What did ever happen to RuPaul?

Click - click - click:

• Why do we even bother with TV ratings? This weekend OLN assigned a "TV-G" rating to the Kansas City installment of its "All-Star BBQ Showdown," even though a member of one team blurted out the F word when she learned they had scored enough points to attend the showdown finals in New York City. Doesn't matter that OLN masked it: An "F" followed by a bleep is worth at least a "TV-PG" rating, no matter the context.
• GLAAD counts only 16 "series regular” and recurring gay, lesbian and bisexual roles (there continue to be no transgender characters) scheduled to appear on 14 different scripted programs (out of 110 total) on the broadcast networks. While this number is up from the 11 characters counted last season, the lack of representation is still cause for concern. “Out of 710 ‘series regulars’ that will appear this season on the broadcast networks, gay, lesbian and bisexual characters make up less than 2%,” says GLAAD Entertainment Media Director Damon Romine. “This is a shocking misrepresentation of reality and of the audience watching these programs.” (GLAAD PR) Wait a minute -- that's two different things. GLAAD is asserting (a) that 2 percent is too low an estimate of the nation's GLBT population and (b) that the audience wants higher representation in its entertainment programs. I think most viewers will buy the latter point, but not the former.
• The UK will finally be able to watch entire episodes of "The Daily Show," not just Web clips. Channel 4 signed a deal to air the programme nightly on More4, its new digital channel. Next stop should be Germany, where Jon Stewart could become the next Harald Schmidt. (Apologies for that background; it was 1995 and we were young and foolish.)
• Over the weekend I notice that Gmail had upped me from 50 allowable invites to 100.  So that means that pretty much anyone who wants a Gmail account and doesn't have one can get one through me. Let me say this about Google's webmail service: I always liked it. I always marveled at its ability to acclimate itself to new mutations of spam and keep them out of my Inbox without taking down legit mail as well. But that 1-gigabyte ceiling on mail was ridiculous. I used it up in about three months.  So I switched back to Apple Mail for a while, but nothing blocks spam as easily or as well as Gmail. And when I discovered Google had opened up the limit on email storage -- basically it's the National Debt Clock of storage, at 2544.38545 megabytes (and counting). So I'm with Gmail again, and if you'd like to join me, send email.
  

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[Thomas Heald]

A: http://www.therupauldoll.com

Billed as the first transvestite fashion doll and produced by Integrity Toys, the RuPaul Doll collection will be in stores later this month. Each doll has a suggested retail price of $59.99.

The RuPaul Doll collection was the brainchild of RuPaul and nontraditional marketing/consulting company Two Sheps That Pass. TSTP president Vera Sheps says initial inspiration came from the Cher celebrity doll. “We thought that a doll along (those lines) would be fun.”

Talks with Integrity creative director/partner Jason Wu followed. The RuPaul Doll is the first venture under Integrity’s new Produced by Jason Wu division.

For the first project under the new umbrella, Wu wanted a celebrity who was instantly recognizable yet not overexposed. He also did not want to follow the current teen pop star or reality show personality trend.

In other words, he sought a strong image that was capable of shaking things up. Mission accomplished.

Expect the branding of RuPaul to continue. According to Sheps, RuPaul greeting cards, wrapping paper and gift bags are on the way.