Issue Number 995 | To Lesbians Everywhere | Advocate.com To Lesbians Everywhere  |  | Advocate.com

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To Lesbians Everywhere
XOXO, Michelle Paradise
From The Advocate  October 23, 2007
To Lesbians Everywhere

“if you’ve seen alias, you basically know what’s going to happen in [our show],” jokes Michelle Paradise, the writer, executive producer, and star of the new lesbian “dramedy” Exes & Ohs, premiering on Logo in October.

Paradise’s goofy-pretty charm may begin to explain how, without an agent and with just one short film under her belt, she came to be auteur and leading lady of the first (and long overdue) lesbian comedy on TV. Logo president Brian Graden says the pilot hinges on Michelle’s character and “how endearing and relatable she is in such a universal, everywoman way.”

Paradise plays the hapless Jennifer, a documentarian in the middle of such a long post-breakup dry spell that she’s practically reverted to a virgin. Jennifer is coaxed into “getting out there” by her close circle of Seattle friends: bossy ex-girlfriend and best friend Sam (Marnie Alton), pet accessory store–owning life partners Chris (Megan Cavanaugh) and Kris (Angela Featherstone), and wannabe musician “Crutch,” played by Heather Matarazzo.

Once you get over the fact that Matarazzo, as the baby dyke next door, does not resemble your neighborhood boi but rather a grown-up version of her character Weiner Dog from Welcome to the Dollhouse, her mix of gooberishness and “edge” is hilarious. Similarly, Cavanaugh (A League of Their Own) brings her dopey comic persona to the wouldn’t-hurt-a-fly Chris. The lesson here seems to be that lovable-misfit actors have been gay all along (if we hadn’t learned that already from Lily Tomlin), so they are raring to play openly gay characters. 

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