Great American Roadtrip! Kickstarter for Season 3 of LGBT Series 'EastSiders' Underway

The great American road trip is about to get a lot gayer. EastSiders, the Indie Series Award-winning LGBT series from writer/director/actor Kit Williamson, has announced that their third season will follow the show’s central characters Thom (Van Hansis, five-time Daytime Emmy nominee for his work on As The World Turns and EastSiders) and Cal (Kit Williamson, Mad Men) as they hit the highway from New York City to Los Angeles. Will this be the trip of their lives, or the end of the road?

The producers have launched a Kickstarter campaign to complete the new season. The journey home to Silver Lake was shot on-location in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada and (of course) California over 35 days last fall. Now the production is seeking funding for additional shoot days, and post-production costs. The campaign is set to run until June 6th, by which time they must have raised their minimum goal of $60,000 or they will not receive any of the funds. The first two seasons of the series were also financed through crowdfunding, with two successful campaigns raising over $178,000.

Previous cast members Constance Wu (Fresh Off the Boat), Brianna Brown (Dynasty, Devious Maids, General Hospital), Stephen Guarino (Happy Endings), Willam Beli (RuPaul's Drag Race) Traci Lords (Crybaby), Matthew McKelligon (You're Killing Me), Jonathan Lisecki (Gayby) and John Halbach are all set to return. Additional cast members will be announced during the Kickstarter campaign.

NEWS: Jonathan Jackson, Josie Bissett, Tom Payne, Jacob Young, Kit Williamson, 'Empire'

Empire Season 2 premiered September 23 on FOX.

Empire and black-ish Show Why Diversity Needs to Be Deep, Not Just Broad
It's valuable to have deep minority representation within individual shows, as necessarily happens on family comedies and dramas. Series like black-ish and Empire can pass a sort of racial version of the Bechdel Test, the feminist-criticism measure of whether a story has two female characters who talk to each other about something besides a man: having minority characters talk about race in a way that’s not always in relation to white people.

Is Empire the Most Important Show on TV
Empire did things to ratings and audiences that network shows aren’t supposed to be able to do anymore. And now it has to do it all again.

Writes Willa Paskin: "This moment, obviously, unfolds expressly within the context of Ferguson, Eric Garner, police brutality, a racist penitentiary system, and the Black Lives Matter movement, and it works on two levels. Empire is a chronicle of the Lyons clan, a black family in America who, necessarily, is engaged with these subjects. But Empire is also a cultural object, one whose enormous success pierced television’s largely white status quo."

Can FOX's Empire Continue to Rise in Season 2 After Becoming a Midseason Sensation?
Empire's ratings started high and climbed all season. In live-plus-seven numbers, its finale averaged 23.1 million total viewers and an astounding 9.3 rating among adults ages 18 to 49, making it the highest-rated freshman finale since Grey's Anatomy in 2005.

The network hopes to bring back all those viewers who watched last season, along with those who have watched the show on VOD and other platforms since its March season finale (episodes were viewed 500,000 times a week this summer), while also drawing in new audiences. "I think it is a matter of don't mess it up," said Joe Earley, COO, Fox Television Group, of the challenge facing the network.

The Bold and the Beautiful's Jacob Young expecting third child with wife, Christen
Young (Rick) and his wife, Christen, will be welcoming their third child in February 2016. The new addition will join brother Luke, 7, and Molly, 2.

Kit Williamson opens up...about Cal opening up his relationship in Season 2 of EastSiders
"The second season is an exploration of the role sex plays in relationships, so this time around, everyone gets a lot of action!"

Jim Henson "would have been thrilled to see The Muppets getting so much attention"
“Playing with the idea that the puppets are real celebrities, in a sense, Bill Prady’s whole show is taking that idea — they are real, they live in our world, they are celebrities, they have their own lives — and taking that to its natural extensions,” Jim's daughter, Lisa Henson notes, giving her stamp of approval.

Coronation Street live: as it happened
Writes Michael Hogan of The Telegraph: "I imagine the feeling at Corrie HQ, Granada TV and ITV Towers will mainly be one of relief that the live episode went off without a hitch. The performances were wooden at times and some of the segues between scenes stilted, especially from the less experienced actors, but the cast's stronger members compensated ably and the whole episode was well-choreographed. The scenes in the Rover's Return worked particularly well - then again, they're used to spending most of their lives in there. Not easy to produce and shoot crowd scenes, though, so credit to the cast and crew for that."

Nashville's Jonathan Jackson to perform at Tunnel To Towers annual run, walk
On September 27, Jonathan Jackson and his band Enation will perform for the runners and walkers at the After-Event-Celebration concert.This event will pay tribute to the late firefighter Stephen Siller. The run and walk follows in his heroic footsteps from the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, which is now known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, to the World Trade Center.

Tom Payne joins The Walking Dead
Luck alum Tom Payne will play the comic book character known as Jesus, aka Paul Monroe.

Melrose Place alum Josie Bissett to star in Lifetime’s Pregnant At 17
Bissett will play a veterinarian who discovers her husband impregnated a 17-year-old girl.

Susan Sarandon exits Epix's Graves
Sarandon will no longer play the first lady opposite President Nick Nolte due to "artistic differences.”

Jason Katims’ Hulu drama changes its name from The Way to The Path amid legal pressure
The religious cult drama starring Aaron Paul, Michelle Monaghan and Hugh Dancy had a title that too closely resembled real-life ministry The Way International.

'EastSiders' Is Back And The Relationships Are More Complicated Than Ever

EastSiders stars Van Hansis as Thom and Kit Williamson as Cal.

Indie Series Award-winning drama EastSiders is back! Season 1 ended on a bleak note for Cal (Mad Men's Kit Williamson) and Thom (As the World Turns' Van Hansis) with Cal moving out of their apartment when it seemed like they couldn't get past each other's infidelity. Season 2 begins with Cal and Thom waking up in bed with another guy, a threeway that Cal barely remembers. With their trust issues still unresolved and new boundaries being explored, will their relationship be able to survive?

The series, which was created by Williamson, also stars Fresh Off the Boat's Constance Wu, Matthew McKelligon, John Halbach and features guest appearances from Sean Maher, Stephen Guarino, Brea Grant, and Traci Lords. Brianna Brown, who was terrific this summer on Devious Maids, is a fascinating new addition for season 2 as Cal’s sister, Hillary.  Other newcomers include Satya Bhabha, Adam Bucci, Vera Miao, and Willam Belli.

With top-notch production values, a talented engaging cast and fascinating complicated relationships, EastSiders is must-see Web TV for fans of great character drama.

Watch the Season 2 trailer below:

'EastSiders' Season 2 Trailer Released

EastSiders stars Van Hansis and Kit Williamsone star as Thom and Cal.

Indie Series Award-winning EastSiders has released a trailer for the show's upcoming second season. Things didn't look good for Silverlake couple Cal (creator Kit Williamson) and Thom (As the World Turns Emmy nominee Van Hansis) when last we saw them.

Based on the new trailer, it looks like they are opening up their relationship to help keep it alive, but will that work?

If you're looking for a continuing story with drama, humor and heart, EastSiders might be the one for you.

EastSiders also stars Constance Wu, Matthew McKelligon, John Halbach and features guest turns from Sean Maher, Stephen Guarino, Brea Grant and Traci Lords. Brianna Brown (Devious Maids, General Hospital) joins the cast this season as Cal’s sister, Hillary, along with new additions Satya Bhabha, Adam Bucci, Vera Miao, and Willam Belli.

Season 2 is being released through Wolfe Video and Vimeo on September 15. You can pre-order the entire second season here.

Watch the trailer below:

Former 'General Hospital' Actress Brianna Brown Joins 'EastSiders'

Brianna Brown is currently shooting EastSiders, playing the role of Hillary.

Former General Hospital and Devious Maids actress Brianna Brown is joining the cast of the Indie Series Award-winning EastSiders. She will play as Cal's (Kit Williamson) sister, Hillary.

Van Hansis Talks About Not Being Out While Playing Luke Snyder on 'As the World Turns'

Three-time As the World Turns Emmy nominee Van Hansis is interviewed by his EastSiders co-star Kit Williamson in the cover story of The Fight magazine. Williamson asks Hansis about why he wasn't out publicly until now.

"I guess it was a combination of a lot of things," Hansis says of his As the World Turns days. "It was my first job, it was a different time back then in regards to LGBT stories being told—I mean, the Luke [Snyder] story was groundbreaking at the time. Now, I think every remaining soap has a gay storyline. I was completely green, fresh out of college, and honestly, I was scared."

Hansis, who won an Indie Series Award this year as part of the EastSiders ensemble, also shares his excitement about season two of the hit web series.

NEWS: Kristoff St. John, 'The Archers', Meg Ryan, 'Game of Thrones' Workout, Teri Polo, 'EastSiders', Matt Bomer

'The Young and the Restless' Star Kristoff St. John & His Documentary 'A Man Called God' (Video)
Kristoff's father is famed actor Christopher St. John who starred in the original 1971 feature film Shaft. Kristoff began acting at a young age holding roles on ‘The Bad News Bears’ and ‘Happy Days’. As a teenager, his step mother Maria St. John (also an actress) convinced his father to travel to India and live in the ashran of Sai Baba, an Indian Avatar (a deliberate descent of a deity to Earth, a reincarnation of God) Sai Baba, personally commissioned the St. John family to film a documentary about him and his teachings. The footage in the film is more than 30 years old and is the personal experience of Kristoff and his family.

The documentary Recently won 2014 Best American Feature Documentary at the AmDocs Festival in Palm Springs.

WALLFLOWERS: Episode 3 The one with the new assistant and the casting couch

WALLFLOWERS has returned! This week's WALLFLOWERS introduces a new gay character, Wade, played by Daniel Abeles (Smash) and features another steamy encounter between Bryce and Alex (Patch Darragh and John Halbach) What is the story with Wade? What is going to happen with Bryce and Alex? Check out the latest episode to find out!

For more on WALLFLOWERS and to catch up on previous episodes, visit STAGE17.tv.

'EastSiders' Announces Second Season; Willam Belli, Satya Bhabha, Adam Bucci & Vera Miao Join Cast

Indie Series Award-winning EastSiders, a critically acclaimed dark comedy starring Van Hansis (As The World Turns) and Kit Williamson (Mad Men) as a gay couple trying to stay together in the aftermath of infidelity, has announced that the series will return for a second season. The production will launch a Kickstarter campaign to finance the show on April 14.

Written and directed by award winning playwright Kit Williamson, EastSiders, explores the aftermath of infidelity on a gay couple in Silverlake, CA.

"I'm so excited to take the show back where it started: in the fans' hands, on Kickstarter," said Williamson. "This is a very unique moment in time where audiences have the power to say what kind of stories they want to see told. We've been so lucky to have found an amazing community of viewers that have been with us from day one, and continues to grow every day. I hope they want to see more from us, because I am so excited to continue telling this story.”

INTERVIEW: Kieran Turner, Robert Bogue and John Halbach Preview WALLFLOWERS Season 2

Created, written and directed by Kieran Turner (Jobriath A.D.), the web series WALLFLOWERS centers around a group of thirtysomethings dealing with life in New York City, who come together in a group for singles. At its heart, WALLFLOWERS highlights the bonds of friendship and the magic of love. Romance plays a major part in the show's second season, airing on STAGE17, and we are introduced to two potential new couples in the premiere--sexy and sweet Alex (John Halbach, EASTSIDERS) & cynical Bryce (Patch Darragh) and cocky Fred (Robert Bogue, GUIDING LIGHT) & feisty Jane (Jolly Abraham).

Love is universal, something we are all looking for. Daytime soap opera fans who are missing their daily dose of “love in the afternoon,” can check out WALLFLOWERS and find it, along with deep friendship, love, humor and romance.

We Love Soaps recently had the chance to speak to Kieran Turner, John Halbach, and Robert Bogue about the second season of WALLFLOWERS and more. Read our exclusive interview.

WE LOVE SOAPS:  Kieran, how did you come up with WALLFLOWERS?
KIERAN TURNER:  It was something that I had written as a pilot several years ago, but it was a little different. It wasn't necessarily focusing on that specific age group of older thirtysomethings I wrote it as a pilot just to see if I could write television and I kind of shoved it in a drawer and didn't do anything with it. I had made a film, a documentary called Jobriath A.D., about the first openly gay rock start star, and this was in 2012, and had been on the festival circuit with it. The programmers there had invited a web series called THE OUTS to participate. I wasn't very well versed in web series. But I was very impressed with what the folks at THE OUTS had been able to do. It had good writing, good production values, it looked really professional, and I realized people were actually doing it to this level and it was amazing.

EASTSIDERS Launches Web Comic On March 27, New Pages on Mondays and Thursdays (Preview)

Six-time Indie Series Award-nominated EASTSIDERS has announced the next chapter in its life: as a web comic. The first installment will debut on the show's website (EastSidersTheSeries.com) on Thursday, March 27, with subsequent pages rolling out on Mondays and Thursdays through April 28.

Conceived as part of the successful Kickstarter campaign that funded the first season of the series, the web comic will pick up the story from the moment the first season left off, continuing the final scene of the first season. The web comic will be written by series creator Kit Williamson and illustrated by Aman Chaudhary.

Indie Series Awards Spotlight: Lead Actor - Drama

The Indie Series Awards celebrate the best in independently produced, scripted entertainment created for the Web. In the next of our 5th Annual Indie Series Awards Spotlight features, We Love Soaps takes a look at the nominees in the Best Lead Actor - Drama category: J. Julian Christopher, BULK, Richard Cutting, Milgram and the Fastwalkers, Peter Halpin, 3some, Van Hansis, EastSiders, Jason Kuykendall, Dark Pool and Sebastian La Cause, Hustling. Watch the nominated work featured in an episode of each of their series below:

5th Annual Indie Series Awards: Complete List of Nominations

Nominees for the 5th Annual Indie Series Awards were revealed in a special episode of We Love Soaps TV earlier today. The ISAs celebrate the best in independently produced, scripted entertainment created for the Web.

Hustling led all web series with 9 nominations. Out With Dad was next among Dramas receiving 8 nominations, followed by DeVanity and Progress with 7, with EastSiders and Thurston earning 6.

Among Comedies, Wrecked led with 7 nominations, followed by Bloomers and Husbands with 6. Noirhouse and Professional Friend each received 5.

A record-breaking 56 web series received at least one nomination.

"We had an all-time high number of shows submitted this year," said Roger Newcomb, founder of the Indie Series Awards and editorial director of We Love Soaps.  "The shows that have been nominated in the past keep getting better and the new series blew us away."

The 5th Annual ISAs will take place on April 2 at the historic El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, hosted by Carolyn Hennesy, who received a nomination in the "Best Guest Star - Comedy" category for her work on Single Siblings.

Check out the complete list of nominees below:

Critically Acclaimed Series EASTSIDERS To Be Broadcast As Feature Film On LogoTV (Press Release)

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SERIES “EASTSIDERS” TO BE BROADCAST AS FEATURE FILM ON LOGOTV

Los Angeles, CA (January 7th, 2014) The first season of “EastSiders: The Series” has been reformatted as a feature film and will receive it's broadcast premiere tonight at 11:30pm EST on the Logo network. This marks yet another step in the journey of the series which debuted its first two episodes on YouTube, made the move to LogoTV.com to release the remainder of the first season, and will now screen on television for the first time. “EastSiders” received the LA Weekly Award for Best Web Drama in 2013 and is currently nominated for a Satellite Award for Original Short-Format Program. This marks the first year that the International Press Academy has recognized new media projects. Check local listing for details.

STATEMENT FROM SERIES CREATOR KIT WILLIAMSON

“I am so excited that “EastSiders” is going to be broadcast as a feature on Logo. Back when we were filming the first episode in my living room I never imagined the show would be seen by as many people as it has. A cable broadcast certainly didn't seem like a possibility, and I'm so grateful to the fans that campaigned to see the show on the channel.”

READER POLL RESULTS: Indie Series of the Week (June 2-8, 2013); CLUTCH #1

The results are in from the We Love Soaps Indie Series of the Week poll for web series that aired June 2-8, 2013. CLUTCH, which aired its season finale, was voted the favorite show of our readers for the week. The season finale of EASTSIDERS finished second.  The season premiere of THE INN was third followed by new episodes of BLOOMERS and WRECKED.

Check out the complete results below including the Favorite Actor, Actress and Couple of the Week:

RANK	SHOW	LAST WEEK	TOP 3
1	CLUTCH	2	4
2	EASTSIDERS	1	6
3	THE INN	-	6
4	BLOOMERS	6	1
5	WRECKED	5	0
6	CLOSE FRIENDS	-	0
7	CONVERSATIONS W/MY EX	8	0
8	FABULOUS HIGH	-	0
9	THE FALL	-	0
10	DORIS AND BELINDA	10	0
11	YOUNG TALENT	-	0
12	ALL ABOUT THE MCKENZIES	-	0
13	X: THE WEB SERIES	-	0
14	THIS IS WHY	17	0
15	SMOKELORE	-	0
16	IDLE TIMES	-	0
17	SQUARESVILLE	-	2
18	UNFAMOUS	20	0
19	LSB	19	0
20	FREEFALL	23	0
21	AS THE CORN GROWS	24	11

See the rest of the poll results and watch last week's Top 3 Indie web series below:

WATCH: EASTSIDERS Season Finale

On the first season finale of EASTSIDERS, it's moving day. Kathy (Constance Wu) and Ian (John Halbach) patch things up and then Kathy helps Cal (Kit Williamson) pull his life together to say goodbye to Thom (Van Hansis) with dignity. Thom wakes up in Jeremy's (Matthew McKelligon) apartment and makes a surprising discovery. Thom and Cal finish packing.

Check it out below:

READER POLL RESULTS: Indie Series of the Week (May 26-June 1, 2013); EASTSIDERS #1

The results are in from the We Love Soaps Indie Series of the Week poll for web series that aired May 26-June 1, 2013. A new episode of EASTSIDERS was voted the favorite of our readers for the week. The latest from CLUTCH was second followed by ENTANGLED, TELEVISEAN and WRECKED.

Check out the complete results below including the Favorite Actor, Actress and Couple of the Week:

RANK	SHOW	LAST WEEK	TOP 3
1	EASTSIDERS	2	5
2	CLUTCH	4	3
3	ENTANGLED	-	1
4	TELEVISEAN	-	0
5	WRECKED	5	0
6	BLOOMERS	6	1
7	WORLD'S WORST DIRECTOR	7	0
8	CONVERSATIONS W/MY EX	10	0
9	AWKWARD STACEY	9	0
10	DORIS AND BELINDA	8	0
11	KOLE'S LAW	-	0
12	REDEMPTIONS END	-	0
13	MADDEN GIRL	-	0
14	LENOX AVENUE	-	0
15	REGULATORS	16	0
16	ANONYMOUS	-	0
17	THIS IS WHY	-	0
18	BEST FRIENDS!	-	0
19	LSB	-	0
20	UNFAMOUS	-	0
21	BETWEEN WOMEN	-	0
22	20 SOMETHING	18	0
23	FREEFALL	-	0
24	AS THE CORN GROWS	-	11

See the rest of the poll results and watch last week's Top 3 Indie web series below:

READER POLL RESULTS: Indie Series of the Week (May 19-25, 2013); IT COULD BE WORSE #1

The results are in from the We Love Soaps Indie Series of the Week poll for web series that aired May 19-25, 2013. The season finale of IT COULD BE WORSE was voted the favorite of our readers for the week. The latest episode of EASTSIDERS was second followed by FLYBOY, CLUTCH and WRECKED.

Check out the complete results below including the Favorite Actor, Actress and Couple of the Week:

RANK	SHOW	LAST WEEK	TOP 3
1	IT COULD BE WORSE	2	6
2	EASTSIDERS	1	4
3	FLYBOY	4	1
4	CLUTCH	3	2
5	WRECKED	7	0
6	BLOOMERS	6	1
7	WORLD'S WORST DIRECTOR	8	0
8	DORIS AND BELINDA	10	0
9	AWKWARD STACEY	9	0
10	CONVERSATIONS W/MY EX	-	0
11	FABULOUS HIGH	14	0
12	IDLE TIMES	-	0
13	X: THE WEB SERIES	-	0
14	FABULOUS HIGH	-	0
15	CLOSE FRIENDS	-	0
16	REGULATORS	-	0
17	SQUARESVILLE	-	2
18	20 SOMETHING	13	0
19	X-DRAMA	-	0
20	TAG!	-	0

See the rest of the poll results and watch last week's Top 3 Indie web series below:

READER POLL RESULTS: Indie Series of the Week (May 12-18, 2013); EASTSIDERS #1

The results are in from the We Love Soaps Indie Series of the Week poll for web series that aired May 12-18, 2013. A new episode of EASTSIDERS was voted the favorite of our readers for the week. The latest from IT COULD BE WORSE was second followed by CLUTCH, FLYBOY and WALLFLOWERS.

Check out the complete results below including the Favorite Actor, Actress and Couple of the Week:

RANK	SHOW	LAST WEEK	TOP 3
1	EASTSIDERS	-	3
2	IT COULD BE WORSE	3	5
3	CLUTCH	2	2
4	FLYBOY	-	0
5	WALLFLOWERS	6	3
6	BLOOMERS	7	1
7	WRECKED	-	0
8	WORLD'S WORST DIRECTOR	-	0
9	AWKWARD STACEY	-	0
10	DORIS AND BELINDA	11	0
11	EASY ABBY	19	0
12	THE CIPHER EFFECT	-	0
13	20 SOMETHING	-	0
14	FABULOUS HIGH	-	0
15	DORM THERAPY	-	0
16	HOW I SEIZE IT	22	0
17	MOTHERLY LOVE	-	0
18	VENICE GAZE	-	0
19	FINDING NORMAL	-	0
20	RUN AWAY	-	0

Watch last week's Top 3 Indie web series:

EASTSIDERS Tackles Abortion In New Episode

LogoTV.com series EASTSIDERS joins the list of programs in television history that have tackled the controversial topic of abortion. In the new episode, out today, Kathy (Constance Wu) decides to terminate her pregnancy without notifying her boyfriend Ian (John Halbach).

“It was really important to me that Kathy's abortion be handled without any judgement," say series creator (and star) Kit Williamson. "Growing up in Mississippi, the subject of abortion was almost verboten. The sole abortion clinic in the state is constantly under siege by both protestors and lawmakers, with a steady barrage of "regulations" and limitations threatening to undermine a woman's right to choose. It's a fact of life that many women in their mid-twenties have abortions and in a way I felt like avoiding the story the characters were presenting would make me complicit in stigmatizing those women."