Jonesing for Transparent

Transparent’s second season is soon upon us, and when it arrives the Emmy-winning show will meet a Tony-winning actor: Cherry Jones. The acclaimed lesbian actor – married earlier this year to fellow actor Sophie Huber – will join the cast as a lesbian women’s studies professor, a character based on legendary poet Eileen Myles. We have no idea what will happen to Jones’ character, or with whom she may become romantically involved, if anyone. But creator Jill Soloway has promised not to let the queerness of Transparent soften one bit, which means something promising. Meanwhile, we couldn’t be happier to have one of the best actors in America joining this already-amazing series. It drops Dec. 11 on Amazon, so go get that Prime account and climb aboard the Binge-Watch Train. For Canadian's, you can also watch it on Shomi.  

Jesse Tyler Ferguson: One man, 40 characters

The last time Jesse Tyler Ferguson was on Broadway was as part of the cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Since then he’s been a little busy on Modern Family, for which he’s been Emmy-nominated five times. But come April of 2016, the actor will return to the New York stage in Becky Mode’s Fully Committed, where he’ll be the lone cast member playing 40 different characters. The main one, a highly stressed-out reservations clerk at an upscale eatery, will spend the show dealing with 39 spoiled, entitled, rude, and occasionally threatening customers, all of whom demand reservations.  The one-person comedy, which originally ran Off-Broadway back in 1999, will be directed by Jason Moore and updated by Mode -- who knows what she’s talking about, having worked in the restaurant world – to reflect 2015’s "foodie" mania. There will be gluten.

Low ratings don’t stop Cait

After a Kardashian-adjacent media frenzy enveloped Caitlyn Jenner’s coming-out-as-transgender interview with Diane Sawyer, the former Olympian’s reality series, I Am Cait, debuted to very healthy ratings. And then it slid down, down, down, the show’s eyes-on-the-screen numbers dwindling as each fresh episode focused on Jenner’s crash course in trans community membership. A fascinating portrait, yes, but perhaps not the vapid sensationalism favored by fans of Kim, Khloe and Kylie. Undeterred, the E! Network has renewed the series for a second season, and if the cameras are already following Cait, they’ve got a lot of fresh hate-material in the can. In the past month alone, a 9/11 widower has returned his heroic wife’s "Woman Of The Year" award to Glamour magazine after they gave one to Jenner, too; and Jenner took heat (and a lot of shouting) from a contingent of trans protesters at a recent fundraiser for an LGBT organization in Chicago. Neither incident is comparable to the violence faced by trans people without Jenner’s resources and cultural status, to be sure, but proof enough as to why I Am Cait probably needs to be renewed for a third season.

An intentional Broadway Disaster!

In case you were wondering, Broadway isn’t just about wildly praised shows with culturally important themes, such as Hamilton and Fun Home. Sometimes it’s about shows with exclamation points, such as Mamma Mia! In fact, often that’s mostly what it’s about. And that thrills us. Another thing that thrills us: the news of Disaster!, set for a spring awakening in 2016. It’s a musical parody pastiche of chic death by natural disaster in the 1970s, and it’s from Seth Rudetsky and director Jack Plotnick (Space Station 76). The plot: a floating casino is hit by an earthquake (see: Earthquake), a tidal wave (see: The Poseidon Adventure), and an army of killer bees (do not see: The Swarm). As they die one by one, the cast will sing hit songs of the 1970s (that will bring us back to: Mamma Mia!). And what a cast, with beloved Broadway vets like Tony-winners Roger Bart and Faith Prince, as well as Tony nominees Kerry Butler, Kevin Chamberlin and Adam Pascal. You have until March 8 to figure out how to get to New York and operate all the machinery in the plane’s cockpit, should a helpful stewardess be unavailable to take the controls.