April 2007 Archives

It was definitely one of the best days I have ever had!

I knew the baby shower would be fun, but I truly did not realize just HOW INCREDIBLE of a day it would be. The shower was given by three of my girlfriends...Courtney Thompson, who has been a friend of mine for 10 years now, Karen Knopp who is the makeup artist at Access Hollywood, and Nicole Allowitz who is the wardrobe stylist at Access (we spend so much time together every day we have forged tight friendships! )

The day started with the shower hosts and I getting ready in a room at the Viceroy, the venue where the shower was held. What a blast we had laughing and reminiscing as we pulled out the mascara, blush and hairspray! Then we proceeded down to the room where the shower was held.

My girlfriends had so kindly thought of EVERYTHING, all with special meaning...from decorating with little bunnies because bunnies will be a predominant decoration in my nursery to all the fun "you're having a girl" stuff to the guest registry book to help me remember every moment...even a cake made out of donuts!!! (because that is one thing I have been craving lately...or let's say my baby girl has...sounds better for the baby to crave the donuts(-: ).

I've been inside the Idol tapings so many times before but had never seen the Walt Disney Concert Hall. So, even though I had a ticket for both, I chose to head downtown and spend my evening with Ellen DeGeneres. Ellen was great as usual, if not under used.. sitting inside watching Kelly Clarkson, IL Divo, Rascall Flatts, Josh Groban and Earth, Wind and Fire perform was definitely the better seat! It's nights like these when I remember why I love this business.

There was not a dry eye in the house when Josh Groban sang with the African Children's Choir. They were brought out during the commercial break and received a standing ovation even before they sang one note. Watching it back on TV later, I can tell you what you saw was nothing compared to the power of seeing it in person. Josh's voice is absolutely beautiful and hearing the harmony of the choir together inside a venue with such strong acoustics was magical. When it was all over the audience erupted in what seemed like never ending applause. Women were bawling. Grown men were crying.

Clearly, the crowd was not the country music kind. I was feeling the love for Rascall Flatts. I love me some country music and sang along to every word of "My Wish." Two women in front of me stood up and danced along while the rest of the crowd seemed slightly uninterested. I think by the end of the song most were converted to Flatts fans though!

The crowd, who had paid up to a $1,000 for the best seats, had to watch the action at the Idol stage on huge theater type screens. To me the most memorable moment came courtesy of Paula. When she appeared on stage with Ryan after her taped piece, the entire 2,000 plus audience let out a huge gasp upon seeing her in that push up dress. Men began whistling and cat calling her like she was passing a construction site. I guess it was the size of the screen that made the size of her um, girls seem so big because according to my spy at the Idol taping, no one noticed there. Someone in the control booth must have noticed. When I watched the west coast feed back, they had placed a Dial Idol banner with the phone number over most of her talking.

by Keith Freshwater, Access production assistant

Before looking forward, let's take a brief look back at last week's episode, "Catch-22."

Some may be thinking my prognostication that “the parachutist” would have information about the 815’ers was incorrect. I thought as much after watching, but then I found a spoiler from tonight's episode that, if true, confirms my original claim. And this is a whopper of a spoiler, so big that I hesitate to even mention, but then I would be denying myself the opportunity to say, "I told you so" next week. But, I'll save that for the end.

Last week's episode, "Catch-22," once again left our office divided -- most just could not care less about Desmond. I have to admit, when I first saw Desmond as a monk, I groaned (Get it? He says "brother" all the time), but I've always liked Desmond's story, particularly the Desmond-Penny love story that has become a central plot-point to the “Lost” universe. I felt that the episode was a preface, a start to an arc that hopefully will payoff in the finale.

As far as Charlie's near-demise, who didn't get excited when he ended up on the business end of Rousseau's arrow? But what exactly was the point of Desmond saving Charlie? Has time now been altered? Or was this more insight into Desmond's character? He, like Locke once did, has lost his faith, and therefore, failed his "test." I think the ramifications of this decision will become clear in the future. Charlie's not off the chopping block yet.

I predict he'll still meet his demise in a few episodes, and it'll involve the other end of the cable on the beach.

When something sounds too good to be true... it usually is. This well supported theory was proven to me yet again when I was asked to go to a shoot with Randy Jackson and the Top 6 Idols yesterday. The pitch from the publicity company was that Randy and the Idols would be taking part in the Giffoni Hollywood Film Festival and we would get them in a recording session for the "American Idol" album. I had a sneaking suspicion something was not right. FOX publicity will not allow national TV outlets to ever interview the Idols during the show, except when it gets down to the bottom two. This special stuff is reserved for FOX affiliates who in the past complained that they don't get anything and the national shows get all the good stuff. They won the battle and now local affiliates get everything and cable shows with minimal audiences like "American Idol Extra" and "Idol Tonight" (because of their Fox connection) get special footage. The big entertainment shows that have millions and millions of viewers are left to fend for themselves. The show doesn't need promotion is the excuse we always hear. Am I bitter about it? Obviously, but I tell you this because this whole reasoning is why I knew something was up yesterday. Surely, Fox didn't know that Access Hollywood was coming? The publicist claimed they did. I was still not convinced but drove the thirty minutes to the event anyway.

One night down and 'Idol Gives Back' is great. It is a bold endeavor because most often a TV franchise LIMITS its risks as it gets bigger. To risk too much with content is to risk profits. 'Idol' is showing immeasurable confidence and the result is humanity.

At the least, this is a courageous undertaking. At the most, this could be an invaluable night of influence on a younger generation to help others.

I am voting.

Now to 'Dancing With The Stars'.... Heather Mills gets the boot....are you shocked?

I am shocked twice over: first, I thought she was a reborn American heroine, an underdog who has recreated herself in America. (Remember, she has been largely vilified in the UK for her adversity with Paul McCartney). To that point, I thought she would have been with us for a while longer.

NOTE: Major Spoilers for Tonight Attached - DON'T READ if you don't want to know.

For the first time in what might be "American Idol" history or at least a really, really long time, a Top 12 performance show has been pre-taped. Producers felt they needed more time to rehearse for their big 2 hour "Idol Gives Back" show. So, the Idols had one less day to rehearse their songs and I had to give up my first free Monday night in months. A bike ride and dinner plans were on the horizon when I get an email that an Idol ticket has become available at 3pm. The catch was I had to be there by 4:15 which means I would have to cancel my plans. So, I pissed off my friend and darted over the hill not wanting to pass up what has become a rare opportunity this season for me. Needless to say after arriving to the studio by 4:15, waiting for someone to meet me for fifteen minutes and then finding out upon getting inside the studio it was still 49 minutes to show time, my mood was less than jovial. I think I may have had my fill of "American Idol" tapings and I've only been twice this year. Last year I went like twenty times.

Let the first timers have the seats. They appreciate it more.

Somewhere inside of me is a twelve-year-old little girl trying to break out. It's because I'm not ashamed to admit I love watching the Disney Channel. Forget "Seinfeld", "Friends" or "Will & Grace" re-runs. I've seen them all. Now when there is nothing on TV, I can always count on Disney for some mindless, cute, cheesy, funny sitcoms. First, it was "That's So Raven." Then "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody." Now I get a chuckle out of watching "Hannah Montana."

It started when I visited the set, back in February, to talk to Billy Ray Cyrus about his "Dancing with the Stars" training. I loved his humble attitude towards the show, his southern charm and quick wit. I figured that would help his fan base on "Dancing," but I had no idea just how far he would get on the show thanks to his loyal "Hannah Montana" followers. He's not even the star of the show. That honor goes to his 14-year-old daughter, Miley Cyrus.. the biggest thing in pre-teen celebrities right now. For those who don't have children or who are not secretly tuning into the Disney Channel, the show revolves around Miley Stewart, her dad Robby and trouble-making brother, Jackson. Miley lives a double life as a secret teen pop sensation... aka Hannah Montana.

Alec Baldwin's words on his 11 year old daughter's voicemail are vile and incomprehensible.

No matter how manipulative or subversive she MIGHT be, she is a child and his calmer head must prevail. The choice of language is also inconceivable.

But if Kim Basinger did leak the voicemail, her actions reek of wrongdoing. They appear reprehensible. As so often happens in divorce, the child becomes a ping-pong ball. It sure feels that she's sided with her mother, but how much of that is due to gut wrenching, maternal manipulation, we don't know. The way the media can cut into sealed information is precise and I'm afraid we'll soon know.

The ex-Baldwins are the polar opposites of the ex-Willis's. Kim and Alec could use a good sit down with Bruce and Demi about "putting the children first."

by Matt Smith

Flash back for a moment if you will to September 5th, 1972, to the Olympic games and the Munich massacre. Jim McKay had to go on the air live and give the play-by-play account that 11 Israeli athletes had been taken hostage. Imagine sitting there as a broadcaster, knowing fully that in the end you would have to be the one to tell loved ones that they were either alive or dead.

Later that day, his heart heavy, McKay looked into the lens of that camera, realizing that somewhere out there parents were undoubtedly watching:

"I've just gotten the final word. You know when I was a kid, my father used to say our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized. Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They've now said that there were 11 hostages; two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning. 9 were killed at the airport tonight. They're all gone."

So, I'm listening in on this conference call this morning with reporters talking to our favorite bad singer, Sanjaya Malakar. I keep pushing the volume higher and higher because it's tough to hear him. I even yell at my office mate to get off his speaker phone because I can't hear Sanjaya speak. He is so soft-spoken. I'm thinking to myself how shy he sounds and how surprising that is from a contestant who seems so calculating about his song choices and appearance every week.

There are questions about his song choices. He wanted to sing "Mercedes Benz" this week but it didn't clear. Whether or not he truly wanted to win, "Everyone one of us wants to win but I was more focused on the learning. Basically I saw this as my Junior and Senior year of High School. I got a lot further than I ever expected to."

More and more information is coming from the Idol folks about the eye rolled 'round the world last night by Simon Cowell. Notably, Idol producer Ken Warwick said in a conference call with the press that Simon viewed the tape of the incident after the show and was equally horrified.

Like I said before, I think what Simon did is understandable because it happened in a moment.
Had Simon had a few extra seconds to fully understand what Chris had changed the topic TO....I think he would have let it go.

Simon Cowell is a good guy and a great player on TV. He reacted the same way many did in the privacy of their homes.... I'm still not buying the excuse about reacting to something Paula said.

by Keith Freshwater, Access production assistant

Tread lightly, reader, there may be spoilers ahead. Seeing as how I’m not blessed with Desmond-like future-seeing abilities, I can only do my best to speculate about what’s to come on “Lost.”

Executive producers Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse (Carlmon? Damton?) tease in (the official "Lost" podcast) this week that “something fairly momentous” will happen tonight and we should expect “good narrative momentum,” whatever that means. “Lost” has been experiencing great momentum as of late, especially when compared to the glacial start of Season Three. And according to EW, we’ll “bear witness to some sweaty sex on the beach, a shocking act of bloody violence, and a rousing debate between Hurley and Charlie about which superhero is faster: Superman or the Flash. The latter element captures the genius of 'Catch-22'." It seems the momentum is whipping into a frenzy.

But on to tonight:

What we do know: Desmond’s "Lost" love, Penny, will make an appearance. Tonight’s episode also marks the introduction of a new character whose identity has been kept under secure lock & key. However, we’ve been able to dig up a little info on who is portraying said character, none other than stunning “Las Vegas” alum and previous “Haunted Mansion” resident actress, Marsha Thomason, playing "Naomi."

(AP Photo, left: Marsha Thomason at a 2006 pre-Emmy party)

Last night on 'Idol', as soon as Simon Cowell was caught on camera rolling his eyes, I looked at my wife and said, "Its going to be a bad day for Simon tomorrow. He's next".

There is a poison in our society, and I can't decide if it's completely promulgated by the media or just 90%. There is an ongoing hunt for the next villain to splash across the front page and sell papers, boost ratings and further satiate peoples' lives with media.

Don Imus is breathing a little easier today.

But where the corporate entities that employed Imus bailed on him, and with enough grounds, you can bet that no matter how much the Simon "eye-roll" snowballs, Fox will back this guy to the hilt. He's the centerpiece of the biggest television sensation in history and the revenue of Idol is just too central to the corporate earnings report.

Today, an Idol producer released a statement. It reads in part:

"Simon was not reacting to Chris at that point. He had turned to speak to Paula and didn't actually hear Chris' final comments."

Photo Credit: "American Idol" FOX/Fremantle

Yet again another firestorm erupts surrounding "American Idol". This time, surprisingly, it's not about Sanjaya. Although, there was a bit of debate here over whether or not his number is finally up tonite. This morning it's a way more serious issue. All over the internet, message board users and bloggers are outraged that Simon Cowell rolled his eyes after contestant Chris Richardson made mention of the Virginia Tech massacre, "My heart and prayers go out to Virginia Tech. I have a lot of friends over there. Be strong."

We know he can be nasty when it comes to judging the contestants but could Simon Cowell really be so callous during such a time of national crisis? Simon came to his own defense on KIIS-FM with Ryan Seacrest this morning on his LA radio show. Simon claims he simply didn't hear Chris because he was still reeling from his comments about singing nasally on purpose, "The truth is that I had switched off at the point. I was talking to Paula and I was saying to Paula what does he mean he sang nasally on purpose. I didn't understand what he was saying. So, I hadnt even heard what he did. My eye rolling was what I was saying to Paula. I have never heard so much rubbish. But I did want to clear this one up because this is a very, very sensitive subject and we actually, the irony was is that we did want to try and set the right tone on the show and then something like this happens and it just starts fanning the flame and people got to understand that their are families involved. It's not right"

I feel like it was bound to happen at some point and last night it did. Heather Mills lost her balance and took a stumble. There was no drama. No whir of an ambulance. She just laughed it off and with a helping hand from her partner, Jonathan Roberts, stood right back up and went in front of the judges. Backstage we were all breaking it down that the fall should not have been counted off because the dance had already ended. However, when I watched it again this morning, it really was part of the dance so Carrie Ann Inaba made the right call to take a point off. She earned 21 points for the dance and after the show Heather was in great spirits with nothing but a chuckle about the fall, "At the time I was just like oh falling again. I'm always falling. I'm always slipping on leaves. I'm always falling over. People are always going 'oh' and I'm going it's fine I'm falling over, I'm up again."

The fall happened because Heather used the wrong leg, "I put my artificial leg on the floor and the other one on his chest and it was meant to be the other way around. So, I kind of went and slipped under. The falling over was like oh that didn't really hurt. I landed on the metal armor I'm wearing that's so heavy."

Well guys, the TV stuff is fun but I think I have a new career in my future... Marketing Guru or maybe Talent Manager. Now, I'm not a big phone person. I hate talking on it and I hate having to call people up and ask for things. It's why my career as a talent booker was short lived. When I'm passionate about something though, I put my phone phobias aside.

After, I hung up the phone from yesterday's conference call (where fortunately it’s mostly listening not talking!) with AMERICAN IDOL'S latest casualty, Haley Scarnato, I started thinking about headlines for my story. I needed something that had to do with legs. I couldn't get that famous commercial jingle out of my head, "Who wears short shorts? If you dare wear short shorts Nair for short shorts."

The Access Hollywood staff got very excited over last night's episode of "Lost" -- here's a bit of our back-and-forth e-mail conversation throughout today!

JB: Perhaps one of the top episodes ever!

Love her or hate her -- hard to argue that Juliet's not a great character.

What we learned:

- The Others can cure cancer
- but they can't cure tumors ???!!!
- Women who become pregnant on the island, can't give birth (which kind of tells us that the Others are trying to create a Utopian society and explains the kidnapping of children)
- Sun's in trouble
- Mikhail developed the portfolios on the 815 crash folks

Did anyone else notice Aaron appeared to say "Claire" towards the end -- weird … like the Hurley bird.

NF: Couldn't disagree more. The entire episode was spent building our sympathy for a girl that they then throw out completely with the stupid Shyamalan ending. All we really learned was things we've known for some time:

Jack makes terrible choices in woman
Never question Sayid's instincts
Ben has a fetish for proving to people what day it is
Claire has terrible luck
No one asked questions
And the producers love to screw w/ an overly loyal fan base

KF: Come on, NF, 'no one asked questions'? Sayid did exactly what you've been calling for since the beginning. "I want you to tell me everything..."

Major Good Spoilers After The Jump At End Of Post (You've Been Warned!)

As if being voted off last night wasn't bad enough, Haley Scarnato was bombarded with questions this morning about her legs and her choice to wear those short, shorts. Speaking in a conference call to reporters, it was clear the subject was not something Haley really wanted to discuss. Twice she mentioned that she just had to brush off those nasty Simon Cowell comments, "It's just legs. It is what it is. It's legs. I don't even know what to say about it. It's frustrating. You can't please everybody."

So, did she purposely wear those leg enhancing shorts since Simon made the comments the prior weeks about her having nice legs? Seems like the powers that be behind the scenes had a hand in making sure she did, "Well, you get so much feedback and they were kind of like keep it." Just as I suspected.

Ladies and Gentlemen please give it up for Sanjaya Malakar, who somehow has converted me into a fan. Now, before you tar and feather me, no I don't want the kid to go all the way and win this thing. I would however prefer him to stick around over the very boring Haley Scarnato, Phil Stacey and LaKisha Jones, which would firmly plant him in the Top 5. The kid is entertaining and I knew exactly what Randy Jackson meant when he said Sanjaya may be the smartest contestant they have ever had. The kid knows how to work it. He started out this shy kid who seemed out of his league and every week since then he has changed, morphed, gotten cockier and frankly more entertaining. Besides, last night, you have to admit vocally he wasn't half bad. Plus, it was pretty brazen of him to tackle a Latin song with Spanish lyrics. More importantly, I don't care about the singing. Now, I'm looking forward to seeing what new look he will try. First, it was the Pony Hawk, then the slicked backed greasy look and last night he looked like he had channeled a young Pablo Escobar. Although my boyfriend said he looked more like a kid who dressed up as a young Pablo Escobar for Halloween.

Turns out Sanjaya always had a flair for fashion according to his first cousin, Camila Recchi, "He's always been into his fashion and his stuff. I have never seen him go quite so crazy with his hairstyles before. Considering the situation you gotta go a little extreme."

Was there something in the water last night that made the judges cranky? It certainly seemed like it when right at the top of the show judge, Len Goodman gave the 9 celebrity dancers a major tongue lashing, "Last season they averaged 19 hours a week practice, this season 13 hours a week practice. That six hours is the difference between good dancing and great dancing. You've all got the talent to be great dancers. As far as I'm concerned looking at you are not putting in the hours. There is a sameness about you because you are not putting in the work. You are not getting in the practice and polishing your performances. I'm looking for that tonight and if I don't see it my marks will reflect it."

As they were being scolded some dancers smiled, some stood with their mouths open and others smirked and backstage everyone was affected. Heather Mills told me, "When we went backstage everybody was deafly silent, it was like a funeral where as normally we're like hey, having fun. We're the naughty school children."

Apolo Anton Ohno believes Len was out of line, "I think it's hard for anybody to judge another person’s work ethic. I'm an Olympic athlete. I'm a 2-time Olympic gold medalist. Look, if I don't make it on the next round, it's not because I didn't work hard enough."

Laila Ali told me she tried not let the comments affect her because she and her partner, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, were the first performers last night, "There's only so much I can tackle in and I know once my brain shuts off I'm not gonna sit there for 2 more hours just to be able to log that I was there for more time. We worked very hard so it's not like I'm gonna go, ‘oh my God we have to work harder’ because I don't think I can possibly work any harder than I've been working."

Once again, the issue of race has been re-ignited.

And, once again, women, and certainly black women, are defending their right to "be".

When radio shock jock Don Imus referred to members of the Rutgers Women's Basketball team as "nappy-headed hos", I was disgusted but not surprised.

The first time I was ever called the N-word, it was by a guy in the gym that was angry because I was using a piece of equipment that he wanted to get on. The last time, was 4 years ago.

Both times, (and the 2-3 times in between) I wondered what point they were trying to get across.

The answer was, by virtue of being born with this color, they thought of me as inferior.

As an African-American woman, I have experienced the pains of racism and sexism. They are with me everyday as I make my way through a society that constantly tells women, they are not as worthy as a man, and as a black woman who has been told that her brown skin, her hair, her nose, are not as beautiful and definitely less desirable than her white counterparts.

Don Imus' comments remind me of the time when a news director told me that the audience would never connect with "a black" in a role of authority on a television show.

Finally, after three weeks I took a seat inside the taping of “American Idol.” I would go off on a rant about how my press ticket got taken away this season (maybe I just gave away too much good dish last year) but considering the woman sitting next to me told me she was on a waiting list for a year, after applying for tickets online, I figure I shouldn't complain.

It was actually thanks to my parents that I even got in. My last minute begging this morning paid off and (thanks to my fabulous boyfriend!) I was finally able to snag two tickets for my parents who had never been to “Idol.” I however would have to sit in the greenroom backstage.

Fortunately, after we arrived I went inside the studio to check on the parental units and was able to get a seat from production.

I was expecting nothing much had changed from last year but was shocked to find a brand new audience-entertainer guy named Bill. Cutie Corie, who had been there for several seasons, apparently got kicked to the curb because he is now over entertaining audiences at “Dancing With The Stars.” Bill's good. Really good. He brings a new energetic vibe to the crowd. At one point he scolded Jordin Sparks’ mom for her lack of enthusiasm and had Sanjaya's dad give her a lesson in excited energy. She then let out a nice Hollywood style movie scream for the crowd.

Sanjaya's dad -- now that is a proud father! He high-fived everyone around when his son slid through yet again. Watching Sanjaya get the good news I saw a little bit of devilishness in those eyes. My guess is he knows America will be talking about him yet again and he loves every second of it.

It was week two of the two reality powerhouses sharing the same space on the CBS lot. It was my first time backstage and although I tried to hang around the "Idol" area, I started feeling like a stalker and thus gave up on looking for the contestants.

The fans were out in full force though for at least an hour waiting for the Idols to exit to grab autographs. By the time I left at 7:30, the place was a dead zone.

Alas, I was backstage to talk to the eliminated dancer at "Dancing With The Stars." That fate fell on former Miss USA Shandi Finnessey. Poor girl never really even had a chance considering her name value was low and her partner, Brian Fortuna, had never been on the show before.

I myself had high hopes for her because when I met Shandi at rehearsal last month I thought she was a standout, just as Stacy Keibler had been. Unfortunately, she just didn't have the same skill level when it came to dancing and she never stood out.

Shandi says she was sad to go but no tears were shed. She really had a feeling she was staying tonight though, she told me. She was most upset that the viewers never really got to know her other interests including her charity work. Oh, and she'll miss those skimpy costumes and joked she might wear it out to the grocery store one day.

She'll be going back to her job hosting shows for the Game Show Network but if I had to venture a guess, one of the entertainment shows will snatch her up as a correspondent covering the rest of the season.

Now let's talk "Idol." I'm going to bust out my inner Joan and Melissa tonight.

Kudos to Melinda Doolittle for the razor bob haircut. Much better than last week. The stylists did her wrong though with that too small for her, unflattering, sleeveless dress. Yet again, the girl killed her performance -- but seriously, enough with the "Golly Gee" act.

It's week three of “Dancing with the Stars” and I finally made it backstage on Monday night. Other commitments have kept me away but it was nice to return to my favorite dance floor. I got a nice big fat hug backstage from Karina Smirnoff as she and I chatted about how she has changed this season. The tough competitor we saw with Mario Lopez last season has given way to a softer, happier girl. With the fun-loving country boy as her partner it's hard not to have fun but Karina says her goal this season was to just have a good time and enjoy every single second of the experience.

The last time I saw Billy Ray was about five weeks ago and I was shocked to see he was not the same guy. I joked he was half the man I met when I visited him on the set of “Hannah Montana.” He joked that he didn't realize what a "fat dumpling" he was until he saw a photo of himself in People magazine from that same day. It was used for a before and after photo of his dancing transformation. I hope you vote for him because the guy's a true sweetheart and is thankful for his fans.

The competitive spirit is still definitely with Cheryl Burke. She was visibly bothered backstage by the 8's rather than 9's the judges gave them for Ian's misstep. The folks on the East Coast never saw the mistake though as the camera was off on a wall by accident. The mistake was fixed for the later feeds. Should Ian ever find himself in need of a job the guys down at Hollywood Men (sorry gals -- those were not actually Chippendales) will always have a gig for him. When asked if this was her first visit to a male revue I got a chuckle and a "no comment" from Cheryl.