The Adventures of QueerPenguin

More Teleovision

Lots of politics on QP lately - and there's gonna be some more as I speculate on the fate of queers under a hypothetical Costello government - so to break up the monotony a bit, here's a couple of TV tidbits.

Multiple Emmy-award winning African-American actor Alfre Woodard is moving into Wisteria Lane to provide some much-needed colour contrast in Desperate Housewives.

Woodard is a wonderful character actor whom I've seen turn in excellent performances in otherwise average or mediocre films like Grand Canyon, How to Make an American Quilt, Primal Fear, What's Cooking? and The Core. Her best role was in John Sayles' Passion Fish, where she more than held her own against Mary McDonnell playing a personal nurse with a past.

Woodard claims she'll be playing a seemingly "ordinary" housewife (which, to quote Kaz Cooke, means by DH standards she'll be playing a "woman who weighs more than a capsicum"), but you know they'll be some bizarre undercurrent to her character. Personally, I would have cast Angela Bassett in this role as she is a fine (not to mention drop-dead sexy) actor whose career is overdue for a shot in the arm, but I'm sure Woodard won't be any less effective.

Meanwhile, Neighbours is gearing up for its 20th anniversay memory-lane orgy, which apparently will involve a "documentary" interviewing past "residents" of Ramsay Street.

Former residents confirmed to return to Erinsborough include Annalise Hartman (Kimberley Davies), Doug Willis (Terence Donovan), Marlene Kratz (Moya O'Sullivan), Sarah Beaumont (Nicola Charles), all the Kennedy kids, Danny Ramsay (David Clencie, who has not been on the show since 1986!) and - fresh from his recent stint as Michael Chamberlain - Craig McLachlan as Henry Ramsay. Annie Jones is also appearing as Jane Harris, meaning they've got 2 of the original Neighbours Famous Five (I guess they're still "in negotiation" for Jason Donovan, Guy Pearce and Kyles).

Add to this the recent return of Paul Robinson (who was never as evil as he is now when he was first on the show), Lucy Robinson and the actress who played Harold's ill-fated daughter Kerry (playing, naturally, a woman applying for a job at Harold's store and almost giving him a heart attack when she first appears) and it really is an indulgence of sentimentality. But hey, I've watched the show since I was 7 so I don't mind.

The best rumour I heard was that they were in discussion with Alan Dale, currently playing the bad-guy patriarch in The OC, to make a return appearance as Jim Robinson. This might not seem unusual bar for the fact that Jim died in 1993 after a massive heart attack (ie the writers killed him off when he asked for a pay rise). So how was he going to re-appear? How else - as a ghost seen or dreamed by his son Paul.

Champagne camp Aussie soap.

posted by Sam @ Friday, April 15, 2005