When Nikki met Nora

Want to watch a series with two hot female leads who solve crimes and make out? No, really, do you want to watch them make out? And not just in your head? Subtext is all fun and good, but we always need the real deal. So imagine my pleasure when I heard that the folks behind the unaired pilot of “Nikki & Nora” were back. Almost a decade after giving it a go for network TV, the series lives again in the form of a crowd-funded webseries.

For those of you unfamiliar with the 2004 pilot, “Nikki & Nora” was a crime drama about two female police partners in New Orleans who go the bad guys and each other – if you know what I mean. Nikki Beaumont was played by “CSI”-alum Liz Vassey and Nora Delany was played by “Better Than Chocolate” star Christina Cox. Did I mention they made out in the show, because they did. At the time it was billed as the first lesbian-themed drama series up for serious consideration for network TV. And, yes, get prepared to scream “Tasha!” and “Agent Derek Morgan!” shortly after pressing play.



(You can watch the unaired pilot in full here on DailyMotion.)

Now, nine years later, the pilot’s creator Nancylee Myatt (also creator of that teenage dream “South of Nowhere”) is back with “The N&N Files.” She’s co-producing with “SoN” writing alum Paige Bernhardt and Tello Film President Christin Mell. Also back are the pilot’s original stars, Liz and Christina. The project raised $65,000 on Indiegogo (way to go-go, guys) and now they’ve released their first trailer. The result is big-time easy (see what I did there, Big Easy/big-time easy – oy, the puns today) on the eyes.



Watching was, once again, a game of spot the co-star. Look, the principal from “Buffy!” Look, the lab tech from “CSI!” Look, the friend from “SoN!” And of course Liz and Christina – who are playing private investigators instead of police detectives this time out – are lovely together. Look, you know I love me some silly subtext (p.s. your gayzzoli recap of the week will post this afternoon), but nothing beats the real thing. No we just need a chocolate body painting scene between these two, for old time’s sake.

The fist first (Freudian typo alert) season of series should be available on One More Lesbian soon was just announced will release on Dec. 1.

Girls Don't Deserve It

“Blurred Lines” is undeniably catchy. I do a little shimmy to it in the car every damn time it comes on. But “Blurred Lines” is also undeniably sexist. I’ve only watched the video in full once, because watching dudes in suits preen while nearly naked (or in the unedited video’s case, plain-old naked) women strut for their pleasure is too much for my little feminist heart to take no matter how catchy the damn song.

Granted, a lot of music and accompanying music videos are sexist. But there’s something about the sexism of the “Blurred Lines” video – especially the orgy of objectification in the unrated version where it’s literally just topless girls bouncing around while Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams leer at them – that makes my skin crawl. Look, I love naked ladies – a lot. A LOT. But respect is at the heart of that sometimes blurry line between objectification and appreciation. And I don’t think a song where men brag about being “big enough to tear your ass in two” really respects the women it sings about. Even worse, it plays its casual sexism off as so, so cool – like objectification chic. Plus don’t get me started on all the douchey hashtags.

So over the weekend I was happy to hear about a great feminist parody response to “Blurred Lines.” About time some gals tweaked (not twerked, dear God, not twerked) the concept. And my, did they tweak. The video “Defined Lines” is by a group of University of Auckland law students - Olivia Lubbock, Zoe Ellwood and Adelaide Dunn. The parody was part of the Law Revue show, which included some 40 other comedic skits. Fantastic, no? Also, it’s good for us gals and our gay boy friends. So much beefcake in white briefs. Turnaround, fair play, all these things.

Of course, this being the man’s world the ladies sing about, the video was briefly banned from YouTube because it was deemed “inappropriate.” Never mind that both the PG-13 and R-rated versions of Thicke’s original video are up and have never been banned. Luckily, the parody video was restored and can now be viewed and enjoyed in full. I mean, how can you not love a song that includes the words “misogyny,” “chauvinistic,” “emasculate,” “vibrator,” and “castration?”

Of course, again, this isn’t the first time YouTube’s seemed blurry on the concept of a double-standard. Another gender-swapped parody of “Blurred Lines” posted back in July got slapped with an age inappropriate filter (which since has been removed, thankfully).

So now, when “Blurred Lines” comes on the radio, I’m still going to shimmy. But I just might change the lyrics. So we can fuck this man’s world, indeed.