Del Shores remembers Rue, talks of 'A Sordid Affair'

It's been over a decade since Del Shores filmed the big-screen adaptation of his play Sordid Lives. Written for the stage in 1996, three years later the movie starring Delta Burke, Olivia Newton-John and eventual Emmy-winner Leslie Jordan became a cult classic.

In July 2008 Logo premiered a television series - written and directed by Shores - that featured Jordan along with the late Rue McClanahan, Olivia Newton-John, Caroline Rhea, Leslie Jordan, Beth Grant and most of the original cast of the film. The show became an immediate hit and the highest rated series in Logo's history, but an issue over residual payments with a producer (not with Logo) created a situation where a second season was impossible to be produced, despite Facebook petitions and pleas to the network.

"It was devastating for this to happen and to have delivered a hit show with stars to a network and then get in business because of a packaging issue with somebody who did not honor their contract with us," Shores told EDGE earlier this summer. "That's why it fell apart. We would have been fine. Logo ordered a second season contingent on the other financial partners coming in, which one of them was this production company, Once Upon A Time Films. I don't mind telling the truth. Stanley M. Brooks is the producer. We had another partner, IMG (International Management Group) and they weren't ready to come in when the second season was ordered. They said, we need to wait and we wanted them to come in but they needed to sell more territories. The second season would have happened if the producer had paid us our residuals, which were due on November 23, 2008. The actors still have not made a dime and it's run over 300 times collectively on Logo."

Not that Sordid Lives is completely dead - Shores and members of the cast have taken their experiences on the road with A Sordid Affair, which Shores and a rotating cast of cast members are taking to theaters and cabarets throughout the country. In the show they share stories, reminisce and even perform odes to the underground hit. Thus far it has played to sold-out audiences in New York, Atlanta, Dallas Fort Lauderdale, and, just this past weekend, at San Francisco's Rrazz Room at San Francisco's luxurious Hotel Nikko.

In this interview, the playwright, film director/producer and stand-up performer shares with The Queen of San Francisco Media Pollo Del Mar memories or working with Rue, how her death has impacted the touring show and what they have in store for San Francisco audiences. He also uses the opportunity to gets in a good dig at Bristol Palin along the way!

Remembering Rue