Pop Culture Fix: The Good Place’s Eleanor Is for Sure “Super Bisexual” and Other Important Developments

Welcome to your weekly pop culture fix, an e-leaflet put out by the good people of Pop’s, a diner in Riverdale, a television show.


+ Last week while we were all breathing into paper bags, William Jackson Harper, who plays Chidi, told Metro UK that Eleanor on The Good Place is “super bisexual,” and that a romance between Eleanor and Tahani would be “an interesting thing” to happen. He also… doesn’t seem to really know a lot about bisexual representation on television (rarely is a character’s bisexuality “the reason for a show,” yannow?) , but listen, who cares, he’s great and so is the Eleanor/Tahani possibility:

There’s a million different possibilities and one of the things I think the show does well, and really kind of into, is the fact that Eleanor is super bisexual and it’s not something that we just focus on. ‘It’s not the reason for the show and it’s not a thing that is harped on, it’s just who she is. I think that’s great to not just completely focus on one aspect of a person’s character because it seems to be the most buzz worthy thing in the show, or potentially buzz worthy thing on the show.

+ Sandrine Holt is playing the recurring role of psychologist Lisa Martin on Law & Order: SVU. That’s an old article I just linked to, but I have new news as revealed to us in their mediocre season premiere: her character, a psychologist, has a wife and two kids! This is big news for the notoriously lesbian-shy show, which stars Mariska Hargitay as Olivia Benson, a lesbian character who is somehow not a lesbian character. You may recognize Sandrine Holt from when she played gay in The L Word (Catherine Rothberg, Helena Peabody’s high-flying gambler girlfriend) or when she played gay in The Returned (Julie Hahn, a doctor dating a lady cop). Also, InStyle has a piece on how For Some Assault Survivors, Law & Order SVU Is Surprisingly Healing.

+ Halloween Is for Fanficking – it’s just the truth, so.

+ The Marvel’s Runaways Season Two trailer is here, and Karolina (Virginia Gardner) and Nico (Lyrica Okano) do indeed kiss within it:

+ Here is a trailer for Hulu’s new series “The Bisexual,” a show for you from Desiree Akhavan:

+ Ausiello, lord of spoilers, has this one for you about Chicago Fire:

You know how there hasn’t been a LGBTQ character on Fire since Shay died in the Season 3 premiere? I hear that’s about to change.

Also, this one:

Question: Got any Riverdale scoop? —Marie
Ausiello: Is this Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe? Because I’m giving you exactly what you ordered. Next week’s jam-packed Season 3 premiere includes all of the following: (1) the conclusion of Archie’s murder trial — although maybe not the one you’re expecting, (2) an intriguing new romantic pairing among the high school kids, (3) at least three shots of Archie without a shirt on, and (4) a shocking scene that puts one main character’s life and health in serious jeopardy.

+ Wanda Sykes opened a comedy show with Trump jokes and people WALKED OUT, and Wanda Sykes was like:

+ April Blair is stepping down as showrunner on All-American for “personal reasons,” and will be replaced by co-executive producer Nkechi Okoro Carroll. The show, which premieres in October, includes Bre-Z playing a lesbian character.

+ Ellen DeGeneres had Busy Phillips on her show, where they both discussed their experiences with sexual assault.

+ The ban on the Kenyan film “Rafiki” was lifted after its director took the government to court — and now it’s the second-highest grossing Kenyan film of all time!

+ On set with Jennie Snyder Urman: a profile of the “anti-prestige” Jane the Virgin showrunner

+ The 100 Best Romantic Comedies of all time is a not a GREAT because it has Love Actually on it, and the only list Love Actually should ever be on is “most devastating moments in the history of civilization.” But it does contain some queer movies like Boy Meets Girl, Kissing Jessica Stein, But I’m a Cheerleader and Appropriate Behavior.

+ Here’s How ‘Designing Women’ Broke Fresh Ground For Queer TV Characters In 1990

+ Janelle Monae Joins Cynthia Erivo in Harriet Tubman Biopic

+ Singer Donna Missal comes out as bisexual: “my non-binary style and fluid preference has no intention of diminishing gay culture but rather embracing and celebrating it sis i’m not playing dress up and being with a man doesn’t make me less bi read: it’s not a phase.”

+ Netflix Is Planning a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure ‘Black Mirror’: I would like to choose the adventure where the entire show is just San Junipero

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Riese

Riese is the 43-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3271 articles for us.

16 Comments

  1. Okay, with the “Runaways” trailer being here, I need to know what the big drama was with Ginny and Lyrica.

  2. “The only list Love Actually should ever be on is ‘most devastating moments in the history of civilization.'”

    :)

  3. Eleanor and Tahani exchanged a Definite Look when they first met this season, and I think Chidi noticed it.
    (All I’ve done this month is rewatch The Good Place and listen to the accompanying podcast but it’s mostly ok well no I’m not ok but this helps)

  4. That The Good Place interview, jeez. Why is that anytime we fans mention a character being gay/bi/queer, they always say BS stuff like “we acknowledge it but it’s good to not let it be the focus or define the character”

    Who the fuck says that? Only fucking straight people have this problem. They cannot simply normalize being queer. To them it is a plot point. It’s just so awful. I am sure the actor has no problem with all the straightness shown in the show so far. But to him, it isn’t defining them or the focus. It is just normal. Of course, why am i not surprised. But just to act upon a simple ship and “hey, let’s not make it the focus, there should be more than one side”

    • What I would like is just once a actor or actress when asked about a potential heterosexual hookup in a show respond with the comment “We acknowledge it, and what this series does really well is show that character-x is super heterosexual and it’s not the total focus of the show”.

  5. The new lgbt character on Chicago Fire will most likely be a guy. They added a new female character this season and if she was gonna be queer, i’m definitely sure they’d have announced it alongside.

    There is a new guy set to join the show in a recurring role. So i believe it will be him.

  6. Sandrine Holt also once played a lady who kisses ladies in an episode of “Santuary” – the short lived sci fi series that started Amanda Tapping as the worlds biggest badass. It’s my favorite show and I strongly believe more people should know about it.

    • Ooo – good to know!

      Sandrine Holt also played gay in “Chinese Puzzle” as the wife of Cecile de France’s character. She’s gets props for frequency!

  7. Which then made me wonder, what actresses/actors have played LGBTQ the most? I would LOVE to see a chart showing who has played queer and what show they were in. :)

    • Jaime Murray is definitely going to be up there. I don’t think that I’ve seen her in a single thing, where her sexuality is shown, where she’s straight.

    • Lucy Lawless is a sure contender, but she’s kinda on the bad side of this list because she ends up dead most of the times

    • I know she’s straight in real life, but pretty much everything Natasha Lyonne has been in pretty much had her playing not straight, including American Pie, which we find out in the last movie at the high schook reunion.

  8. i’m sorry my mind just exploded at the idea of anyone being a wanda sykes fan and not expecting her to come for trump

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