Ilene Chaiken Producing New Show With Two & A Half Men Producers, SOUNDS LIKE A WINNER

ILENE CHAIKEN:

In an exciting twist, Ilene Chaiken created a brand new show NOT titled The L Word or The Real L Word.  For now it doesn’t appear the new show will elicit a collective lesbian battle cry, but it’s early yet.

Rhodes to Recovery will be produced for CBS (parent company of Showtime, fyi) and “centers on an openly gay female trauma surgeon and her new colleague, a straight male neurosurgeon. Their lives at work — and at home — become complicated when one starts dating the other’s ex-wife.” Chaiken’s co-executive producers are Eric Tannenbaum and Kim Tannenbaum, the minds behind Two and a Half Men. And ya’ll know how much Riese loves Two and a Half Men!

Hey- whatever happened to Chaiken’s CW drama, Confessions of a Back Up Dancer? Or the other CBS show she was supposed to develop based on The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane about “a young woman who realizes she descends from a long line of witches dating back to 1692 Salem?” Ilene Chaiken is sort of like that cousin you see every year who always has a new “investment” on the horizon or “business” plan.

JENNIFER BEALS:

JB’s new show, The Chicago Code (formerly titled Ride Along) will debut the night after the Superbowl, February 7 on FOX. Look how butch and Bette Porter-like she is in that uniform! So listen. Ilene Chaiken spoke personally to a girl I know about this show and revealed that JB is pushing the producers to make her character gay. Take that for what it’s worth. JB also covers the December issue of More Magazine.

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LEISHA HAILEY:

As we wait patiently for the new Uh Huh Her CD to be released in February (maybe?), Leisha Hailey pays the bills by guesting on CSI.

CARMEN DE LA PICA MORALES:

Sarah Shahi will be back in our lives on the regular starting January 20, 2011 on USA in Fairly Legal (formerly titled Facing Kate). Sarah plays Kate Reed, a top litigator that was frustrated with the system and decides to become the opposite of a lawyer – a mediator. After her father suddenly dies, Kate finds herself at odds with her step mother who is also now her new boss.


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NEIL PATRICK HARRIS:

I’ve sat through nearly every episode of The Talk listening to Leah Remini, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete and Julie Chen prattle on about their perf hetero lives with their darling husbands and 2.5 children whereas our very own Darlene Conner aka Sara Gilbert often comes off as a single mom, without mention of her partner, Ali Adler. Why do I put myself through this exercise? I’m waiting for Sara to say something – anything! – about her life on the show SHE created centered around motherhood. She has a golden opportunity to chat about her life as a mom of two boys in a gay family, instead, she mostly relegates herself as foil for Leah Remini to poke fun at her vegan lifestyle. Whatever.

Anyway, the good news is that the show’s first male guest was Neil Patrick Harris who obviously is only there because he and his partner, David Burtka, are tight friends with Sara and Ali.  Neil chatted about life as a new father of twins and even got Sara to loosen up and mention Ali by name.

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GRAEME TAYLOR / ELLEN:

Backstory:  Graeme Taylor is the openly gay 14-year-old who spoke at a school board meeting in defense of his teacher, Jay McDowell, who was disciplined after he kicked two students out of his class for anti-gay bullying. When he was unsuccessful, Towleroad and consequentially Buzzfeed picked up the story and now he’s on Ellen!

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Jess

Jess is a pop culture junkie living in New York City. She enjoys endless debates about The L Word, Howard Stern, new techy gadgets, DVR, exploring the labyrinth of the Lesbian Internet, memoirs, working out, sushi, making lists, artsy things, anything Lady Gaga touches, traveling, puppies, and nyc in the fall. Find her on Twitter @jessxnyc or via email.

Jess has written 240 articles for us.

42 Comments

  2. that boy is just spectacular i love him so much is he available for adoption seriously though wow

  3. The only thing that could make a Chaiken/’Two-and-a-Half Men’ producers collab worse is, like, late-career Seth MacFarlane being appointed head writer.

    Also, Graeme Taylor is pretty wonderful.

  4. as soon as i read that title i tried imagining charlie sheen & kate moennig in a show together (as shane and charile of course)

  6. Ilene Chaiken: The Gift That Keeps On Giving.

    Oh, wait, that’s Jennifer Beals. Ilene is the gift that just keeps showing up whether we ask for it or not. Like socks.

  7. “She has a golden opportunity to chat about her life as a mom of two boys in a gay family, instead, she mostly relegates herself as foil for Leah Remini to poke fun at her vegan lifestyle.”

    Forgive me for this, but if the stuff she’d talk about is “don’t vaccinate”, I’m not sorry.

    “Ilene Chaiken producing a new show with the producers of Two and a Half Men” might be the worst sentence I hear all week. Although the premise sounds OK.

    Aaaand I will watch Sarah Shahi’s new show but I’m still not over Life getting cancelled. JSYK cos you’re all interested, right.

    • i think the general public isn’t aware of how many vaccines are unnecessary or even dangerous, especially for infants… i would be interested in hearing what she had to say on the topic, this is something that is never talked about.

      • Which ones do you think are unnecessary and why? Please back up your responses with peer-reviewed evidence.

        • Dina brings that shit balls to the wall, man. Well done. If only everyone had this kind of tenacity and intellectual rigor, instead of being permitted to make open-ended airy generalizations without being called on it.

          • Maybe we aren’t experts and we don’t have all the answers, or evidence to back up what we say. If I got payed to find them then I could probably provide more information to you. I just feel like we should always question and be a bit suspicious. If we never did wouldn’t we be living in a patriarchal world right now? I feel like that was unneccasary use of force you had. Maybe instead of questioning her generalizations you could have provided the information you have.

      • I think the general public thinks it knows a hell of a lot more than it maybe actually does about things like herd immunity, which is why whooping cough is suddenly a problem for infants again. I think that vaccines save many, many, many more lives than they take, so talking about vaccines being dangerous is confusing language. And I think that this is a topic that is talked about far, far more than it deserves, and I’m not especially interested in giving anti-vaxxers one more platform.

      • My girlfriend is an epidemiologist and every time someone talks about NOT vaccinating, I sit back and watch her try not to explode into a million tiny little epidemiological pieces.

      • whooooooaaaaa…..
        back the truck up Maybeline–vaccinations are ABSOLUTELY VITAL !! Vaccinations are the reason why babies are no longer dieing of Polio, Whooping Cough, Pertussis, Measles, Mumps etc.—-the actual science of this is without dispute. Inform yourselves Autostraddlers, make your own decisions with the help of your family physician–and just so you know, this is one physician whose son is vaccinated on schedule.

        The worst conversation of my professional life?? The one I had with some parents last summer, informing them of the death of their 2 children…..from a disease for which they had repeatedly declined innoculation.

  8. I clicked on link to Riese’s recap of Two and a Half Men, having seen 20 min of one episode I am stunned you were able to recap, I would rather have gnawed my arm off. Sometimes when people ask me what is wrong with this world I respond “Two and a Half Men” obvs I have a lot of feelings about this so I will end by saying I hope it didn’t totally scar you for life.

  9. I didn’t receive a single vaccination or shot when I was a baby. I was perfectly healthy and never once visited a hospital… When I joined the military I had to receive all of my vaccines which caused me to be hospitalized for two weeks. Then 3 months later when I had to get follow up vaccines I had to be hospitalized for another six days. I don’t have scientific research or sources, all I have is my own experience and I think that’s most important.

    • The reason you didn’t get sick as a child is called herd immunity, you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity (and many more places less readable for laypeople). Check out that table on the side for pertussis (whooping cough) and the very high threshold (i.e. you need a very large proportion of the pop. to be immunised in order to prevent it spreading). Now you know why you’re reading about deaths from whooping cough, a disease that sounds like it should have died out in 1900. Three weeks in bed is a hell of a lot better than dying as an infant.

      Personal experience IS important when it comes to our health and there are a lot of reasons why women and queers and queer women are suspicious of the medical establishment BUT in this case, personal experience *is not the most important thing*, and this is why: you can’t have a personal experience of having your life saved by herd immunity, like you did. You can’t have a personal experience of being in bed for two weeks but, five years later, *not* dying of the measles. What you can have is a look at the rates of death from illnesses like polio, measles, mumps, rubella and pertussis since vaccination for these illnesses became standard (for people in wealthy Western countries).

      • That is why intelligent women, who know what they are talking about turn me on. I tip my hat to you. Although looking back now I sounded like an idiot, and you talked to me like one, I admit you are probably right. I think I will get my children vaccinated…. Its just like out of personal experience I don’t wear my seat belt, but I’ll make my child wear theirs.

        • I hope I didn’t talk to you as if you were an idiot, and I think you’re making the right decision for your children – and their generation.

          I wish you would wear a seat belt though. :(

          • I would be dead if I had worn one. True story. :).

            I think me and my future lucky lady will probably have to re-research it all when they time arises but I’m pretty sure I’ll be on your side ;).

    • With reactions like that, it sounds like you might be one of those people who needs herd immunity.

      However, the vast majority of people who can tolerate vaccinations should get vaccinated. That protects people like you who get horribly ill from vaccinations… or kids with egg allergies, or kids with autoimmune conditions that contraindicate vaccination… and so on.

      This site is amazing for teasing out the truth out of research-based science. This category is particularly relevant to the topic at hand. :)

      • I have to agree with you. I take back my first comment completely. I feel somewhat selfish to have said it now. It seems as though it is better for the general public…
        My father, who is a doctor, would always give me generalized and vague reasons why he didn’t vaccinate me… I wish i would have questioned him more.

      • I had never had any problem with Vaccines but when I was 14 I got this Meningococcal Meningitis B Vaccination and I fainted and not only that, I ended up having seizures and an ambulance had to come and I couldn’t walk for a day. It was a very traumatic experience. I avoid vaccinations like the plague

  10. ohmygah. Jennifer Beals as a cop in a uniform. :D

    Also, that Graeme kid is adorable and I want to hug him and buy him pizza or something.

  11. Stunning Jennifer Beals in everything..so amazing and sexy…..
    Chaiken has no choice but casting JB in her new show for success….

  15. “Anyway, the good news is that the show’s first male guest was Neil Patrick Harris”

    It’s like you haven’t even been watching the show. They had five male guests on the show prior to Neil Patrick Harris appearance. If they had only had one guy on the show, I could see how you’d forgotten, but five?!

    “Sara Gilbert often comes off as a single mom, without mention of her partner, Ali Adler”

    Then you complain about the lack of Sara talking about her girlfriend but she’s mentioned Ali often and she’s talked about how Ali was pregnant first and later on she was. And, I mean, it’s only the start of The Talk and you know how audiences can be, she needs to be a little cautious and gain a following before she goes all out gay talk. Plus, I bet she talks about her girlfriend a hell of a lot more than Ellen ever did at the beginning of her talk show.

    And, did you even watch the episode where they participated in the wearing purple in memory of those kids who took their lives? Sara did her own little “It Gets Better” talk right into the camera. It was actually heartfelt, not like a lot of the “celebrity” ones I’ve seen.

  16. Oh, I missed this part the first read through:

    “She has a golden opportunity to chat about her life as a mom of two boys in a gay family”

    Two boys?? Where did you get that from? Ali gave birth to their son Levi, and then Sara gave birth to their DAUGHTER, Sawyer.

    Seriously, it’s like you’ve never watched the show.

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