar Town, set to debut tomorrow night.

I'll post more thoughts on both shows later -- and since they're both good, I urge you to check them out tomorrow. But for a really fun assessment of last night at the Festival, check out Bryan Reesman's blog, Attention Deficit Delirium. There's even a photo of me with the Fest's founder, Terence Gray. (I think I'd rather be Q. I love the gadgets.)

One thing more -- at last night's talkback alongside her Modern Family co-star Ty Burrell and Cougar Town star Busy Philipps and moderated by EW's Tim Stack, Julie Bowen said she'd love to do a Cougar cross-over episode. Considering how hot Bowen looks (especially now that she's not 8 1/2 months pregnant with twins, as she was in the Family pilot), I'd tune in for that!

In Memoriam

With all the amazing talents we lost in 2009 -- as we've all noted, seemingly more this year than in any typical other --Sunday night's Emmy telecast contained a particularly moving In Memoriam segment, accompanied by Sarah McLachlan singing "I Will Remember You."

Thanks to a viewer who, it seems, uploaded the segment to YouTube from Canadian TV, here, again, In Memoriam 2009:

Rue McClanahan and the Archive of American Television

This morning, September 14, 2009, the Archive of American Television launched a new web site, www.emmytvlegends.org, containing links to their complete, hours-long archival interviews with over 600 legends from all aspects of TV.

I have had the privilege of conducting quite a few of these interviews, and many of those are now available online. For example, there's my chat with Rue McClanahan at her home in New York -- the interview which did double-duty for me as research for my book, The Q Guide to the Golden Girls.

Having just attended Bea Arthur's memorial service here in New York this afternoon, where other giants we recently lost were evoked, like Larry Gelbart and Dom DeLuise, it's in the front of my mind that the people who brought this medium to life are fast leaving us. I'm so thankful that Karen Herman and her Archive of American Television have preserved some of their knowledge -- not to mention funny stories! -- for the generations to come.

Take a look at Rue -- who by the way, brought the house down at Bea's memorial. After telling at first a touching personal anecdote, she went on to tell a story of what Bea said to her husband a few years back about former Golden Girls co-star Betty White.

Let's just say, there's a certain c-word which was among Bea's favorites. There were plenty of f-bombs on stage today. (And off -- like Anne Meara, after she stumbled into me on her way up the aisle afterwards, yelling at me "move your fucking foot!" She's a charmer.) But in quoting Bea, Rue became the first and only tribute payer today to break the "c-word barrier."

Here, in the link below, Rue talks about her entire career -- she was even beginning at the time, I believe, to prepare to do Del Shores' Logo series, Sordid Lives. And there's plenty of Golden Girls dish, not to mention Rue's seamless transition into Blanche-speak. Enjoy!

Rue McClanahan | AAT

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Watch for Watch!, the September/October issue

Any day now, you subscribers to CBS Watch! should be getting your September/October issue -- with a new twist. This issue features 7 different collectible covers, featuring each of the five stars of the red-hot Big Bang Theory and two with group shots from our day at New York's glam Hotel Pierre.

Me, I just got a whole box of copies today, featuring Mr. Howard Wolowitz himself, Simon Helberg. Inside, check out the interview with Helberg, Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco and Kunal Nayyar, and the gorgeous photos expertly styled by our own Angelique O'Neil and shot by the amazing Mark Mann.

Also, more from yours truly: a tribute to the legendary Bea Arthur, Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan talks about his cross-country bike race to raise money for MS research, and a preview of each of CBS' four new fall series: Accidentally On Purpose, The Good Wife, Three Rivers and NCIS: Los Angeles. On the last page, there's also a job "application" which purports to tell you how to break into the business as a wardrobe supervisor.

If you're not already subscribed to CBS Watch!, the issue should also be arriving on newsstands right about... now! And for the future, to subscribe -- for free! -- just visit our web site, www.cbswatchmagazine.com.

It's the best entertainment that meets the eye. (That's the slogan I pitched, anyway. They didn't go for it. :)

Bored to Death in NYC

Last night, HBO premiered its latest comedy series, Bored to Death, with a screening of its first two episodes at the Chelsea Clearview Cinemas on 23rd Street, followed by a party at the Tribeca Rooftop. In addition to the show's cast (below), the night lured such celebs and HBO stalwarts as Jason Bateman, Sofia Coppola, Glenn Close, Steve Buscemi, Vanessa Carlton, Mary Steenburgen, comic Todd Barry and SNL's newest addition, Jenny Slate.

Before the screening, HBO President Sue Naegle set a confident tone by noting that "we have so much faith in this show that we called it 'Bored to Death,' despite how tempting that title will be for critics."

Then the show's creator and well-known author Jonathan Ames addressed the crowd. On visits to L.A. to visit his sister, he said, he would always be asked to take meetings with Hollywood networks and production companies. But he never knew why, because although the meetings would be perfectly convivial, full of discussions about favorite books and leaving him with the hilarious impression that L.A. is "incredibly literary," nothing would ever come of them.

Then came a meeting at HBO in New York, where one of the network's producers Sarah Condon asked what he was working on. The answer was a short story called "Bored to Death," in which a hard-drinking and drugging author and freelance journalist, named Jonathan Ames, decides to moonlight as an unlicensed private eye. "I told her I thought it would make a great movie," Ames admitted last night. "Then I remembered where I was, and said, '...or TV series."

The results of that meeting were on the big screen at the Clearview, with the incredibly likable Jason Schwartzman playing Ames' amiable small screen alter-ego, Zach Galifianakis as his bearded slacker artist friend, and Ted Danson as his pot-addicted, id-driven employer at a New York-like magazine.

While watching the pilot episode, I was struck by how different the show starts out from HBO's other recent comedy launch, Hung. I had felt the Hung pilot started out way too slow, taking forever to launch its hero into the escort business because it wanted to make sure to convince us how desperate he was, by serving up blow after blow to his financial and emotional security. Bored to Death takes the opposite tack. Jonathan gets dumped by his girlfriend, who does mention that he should be more of a man of action. He loves Raymond Chandler novels. Boom! Before you know it, he places an ad on Craigslist advertising himself as a private eye. No explanation given.

If you're willing to buy this, however -- and to be fair, maybe we'll get more back story or motivation in episodes to come -- stick with Bored to Death after the pilot. Hung got better and better after that first episode, finally freeing Ray to see clients and have hilarious complications ensue. Rome, too, took 3 or 4 episodes to get juicy after being front-loaded with setup; I have a few friends who quit that show too early, and now regret it. And The Comeback got really good only at the end of its first and -- unfortunately, because by then the show had alienated too many -- only season. More than with broadcast TV, where if a pilot sucks the show may forever suck too, it seems that HBO has a pattern: stick with the show at least through its 3rd or 4th week. You'll usually be rewarded.

Indeed, Episode 2 of Bored to Death is fantastic. Kristen Wiig shows up as Jonathan's client, with the wavy hair and vintage dress of a film noir femme fatale, but the hilarious neuroses and comic delivery that are by now Wiig's trademark. Her story -- and Danson's too, allow for Schwartzman, in his character's puppy-dog dorkiness, to have some really fun comedic and even slapstick moments. And Galifianakis provides, as you would expect, some great sidekick comic relief.

Bored to Death is HBO's broadest comedy in years, and is a refreshing surprise. I heard from some normally tough media critics -- albeit, yes, a lot of women with crushes on Schwartzman -- that the series only gets better through at least the 5 or 6 episodes they've already seen in advance. So check it out, Sunday, September 20 -- up against the Emmys, unfortunately -- at 9:30. It's inheriting the second half of True Blood's time slot, so all you have to do is continue your HBO habit.

It's a Living

In today's random thought... Maybe it's that I've been holed up at home for a week now, going a little squirrelly while writing on deadline. And maybe this has something to do with the DVD for the first season of Castle which arrived today, which features Susan Sullivan.

But I got to thinking: I'm lucky enough to get to write about new and classic TV as my job, and to talk to people I've always admired. But then, I have to sit home and turn hours of interviews into a coherent article. There are the pros and the cons, but overall (and now maybe you won't be able to get the theme song out of your mind either) It's a Living!

Will Earl Live on in Spirit?

Q: I started to call you on Frank's show today, but I am sure you have had this question often: Is My Name is Earl coming back? My partner and I love that show; it has such great messages and was so gay-friendly. I used to love watching and knowing that rednecks and republicans were watching it too! Any good news? --Tim

Well, Tim, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the short answer is: No. Earl is almost certainly dead. After NBC cancelled the series in May after four seasons, there had been brief speculation that Fox or even TBS (which already airs syndicated episodes of the show's previous seasons) might pick it up, but the deal never happened.

But the good news is, I spoke with Earl's creator Greg Garcia last month, who told me about the comedy pilot he's currently writing for Fox. The still-untitled show would center on a 25-year old who has to raise a child -- the product of a one-night stand with a woman on death row for murder (!) -- with the help of his quirky family. As Greg described it to me, the single-camera show is My Name Is Earl meets a family show like Malcolm in the Middle.

Maybe not coincidentally, and showing Fox's tastes of late, it also sounds tonally like the network's own comedy on the bench for midseason, Sons of Tucson -- about three parentless kids who hire a local drifter to pose as their dad. And in fact, Sons boasts a number of writers it snapped up when Earl went down.

Garcia's new show is just at the pilot stage, meaning we won't know until possibly May 2010 if it's ever going to hit the air. So stay tuned!

V is for NoVember

In answer to your question, Philip from Atlanta, from today's Must Hear TV segment on The Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius XM OutQ, V is coming to ABC, starting November 3.

According to the network's press release, "'V' is a re-imagining of the 1980s miniseries about the world's first encounter with an alien race. Simultaneously appearing over every major city in the world, the Visitors (or V's) promote a message of peace. Through their generous offer to share advanced technology, the V's build a following that may actually hide a more malevolent agenda, one that twists a very deep component of human nature -- devotion."

The original show's baddies -- led by the vixenish, appropriately named Jane Badler -- were a bunch of rodent-gobbling lizard people covered in fake human skin, here to harvest us for food. And so the series was not, I learned with some disappointment back in 1982, about my strict 8th grade math teacher Mrs. Vastola, as had been widely rumored around Schuyler-Colfax Junior High School in Wayne, NJ.

The cast of this new remake boasts quite a few viewer favorites, including Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell as resistance leader Erica Evans, and Scott Wolf (formerly of Party of Five, and not to be confused his costar from that show, Lost's Matthew Fox -- got that?) as journalist Chad Decker.

I'm excited for the remake -- if only to see the concept executed better this time around. Because let's face it -- if you're around my age, you may have nostalgia for the original, but if you think back on it, it was pretty bad. But meanwhile, these days, remakes of sci-fi -- witness Battlestar Galactica -- are smarter, deeper, and lavished with impressive special effects. So will this new V delve deeper into the allegory of fascism as depicted in our relationship with our new alien overlords?

And more importantly, will Morena Baccarin, as the Visitors' leader Anna, unhinge her jaw a la the original alien baddie Diana to swallow a rat whole? Come to think of it, even if this new V is spectacular, a part of me will always miss the cheesy special effects (and Mrs. Vastola, who turned out to be an amazing teacher.)

PS -- I know she was on Falcon Crest afterwards, but whatever happened to Jane Badler? Anyone?

Nitpicking Peggy Olson

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE Mad Men. But something about Peggy Olson just... bugs me. Maybe I'm too close to the Catholic thing, but I just don't believe that a Catholic girl in the 1960s would do the things Peggy does. Not that there weren't Catholic girls sleeping around and getting pregnant in 1962. But doing so as seemingly guilt free as Peggy?

And even if Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) were to be so "liberated," I find it even more doubtful that, having given birth, she would be able to forget about the child so easily and continue on pursuing a career. Back then, for right or wrong, a girl would consider her life forever altered by this unintended pregnancy, perhaps even "ruined." She would be stuck in Peggy's outer borough, now forever a mom. I just don't buy Peggy's attempts at moving at this stage to Manhattan.

As my friends in the past few days have discussed this past Sunday's episode, "The Arrangements," everyone seems to be coming down really hard on Mrs. Olson. They read this week's scene where Peggy tells her mother about wanting to get her own apartment in Manhattan as the older woman's resentful attempts to stifle Peggy's burgeoning independence and liberation. And yes, I agree, Mrs. Olson was quite passive-aggressive and cruel. But here's the thing -- can you blame her? Her daughter Peggy has proven that the moment she is given free reign, she gets indiscriminately pregnant -- and worse yet, is in denial about it right through the moment she gives birth, unable to care for herself or the child. Peggy has shown not only questionable judgment, but questionable sanity as well. Shouldn't we empathize with Mrs. Olson for fearing what will happen if she lets her clearly judgment-impaired daughter so far out of her sight?

I guess my point is, I don't root for the character as much as many fans seem to, because at the core of it I often don't believe that a Peggy Olson would exist in her time. She often seems to be a cipher, a device for the show's writers through which to illustrate the week's theme of sexism, of filial duty, etc. And here's where I get nitpicky, but these little details are the types of things the show is supposedly famous for getting right, and this one from this

past episode rang false enough to pull me out of the story:

Norway is not a Catholic country. It's overwhelmingly Lutheran-Protestant. In fact, Catholics make up less than 1% of the population; there are fewer Catholics than Muslims. We've seen how Catholic Peggy's mother and family are -- again, it seems to me, merely as a device to show the Church in America and its influence over the times. But had the writers been more careful, they might have named the family something other than Olson, to make their ethnic/religious combination more likely.

Still, I used to try to rationalize, maybe Peggy's mother is of another ethnicity, which would explain the Catholic roots. However in Sunday's episode, she tries to appeal to her mother by saying her new roommate is also Norwegian. (Peggy's lie really is a hilarious little payoff from the writers, since we know the roommate is of Swedish descent.) So wouldn't that mean Mom is also Norwegian? Otherwise, why would Peggy think the lie would assuage her?

I certainly look forward to seeing what happens with Peggy in episodes -- and seasons -- to come. I hope she achieves great things, because I'd love to see what happens in a place like Sterling Cooper when a woman really does have some power and some say. I just wish "Peggy" were a little more believable all along the way.

Sordid Lives comes to DVD

From the moment I first saw the series' premiere at Los Angeles' Outfest in 2008, I was hooked on Sordid Lives. Del Shores' comedy, based on his earlier film and play about an extended family of Texas trailer trash, was hilarious, moving, and completely addictive. Too bad Logo didn't get that -- as far as anyone knows, they haven't ordered a second season of the show. (Of course not -- it was too expensive. And too smart for them.)

Not that Del hasn't tried to nudge the network along, even touring the country with his husband, the show's Jason Dottley, and some of his series' other stars. (You can find more information on the tour dates and locations on Del's Facebook page, and also on this Facebook page for fans of the series: Save Sordid Lives.)

The silver lining in all this is that, as of October 13, Sordid Lives will be on DVD -- in Canada. But worry not -- now you can pre-order a Canadian copy (it's Region 1, so it's the same as the U.S.) here. The DVD contains all the goodies Logo bleeped and/or edited out -- including a censored sex scene with former Golden Girl Rue McClanahan.

With Leslie Jordan, Caroline Rhea, Beth Grant, Ann Walker, Bonnie Bedelia, Olivia Newton-John and so many more -- it's an amazing cast in a show which may (still hoping, Logo, still hoping) have been cancelled far too soon.

Neil Patrick Harris talks about our trip on the Orient Express

On tonight's Late Show with David Letterman, Neil Patrick Harris spends the majority of his time being teased for taking a trip on the Orient Express with Watch! magazine.

Wow, we could not have asked for better promotion for Watch! -- thanks, Dave!

Check it out below. And for a FREE subscription to Watch!, go to www.cbswatchmagazine.com.