Willie Nelson is Coming for Ian McKellen's Job: VIDEO

Marijuana proponent Willie Nelson is ready to take over the role of Gandalf in The Hobbit 2. Not that Ian McKellen has to worry.

Watch the audition tape he made for Conan O'Brien, AFTER THE JUMP...

Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi Play a Bickering Gay Couple in 'Vicious' New British Sitcom: VIDEO

British actors Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi star in a new sitcom from British network ITV premiering this month. The sitcom is called Vicious and the actors play a bickering gay couple who have been together for 48 years, according to the Hollywood Reporter:

“It's strictly coincidence that this issue is happening in the world,” says Gary Janetti, the U.S. writer who created Vicious. “But I think whenever the issue of gay marriage comes up the first couples that get married are these people that have been together 50 years, and you see these two women and these two men in their 80s. And I defy anybody not to be moved by that.”

Gary Reich, the managing director of Brown Eyed Boy, which is producing the show together with fellow Shine Group shingle Kudos Film, admits the timing of Vicious is particularly prescient. During the taping of the second episode in the six-part first season earlier this year, the British Parliament -- located directly across the Thames river from ITV's studios -- were voting to give same sex couples in Britain equal status under the law.

The show is no niche special either. It's being aired in primetime. It has not been sold for distribution in the U.S. yet.

Watch the trailer for the show, AFTER THE JUMP...

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1299

IAN MCKELLEN HONORED: The out gay actor delivered a lecture on religious and homophobic prejudice at the University of Ulster over the weekend.

BABY'S FIRST STEPS: A landmark moment, interrupted.

SLOTHS: Do they sink or swim?

WALTER CRONKITE: 1967 program on the office of the 21st century.

For recent Guides to the Tube, click HERE.

Ian McKellen to Anderson Cooper: 'I've Never Met a Gay Person Who's Regretted Coming Out' - VIDEO

Ian McKellen and Anderson Cooper sat down today to talk about The Hobbit, but spent part of the segment talking about being out and proud, and the progress on gay rights in the last 20 years.

Said McKellen, discussing a time when homosexuality was illegal: "I was making love until I was about 30 with my live-in boyfriend and we were breaking the law every time we had sex. Breaking the law. We could have been arrested. All the bad laws have gone. But there's a long way to go."

McKellen then praised Obama for coming out for marriage equality, eliciting a big round of applause from the audience.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

News: Sean Avery, 'Family Guy,' Retirement, Jenni Rivera

Maureen Dowd: "Instead of smallpox, plagues, drought and Conquistadors, the Republican decline will be traced to a stubborn refusal to adapt to a world where poor people and sick people and black people and brown people and female people and gay people count."

Egyptian President Hosni Morsi has rescinded an earlier order granting himself pharaoh-like powers, but protesters remain displeased. "Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi withdrew part of a controversial declaration that awarded him near absolute power, a limited concession to protesters whose two-week-long campaign had gridlocked Egyptian politics. But the new declaration preserves next Saturday as the date of a referendum on a divisive proposed constitution, skirting a key demand of Mr. Morsi's opponents."

On tonight's Family Guy: "When Meg finally gathers the courage to ask out her crush, Kent, she is devastated to learn he’s gay. But when Meg discovers that Kent has feelings for Chris, she uses her brother in the worst way to get closer to Kent..."

Potentially retired hockey player Sean Avery's fight against homophobia continues. "Maybe it’s because when I was such a bully when I had my uniform on, that when I took it off I felt the need to stand up against the bully," he said at a Bank of America-sponsored panel on sports and bullying this week.

From a CNN article called "Retirement getting less scary for gay boomers": "Several organizations, such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and SAGE, have made training the staffs of senior centers, nursing homes and assisted living facilities a priority. They want those workers to become more sensitive in their work with gay people, particularly because members of the baby boomer generation are more likely to be open about their sexuality than previous generations."

A behind-the-scenes look at the hair and makeup that went into the big screen adaptation of Les Miserables. Even as a struggling prisoner, Hugh Jackman still managed to look pretty fine.

And here is a behind-the-scenes look at Downton Abbey.

LeAnn Rimes still gets pretty choked up talking about how her affair with now-husband Eddie Cibrian ruined her married to then-husband Dean Sheremet.

Prince William on wife Kate's morning sickness: "I don’t know why they call it morning sickness – they should call it all day and all night sickness... It’s a long old process but she is getting there. She feels like it is going to go on forever."

Another compelling story: "Bizarre Creature Found in 200-Million-Year-Old Cocoon": "About 200 million years ago, a leech released a slimy mucous cocoon that unwittingly encased and trapped a bizarre animal with a springy tail, preserving it until researchers discovered the teardrop-shaped creature in Antarctica recently."

And then there's this, "Anti-nudity law an example of gay mainstream": "The rise of same-sex households isn't making society queer; it's making gay people bourgeois."

Oh, and here's transcript from today's ABC News' This Week, on which George Will said the anti-gay voting bloc is kicking the bucket. Columnist Paul Krugman was also present and said this: "...Gay marriage was a losing thing for Democrats in 2004, and it's now a winning thing. That's amazing. Eight years, this country has changed dramatically."

Dr. Declan Fahie discusses what it's like for LGB school teachers to work in Ireland's Catholic-dominated school system. (See pages 54-55.)

St George's Tron Church in Glasgow has left the Church of Scotland over the Church's decision to ordain gay and lesbian ministers.

A plane carrying singer Jenni Rivera went missing this morning while flying over Mexico.

Sir Ian McKellen says the world is a far better place than when he was born 73-years ago, in part because of gay acceptance: "[The world is] entirely better, personally. At least in the country we live in, there's an acceptance and a generosity and inclusiveness which has allowed us to accept alien cultures and learn from them. And attitudes to gay culture, and then disability, I hope more than momentarily. In so many ways better, and I am so glad."

Robert Randolph, the gay author who sued John Travolta for allegedly smearing his name after Randolph published a book claiming the actor frequented gay bathhouses, has been ordered to pay Travolta's legal fees in the case.

Ian McKellen Tells Stephen Colbert There's a Gay 'Hobbit' Sequel in the Works: VIDEO

Stephen Colbert interviewed Sir Ian McKellen alst night and told him that he has a problem with McKellen's gay rights advocacy.

"Here's my beef with you...You don't just make gay seem acceptable...You make it seem heroic. Are you the sharp knifepoint of the gay agenda trying to brainwash our children?"

McKellen says there's a Hobbit sequel in the works called Gandalf the Gay in which he reveals his favorite dwarf. He also reveals who would win in a battle between Gandalf and Magneto.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...