Welcome to “Outtakes,” a newsletter created, written, and edited by Stacy Lambe aka me. After first getting started on Tumbler (and making a meme out of Hillary Clinton), living the verified life on Twitter, and exploring other various platforms over the course of my PR and journalism career, I’m finally giving Substack a try.
The title of the newsletter is not only a literal reference to TV and film, but also a cheeky, if not a bad queer pun. (I am gay and I also write about a lot of gay things.)
I’m still working out the kinks, but my hope is that this becomes a safe place where I can share stories and interviews I’m working on as it relates to my professional life, what I’m into—especially when it comes to all things TV—, and other random thoughts that may find a better home here than other places on the internet.
I want to kick things off with conversation with Murray Bartlett, who is a standout in the HBO limited series The White Lotus, which is wrapping up its limited run this week. Earlier in the season, I spoke with him early about playing a Hawaiian resort manager named Armond for Entertainment Tonight.
“I’m often asked to play characters that are much closer to myself. And so this was really exciting for me to step out of that,” Bartlett said over Zoom. And when it comes to Armond, the actor said that “he’s this showman and someone who has to be completely together. He has to take care of these really difficult guests often, and so, he has to present himself as a professional and hold it together. But underneath, we find out everything is sort of unraveling.”
While we couldn’t get into spoilers at the time—and I won’t reveal any here—we did talk a bit about his breakout role as Dom on the short-lived gay series, Looking, and how that experience compared to filming Mike White’s six-episode dramedy.
Filmed on location in Maui in 2020, Bartlett said everyone was “plucked out of the pandemic and taken to Hawaii.” And thanks to COVID safety protocols, the cast and crew’s professional and personal lives merged because they couldn’t leave the resort.
“We would go down to the beach at the end of each night and we’d all swim together,” the actor shared, noting that he had a similar experience once before on the set of Looking. “A lot of us were not from San Francisco. So we were all pulled into this beautiful city, on this show that we all deeply loved, and it was a lovely group of people, and we became great friends on that show.”
He added, “It was one of the best experiences I think that all of us have had because we really believed in what we were trying to do with that show.”
While Looking was not the first LGBTQ series on TV, it came at a time when there was a notable shift in storytelling, with a desire for more authentic and inclusive stories not only about the larger queer community but starring out LGBTQ performers. Lasting two seasons from 2014 to 20`6, it also helped usher in a new era of prestige queer TV.
“Not everyone loved the show—you can’t please everybody—but those who did love it still have a long love for it,” Bartlett said, while also noting that Queer as Folk, The L World, and Tales of the City all came before it. “All of these shows have opened the way for what comes after. It’s so exciting and a little bumpy along the way, but each of these shows have really kind of paved the way for what comes after. And I feel so proud and lucky to be part of that legacy.”
For more about The White Lotus, read the rest of my conversation with Bartlett here.
Speaking of a new era of queer TV, I put together a list of the “40 Best LGBTQ Shows of the Past Decade” for Pride Month. And it’s one I plan to revisit, edit, and expand—especially as we continue to get new, great entries worth celebrating.
While The White Lotus comes to an end on Sunday, Aug. 15, there’s still plenty of bingeworthy TV to watch in August, including:
James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad on HBO Max (the first superhero movie I did NOT fall asleep during)
Hulu’s wild adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers starring Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Regina Hall, Luke Evans, Bobby Cannavale and many others
Jessica Walter’s final performance as Malory in season 12 of Archer
Hulu’s surprisingly delightful true-crime parody, Only Murders in the Building, with Selena Gomez teaming up with Steve Martin and Martin Short