Posted Jun 16th 2009 1:02PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: The Apprentice, Celebrities, News and Gossip
On a three-hour edition of World Wrestling Entertainment's
Monday Night Raw on USA, CEO Vince McMahon announced he had sold the show to Donald Trump.
Before a shock wave ripples through the sports entertainment and reality show worlds, it's safe to say this is "a work" -- as they say in grappling circles. Trump has his orange-topped mug back on TV as an on-screen performer with WWE. Behind the curtain, when the arena goes dark, McMahon is still in charge.
According to McMahon,
Trump will take over running the show in person next Monday night when a special, commercial-free
Raw originates from Green Bay, Wisc.
Continue reading Trump grapples with WWE as new 'owner' of RAW
Posted Jun 16th 2009 10:02AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebrities, Contestants, News and Gossip
A mysterious source close to the production of
I'm a Celebrity! Get Me Out of Here! reports that Janice Dickinson tapped out of the show after being rushed to a Costa Rican hospital this weekend.
While some were hoping that she was institutionalized for a personality transplant, it turns out
she was reportedly suffering from dehydration, depending on which source you find.
There's some debate on whether severe dehydration is more dangerous than actually being in a Costa Rican hospital, but she's said to be nowhere near the reality show's set.
Continue reading Gossip stream says Dickinson packed up to Costa Rican hospital
Posted Jun 11th 2009 9:02AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Celebrities, Documentary, News and Gossip, Reality-Free
Jessica Alba could be facing vandalism and tagging charges for gluing several "shark conservation posters" all over Oklahoma City in an organized stunt.
Alba apologized for her participation in the incident after she was busted online. She's in Oklahoma City shooting her new movie and somehow got lured into this sticky "save the shark" poster campaign.
The city wide display is an obvious move for shark preservationists, as millions of the large fish are slaughtered every year by heavy hunting off the Oklahoma coast. Also, the classic film
Jaws was set near Tulsa.
Continue reading Shark Week approaches as Alba jumps the same
Posted Jun 10th 2009 6:05PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Industry, Programming, News and Gossip, Reality-Free
The long Hollywood labor nightmare that began in November of last year officially ended yesterday when the Screen Actors Guild overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with the studios.
Guild members voted 78% in favor of the new agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP), despite calls by hard-line union members who urged actors to vote "no" and force continued negotiations.
It's clear that two huge factors in the SAG approval were general labor strife fatigue and the struggling economy.
Continue reading SAG ratifies new contract to avoid yet another Hollywood strike
Posted Jun 10th 2009 9:00AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, News, Talk Show, News and Gossip
This reporter was thinking just a little while back, that what this country needs is another intolerant political loud mouth on the airwaves. It doesn't matter what political party they call home -- R or D, liberal conservative. No TV viewer seems able to go more than a few minutes without having some self-important gas bag named Matthews or O'Reilly, sporting one ideology or another, raging at a camera.
Fortunately, MSNBC brings us another fix -- the emerging show from Air America personality Ed Schultz. Resembling a sort of square-headed Rush Limbaugh, Schultz's politics run more toward Keith Olbermann. But, let's face it: None of these guys are on TV to discuss sensible politics on either side of the aisle. They're on the air to pontificate, yell, scream and (in Schultz's case) have a borderline
Network-ish nervous breakdown on camera every night.
Continue reading MSNBC's Ed Schultz joins ranks of politcal screamers
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 1:27PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Judges, News and Gossip
Get on your craziest costume and ask your mom again if you really, really can sing because it's time to start the process of making an ass of yourself on national television all over again. Only this time, the crazies who go to the first round of auditions won't get the chance to sing in front of the judges until a callback sometime later this summer. That's because while they want to get the audition process under way,
American Idol doesn't know if they're bringing back Paula Abdul or Kara DioGuardi.
I wonder if this move will keep some of the crazies away. Now you're looking at two entirely separate trips just to look stupid on television. Will it still be worth it? Sure, the local crazies will still come out, but what about the travelers? It is interesting to note that
Idol is changing the process up this much due to contract questions. That must mean that they're really not sure about one or both of the women's return to the show. DioGuardi was on a one-year deal, while Abdul's multi-year contract ended this season.
Continue reading American Idol to hold auditions sans judges while mulling fates of Abdul, DioGuardi
Posted Jun 1st 2009 7:31PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, Celebrities, What To Watch Tonight, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip
Here comes the response to
Mr. Zaino's prediction that Conan O'Brien Irish eyes will smile for a long time to come on NBC's
The Tonight Show. It's possible the whole deal could turn into a lament.
My argument:
- It seems more like The Tonight Show isn't the best marriage for Conan O'Brien, rather than the host being wrong for the show. From SNL to The Simpsons to his own Late Night, O'Brien was a driving force in some of the most cutting edge network comedy of the last 15 years. But, The Tonight Show isn't about "cutting edge." It's about something mildly entertaining to watch before folks tuck into bed. It's a waste of O'Brien's chops -- though you can't blame the guy for knocking down the paycheck.
- Due to lazy NBC programming ideas, O'Brien's popularity could be damaged by his predecessor. No, Jay Leno is in no way out to sabotage his protege. But Leno's upcoming prime time, pre-news lead-in to The Tonight Show seems like overkill. Will audiences want to watch "Leno's old Tonight Show" followed by "O'Brien's new Tonight Show?"
Continue reading Point/Counterpoint: The Tonight Show will fail Conan O'Brien
Posted May 27th 2009 6:07PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Alumni, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip
Fans of Kris Allen feel justified that their favorite won
American Idol this year. Fans of the presumed favorite to win, Adam Lambert, have been lamenting his loss.
Looking for reasons why Adam lost, as Bob reported, they've put some of the blame on AT&T. I think it's more a matter of the jaded state of California, where Lambert hails from. They're not as impressed with a famous singer in their midst as the people of Kris Allen's Arkansas are.
People in the Midwest and South don't have celebrities around every corner, and we're not as "hard" as the East Coast. So we still get excited when a "hometown" boy or girl does good. Think back to Season Five when Katharine McPhee went "home" to Los Angeles to a crowd of hundreds while Taylor Hicks was blown away by tens of thousands in Alabama (and they already had one Idol!).
Continue reading Here's the real American Idol voting conspiracy
Posted May 27th 2009 4:32PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Dancing With The Stars, Contestants, Alumni, News and Gossip
What's great about this is that it's an actual news story all by itself, and I'm not helping matters any by writing about it. The AP has published a story stating that
Danny Gokey says he would like to try Dancing With the Stars. That's it. Of course, Paula Abdul has been saying that for years and she had to settle for dancing on
Idol. But now that a rejected
Bachelor finalist was a worthy competitor, why not a rejected
American Idol finalist? Of course, Danny's main focus is his music and a new foundation he's set up in his late wife's name.
But he'd do it if it meant exposure for the foundation, which it would. And more exposure for him and any forthcoming projects he might have coming up as well. I see a real good trend here with reality castoffs sashaying across the dance floor. Who wouldn't want to watch
Survivor's Coach doing a fox trot. Or Ron from
The Biggest Loser. Of course, he'd want to give the title to his son.
Posted May 27th 2009 12:33PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: American Idol, TV Squad Polls, Contestants, News and Gossip
So
Kris Allen beat Adam Lambert by a ton of votes last week. You knew there would be a controversy, right? This one is based around AT&T. Seems they might have pushed the results toward Allen by having their reps at parties organized by fans of Allen and teaching them how to "power text," which apparently means sending 10 or more text messages at once.
The New York Times has all the details.
Posted May 7th 2009 12:18AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Alumni, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip, Episode Reviews
Yet another results show has come around, and Ryan starts things off by asking, "Who will graduate from the Idol school of rock, and who will just get schooled?" You know, Ryan, I'm available if your writers are on strike. Call me.
Anyway, sounds like it was a dramatic week on American Idol - a large column collapsed and in a separate incident, a staffer was injured on a stair mishap. Whew. But the show must go on, and we'll find out tonight whether Allison, Danny, Adam or Kris will be going home. The other three get to go home, too, but for a big hometown parade with cheerleaders and town leaders gushing praise on them.
Continue reading American Idol: 1 of 4 goes home
Posted May 6th 2009 6:00PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Judges, News and Gossip
What Simon Cowell says goes ... I think. With former executive producer Nigel Lythgoe having jumped ship from
American Idol to focus more on his summer baby
So You Think You Can Dance, Cowell is one of the "big dogs" at the show. So if
Cowell says that the entire judging panel will be back next season on Idol, we can probably believe it. This is possibly in response to
TV Guide's recent issue declaring that Cowell was just about done with the show himself and that he wasn't sure about Kara on the show. Now apparently he thinks "she's cute."
Continue reading Cowell says all four judges will return next season on Idol
Posted May 2nd 2009 2:01PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Contestants, News and Gossip
I don't know why today it's the big story, but suddenly everywhere I look there's
another story about
Adam Lambert being
gay. Or maybe gay. He's never officially come out one way or the other. And it's mostly the same story being recycled on every website or news portal imaginable, but while it's asking the question "Could Adam Lambert become the first gay
American Idol?" I'm asking if all these news stories could hurt his chances.
It would be foolish to say that we're a nation that's completely beyond caring about sexual orientation, just look at legislation across the country. And while former contestants have come out and admitted they were gay, most notably Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken, nobody has admitted it while competing on
Idol. And yet, Lambert has been the most ambiguous about it, which is a step in the right direction. Most people are just kind of assuming he is, I guess. But there is probably just as large a group out there that has no idea. And a lot of them may see these articles.
Continue reading Is the media ruining Adam Lambert's chances of winning American Idol?
Posted Apr 2nd 2009 12:12AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip, Episode Reviews
Well, most of you correctly predicted who would go home on American Idol this week. A whopping 1183 votes for the predicted loser were logged in our poll!
But before we got to find out who it was for real, a whole bunch of other stuff happened, starting with Kara saying she appreciates the audience and their passion for the Idols. That was in reference to the heckling she got last night.
And Paula tried to redeem herself by saying that while she put the spotlight on Adam Lambert (you know, that Mick Jagger/Steven Tyler comment), she knows that all of the Idols have something special. Alrighty then.
Continue reading American Idol: Results Show (1 of 9 goes home)
Posted Mar 26th 2009 3:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: American Idol, Contestants, Alumni, Performances, News and Gossip
Former
American Idol contestant Justin Guarini caused some controversy earlier this week when he disclosed that when the
Idol singers do their big group numbers, the singers are lip-synching. First the people at
Idol said "the Idols don't lip-synch, period," but
now they admit that it's true. I guess you always look silly when you publicly add the word "period" to a denial.
On what planet is this new, breaking news?
Continue reading Idol says their group songs aren't lip-synched ... oh, wait, they are
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