Mr. Ratburn got married!

The long-running cartoon Arthur featured a gay wedding this week for the third grade teacher Mr. Ratburn. No one knew before that he was gay, and his students at first mistake his sister for the bride at the wedding, only to discover two grooms instead. It was wonderful, and this time the episode aired instead of getting pulled; ten years ago, the Postcards from Buster episode that featured a lesbian couple got pulled. I'm very happy that the show decided to do this with a major character and also to treat it so matter-of-factly once the kids discover the truth. What an unexpected delight!

I'm sure there are still people saying "How dare they on a kids show" and all that, but I don't care anymore. Don't kowtow to the homophobes who object to the mere existence of gay people.

In contrast, I was hoping that Arrested Development would let Gob's coming out stick in season 5, or at least change to bisexuality, but it was frustrating instead. To have them do a "magic" reversal and end up back in the closet was so disappointing. Mere hints about a continued secret relationship is no way to affirm Gob's sexuality; it's a step backwards and it lends credibility to those who say "the Narrator said it was just friendship; no he's not really gay, just stupid." Fuck the writers for cowardly ambiguity.

Speechless Cancelled

The May upfronts are coming, so the TV networks have already begun cancelling shows to make room for new shows. I'm disappointed that Speechless got cut; it was such a funny show with quirky characters and the mom didn't become too overbearing to take. I thought Speechless would survive despite its lowered ratings due to it being so close to syndication. Sad. Well, I'm not surprised that Murphy Brown got cancelled due to its low ratings, but I did love Avery's relationship with his mom.

Among the new shows, the CW has ordered Batwoman to series as well as Nancy Drew. Finally! This is the third attempt to make a TV show about her in recent years. I'm glad they went back to the premise of her as a teen detective instead of an adult. I hope it will be good, and make up for the fact that I don't have Hulu and can't watch the new Veronica Mars episodes. Too many streaming options, and I don't want to have a dozen accounts.

Cuatro done

I spent most of yesterday and today putting together a corner bookshelf only to find that one of the foot pieces totally doesn't fit. Then trying to get my Tivo wireless adapter working, and failing. Not my day.

Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow, but a local restaurant I know already had decorations up on Friday afternoon, apparently looking forward to a whole weekend of celebration. May the 4th also brought out all the Star Wars fans as well as AD fans celebrating Cinco de Cuatro.

I've got into Barbies lately and recently learned how to blowdry the doll's head so the vinyl gets soft, then I can pull out the ugly earrings and replace them with something else. I also was able to fix my Uhura doll's hair by cutting out the weird styrofoam bump they put under her overly gelled hair. But still I'm annoyed that Barbie advertises dolls as "fully articulated" when they don't have fucking ankles, which would make the whole issue of high heels vs. flats so much simpler. Oh well.