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First of all.... *SWOOOOOOOON*


(credit: Jim Cox Photograhy; click on the photo to embiggen--it's worth it!)

Last month, Jim Cox (the photographer who took the infamous S6 Oz cast portraits) took pics of Chris and his daughter Sophia, and Cox recently posted them to Instagram. They're gorgeous (no surprise). Here's one of Chris and Sophia together:



In professional news, Chris did an informative interview with Gold Derby where he talked about his Syfy show "Happy" and the plans for its second season:



The most exciting piece of info was that Chris is part of the writing team for S2 and will also be directing at least one episode (in addition to starring in and producing the show). S2 will center around the Easter holiday (similar to how they used a Christmas setting in S1). Presumably, S2 will air next spring. Filming will begin in August, I'm guessing once again in NYC.

On the LeeEEEeee front, he is currently in New Orleans filming his new series "The Purge." Details are sketchy at this point, but I will be diligent in digging up and posting any information that I might find! A few days ago, Lee met up with his former "Red Widow" co-star Suleka Mathew (who is in NOLA filming a different show), and she posted the following to Instagram:



Lee also has a small role in the upcoming film "The Yellow Birds" (playing Jennifer Aniston's husband, LOL), and he makes a brief appearance in the new trailer (at 0:56):







The Yellow Birds will be released on May 17 through Direct TV and on June 15 in select theaters and VOD.

In addition, I recently watched Lee's 2016 indie film "Desert Cathedral" (now available for free to US Amazon Prime members).



Lee was very, very good in this movie, but MAN was it depressing. I'm not even sure I can bring myself to screencap it or do a recap. But Lee's shirtless/nude scenes did bring a smile to my face! So I took several grabs of those (sorry for the poor quality--long story--but you'll get the general idea :D):

( slightly NSFW screencaps )

Also, a PSA! For the last couple of years, the Twitter account associated with LT.com (@LeeLoveNews) has sat dormant, but a few weeks ago fanfromfla graciously agreed to hand over the reins to me. Therefore, if you use Twitter, you might want to consider following that account if you don't already, as I will probably be updating it with info/pics in a more timely manner than here at LJ.

Do you remember that super-awesome stage reading that Lee was supposed to do with Dean Winters last August at the Williamstown Theatre Festival? The one written by Tom Fontana? But then Lee had to drop out at the last minute due to scheduling conflcts? I certainly do. Probably because I cried for three days. (But then PaLeeyFest happened and all was right with the world. *clappyhands* *SQUEE*)

Well, anyway, the GOOD NEWS is that they're doing it again! In NYC this time! Yay!

The BAD NEWS is that it is on Monday, January 29! Just 5 (yes, count'em FIVE) days away!

Yeesh. I guess "advance notification" is a hazy concept to some people.

Here's the description of the play, taken from The Acting Company's website:

The website has a link to buy tickets, which are only $10. Unfortunately, the cheapest flight to NYC from where I live is $742. Because it's only FIVE days away.

Nevertheless, a few of Lee's more-local peeps are trying to make it happen, so there might be a LeeFest in the works.

And, hey, it's super-interesting that they're doing it again, dontcha think? Like, maybe this is a project that might have some legs to it? *fingerscrossed*

In other Lee-awareness news, I recently discovered that someone has uploaded to YouTube all 13 episodes of Lee's 2005 TV show "Wanted," where he played the legendary, snarky, sexy Eddie Drake. Seriously, Lee never looked hotter than he did on this show:



*RAWR*

Note: Lee is not in the first/pilot episode--his role was added after it had been filmed because they thought the show needed more humor. *ENTER EDDIE* (but not in that way)

Several Ozzies made guest-appearances, too! If you never had the opportunity to watch Wanted before, NOW YOU CAN. And SHOULD. Because Lee is SUPER HOT in this show. (Maybe I already mentioned that.)

***

OH, and don't forget to watch Meloni's show "Happy!" tonight on Syfy! Just two epsiodes left! This show is weeeeeird, but good! I think? It's certainly different. Lots of drug, sex, and violence. It's definitely nice to see Meloni and the Ass of Life in NSFW sex scenes:

( NSFW gif behind the cut... )

Chris is scheduled to appear at NY Comic Con this Saturday to promote "Happy!", his new show on SyFy that premieres on December 6. He will be part of a panel that includes Grant Morrision (the author of the graphic novel on which the show is based) and executive producers Brian Taylor and Patrick MacManus. A world premiere screening of the "Happy!" pilot is also scheduled to take place.

In conjunction with that appearance, a new (longer) trailer for the series has been released:



Any show that references Meloni's penis sounds promising. :D

The "Funny or Die" parody site has a "trailer" for a fake new movie called The Kellyanne Conway Story, and the role of Donald Trump is played by... wait for it... Chris Meloni!



It's pretty awesome! ETA: There are a total of 4 Trump videos. You can check them all out at their website HERE.

In addition, there's been some recent activity in the world of "Happy!", Meloni's new show on SyFy. EW.com has a short story about the show HERE, where a producer describes it as "A Christmas Carol meets Pulp Fiction," LOL. The show is scheduled to premiere in the fall. Here's a new promo still that was included in the article:



In addition, on Saturday, Meloni is going to appear at the San Diego Comic-Con as part of a panel promoting the show (details can be found in the EW story), so there should be even more info about the show coming out from that.

Chris posted this selfie to his Instagram last night, with the caption "#GovBall with Bryce, LEE and rockin daughter." (I like how he put LEE in all-caps. :D) The Governors Ball was a NYC music festival that took place over the weekend, with the guys' favorite band Tool as the Sunday night headliner.

A 2017 Leefest (with bonus Dean and Tom) is in the works! Maybe!

It all started when I found this bit o'news about the Williamstown (Massachusetts) Theatre Festival at Broadwayworld.com:

Lee Tergesen and Dean Winters have joined the SCREENPLAY BY STALIN reading (August 18).

Which, whaaaattt??? O_O

After some digging, I discovered that Tom Fontana has written a new play, Screenplay By Stalin, and Lee and Dean are doing a one-time stage-reading of it on Friday, August 18 as part of the legendary Williamstown Theatre Festival! (If you're not familiar with Fontana's background, working with this festival years ago is how he first met actress Blythe Danner, who introduced him to husband Bruce Paltrow, who then hired him for St. Elsewhere, and the rest is history.)

So, how cool would it be to see this? Answer: VERY COOL!

This is the play's summary: "Vasili and Fyodor have been hired for a very important project; they just need a little more time -- and vodka -- to complete it."

(Presumably, Lee and Dean would be reading the parts of Vasilij and Fyodor.)

Tickets are free (a $5 donation is suggested) and can be be purchased/reserved HERE. The auditorium where it's taking place seats 285, but I have no idea how popular these readings are and how fast tickets will go. tobyfan, shabby86, miltil, and myself have all reserved tickets, although I think everyone's plans are still up in the air. While the tickets are free, Williamstown is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere northwestern Massachusetts, and a trip there would involve a not-inconsequential monetary commitment for transportation, lodging, etc. But still! It's really, REALLY tempting, with the presence of Tom and Dean making it moreso.

***
In other Lee news, he is making another appearance as Blake Morrow in the next episode of Cinemax's Outcast (the first one I pic-spammed HERE). The WEIRD thing is, the second season of Outcast is currently ONLY airing internationally on Fox. It's not yet being shown in the US, and there is no announced premiere date at the moment. So, I guess check your local listings for date/time if you're outside the US, and if you're in the US stay tuned!

Here is a sneak peak of Lee taken from the Twitter account of Outcast on Fox (@outcastfox). Check out his southern accent!

In this sneak peek at next week’s episode, someone pays Megan a surprise visit. Do you recognize him? #Outcast pic.twitter.com/LMm3BDLRy0

— Outcast on FOX (@outcastfox) May 25, 2017

I like his hat! It makes him look slightly less pychotic!

As you may remember, Chris made a pilot for Syfy called "Happy!" based on a graphic novel about "a drunken ex-cop, who has an unfortunate run-in with fate, in the form of a cartoon horse named Happy."

Now Syfy has announced that the show has been picked up for series! Yay! Read all about it HERE. Below is a promotional still from the pilot:



Chris also exec-produced the pilot, which was filmed in NYC earlier this year. The show is scheduled to be aired "sometime" during the 2017-18 television season. Chris stated on Twitter that the order is for 8 episodes.

Wouldn't it be nice if he found a role for some other NYC-based actor for an episode or two? ;)

Here is a behind-the-scenes photo that was taken during the pilot's filming: