CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
"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.
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.
But before I describe the show in too much detail, let's get The L Word-ephant in the room out of the way: Comparisons between the two shows seem inevitable, and Exes & Ohs' creators are braced for them. Graden grumblingly blames it on the relative infancy of lesbian TV: "There should be 30 other shows to compare it to, but they don't exist yet. Today, you would never look at a show with an all-black cast and say 'This is just another Cosby Show.' "
So let's start with three basic things Exes & Ohs has on The L Word. One: theme song. Though it may be shooting fish in a barrel, Exes & Ohs wins hands down for the catchy tune "The Constant Lover" by Canadian femme rockers Magneta Lane. Two: no actor coyness about who's into girls. Paradise, Cavanaugh, and Matarazzo are openly gay, and the other two cast members are openly straight. There. Was that so hard, L Word cast? Three: Exes & Ohs is the first lesbian TV show to be intentionally funny.
The show has rich comedic ground to plow -- thanks to the newness of the genre, basically everything untouched by post-coming-out Ellen is virgin territory -- and it gleefully plows it. Chris and Kris's matching sweaters are the bulky woven items you can't bring yourself to tell your dorkiest lesbian friend to burn. Crutch's songs hilariously knock off the Indigo Girls ("I'm trying to tell you something 'bout my dog..."). And Jennifer's chronic inability to avoid her exes is very, very lesbian.
Lesbian in-jokes could probably carry the show through at least a season, so extra props to Paradise et al for working in the "drama" aspect of "dramedy." The complexity is in no small part due to her vivid and dogged imagination, which may be even more crucial to her success than her goofy charm. The characters of Exes & Ohs have existed in her head for almost 10 years, sprouting out of the first script she ever wrote in a San Francisco coffee shop in 1998.
"It's a Horatio Alger-esque story," Paradise says of the road to Logo. "It's one of those things where if I was reading it someplace I would think, God, why can't that be me? You're in your room typing, or in an audition with 500 other people who look just like you, for years, and then for something to finally come -- and in such a big way!"
A few years after penning that first script, she uprooted to Los Angeles, a move she calls "insane.... At the point where people are starting to settle down, they're buying their cars...I'm renting a room in someone's else apartment with all of my stuff in storage." She met producer Abbie Ludwig and producer-aspiring director Lee Friedlander, and together they made the romantic comedy film short The Ten Rules: A Lesbian Survival Guide, which introduced Jennifer, Sam, Chris, Kris, and 12 or 13 others (no Crutch yet). The short traveled to dozens of festivals, won awards, and caught the eye of Logo to eventually become Exes & Ohs.
After 10 years the characters are so real to her that they're more like friends, albeit imaginary ones. When I ask whom she might have cast as Jennifer, if not herself, she blinks at me in confusion. Same bewilderment when I ask whom she might cast in future projects. There are rumors that she is working on a new screenplay. ("Who are the characters?" she asks.)
Paradise is much more comfortable discussing her characters' foibles and biographical details (of which she has reams, not yet in the show) than her own. Though at home with self-mockery -- she announces that, like Britney Spears, she is in the habit of driving around without pants -- Paradise is cagey on personal details. Her age? She jokes that she's 24; her MySpace page says 99. Her love life? "I'm not single." Her time at Brigham Young University? "I was Mormon for about seven years and pretty much left the church after graduation...all for reasons that are pretty personal."
Back at work, Paradise manages to juggle the roles of actor, writer, and executive producer, and the result is worth it: a comedy with a pervasive quality of realness, from the nuanced characterization to the low-fi production to the moody Seattle weather -- that's richer and better acted than most on TV, gay or straight.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Here Are Our 2024 Election Predictions. Will They Come True?
November 07 2023 1:46 PM
17 Celebs Who Are Out & Proud of Their Trans & Nonbinary Kids
November 30 2023 10:41 AM
Here Are the 15 Most LGBTQ-Friendly Cities in the U.S.
November 01 2023 5:09 PM
Which State Is the Queerest? These Are the States With the Most LGBTQ+ People
December 11 2023 10:00 AM
These 27 Senate Hearing Room Gay Sex Jokes Are Truly Exquisite
December 17 2023 3:33 PM
10 Cheeky and Homoerotic Photos From Bob Mizer's Nude Films
November 18 2023 10:05 PM
30 Steamy Photos of Folsom Street Fair 2023 Debauchery
October 15 2023 11:06 PM
42 Flaming Hot Photos From 2024's Australian Firefighters Calendar
November 10 2023 6:08 PM
These Are the 5 States With the Smallest Percentage of LGBTQ+ People
December 13 2023 9:15 AM
60 Burly Pics from Bearrison Street Fair 2022
October 08 2023 8:30 PM
Watch Now: Advocate Channel
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Latest Stories
Plus
Yahoo FeedInjectable HIV treatment, prevention: Everything you need to know
March 26 2024 10:45 PM
Ronna McDaniel, tied up by her Trump lies, drowns in an aquarium of her own making
March 26 2024 9:00 PM
The ultimate guide to cannabis in Provincetown
March 26 2024 6:40 PM
New York Times fails to include trans voices in coverage, say GLAAD, Media Matters
March 26 2024 6:31 PM
Pete Buttigieg commits federal resources to Baltimore bridge collapse recovery
March 26 2024 5:47 PM
The horrific reality of transgender individuals in Texas prisons
March 26 2024 4:30 PM
Three more arrested in murder of queer Brazilian politician Marielle Franco
March 26 2024 3:41 PM
New Hampshire advances trans-exclusionary sports bill
March 26 2024 3:24 PM
Pride
Yahoo FeedFind your perfect fit with gender-inclusive fashion from The Pride Store
March 26 2024 2:16 PM