Catch Me "Under the Pink Carpet"

Starting this past spring, fabulous and gay comic actor Leslie Jordan began touring America with a show based on his memoir, My Trip Down the Pink Carpet. I had first met Leslie back in 2004, when I was writing my book on Will & Grace, and was thrilled to get the chance to interview him about his portrayal of Karen Walker's thrillingly bitchy and impish nemesis, Beverly Leslie.

Back in April, Leslie launched his tour here in New York City, with a performance to benefit the Harvey Milk High School. At the party afterward, I was briefly interviewed for this segment of Clover Honey and Tony Sawicki's fun cable show, Under the Pink Carpet, about just what makes every character Leslie plays -- now including Brother Boy on Del Shores' campy and addictive Southern sitcom Sordid Lives, which I hope LOGO has the good sense to renew! -- so much fun to watch.

Gimme Shelter (Island)

On last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother, Ted and Stella proceed to the altar in her dream wedding locale, Shelter Island.

It wasn't the first time the island, "sheltered" in between the north and south forks of New York state's Long Island, was used as a sitcom setting. Back in 2002, the gang from Will & Grace invaded the normally peaceful place, when Will rescued Karen from certain humiliation at the hands of Beverly Leslie by providing her with a partner for their country club's annual "spotlight dance" at Valentine's Day. Then, three seasons later, they returned and integrated the place with homos, as Will danced with Jack, and two closeted lesbians played by Chita Rivera and Michele Lee dared to tango.

But if you've ever been to the actual Shelter Island, you know that both shows took some liberties and/or got some things a little bit wrong. The place has very few commercial establishments, save for a few restaurants and a supermarket in a strip at its center, and I think one small restaurant/hotel in the ritzy Heights section. So it's not too likely that there would be a hippie/vegan lodge of the sort seen on HIMYM last night, with its hellish prohibitions on meat and ale. Moreover, Ted and the other characters kept saying they were going "up" to Shelter Island, which would imply north -- but the Island is several hours due east of Manhattan. When we New Yorkers venture to Long Island, we say we're going "out" to the Hamptons, Shelter Island or Montauk, not "up."

And I think poor Robin would be a little more pissed than she seemed to be at having traveled all that way, only to be uninvited upon her arrival. Yes, she was relieved not to have to watch her ex get married. But not only did she spend 24 hours, as she said, on a flight from Japan, but then, being that she probably flew into JFK, she then also spent several hours in a car to either Greenport (on the North Fork) or North Haven (on the South Fork.) From there, she had to wait for the passenger/car ferry service (the show got this part right), which would dump her at the base of Shelter Island Heights. Then, it's a hard-to-find taxi to wherever that hippie-dippie hotel was. And then, Ted uninvites her? I was pissed for her!

Poor Ted. He never should have shlepped a funny guy like Jason Jones out to see Stella. And poor Robin. As she watched Stella and Tony hug it out, that must have been one long ferry ride home.

A Little Ditty About Jack and Karen

When I logged onto AOL this morning, I saw a teaser quoting a National Enquirer story which claims that NBC is eager to put together a pilot for a potential Will & Grace spinoff, to star Sean Hayes and Megan Mullally's characters Jack McFarland and Karen Walker.

Now I'm not one to believe the Enquirer -- or AOL's shoddy news reporting, for that matter. But let's take this seriously for a moment, and realize -- it sounds like a really bad idea. For every rare hit spinoff like Frasier was from Cheers, there's a Joey or reaching back even further, a Golden Palace or an AfterM*A*S*H.

And there are some good reasons to be skeptical about this rumor. For one thing, just last week it was announced that Megan Mullally has already signed on to star in an ABC pilot, In the Motherhood, opposite Cheryl Hines and Chelsea Handler.

Plus, there's the issue of Will & Grace's terrible series finale. Back in July, I asked Debra Messing at the Television Critics' Conference if there might ever be a Will & Grace reunion. Never say never, she basically said -- but she pointed out that the series finale wrapped up the show's storyline so far in the future that any reunion would be logically problematic, if not impossible.

The same can be said for Jack and Karen. Didn't we see Jack financially forced to marry Beverly Leslie, only to be thrilled when a freak windstorm swept the little guy off their balcony? And then we saw Jack and Karen, together again, living off Beverly's estate? Jack, with touches of gray in his hair now -- and Karen, hilariously looking exactly the same?

I had very mixed feelings about the Will & Grace series finale, because in its attempt to set up a "meet cute" for Will's son Ben and Grace's daughter Lila, the episode contradicted several key facts we already knew about our titular twosome. Despite the finale's assertion to the contrary, Will and Grace had not earlier been said to have been freshman hallmates; he was even probably a year or two ahead of her. Instead, it had been established, including during the two-parter where Grace married Leo, that Will and Grace first met at a party on a New York rooftop. But I digress.

It would probably be best to let Jack and Karen rest, in whatever boozy state they're lounging around in in the TV ether. But I want to make this clear: should these spinoff rumors turn out to be true, and the show does somehow get on the air, I'll be the first one to tune in and watch. And this time, I want to write for the show. Got that, Mr. or Ms. Showrunner?