Golden Girl and TV legend Rue McClanahan was joined by her castmates Caroline Rhea, Olivia Newton-John and Leslie Jordan at the NYC premiere of their new 12-episode series Sordid Lives which took place at New World Stages earlier this week. Sordid Lives is a new series based on a 1996 play and 2000 movie of the same name that is set to debut on LOGO on July 23 at 10PM. Here are a few pics from the premiere’s red carpet arrivals:

On “Sordid Lives: The Series,” the colorful folk in a certain Texas town are back in action after having won an avid following with the 1996 play and 2000 movie of the same name. For the 12-episode comedy, creator-writer-director Del Shores has reunited stars from his film including Bonnie Bedelia, Olivia Newton-John, Beth Grant and Leslie Jordan, who are joined by recruits Rue McClanahan and Caroline Rhea. What results is a riotous saga, larger than life but not far from the truth as it depicts small-town life imbued with the Spirit, cigarette smoke and self-administered Valium; pecan pie, whiskey shots at the local bar and undying love of country music superstar Tammy Wynette. And various sides of the sexual equation. For instance, Jordan plays Earl “Brother Boy” Ingram, a drag queen fixated on Wynette and locked in a mental ward, where he’s subjected to therapy to “de-homosexualize” him. He’s not the only member of the family with issues. His handsome young nephew, Ty (Jason Dottley), has set off for West Hollywood, where he struggles as an actor while trying to accept his homosexuality after being raised, he says, “rigid Southern Baptist.” “Sordid Lives” premieres Wednesday (July 23) at 10 p.m. EDT on cable’s Logo network, which targets lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender viewers. But this comedy just might bring in the broader audience it deserves. “It was the funniest script I’d read since `Golden Girls,’” says McClanahan, 73, who plays pious, slightly addled Peggy Ingram, Brother Boy’s elderly mother. “The same way I knew in ‘Golden Girls’ I wanted to play Blanche, I knew I wanted to play Peggy. They’re 180 degrees different, of course, except for one thing: They’re both looking for love. “Peggy finds it,” she adds with a twinkle in her eye … Spoiler alert: Late in the series, Peggy has sex with an unlikely boyfriend. “And I’m on top!” McClanahan crows. “And still wearing her hat,” notes Shores. “I’ve just come from church. The flowers from the hat are falling in my face. I’m hanging on to his undershirt like it’s the reins of a horse. ‘Ride ‘em, cowboy!’” All discreetly edited for basic cable. “And then the bed broke!” “It truly broke,” says Shores. “We didn’t plan it.” “And I’ve got this bad knee,” says McClanahan, who continues to recover from surgery last summer. “This was in January, when it was still really bad. And I thought: We CAN’T fall off this bed! So I reached out and grabbed on to the windowsill for the rest of the scene.”

I admit that I am not very familiar with either the play or the movie but I am really interested in watching the series … hello, it’s got Rue McClananhan, you best believe I’m gonna watch every ep. In fact, I’m impressed with the whole cast — this sounds really, really funny. I hope that the audience is able to find this series … LOGO isn’t really watched by many folks (including me) but I’m hoping people seek out this show and check it out. It sounds really great … and it’s got RUE! What more could you ask for?

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]

Australia’s own Olivia Newton-John (who we last saw earlier this year trekking along in China for her Great Walk to Beijing charity walk with Dannii Minogue among others) was the headlining performer at the 2008 LA Gay Pride celebration in West Hollywood, CA this weekend. Here are a few pics of Olivia on stage during her performance:

Photo credit: Splash News
From what I understand, this weekend’s performance will be her only concert stop of the year. After Olivia completed her second of two encores, she was brought back on stage to be presented a proclamation from the City of West Hollywood which essentially named her the coolest woman on Earth! This year’s Pride event scored a real coup by getting Olivia Newton-John to perform but it was really no surprise me. Olivia has been a huge supporter of GLBT rights and it made total sense that she would sign on to headline this year’s event. Olivia, it is with all sincerity that I say, I Honestly Love You :) [Source]