August 2006 Archives

by Laura Saltman

It's so long Emmys and hello to the brand new TV season.

Number one on my list of can't miss shows is Nip/Tuck, which returns for season four on FX, on September 5th. The entire cast, minus Joely Richardson who was working in London, got together for a premiere party on Friday night where I grilled them for all the dirt on the new season. I will tell you now that there are a few spoilers from the mouths of the cast, guest stars and series creator. So, quit reading if you don't want to know.

Well I'm taking a little heat in the blogosphere (which leads to some radio) for the Jeremy Piven interview at the NBC Emmy Red Carpet Special. Whoops.

If you don't know my history with Piven (and who would), it looks like he's repulsed by my line of questioning. I watched it on Tivo last night... I can see that. I asked Jeremy first if he had seen baby Violet since he is working on a movie with Jen Garner now....he said "no." I asked him if he'd seen baby Shiloh since he lives in Malibu, home of Brad and Angie... knowing he'd say "no." I finished with Suri just in case he wasn't on the ledge yet. He commented that I have potential as a human being... good one. Funny, sarcastic and a jab between friends.

Before August 29, 2005, my grandmother enjoyed the finer things in life - bingo, poker keeno, a subscription to the National Enquirer. Any number of things would make her laugh. A dirty joke. The Porky's movies. My love life.

My grandma doesn't laugh a lot now. Maw Maw lost everything in Hurricane Katrina -- her home, everything in it and two of her friends.

On the one-year anniversary of the levees collapse, nothing has changed. Maw Maw's house in St. Bernard Parish, flooded for weeks past the roofline, still slowly rots in the August humidity.

by Laura Saltman

During Emmy day, check back here for our Access TV guru Laura Saltman's take,from the Emmy red carpet to the after parties! (All times are PST).

1:26 a.m. -- The crowd has thinned out. My feet hurt and it's time to go home. I walk out to valet and Sir Ben Kingsley is waiting with two women for their car. He had been waiting a long time for his car. The ladies snap photos of Ben and his gift bag. A paparazzi comes over and asks Ben to smile for him. Ben tells him he will smile when his car arrives. My car arrives before his. Such ends my Emmy night.

by Laura Saltman

Ever wonder what makes me qualified to sit here and write to you as if I'm some kind of authority on television' I may very well be breaking a cardinal Hollywood rule, about letting people know how old you are, but let's just say I've been in the business of entertainment for almost 15 years. Holy moly, that's actually a scary thought. I've told this bit of trivia about myself before too many people that growing up I used to always say, "I don't want to be a star, i just want to interview them." Ever since the ripe old age of say 6, i've been a dedicated TV watcher. I pride myself on knowing a little bit about a whole lot of TV shows. TIVO and DVD's are my best friends. Hallelujah to whomever invented this stuff.

I don't know about you, but I am DYING over the lack of good Hollywood fashion to check out lately. They ain't kidding when they call 'em the dog days of summer -without big movie premieres and red carpet events - there hasn't been nearly enough star style to sate my hearty appetite. The Teen Choice Awards helped a little- the ladies were showing off their legs....Jessica, Mischa, Ashley Olsen, Rachel Bilson, Rihanna, Brittany Murphy....even an 8 months pregnant Britney rocked the look. Jessica Alba went the other way. Like me- she seems impatient when it comes to waiting for fall to get here to break out the new duds- she was fierce in her new Dolce and Gabbana boots telling us, "I was drooling over these boots, and I couldn't wait to wear them." I hear ya sister!

At least through email, I can let my voice be heard. Otherwise, it would be impossible because I have a bad case of laryngitis. Boy, a cold and cough really got me this time. I had a week's vacation and at the tail end, I caught a cough and cold. I came back to work last week on Monday and then Tuesday, boom, I woke up with no voice. It started coming back and I got brave and decided it was okay to talk with a raspy voice.

The "American Idol" auditions are in full swing as 8,000-plus folks in Birmingham, Alabama, got their chance to shine in front of the judges. They love their Idols in the South, so you can be fairly sure somebody from this city will make it to the Top 12. Season four runner-up Bo Bice is from Alabama and, of course, so is this year's winner, Taylor Hicks.

Perhaps the best known 'Bama boy, though, is season two winner, Ruben Studdard. They love the Velvet Teddy Bear down there -- and we have the proof! "Access Hollywood's" Tim Vincent hopped in a limo with Ruben and rolled up to the auditions to surprise the crowd.

By Laura Saltman

OK, so if you are getting tired of re-runs and crappy reality shows, this summer, then lucky you because starting Monday, August 21st "Prison Break" returns for season two. How we get hooked on TV shows around here is an interesting thing sometimes. Many times we get preview screeners and find a good show that way. Not so this time around. Basically, before the show premiered, I was assigned to put together a segment for our show from footage we had shot on the set with Wentworth Miller. It was all about how he put the tattoos on his body, which takes something like 3 hours a day. So, I'm looking at Wentworth thinking he looks familiar, so much so that I looked him up on IMDB, the Internet Movie Database (which is great resource for useless information about celebrities.)

(August 16, 2006) -- Hayden Panettiere is my favorite new actress, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Three weeks ago, I had never heard of her.

This week, I can't get enough of her. And neither can Access Hollywood's parent company, NBC Universal - you see, she's their new darling (and rightfully so!).

Hayden's past credits include a lot of episodes of 'Malcolm In The Middle,' and 'Commander-In-Chief,' and small roles in the films like 'Racing Stripes,' 'Raising Helen,' and 'Ice Princess.'

She was a couple hours late and apologized profusely.

That's one of the things I like about Beyonce. She's a professional and doesn't like to keep people waiting. So, when the 'Tyra Banks" show she was taping wrapped very late, it put Beyonce behind on the junket she was scheduled to do that evening to promote her new album, "B-day."

So, when she came into my hotel room where my camera crew was set up, she gave me a hug and told everyone she was very sorry for making us wait.

I danced with Jerry Springer this morning.

That's something I never thought I'd ever write let alone 'do'.

Actually there is a legitimate reason'you see Jerry signed on as one of the stars of ABC's huge hit, 'Dancing With The Stars'. So, I drove over to a dance studio in Hollywood to see if Springer's feet are as fast as his mouth. In a word, no.

But next to his incredible professional partner, Kym Johnson (she won the Australian version of the show-who knew'..no..I mean..who knew they had an Australian version?), anyone would look like they had two left feet. Now, Kym's an interesting story.

Christina Aguilera is an interesting woman.

Very tough and very driven, full of complexities. I recently sat down with her in BevHills, some seven years after I first interviewed her. In many ways, she's the same person... talented and driven with a vision. Oh, and very late. My first interview with her all those years ago, she was more than an hour late. On this day, exactly an hour late. So maybe with maturity comes timeliness' I don't know... maybe Christina runs on a clock that has its own time zone... somewhere between Pacific and Eastern European' I almost showed up an hour late because I knew she'd be late. But if that's her worst fault, especially as things go in Hollywood, we're all good. (Hey, she didn't do a "no-show" and claim "exhaustion.")

by Laura Saltman

Strap on your dancing shoes and bust out your skimpy outfits, ABC today announced their lineup for Season Three of "Dancing with the Stars". A few of the stars had already leaked out over the summer. I mean who didn't know that Lisa Rinna's husband Harry Hamlin was a lock? I got confirmation of this back in May. The folks at ABC would have been silly to let the opportunity to have him dance slip by. Lisa is a spitfire and he was a great cheerleader for her last season. The two of them together bring great energy to the show and I'm excited to see Lisa now sitting on the sidelines wearing her Team Harry shirt. Now, finally the adorable professional dancer, Ashly Delgrosso will get a chance to shine and show she can really move with the best of them. You'll recall she was the unlucky gal paired with Mr. Two Left Shoes, Master P last season.

(August 14, 2006) -- Yesterday afternoon, on a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Burbank, a young mother of two innocently struck up a conversation with the guy sitting to her left - yours truly - and unwittingly ended up shaping the future of Access Hollywood.

[The following is a pop culture parody, not intended to be taken seriously]

It has been widely reported today that Celebrity Heiress Paris Hilton was bitten by her pet kinkajou whose name is Baby Luv. Today we received this e-mail from Baby Luv in the Access Hollywood newsroom.

All day I'm getting emails saying "Baby Luv, you gotta check out Defamer and Gawker. Bloggers are going nuts saying you bit Paris. What the hell happened?" Well, every story has two sides and this is mine.

Yesterday afternoon, we saw the future of Access Hollywood. And I am here to tell you it looks good.

Let me backtrack for a second...

Three weeks or so ago, a few of us got together in a surprisingly barren conference room at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel to eat M&Ms and stare out the gigantic plate glass windows at the saggy-costumed slightly-shady characters who parade up and down in front of Mann's Chinese to the delight of tourists. We also talked about the show. For two very long but satisfying days, we went over what works well, what needs to go, and what we have to concentrate on for the new season - and now the time has come for the things we came up with to be set in motion.

I don't know about you but it feels like just yesterday to me that Taylor Hicks walked away with the crown on American Idol season five. Bang, just like that it's here again! Today marked the start of the auditions for season six!

The first thing I love to do every morning is eat some yogurt and read the dirt alert. I love to know who Paris Hilton is not having sex with and what new religious group Mel Gibson is attacking.

Today is no different.

As I am reading the news for the day, I come across an article about my favorite "Parent Trap" actress, Lindsay Lohan. Says here she wants to go entertain the troops, like her idol Marilyn Monroe. How Sweet. In the new issue of Elle Magazine, she is trying to make plans with Senator Hillary Clinton to go on a field trip to the Middle East so that she can put on a concert for all the well-deserving, hard-working, non-partying soldiers that have been living in the desert for a while now. Here's what I have a problem with though.