Not only is The Newlywed Game hosting its first ever gay couple. It's hosting its first ever gay celebrity couple. At least, one of them is a pretty well-known celebrity. George "Mr. Sulu" Takei and his partner Brad Altman will be appearing on the program. Although they've been together for over 20 years, they were only legally married last year (before all that Proposition 8 hoopla nullified gay marriage in California).
In case nobody remembers the rules to game: each partner is given a question about the relationship without the other partner present. If each member of the couple give the same answer, they win points. Considering that they've been together for 20 years, somebody is going to be pretty pissed off if one or the other gives a different answer to the same question. Hopefully it won't lead to a divorce. The most interesting answers in the game will come from any question about "making whoopee".
Kathy Griffin was on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to promote her new book Official Book Club Selection. You can see the whole interview on YouTube or on ABC's site, but the highlight was a clip from her new biopic where she plays reality show star Kate Gosselin.
Party Down is one of those shows that I always forget is on (it's on STARZ Friday nights), but it looks like one I might enjoy. Here's a clip from this Friday's season finale (it's been renewed for another season). Kristen Bell guest stars as an obnoxious girl who can shoot electricity out of her hands party planner. Another Heroes alum guest stars too: George Takei.
We may be witnessing some history here. I'm not talking about the Obama presidency, though that is very historic. Nor am I speaking about my recent advancement into my 40s, which isn't really historic bur rather another nail in my coffin. What I speak about here is a merging of two science fiction universes.
George Takei, the calm and cool Sulu from the original Star Trek series, will be providing a voice to a character on Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Takei will be providing words to the corpulent Lok Durd, a separatist Neimoidian general. Unlike the peaceful Sulu on Star Trek, Durd is somewhat overzealous (aka -- crazy like a loon) and has developed a weapon that will wipe out all living matter save for his battle droids.
He's been a member of Starfleet on Star Trek and a member of a secret company on Heroes. Now he's about to get lost in the jungle with a bunch of other celebrities.
George Takei is one of the new cast announced for the next season of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!, the British reality series that puts a bunch of well-known people outdoors and dares them to survive the elements and each other. He's going to be joined by another familiar face, tennis star Martina Navratilova.
Have you been keeping track of The Shatner Project? It's a series of videos that Boston Legal star William Shatner has been doing with his daughter Liz. In one he talked about not being in the new Star Trek flick, and in the latest he goes off on being hated by former costar George Takei.
I'm not an expert on psychology, but when the guy uses words to describe Takei such as "sad," "a poor man," that he has a "sickness" and a "psychosis," and that he should "shut up," I'm going to assume that they're not on each other's AIM buddy list.
Takei has had a problem with Shatner since the early Trek days (something to do with Shatner's ego and wanting close-ups and not giving other stars more screen time), and most recently Takei didn't invite Shatner to his wedding to Brad (even though he did invite Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig). Shatner feels sorry for the decades-long feud and doesn't understand it, but he's really snarky about it.
There should be a Celebrity Deathmatch between these two, or at the very least get them in the same house on a celebrity Big Brother.
Star Trek icon George Takei was recently roasted by the Friars Club. Author Peter David wrote about the experience on his blog as one of the roasters.
I'm sorry this wasn't one of the Comedy Central roasts (such as the recent one of Bob Saget) as I probably would have enjoyed watching it "live". On the other hand, those tend to be hit and miss (the Shatner one was great. Saget was not so much). Also, the Comedy Central roasts tend to get in anybody with a Comedy Central contract to be the roasters (with only a few personally connected roasters lumped in). The Friars Club roasts (which to the best of my knowledge are not televised although there are some taped segments on the website) seem to use more people who have a personal connection with the person being roasted.
At first, I wasn't certain why George Takei would be the subject of a roast. I could only conclude that his recent association with the Howard Stern show might have given him the necessary contacts to join the Friars Club. I hope the segments of the roast are online soon. They're probably hilarious.
Jon Stewart kicked off the night with some anger fueled by Mets love. Mets manager Willie Randolph was fired in a rather unceremonious manner. He was all the way on the other side of the country, contacted at 3:00 a.m. and fired by Mr. Met. Sick burn.
"The Gay After": In other news, same-sex marriage is now legal in California, and, somehow, the state is still attached to the rest of the country and it hasn't been engulfed in flames. Hmm, interesting. Some newsworthy couples have tied the knot since this announcement, including George Takei, who married his long-time partner. I just started one of my Summer mini-projects, watching the entire original Star Trek series in preparation for its TV Squad's Retro Squad week, and while I know I'm a newbie Trekkie, I'm pretty sure Takei's name is pronounced "Tek-ayy." It allows for maximum fun in rhyming, "George Takei is gay."
Now that California's gay marriage ban has been lifted, George Takei is getting married. The 71-year-old Star Trek actor recently announced that he would wed Brad Altman, his partner of 21 years.
Takei broke the news on his official website just one day after the California Supreme Court ruling. The couple has yet to set a date; Takei wrote that he and Altman, a business manager, were "enjoying the delicious dilemma of deciding where, when, and how [they] will be married." This news follows Ellen DeGeneres' announcement that she and girlfriend Portia de Rossi planned to marry in California.
Well, we didn't think Secret Talents of the Stars was so bad. We were in the minority. The network has had second thoughts. After just one showing, CBS has canceled Secret Talents of the Stars. The reason stated is poor ratings. The airing on Wednesday was only watched by 4.6 million viewers, with fewer and fewer keeping the channel on CBS as the hour progressed. That's a bad sign. Bad enough to warrant the chopping block.
I had no plans to watch CBS' Secret Talents of the Stars last night. When I heard about this competition show, I thought it would be tacky. George Takei singing country music? Come on! I may be a Trekkie but I can admit this match up is a tad weird (more on him later). Plus, 10 p.m. on Tuesdays for me right now is devoted to watching the Dancing with the Stars results show (I tape it and fast forward through it) and then Hell's Kitchen (I tape it as well). So why did I end up watching it? Simple, I watch Big Brother at 9 p.m. and was waiting for 10:05 because DwtS always finishes late. I didn't want to flip channels so not to hear who was voted off the dance competition, so I ended up watching the beginning of STotS where figure skater Sasha Cohen admitted her secret: she's highly flexible and wanted to do a contortionist routine. Since curiosity got the best of me, I decided to watch the entire segment and ended up being impressed.
I write the introductions to my articles after I write the articles themselves. This is because I find the introductions the hardest part and, remembering the advice I got from the introduction to the S.A.T.s, when I run into a problem I can't easily solve, it's a good idea for me to go to the next question and return later.
This introduction, however, was easy to write. That's because my wife wrote it for me. She read the column and then turned to me and said, "Wow, you're gonna get crucified for this." I asked her, "Worse than my Simpsons essay?" She said, "The reaction to this will make the Simpsons essay look like a fawning Office review. I agree with it, and I'm sure a lot of other people will as well, but the ones that don't... Wow, they are just gonna hate you!" So, uh, thanks honey. Now, on to the crucifying...
The second season's of NBC's hit show Heroes may only begin in a month but that doesn't prevent the nice people behind the show for giving us hints about what is to come. The series just launched YamagatoFellowship.org, a new website linked to the show's mythology. This site is dedicated to the Yagamato Fellowship, founded by Kaito Nakamura (played by George Takei) and the famous samurai Takezo Kensei (who will be played by Alias' David Anders).
To boldly go where other Star Trek actors have gone before: Heroes! A few days ago, TrekMovie.com revealed that Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura in the original Star Trek series, was cast in a recurring role on NBC's hit show Heroes. The actress joins George Takei, Sulu from the original Trek, and Dominic Keating, Malcolm Reed from Enterprise, who are already on Heroes' pay roll (Keating was cast in a recurring role earlier this summer). To add to the Star Trek-Heroes links, Zachary Quinto, who plays Sylar, was cast as Spock in the upcoming movie. Slight spoilers after the jump!
Not only is The Newlywed Game hosting its first ever gay couple. It's hosting its first ever gay celebrity couple. At least, one of them is a pretty well-known celebrity. George "Mr. Sulu" Takei and his partner Brad Altman will be appearing on the program. Although they've been together for over 20 years, they were only legally married last year (before all that Proposition 8 hoopla nullified gay marriage in California).
We may be witnessing some history here. I'm not talking about the Obama presidency, though that is very historic. Nor am I speaking about my recent advancement into my 40s, which isn't really historic bur rather another nail in my coffin. What I speak about here is a merging of two science fiction universes.
He's been a member of Starfleet on Star Trek and a member of a secret company on 
Have you been keeping track of 
Star Trek icon George Takei was recently roasted by the 
Jon Stewart kicked off the night with some anger fueled by Mets love. Mets manager 
Now that California's gay marriage ban has been lifted, 
Well, we didn't think 
I had no plans to watch CBS' Secret Talents of the Stars last night. When I heard about this competition show, I thought it would be tacky. 
I write the introductions to my articles after I write the articles themselves. This is because I find the introductions the hardest part and, remembering the advice I got from the introduction to the S.A.T.s, when I run into a problem I can't easily solve, it's a good idea for me to go to the next question and return later. 
The second season's of NBC's hit show 
To boldly go where other 
Have any questions for Vik Sahay of Chuck? Ask them here!
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
