I Am A TV Junkie, A Blog For The Clicker Jockey

It's Ricky with a "Y" For Gay-For-Pay Schroeder in A&E Andromeda Update

So it's not "Rick" anymore? I was just getting used to saying Rick. Sheesh.

I have a love/hate relationship with Ricky Schroeder, ever since I found out he spoke at the 2000 Rethuglican Convention (how's that President working out for ya, Ricky?). So, when I found out he was playing the gay character in the A&E remake of The Andromeda Strain (one of my favorites) playing tonight and tomorrow on the cable network, I was intrigued.

But I have to wonder if he's only Ricky when playing gay and will he be Rick again once afterward?

Anyhow, AfterElton.com did a piece on this. They say:

(T)his time around, the cast of characters is markedly different than it was in the original novel or its 1971 film adaptation. This time, one of the characters, Major Bill Keene, played by Ricky Schroder, is gay. It’s perhaps the most high-profile example to date of a leading gay character in an American science fiction or genre movie.

“It was my decision,” screenwriter Robert Schenkkan tells AfterElton.com regarding the inclusion of the gay character. “The novel was written in 1969, and all the scientists were white heterosexual males.” (One of the male characters was changed to female for the original film version.)

“If you’re going to update the story, which is our mandate, you have an obligation to reflect the world as it is,” says Schenkkan, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of The Kentucky Cycle.

And surprise, the role doesn't go to co-star Eric McCormack (that would be so, uh, jejune?) it goes to the Republican. Hey, maybe he'll get a chance to see what it's like to walk in our shoes and change parties and get with the program.

Yeah, and monkeys are flying out of my butt as a sit here typing.

Clippage after the jump. I must say the reviews have not been great, but I'm still gonna give it a shot.

A & E's Act of Desperation -- Renewing the Corys For Season Two

Is there anything else that needs to be said about this?

I didn't think so.

Sad. I know so many people more compelling than these two.

I'd rather watch Guy Fieri make "mmmmm ..." noises over a plate of diner food.

I'm the guy who writes the TV junkie blog and I have watched nothing on A & E since the first episode of that Gotti show.

Nothing.

My Friend Virginia Loves the Show Intervention

Never lets a chance pass to write about it in the NY Times:

Just when you’re feeling pretty good, in other words, like you don’t even need a new “Intervention,” and could go about your television life in a measured, temperate way, taking it one day at a time and surviving if not quite cold turkey then at least just on the occasional rerun, back it all comes: the new addicts, the gruesome histories, the sores, the rosacea, the needles, the wily liars and then, at last, the catharsis of the confrontation that is the program’s reason for being.

So obviously the show returns tonight on A&E, and if you're so inclined, have at it. I for one just can't deal. First, I always feel like I shouldn't know so much about someone I don't know.

And besides, it's on opposite The Soup, and I would much rather go into the weekend laughing with Joel than crying with the family of meth-head with a chainsaw (see Virginia's piece for more).

Trouble for A&E's Risky Balls of Steel

The problem is insurance. It seems with all the problems that have arisen post-Borat, insurance companies are wary of pranking as entertainment.

What kind of pranks? Variety reports:

The U.K. edition of "Balls," which airs on Channel 4, features comedians accosting strangers in pranks like the "urban rodeo," in which a comedian jumps on a stranger's back and tries to stay on as long as possible.

Format is 12 comedians, each of whom play characters like "Militant Black Man" and "Bunny Boiler," competing to win the title for the strongest "balls of steel" that week.

This is the show, btw, that featured Tom Cruise getting shot with a water gun during the London premiere of War of the Worlds.

Hey, you don't think that it high lord Xenu that's refusing to insure this show ...

... do you?