Trevor Donovan Rides Bareback, Texas Rising, Cannes Film Festival

I’ve posted several times about Trevor Donovan starring in The History Channel’s new series, Texas Rising. Here’s a link to all of them.

Now that the series premiere date is approaching, on May 25th, I thought I’d post a few updates I haven’t mentioned before. One of which is that Texas Rising actually made its world premiere at Cannes. I found that interesting because even though I loathe travel (flying) to the point of gagging, I have always wanted to go to The Cannes Film Festival. There’s just something about it.

The fact that a series like this was shown at Cannes could also mean that the UK and other European markets will get a chance to see Texas Rising, too. But don’t quote me on that. I haven’t seen anything definitive yet. I just know from my readers in the UK and in places far off in Eastern Europe that the American Old West is something they find interesting…and from the information below, there is a broader market.

This comes from Variety:

“Its root is very much this sort of Western drama based on real-life events,” Gopal says, “but having seen quite a few of the episodes, it’s a much broader show than that. It’s got huge global appeal, lots of different storylines and themes.”

Contrary to any antiquated notions of regional-specific television, “Texas Rising” is a model of how lavish smallscreen productions are now being made for viewers worldwide.

“Our focus is to find great stories and great content wherever they are in the world, try to get them financed and produced, and then take them to as broad and global an audience as possible,” Gopal notes.

“Two years ago, a high percentage of the content we were taking to market came from the U.K., and that has shifted. We’re investing in, obviously, ‘Texas Rising’ and ‘Aquarius’ (an upcoming limited series about the hunt for Charles Manson starring David Duchovny), another one of our shows in the U.S. It’s a slightly different model, but it brings something different to our portfolio, and then our buyers tell us what they want and are interested in.

“We’re investing in content still here in the U.K.; we’re investing in content in Europe, in Australia. … Regardless of where the show is, we’re really focused on partnering with great producers and writers and talent, hopefully bringing our distribution experience in terms of financing those projects, getting them made, then being able to sell them around the world.”

And, obviously there is a market, because Texas Rising is now a full series, with more episodes ordered.

This is also from Variety:

The History miniseries “Texas Rising,” set to bow on Memorial Day, has been expanded to 10 hours and will air over the course of five weeks, the network announced on Tuesday.

The series, which details the Texas Revolution and the rise of the legendary Texas Rangers, will air two-hour installments on both Memorial Day (May 25) and the next night (Tuesday, May 26). Its final six hours will then be played out over the next three Mondays (June 1, 8 and 15).

It had originally been planned as a six-hour series.

I think it’s a smart move, especially since that time of year is usually riddled with nothing but bad reruns of HGTV shows and reality shows no one cares about. I don’t think the TV market has changed in the sense that people aren’t watching TV anymore. I think viewers are looking for more TV like Texas Rising, but they aren’t getting it…until now.

And here’s a video with Trevor Donovan talking about riding Bareback while shooting TR. And get your minds out of the gutter. I know you guys too well. Riding bareback in this case means a horse without a saddle.

You’ll find that here, along with other videos of Donovan and TR. 

Gay Men Trapped In Hetero Marriages

I was editing the fourth book in the Rainbow Detective series this afternoon and when I saw this article I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Without any spoilers, I get into the same thing in the fourth book, and I even go into a little detail about the complications.

The topic discussed is when gay men are in hetero marriages. I’m not talking about gay men who are married to straight women and the women know it. That’s a completely different thing, and, that actually does seem to work very well…from what I’ve heard and seen from personal experiences. Yes, I do know several marriages like that. All are happily married in spite of the fact that the man is gay. And for the record, it could be a gay woman and a straight men.

In this case, they are talking about when closeted gay men are trapped in hetero marriages, which I think is something that goes a lot deeper than we even realize. I used to be shocked when allegedly straight married men came on to me, but not so much anymore. For some reason, it almost always happens at weddings when the wife is in the same room with the husband, and she knows nothing. It’s creepy. 

First, this all happened on a small news show in Texas. And don’t blame Texas for this. I love Texas and I think it’s a wonderful place. We have a news show here in Philadelphia that can be just as cringe-worthy. The idiot who hosts the Philly show, Good Day, on Fox 29 in the morning would probably do the exact same thing, in the very same insulting way. But that’s just speculation. My point is that all states have good points and bad points.

In any event, this is what happened in Texas:

“Alright, another one of those conversations where, you know, maybe you don’t want the young kids, if they’re around, to ask about this stuff,” the uncomfortable anchorman began, “so you get a couple of seconds to usher them out of the room ’cause we’re going to be talking about the new mixed marriage. One straight spouse. One gay spouse.”

Yes. Get the kiddies out of the room and close the blinds. A psychologist came on and she started talking about gay men “trapped” in hetero marriages. Where they get these statistics I’m not sure.

“Over four million women have been with a man who’s had sex with a man,” Rapini said, citing a study from the CDC. “The Family Pride Coalition has said over 20 percent of all gay men are in heterosexual marriages.”

This is a problem, Rapini said, because “many of them go out and have gay relationships without their spouse knowing. You could expose her to an STD or… It’s just not fair! Because she wants to be married to someone that really loves her and enjoys intimacy with her! And they don’t!”

We can’t help but wonder if Rapini was speaking from personal experience. She certainly sounds like a woman scorned.

You can read the rest here. What bothers me is that it sounds as if a guy cheating on his wife with another woman can’t bring home an STD…as if STDs are only reserved for gay people. Evidently, I’m not the only one bothered by this segment. The comments go directly to the main point.

Here’s one comment, in part, I found highly appropriate.

This therapist number one, is biased. She falls on the side of supporting unfair treatment to women and does not address once, the harrowing sense of displacement, alienation and desperation of gay and bi males competing and performing in a neurotically Christo-judeo-judgmental paternal hetero-sexist society. These (non-disclosure) dishonest marriages, based in fear of reprisal, are not fair to anybody involved.