Characters

Gay characters coming out in prime time is nothing new. In fact, “Coming-out narratives are cliches,” according to Ron Becker, author of “Gay TV and Straight America” (Rutgers University Press, 2006). “They were big in the 1970s and '80s, but even by the 1990s, it was almost a cliché on television,” the Miami University professor says. But a quarterback on a pro football team coming out in the locker room to his teammates, “There's some real potential for drama in that context,” Becker says.

Harbor East's Lancaster Street has seen some welcome additions recently. Ouzo Bay's seafood program has impressed many Baltimore diners. Townhouse Kitchen and Bar has settled in as an upscale sports bar with a notable selection of beer. Both of these new restaurants have filled voids in the flashy neighborhood. So what does latest newcomer Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant add? It was a question I kept circling back to during a recent happy-hour trip, with no clear answer. The atmosphere was amiable, our servers were attentive and the beer selection was adequate.

Arda Ocal (@arda_ocal) of theScore Television Network, Baltimore Sun and Layfield Report spoke with former WWE Superstar Goldust (Dustin Rhodes). Check out the interview below:

Like the television character he helped inspire, Donnie Andrews lived by a code. In his earlier years when he was robbing rival dealers as a young hustler in West Baltimore - experiences that would later form the basis for the popular Omar Little character on the Baltimore crime drama “The Wire” - he vowed to never involve women or children in his crimes. But after confessing to a murder and helping authorities bring down a crime syndicate, he took on a different mission: working to prevent youth from going down the same path that he did. Andrews died Thursday following heart complications while in New York City, where he was attending an event as part of his efforts to promote a non-profit outreach foundation.

This week starts with Kyle, who is increasingly becoming my least favorite Housewife. Did Kyle's family get egged? As a result of her meddling, I hope. Mauricio pretends to believe it's some high school prank targeting Alexia. But aww, it's a new car reveal! They got Alexia a Lexus C250. A C class Lexus for a girl who can't begin to parallel park? A 16-year-old? My life sucks. At least she seems sweet and grateful. Kyle knows her friends are going to resent this bit of showiness, but it's the fruit of Mauricio's new real estate company.

Well THAT wasn't how the Dixon brothers reunion was supposed to go down! For a second, right after the Governor accused Merle of being a traitor in Sunday night's episode, I was very scared that ol' Merle was going to get killed off right then and there. Thank goodness they just left us with a cliffhanger of the two staring each other down in front of a bloodthirsty crowd of Woodburians. We'll have to wait until Feb. 10 for answers, and by then we'll be eating any Subway footlong sub we want for only $5. #FebruAny I hope that Merle and Daryl go back-to-back, Roman gladiator fighting style, and brawl their way out of there, maiming the Governor in the process.

Homeowners across the city could see their property rights altered by the first zoning code overhaul in more than 40 years. City officials said the sweeping revisions, dubbed Transform Baltimore, would preserve the character of neighborhoods and make it easier for homes to be modernized. "If your zoning is changing, it doesn't necessarily mean your neighborhood is going to change," said Tom Stosur, Baltimore's director of planning. Stosur and his staff, who spent the past four years writing and rewriting the proposed code, want to assure people that the changes would not allow businesses to spring up in the middle of tree-filled blocks of single-family homes.

What makes a great workplace? A bit of Old Fezziwig. That's a reference to one of the characters from Dickens' novella, "A Christmas Carol" - the corpulent, jolly man who ran the London business where Ebenezer Scrooge apprenticed. Fezziwig threw the original office party, and he invited everyone to celebrate the holiday. But that's not why people loved him, and the office party isn't what makes a great workplace. There was more to Fezziwig than fiddle and ale. Generous, affable and wise, he was a merchant with compassion, an ethical businessman who cared as much about his community as his profit margins, his workers as much as customers.

It might have been a much more tense conversation: Carrie confronts Mike about his continued meddling in the CIA's terror investigation. She knows all about where he's been snooping. She even knows about the affair with his best friend's wife. That friend, of course, is Brody. And, you know, Brody and Carrie have something of a romantic entanglement themselves. Carrie opts for an emotional appeal, asking Mike to step back for the good of the woman he cares about, and he agrees. It's not easy to let go, she says, “not when you've chosen someone.” So whose relationship was the subject of this conversation again?

Last fall, FX's "American Horror Story" burst onto the scene as one of television's best drama miniseries and was nominated for 17 Emmy Awards . This season, co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk flipped the script by changing characters, plotlines and the show's setting from the “Murder House” to the dank and chilling Briarcliff Manor mental asylum. Over the next few weeks b will post Q&As with cast members of "American Horror Story. " So far, we've talked with Chloe Sevigny and Evan Peters . This time we caught up with Sarah Paulson.