TVSquad

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't get culture and literature from TV Squad. This is the second post about poetry today. (Tomorrow: e.e. cummings.)

I saw Suzanne Somers on Rachael Ray this morning, and then I go to Best Week Ever and see video of SNL's Kristen Wiig reading excerpts from Somers' book of poetry! Unlike the post link above, these words really are from Somers.

Television has a long standing tradition of making its stars feel more popular than they really are. As somebody who used to be on TV, five nights a a week, I know what that feeling is like. Generally when that person leaves television, they go on to do movies or change professions and they often become even more popular. However, there is always that TV celebrity who overestimates how much people want to see them and when they leave their hit TV show, it ends up being the biggest mistake of their career.

David Caruso
Before Caruso became the star of the weakest part of the CSI franchise, he was the star of NYPD Blue. After playing numerous bit parts on TV and in film, he finally hit the big time. The critics and the public both agreed that he was a breath of fresh air in what had become a stale world of TV dramas. He was sexy and tough, just like his show and he fit in perfectly with his supporting characters. Then suddenly, Caruso decided he was too talented for the small screen and bailed on the show. His much talked-about departure allowed him to make unwatchable films like Jade and the remake of Kiss of Death that nobody asked for. Luckily, the ginger-haired tough guy was able to revive his career, but one can't help but wonder how different things would have been had he continued to be Detective John Kelly.

AOL TV has finally released their top ten of the Top 50 Sexiest Women. This list spans many decades of television, so you can see how the old school hotties paved the way for the next generation of actresses. It also includes women who because they have parlayed their careers to the big screen, I don't even think of them as television actresses anymore (i.e. Katie Holmes, Jessica Alba, and Jennifer Aniston). Okay, I take that last one back -- I will always think of Jen as Rachel.

I'm not going to reveal who's in the top ten but I will share some of my favorites from the list (#50-11). Please feel free to share your favorites in the comments. As for me, my favorites are all funny blondes -- maybe blondes do have more fun (at least these ones do).

After the executive session, CBS continued immediately with its jam-packed day of press tour, introducing four new shows and taking a look at returning hits Shark and How I Met Your Mother.

First up, the all-star cast of Cane, a prime time soap that's been compared to The Sopranos and Dallas, starring Jimmy Smits, Hector Elizondo and Rita Moreno, takes the platform.

Smits, who also serves as co-executive producer, stars as Alex, a man who's married to his "sister" (Alex is adopted), prompting executive producer and perpetual funnyman Jonathan Prince to call creator/e.p. Cynthia Cidre -- "Woody."

Our corporate cousins at TMZ.com are reporting that the Malibu home of Suzanne Somers was destroyed by a fire today. The fire swept through a number of beachfront properties in the tony California town; the site also confirms that the home of Susan Anton was also destroyed.

Other people who live in the Malibu Colony area, where the fire is occurring, are Mel Gibson, Pierce Brosnan, Pamela Anderson, Barbra Streisand, Ted Danson, David Geffen and Courtney Cox-Arquette. What I find interesting is how often brush fires, mudslides, and other disasters destroy houses out there in Malibu. Is living on the beach worth the headaches that seem to happen year after year over there? I don't know who's more of a masochist; the people who don't move out of a flood plain or people who pay millions of dollars for houses built on a beach. I think it's a tie.