Page 1 Roundup (01/28)

 

The Daily News: 'What the hell is going on with the firearms in NYC?’: NYPD has made 417 gun arrests already this year

NPR: At least 38 Capitol Police officers test positive for Covid-19 since Jan. 6 riots

Baseline: Rafael Nadal speaks with CNN's Christiane Amanpour

Dlisted: I'm not sure how I feel about pink candy-flavored Kraft macaroni and cheese

NBC News: Advocates brace for anti-LGBTQ backlash at state level after Biden victory

Boy Culture: Highlights from Cloris Leachman's legendary career

Towleroad: NYPD seeks information on suspect who punched man, said ‘I’m gonna kill you, you f—king homo’

HuffPost: Queer Catholics demand more than words from bishops seeking to protect LGBTQ youth

Greg in Hollywood: Flying manspread: soccer edition

The WoW Report: Ageless Demi Moore walks for Fendi

New York Post: TD Ameritrade puts limits on GameStop, AMC trades amid market mayhem

Here’s who comedy legend Jerry Stiller named in his will

The Washington Post: Democrats consider one-week impeachment trial, censure resolution after GOP signals likely acquittal of Trump

Self-styled militia members in three states began planning in November for recruits, weapons ahead of Capitol breach, U.S. alleges

Republicans back away from confronting Trump and his loyalists after the Capitol insurrection, embracing them instead

The New York Times: McConnell was done with Trump. His craven party said not so fast.

Biden won’t budge on the Senate filibuster. Why aren’t progressives pushing him?

Book Review: ‘Mike Nichols’ captures a star-studded life that shuttled between Broadway and Hollywood

The Wall Street Journal: Biden re-examining U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, U.A.E.

Apple Pay offers germ-free shopping--if only we could figure out how it works

Hot Cat of the Day: I think I've dreamed about a place like this!

Cloris Leachman, Emmy and Oscar Winner, Dies at 94

 

Farewell to the legendary Cloris Leachman, who dazzled us in a variety of roles over the course of eight decades. (How much do I love this women? I canceled a date with a bodybuilder to catch a one-off screening of "The Last Picture Show" at the New Beverly Cinema in my 20s, and today I own bootleg DVDs of the sitcom "Phyllis"!) Here’s hoping there’s a big reunion between Mrs. Lindstrom, Rhoda and Mary tonight at 119 N. Weatherly Ave. in the sky. 💔

Remains of the Day (07/31)

Dlisted: Sad to read Alan Alda has Parkinson's disease (how I loved "The Four Seasons" as a child!)

NBC News: Longtime gay-rights opponent Tony Perkins named to so-called U.S. religious freedom panel

Instagram: Debbie Harry looked like a top-of-the-line can of VO5 at the 30th anniversary of "Hairspray" in Hollywood, alongside the cast and director John Waters

The Daily News: Now we're supposed to feel sorry for the cop who wrongly attacked and arrested James Blake?

AmericaBlog: Would America vote for a socialist?

Baseline: Three storylines to follow for the WTA summer swing

Towleroad: Matt Baume goes back in TV time to re-view a groundbreaking "Mary Tyler Moore" episode

Daily Intel: Everything you need to know about the Paul Manafort trial

Brooklyn Vegan: MoviePass raises prices and limits access to new films after service outages

Think Progress: In ruling against Planet Fitness, Michigan court concludes trans women aren’t women

Queerty: Grindr wants users to stop being so racist and start being "kindr" -- but is that even possible?

The Washington Post: Facebook uncovers disinformation operation ahead of midterm elections

Beantown Cuban: Johnny Diaz on the kindness of strangers

The Randy Report: Alaska Airlines responds to "seat-gate"

Capturing Rainbows: Mark Okun remembers his first trip to Fire Island back in 1980

HuffPost: The secret history of gay Hollywood finally gets its movie

Washington Blade: Harris, Carper introduce bill to include LGBT question on U.S. census

OMG Blog: 2018's best nude scenes so far

From @matt_amiri: “He only loves me for my beard.” #catsofinstagram

A post shared by Cats of Instagram (@cats_of_instagram) on Jul 31, 2018 at 7:33am PDT

Hot Cat of the Day: Cats aren't for everyone, just smart people.

Song of the Day: The Theme From 'Phyllis'

As Damian and I work out way through the entire run of "Rhoda," I'm more heartbroken than ever that "Phyllis" doesn't seem to be available to watch anywhere. If you secretly recorded every episode and need help/funding digitizing them, please get in touch. I would do just about anything to watch Mother Dexter is action again -- she was the grandmother I never had as a child!

UPDATE:

Look what I just bought! I'm excited, although I have to say that the old saying that buying a book is the best excuse for not reading it holds true for DVDs, too. I bought "James at 15" from this same seller a decade ago and have only watched one. And after digging into my "Maude" box set I got for my birthday last year, it's fallen by the wayside now that we've found "Rhoda" and "The Golden Girls" streaming. Is putting a DVD in the tray really that hard, or is it psychological because I own it and know it's always available?!

Love Is All Around Mary Tyler Moore

Read what dozens of stars -- including several cast members from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" -- are saying about the late actress HERE.

The one that really got me was Cloris Leachman:

My heart goes out to her husband, Robert — he was never more than a touch away from her. The picture that we all have of her, that’s how she was — sweet, kind, so tender, so delicate. She was America’s sweetheart. Valerie and I always had to rehearse and rehearse, to work things through but Mary was always ready to go, thoroughly prepared. The last time I saw her was our "Hot in Cleveland" reunion. I had a feeling I wouldn’t see her again. If I could see her one last time I’d hold her in my arms and say, “We love you.”

Still no word from Valerie Harper, who has been fighting for her own life for several years now.

Related: My MTM obituary HERE. 

Mary Tyler Moore Reportedly in Grave Condition

Sick to my stomach about Mary Tyler Moore. Sadly, the outlook isn't great for most of the women of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," who reunited on "Hot in Cleveland" in 2013 as if I had been granted one wish. 

Long live Georgia Engel ...

Happy Birthday to Cloris Leachman

Here's wishing Mrs. Lars Lindstrom and the Academy Award winner for "The Last Picture Show" a wonderful 90th birthday!

BREAKING: Betty White Is Alive and Well

Whoever is behind this "Betty White DYES" promotion needs Phyllis Lindstrom to come by to flatten their souffle.

Valerie Harper Has a Gay Old Time

As if we're not heartbroken enough about Valerie Harper's terminal diagnosis, she reminds us on "The Doctors" (airing Monday) why we love her so much, with this gay memory opposite Cloris Leachman on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

The Advocate reposted its 2006 interview with the LGBT ally in which she discusses the same episode HERE. Ben was played by Robert Moore, who later directed Harper in "Rhoda" and in Neil Simon's "Chapter Two" before dying of AIDS in 1984:

There’s an episode in season 3 of The Mary Tyler Moore Show where Rhoda dates Phyllis’s brother and Phyllis is horrified to think that he might fall for Rhoda. Then Rhoda breaks the news to Phyllis about her brother.

That he’s gay! Yes, I loved doing that episode. When I tell Phyllis, she says, “Oh, what a relief!” Do you know, when I said that line “He’s gay,” we got the biggest laugh ever on the show? I mean, this was the ’70s, long before Will & Grace or Ellen; there really weren’t gay characters on television back then. The ­audience laughed and cheered for over a minute. They had to take most of the audience response out for the broadcast cut. It was amazing. That was an extremely well-written episode — we were blessed with brilliant writing on that show.