Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi to play an elderly gay couple in 'Vicious Old Queens'

The six episode sitcom series will be written by Gary Janetti, a former executive producer and writer of Family Guy and Will & Grace. So far it is being shopped around with both actors names attached. It would be a major coup because both these men rarely do television. Wonder which network will pick it up.

Ask for Sir Ian, accept Leslie Jordan.
Yeah. I've been dying to see more stereotypical depictions of gay people in the media. Why don't they just remake "Staircase"? Or better yet... why not stay home and not make a movie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staircase_%28film%29
R1 you would drop Sir Derek Jacobi for Leslie Jordan?
I WOULD LOVE THIS!
"Vicious Old Queens"? Charming title. But, then again look at this guy's pedigree.
Ew, Gary Janetti is Brad Goreski's ridiculously stereotypical partner. No thanks.
[quote] Gary Janetti is Brad Goreski's ridiculously stereotypical partner. How did he manage to sign both Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi? That is quite a coup to have them attached to this project.
This is a bad joke. They would NEVER do a series like this.
So, it's a documentary then?
R8 this link for you!
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/10/29/itv-commissions-new-gay-sitcom-starring-ian-mckellen-and-derek-jacobi/
Only six episodes? That sounds like a British series, not an American one. British sitcoms run a short series - like AbFab. Which means it will turn up on BBC America, eventually.
Great article on this season's gay stereotypes.
http://www.boyculture.com/boy_culture/2012/10/entertainment-weekly-mark-harris-modern-family.html
Brucie
Saw Staircase a few years ago on TCM. What a strange movie. Who was it made for? At least Boys in the Band had something it wanted to say about how gay mean treat each other and themselves. Staircase just seemed mean.
Sorry, but I think this sounds AWESOME. Sir Ian and Sir Derek - SCORE! Can we get Tab Hunter and Richard Chamberlain cast in this, too?
I hope they really play up the old queens stereotype, it's so much fun and it's great to see straights laughing at us rather then killing us. The mincing old faggot is such a celebrated gay icon! Is one of the guys going to play a drag queen? I know it's been done before, but that could be really cool.
Disagree with r12's article. While it's right on the stereotypes, the guys on TNN are actually believable as a couple, more so than the MF couple ever has been.
Joan Collins has expressed interest in the role of the neighborhood fag-hag
At last! Datalounge - the Sitcom!!
It would be wonderful to see such major talents as Jacobi and McKellan together - I don't know if they've ever worked together before. I recall McKellen saying in an interview that back in the 60's, when he was at the Royal Shakespeare Company, he had a major crush on Jacobi, who was on the rise at the National Theater. It's a pity these two can't get a better-sounding project than this. Will John Hurt want to show up doing a variation on Quentin Crisp?
[quote] It's a pity these two can't get a better-sounding project than this. What's wrong with this project?
GREAT NEWS! The show has an American sponsor. The Family Research Council has announced they are funding the entire season.
In the "OMG! How gay is THAT!" dept ... When "I, Claudius" was run on Masterpiece Theatre on Sunday nights, a group of us used to rehash the episode the next morning on the school bus. A former bf told us that was one of the queerest things he'd ever run across.
Old%20Goat
It sounds like the last two seasons of The Golden Girls.
Cindy%20Lou%20Peeples
Sir Ian plays an antique dealer and Sir Derek plays a hairdresser. It's a black comedy with both of them being brutally killed in three way SM orgy with a straight married guy that goes wrong.
I love Derek Jacobi! [quote]When "I, Claudius" was run on Masterpiece Theatre on Sunday nights, a group of us used to rehash the episode the next morning on the school bus. A former bf told us that was one of the queerest things he'd ever run across. I, Claudius or the rehashing on the school bus?
I can see it now. Leslie Jordan as the mawkishly chipper neighbor next door. Dan Futterman as the straight son. Stephen Collins as the obnoxious brother. Jennifer Lewis as the housekeeper whom the agency sends after the cute Asian houseboy dies in a freak accident involving tiny fish over feasting on his callouses in the first episode.
I've always had a crush on Derek ... even as slobbering Claudius. Amazing Claudius lived lone enough for his wife to poison him
Alec Mapa as the best friend who is only into "sticky rice".
long
haha%20beat%20you
[R25] -- he thought a group of teens rehashing Masterpiece Theatre on the school bus was INCREDIBLY gay.
Gary knows something about being a vicious old queen. This project is beneath both actors...I guess they both got a crack at Brad's ass as an incentive to say "Yes!"
Both of those queens are old and vicious - and this is probably just a great paycheck for them in their old age. Even Olivier did dreck like CLASH OF THE TITANS in his old age since he made so little money as a stage actor in Britain for so many years. They don't care about quality - they just want to make enough to spend their dotage in some sunny climate like California or the Caribbean, instead of damp, cold England. Not good for old bones.
Dame%20Joan%20Plowright%2C%20living%20off%20Larry%27s%20estate
Gary is..... Sooooooo Grossssssss
I was excited until I saw Gary J. attached to it.
This show is datalounge come to life
So does this mean Sir Derek has formally come out?
R26 you forgot about the elderly female faghag down the street. Joan Collins has already expressed interest in the part.
Gary is single-handedly setting us back thirty years. He really needs to go away.
Just go to a piano bar and people watch.
Oh YAY! More stereotyping me and people like me! Will the karposi's sarcoma sores get their own screen credits? How about the scarves and flowery silk shirts?
What is wrong with you bitches? First you guys complain there is not enough LGBT programming on TV. And when there is you complain about that too!
Oh man, Tony Perkins is credited as one of the script writers.
R41, wow, talk about false equivalence. I wouldn't want a "Cruising" series either. Or a "Boys in the Band" one. Basically all the new shows are more chjeerful versions of Boys in the Band, with gay men as superficial caricatures. Note that I am not criticizing the characters for being "femme." I'm perfectly happy with femme. I think that RuPaul, in a show about drag queens competing, does more to humanize gay men than these shows do. I actually like Will and Grace for what it was, but it's time to move forward from that show, not go backwards.
R41 = Straight or lesbian female. Loves those "black faced neegro routines" and those "funny sashaying queers" she sees on her reality TV shows.
[quote]This show is datalounge come to life Only if, when it airs in the U.S., it's re-titled "Eldergays." [quote]Which means it will turn up on BBC America, eventually. Not fucking likely - unless it's restyled as "Gordon Ramsey's Vicious Old Top Gear."
I have never seen Ian McKellen and Leslie Gordon together. Are we sure that they are different people?
It is being shopped around at various US networks for a co-production with ITV.
I'd like to actually see it before I passed judgment on it. Too often I've been disgusted by what sounds like a totally tasteless or stupid concept that turns out to be pretty good in execution, "Assassins" being my favorite case in point.
He probably stumbled across this site and voila, inspiration!
A huge leap forward for equality. Having these two famous old gay men play a pair of bitchy, sex-obsessed, argumentative fags will soften public attitudes towards us. There will be so many opportunities for jokes and this will make straight people less afraid of us.
Ugh. I hate TV.
Stereotypes are there for a reason.
Master%20of%20the%20obvious
They should get Simon Callow in there as well, maybe as a jealous neighbour - and get guys like Rupert Graves to come in and get some clothes off ... Michael York could be another elderly gay neighbour remembering his past glories ....
Lighten up, bitches, we haven't seen it yet. McKellen and Jacobi are both capable of making this thing watchable and fun. I hope it works out.
ITV and the title don't bode well, but the leads trump all that. Can't think that Sir Ian would attach to anything with a 'Staircase' vibe. So, nice premise, and promising.
Totally agree - I am getting so tired about hearing about this equality stuff;let's have some fun.
It's about time somebody told the truth about us, we're here and we're queer, get over it ladies!
R57, the "truth" about "us"? No.
The title has been shortened to "Vicious" and their best friend has been cast... FRANCES DE LA TOUR!
http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/ian-mckellen-derek-jacobi-star-gary-janetti-itv-comedy-vicious/
Frances De La Tour will be playing the neighborhood fag hag. I thought Joan Collins had the inside shot at that role. She expressed interest in the role first.
But did anyone express interest in Joan Collins? I kind of doubt it, unless they're really into ham. She's a terrible actress.
They're also making "Lazy old n)))))s" and "Stingy old K)))s". Because that's okay,too.
equality
R61 She is starting a recurring role on Fran Drescher's new sitcom "Happily Married" playing an aging Fag Hag, giving Fran's character pointers on how to be a Fag Hag. Joan's thinking is that she played the part so well, why not two in a row on this new series.
[quote]She is starting a recurring role on Fran Drescher's new sitcom "Happily Married" So Fran is starting another show besides "Happily Divorced"?
R64 got the title wrong. U are right
Besides what does Frances De La Tour have that Joan Collins doesn't have?
R66: talent.
r66 the hint of a penis?
Prince%20of%20Denmark
Polari-paloozza!!!
Joan!
The British crew has been at Liberace Museum in Las Vegas for the last week doing set research. They will be using a few of the pieces from the collection which will be on loan during the first season. I hope they use that incredible mirrored piano!
Joan was ROBBED of that role of the neighborhood Fag Hag. Perfect casting tossed out the window!
So now will Ian have to be replaced?
With the show down by over 2 million viewers for its second episode controversial art critic Brian Sewell says ITV’s new sitcom Vicious reminds him of a less progressive period for gay people. Last month’s launch episode opened to 5.53 million viewers, but Monday’s second instalment recorded 3.52 million viewers – a fall of 2.01 million – however it was still the most watched show outside of the soaps for the evening. Created by Will and Grace writer Gary Janetti and award-winning playwright Mark Ravenhill, Vicious sees Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi play Freddie and Stuart, a bickering gay couple who have been together for 50 years. Brian Sewell, who in 2011 complained of there being too many LGBT characters in British soaps, has taken the show to task in the London Evening Standard. He wrote: “Vicious, ITV’s current attempt to make a comedy of camp old queens who have lived together for too long, is well-named. Vicious is precisely what it is — a spiteful parody that could not have been nastier had it been devised and written by a malevolent and recriminatory heterosexual.” The 81-year-old critic continued: “The trouble for the scriptwriters was, of course, that ageing homosexuals who were never aspiring actors but tinkers, tailors, soldiers, sailors and even art critics do not behave like pantomime dames at an audition, are not an endless source of venomous barbs, are not constantly falling into limp-wristed attitudes and are not all too ready to huff and puff in pretended hurt. “Ordinary old homosexuals, if they ever step into such caricature, do so as the self-mocking joke with which minorities defend themselves, and the duration is not half an hour but the time it takes to say ‘Get her,’ or some such nonsense.” Sewell believes the show reminds him of a less progressive period for gay people and that the humour displayed by the characters disguises the pain of not being able to fully embrace being gay. “Vicious is no more than a compilation of stale travesties reaching back half a century to the oppressive years when homosexuality was so much against the law that a man could not even ask the question of another man. In public it could only be lampooned — but the lampoon was something of a safety-valve, the in-joke of self-mockery with which all minorities camouflage their secret misery.” Sewell adds: “Vicious, in reviving all the old exaggerated jokes, the posturing, the determination to be heard, may well revive the pernicious prejudices against the faggot and the poof so long familiar to men of my generation. Remember the three teenagers who kicked a man to death in Trafalgar Square.”