KathyGriffin-related stories
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 6:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals, Casting
Attention, attention! This is not a joke. It's not a spoof or a gag.
Kathy Griffin will host a dance show for ABC. That's right, the funny lady of Bravo's
My Life on the D-List, has said yes to hosting
Let's Dance, a new celebrity reality show in which stars compete with one another by re-creating classic routines from pop culture. That means someone is going to try and do Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" dance from
Motown's 25th Anniversary Special, don't you think?
I am not a
Dancing With the Stars fan, but this show sounds like something I'd be interested in watching for a couple of reason. Number one is Kathy Griffin. I think she's hilarious. She also loves celebrities, so I could see her really getting into this show and being the perfect built-in zingmeister. She'll say whatever comes to her mind, and -- fortunately -- that's usually pretty funny.
Continue reading Kathy Griffin dances her way into new ABC series
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 11:29AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Awards, Reality-Free
Oscar roulette is usually played when it comes time to figure out the nominations. However, this year there seems to be a wheel of fortune spinning with the names of possible hosts for the show. Of course, the
folks running the show have intimated that they might want to have a few stars sharing the duties. Historically, that hasn't worked out too well.
The other day when
Hugh Jackman removed his name from the running, I asked you for your ideas and told you that I like Kathy Griffin. Jimmy liked George Clooney and Justin Timberlake. Sancty suggested
Neil Patrick Harris.
Continue reading Who'll host the Oscars? The oddsmakers like Billy Crystal
Posted Oct 30th 2009 6:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Awards, Reality-Free
So
Ricky Gervais has signed to host the Golden Globes, which means the pressure is on the Oscars to come up with a host or hosts equally as stellar. Or interesting. Or compelling.
One star who has removed himself from the running is last year's host,
Hugh Jackman. He will not return as Oscar host when the show airs on ABC, March 7.
He's currently on Broadway in a play -- with 007 Daniel Craig -- and he "quietly turned down the job" according to sources. It's not because he was a bomb emceeing the proceedings either. He didn't do the "Oprah, Uma, Uma, Oprah" joke nor did he trip on his shoelaces in the opening number. Quite the contrary, in fact.
Hugh Jackman was a perfectly fine host.
But he doesn't want to do it in 2010. Maybe he doesn't want to push his luck? Maybe he just doesn't want to work that hard.
Continue reading Hugh Jackman says 'no thanks' to Oscar repeat
Posted Oct 15th 2009 10:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Music and Variety, Emmys, Reality-Free
It's been too long since Kathy Griffin has been on Bravo!
My Life on the D-List ended in August, but it seems much longer since we've had some Griffin humor. That drought will end next month. On November 3,
Bravo will air Kathy Griffin's new stand-up special, Balls of Steel.
I'm smiling already. Kathy is hilarious, by far the funniest woman on Bravo... and unlike the females on the
Real Housewives, she is intentionally funny. Her stand up concerts are especially well-done because she gets to really dish about pop culture, skewering the likes of Oprah, Rosie, Cher, Paris, et al.
Continue reading Watch Kathy Griffin's Balls of Steel in November
Posted Aug 9th 2009 10:00AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
A couple of years ago, I interviewed Joan Rivers for the
Boston Globe. She was playing a local theatre, and I hadn't yet had a chance to talk to her, and I wanted to talk a bit about her past in Second City and as a pioneering female comic. But since a lot of her shtick is slamming celebrities, and she helped invent what I guess you'd call "red carpet comedy," I thought I'd try to find a couple of people to do a point/counterpoint. Funny thing is, I couldn't find anyone for the counterpoint, anyone who wanted to go on record saying anything uncomplimentary against Rivers.
You can find plenty of people who will make jokes about her plastic surgery, or her failed talk show from the 80s, or her TV marketing, but that all seems a bit superficial. No one seemed to have a terribly valid criticism outside of those clichés. And that's what I think you'll see at the
Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers Roast Sunday (10PM). From the clips I've seen, some of the sharper comics have found a new approach to those tropes, and you'll see plenty of plastic surgery jokes. And I'm sure you'll hear plenty of them from Rivers herself (a debt, there, I think owed to Phyllis Diller).
Continue reading Roasting Joan Rivers
Posted Jul 30th 2009 2:31PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Daytime, Video, Watercooler Talk, Talk Show
Bob Sassone already did a post on how the amazing
Anderson Cooper caused a little bit of an
accident on the set of Live with Regis and Kelly yesterday morning when he subbed for the Reege. As funny as that -- and really, the entire "host chat" segment was -- it was not my favorite thing that happened on the show yesterday.
That honor goes to Cooper's interview with
The Bachelorette's
Jillian Harris. Harris was on the show with her "fiance," doing the post-finale press tour and shilling for the jeweler who provided the diamond ring that Ed bestowed upon her on Monday's season-ender.
While Kelly stuck to the script and asked the common, "when did you know he was the one?" questions, Anderson wasn't having any of it. He's Anderson freakin' Cooper, and as he demonstrated with his
swift takedown of the Lohan clan, he doesn't have time for the shenanigans of D-list reality stars (except Kathy Griffin). So Cooper, always trying to get to the bottom of the story, flat-out asked Jillian how many dudes she boned in the
Bachelorette mansion.
Continue reading Anderson Cooper gets real with The Bachelorette
Posted Jul 28th 2009 4:30PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Celebrities, Reality-Free
The traditional comedy roast has been hijacked by the cable networks and reproduced with more disappointing results than a sperm bank run by General Motors.
Comedy Central has done the best job for the most part while others like
A&E's extremely mismanaged Gene Simmons Roast made for lower quality television are as horrific as those painfully dated
Dean Martin's Roasts that are sold on infomercials in the wee small hours of the morning.
The secret to doing a good roast isn't really that much of a secret: hire people who are actually paid to be funny. That's why the Roast of Joan Rivers could be the best one yet.
Continue reading Why the Joan Rivers Roast should be tighter and funnier than her current facelift
Posted Jul 23rd 2009 1:00PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Music and Variety, Celebrities
As it often is in show biz lore,
Whitney Houston is on the verge of a comeback. On September 1 will be releasing a new CD called
I Look To You, and some time in the preceding week,
ABC will air a one hour Whitney Houston special. No word yet on whether it's going to be a concert format or an extended set of music videos or a mix of both, but the ultimate goal is clear: present Whitney in the best possible light and show off her big voice, one of pop music's most celebrated.
It will hopefully be a positive change of pace for La Houston. The last time Whitney was all over TV was when she "co-starred" on the Bravo reality series
Being Bobby Brown. That slice of life, unscripted gem might have been the worst thing Houston ever did in her professional career.
Continue reading Hell to the yes: Whitney Houston's coming back to TV
Posted Jul 21st 2009 11:15AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Other Reality Shows, Celebrities, Emmys
Kathy Griffin is so ubiquitous these days, you might have to dust off an old cliché (and change it slightly) to describe her - The Queen of All Media.
Kathy Griffin: My Life On the D-List is getting the best ratings of its run, she was a guest on Privileged, her CD,
For Your Consideration, was nominated for a Grammy, her book comes out in September, and she continues to tour as a stand-up comedian. She was also recently tapped to host the Shmemmys (The Creative Arts Emmys) and to roast her good friend Joan Rivers for Comedy Central. She may not be getting Ryan Seacrest's 45 million dollar paycheck, but she may be challenging him for most entertainment jobs held simultaneously.
I caught up with her by phone recently and had a long conversation. So long, in fact, that we have posted two different versions - this is the short one. There is an
unedited version here, for those who need every last morsel of Griffin they can get.
Griffin actually started out by asking me a question.
Continue reading Kathy Griffin: The TV Squad Interview
Posted Jul 21st 2009 11:15AM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Other Reality Shows, Celebrities
This is the full version of my interview with Kathy Griffin, for those who clicked over from the "short" version. Again, Griffin started out by asking me a question.
So is this interview going to run anywhere or is this just for your personal collection?
It's going to run on TVSquad, AOL's TV blog. You know what? I have an exciting announcement. By the way, I'm looking at it myself, I knew, but it was officially announced today. I am hosting the Shmemmys this year. Now if you recall, two years ago when I won a Creative Arts Emmy, I got in a little trouble for telling Jesus to suck it. And now, two years later, when The
D-List has its highest ratings ever, they want me to host. And that is what I love about Hollywood.
Continue reading Kathy Griffin: The TV Squad Interview (full transcript)
Posted Jul 7th 2009 3:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Kathy Griffin is no stranger to the anti-celebrity acerbic wit, particularly on her Bravo show
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. Now she will need to call upon that talent as she has been
selected to host The Comedy Central Roast of Joan Rivers on August 9th.
Truthfully, Joan Rivers' humor through the years has been pretty self-deprecating. Rivers will likely enjoy the attention. Given her own penchant for roasting celebrities (or kissing up to them, such as while working the red carpet), using Kathy Griffin as her roastmaster seems a pretty logical pairing. I wonder if, along with the Comedy Central regulars that are at every one of these, her daughter is going to be one of her roasters.
The Comedy Central roasts in general have been hit-and-miss for me, although they've been a ratings winner for the channel. I really enjoyed the William Shatner one (probably because the years of infighting between the
Star Trek cast gave the insults a little more credence).
Posted Jul 7th 2009 2:03PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Video, Celebrities, Talk Show
It's always great to see Don Rickles on TV. He's rarely out of form, and he has a knack for sailing some great zingers past the censors. Which means his appearance on last night's
My Life on the D-List was a perfect opportunity, a place where he could be a bit more loose.
We got a taste of that from him, walking around Kathy Griffin's house, but we also got a glimpse of the guy I have heard about from comedians who've met Rickles - the old softie who is ever willing to talk shop with other comics. It was a great moment when Griffin and Rickles talked about how both of their mothers would try to tell them not to pick on people so much, with Griffin's mom providing a bit of the dialogue. Meeting Rickles was on Griffin's mother's "bucket list."
I thought I'd use the occasion to take a look around YouTube to find some of Rickles' best TV appearances. He seems to have been everywhere, from
The View to cable.
Continue reading Don Rickles on the D-List, The Tonight Show, and more
Posted Jun 8th 2009 5:18PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Celebrities
For four seasons on
Bravo,
Kathy Griffin has been trying to crawl her way off of what she called "The D-List," taking humiliating gigs and opening up a lot of her personal life to the cameras to try to get some attention. Truthfully, though, Griffin has been off of the D-List for quite some time, which makes tonight's season five premiere of
My Life on the D-List (8 PM, Bravo) a bit puzzling. What list is she on now?
Griffin has now won two Emmys for the
D-List, had a string of popular stand-up specials on Bravo, and her comedy album
For Your Consideration, was nominated for a Grammy this year (she lost to George Carlin's
It's Bad For Ya). And this season features appearances by Paris Hilton, Rosie O'Donnell, T.I., Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin, and Christina Aguilera - quite a cast for someone supposedly fighting obscurity. Plus, her book
Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin, hits stores in September on Ballantine Books.
Continue reading D-List premiere: what list is Griffin on now?
Posted Mar 16th 2009 2:30PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, American Idol, Desperate Housewives, Lost, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, Judges, Gossip Girl, The Big Bang Theory, TV Squad Ten
You've gotta admit: tramps are fun. Their boozy, often promiscuous antics are the life of any party. Whether you're cheering them on or witnessing their antics with horror, tramps make any situation interesting. The same goes for TV shows. From Blanche DuBois to, well, most of The Real World cast members after season 3 or so, the television landscape has been filled with entertainingly trampy characters.
They may steal your husband, dance on a bar, or just generally leave a path of destruction in their wake. Whatever it is, it's sure to be memorable. For this reason, TV tramps are not to be looked down upon; they are to be revered. So consider this list a tribute: a tribute to TV's biggest tramps. May they never reexamine the path their life has taken.
Continue reading TV Squad Ten: TV's biggest tramps
Posted Jan 3rd 2009 1:11PM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: News, Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free
If you happened to be watching Fox News' 3-hour UParty 2009 New Year's Eve special, you might have caught a glimpse of some unbelievable words scrolling across the bottom of the screen. " ... and let's hope the magic negro does a good job. " Wait ... what the ... ?!
The ticker usually contains news bites from Fox itself, so those particular words might have garnered a little shock. As it turns out, though, it's all very innocent. Well, sort of. It was actually a text message from a viewer that said, "Happy New Year and let's hope the magic negro does a good job. Love, Jen and John C."
Continue reading Fox News: "...and let's hope the magic negro does a good job"
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