July 2009 Archives

I meet people all the time who want to get into the entertainment business and they always ask me for advice. I'm always happy to dish out whatever information I can to aspiring students. I was a struggling student myself once, wondering how to break into the biz and several people helped me. So, I believe in paying it forward.
 
Last night, I had the opportunity to moderate a panel at the Academy Of Television Arts and Sciences. They have an extremely prestigious student internship program and invited the interns and their hosts (from entertainment companies all over Los Angeles) to come and listen to industry professionals speak. Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, was the keynote speaker. I hosted a Q&A session with James Duff, the executive producer of "The Closer" and Joe Pokaski, a writer and supervising producer on "Heroes." I have to admit, I've been in this business for 16 years and even I was fascinated with the information and advice that three powerhouse professionals were doling out to this room of young ingenues.

This is the story of how my best friend's husband was able to pull off impersonating a very famous director, writer and producer at Comic-Con.
 
It all started out innocently enough and then just spiraled into what it became. My best friend Lisa's husband, Michael, just happens to resemble JJ Abrams, director of "Star Trek", "Mission Impossible III" and creator of "Lost" and "Alias." Being that at Comic-Con JJ is like a god. Last year, I thought it might be funny to take him to the convention floor and see if someone thought he was JJ. We never had a chance to go though. However, this year the opportunity arose in a most unexpected way.

 

Lisa, Michael and I all went to the EW/SyFy part at the Hotel Solemar on Saturday night. It was a big party where lots of famous TV stars would be attending and I thought it would be fun for them to attend. We arrived inside the party and within five minutes, I spotted Carlton Cuse, the executive producer of "Lost." He, of course, knows JJ very well. So, just for the heck of it I figured why not go introduce Michael to him to see what he thought of the resemblance between him and JJ. I thought it would be a quick handshake and then we would done, but Carlton could not have been nicer and he chatted with us for awhile. This being Comic-Con and it making sense that JJ would attend, apparently the site of Carlton with this JJ lookalike was enough to fool the crowd. A few minutes later someone came over and asked if they could take photos of them. So, Michael and his wife happily posed on the red carpet as the camera snapped away thinking it was JJ.

I had such a blast last year at Comic-Con (my first) that I could not wait to come this year. I'm proud to say that I was the first person at Access Hollywood to jump on the "Twilight" bandwagon last year before all the media caught on and the hype began.

 

I followed all the online controversy about the casting of this barely known Brit as the main character Edward Cullen. So, I could not wait to meet this man named Robert Pattinson. The second I met him, I knew the casting was perfect and he would be a superstar to tweens and teens everywhere. While there was a large group of curious fans at Comic-Con last year, it was beyond miniscule compared to what happened at the convention center today.

 

I arrived to the convention center where I found a line snaking around the back of the building as thousands of fans waited in line for a chance to get into the panel. It's amazing the dedication people have to come out days before an event and sleep on a sidewalk all to catch a glimpse of a celebrity. I'm reminded that I really take this job for granted when I see things like this. Little did these people know that I was walking past them I was heading over to a press conference where I would be no less than five feet from Robert, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner.

After a story broke in the LA Times over the weekend that Paula Abdul may not return to "American Idol" because contract negotations are not going her way, I wanted to know what the fans thought of her possibly not returning to the show. So, this morning I put a call out to the Twitterverse to let us know - in 140 characters or less of course, why they don't want Paula Abdul to leave. The comments are fantastic and so I thought I would share them with everyone.

 

@SG_Glamberts - Paula needs to stay.. she makes Simon tolerable! Pls send our love to her - Luv fr Singapore!

 

@tamii619 - because she's the only reason why I watch the show! She keeps the show fun to watch. She is the real entertain!

 

@LoveYouCuddles - Paula should stay on AI cos she is the sunshine and the heart of the show and we love her an awful lot!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's always a thrill to get to see my season eight Idols. I told them the day after the finale aired that they were my favorite Top Ten of any season and I truly do mean it. (No offense to other seasons!) So, I was super excited to check out the Idol Tour when it came through LA last night.
 
Earlier in the day I had a chance to interview everyone prior to the show. I have to admit they all seemed a bit on the tired side which I can understand as they have been working their little booties off! I came armed with questions from fans on Twitter. I figured this tour is for the fans so why not let them ask the questions. Plus, I'm Twitter obsessed! Everyone did a fantastic job with the answers and I thought the questions were really great. They were so different from what the media tends to want to ask. Check out Adam Lambert and Kris Allen's interviews here. The rest of the interviews will be up next week. I have read on message boards that the fans get upset at the media for only promoting Adam and Kris. Not the case here. We just don't have the edit capability to crank everything out. I wish we did.
 
Unfortunately, we had a ticket snafu so by the time my co-worker, friend (and fellow crazed Idol fan) Felidette and I got into the Staples Center we had missed Michael, Megan and Scott. We got to our seats just in time to see Lil Rounds belt out some Mary J Blige. Then she stripped her jacket off and gave us a little Beyonce "Single Ladies." I thought she sounded great but if you are gonna do the song you gotta do the famous dance too. She didn't.  

By Terri MacLeod

I cannot believe it's been 10 years since John F. Kennedy Jr. died. I remember the morning vividly when I woke up to the news he was missing. I can still see the image of the boats circling in the water looking for his downed plane. I can recall the chills and utter disbelief I felt at that moment!
 
I had the great fortune to meet and interview John over the years as a producer at Access Hollywood. In fact, I was the last person to interview John. I remember him hobbling over to me in crutches and telling me about his paragliding accident - just a few days later he was gone.

OK, so you know that I am addicted to Bravo's reality shows, specifically "The Real Housewives" franchises. I just finished watching season one of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" so I could be caught up when season two starts on July 30.

 

I'm with Anderson Cooper. I love NeNe! Sheree is way too uptight, Kim is delusional and Lisa is too nice. They rightly gave the boot to DeShawn who was just way too sweet to be on a reality show. And now a new housewife, Kandi Burress, joins the diva-licious group this season. I can't wait to see what drama goes down.

 

Until then, I've got a new Bravo reality show to keep me occupied, "Miami Social," which premieres tonight after "NYC Prep." Notice that the buzz has died down on "NYC Prep" as I expected it would since absolutely nothing interesting goes down on that show. We'll see if "Miami Social" suffers the same fate. The show follows seven 30-something (or so they say) friends as they make their way through the Miami social scene, which not shockingly, includes drinking, clubbing, boating, sunbathing and partying.   

So, last night I took a late flight on Spirit Airlines from Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles. When I left for the airport my mom says to me, "that's how you are getting on the plane? What if you meet someone!" Mom didn't like the comfy, casual clothes I had chosen and the fact that I put no makeup on. I tried to explain the last thing I want to do when I get on a claustrophobic, poor air circulation, dirty plane is put pore clogging makeup on and sexy, yet uncomfortable clothes. Besides, I haven't had a cute, single guy sit next to me on an airplane in well, ever. I did once have a not cute, divorced racecar driver ask me out on a plane from Las Vegas to Burbank. Needless to say I declined his invite to dinner.

 

My mom does like to remind me that our host Nancy O'Dell met her husband Keith in the security line at the Burbank airport. I've never gotten so lucky. I did meet two adorable single gals last night who helped pass the time on the five hour flight as we shared our dating dilemmas with each other. Actually, come to think of it, the guy next to me on the opposite aisle was kind of cute but he turned out to be married. So, my record of hot airplane hookups remains at 0 for 100.

Hearing Michael Jackson's daughter Paris speak of him the way she so emotionally did, I pondered 'why didn't we get to hear from her earlier?'

 

The answer is locked in the cynical eye: it would have come off to way too many as forced, a PR stunt.  But little Paris was 100% on credibility. Her tears for her dad painted a different picture of Michael for many.

By Darius Pirnazar

 

Since the tragic news of the sudden passing of Michael Jackson broke, there have been millions of reasons given, merely attempting to describe his greatness. 

 

But for me, he represented way more than what he was in real life as an entertainer -- he was my family's "safe place" to go during a time in which survival, in its literal sense, was our number one priority. 

Now I know people will read this and say this is cliche and they've heard it all before, but let me explain:

I was born in 1979 in Tehran, Iran and if you know anything about history, you know that the events that took place in Iran shaped the next 30 years in U.S. Middle East relations, and we have somehow experienced the trickling effects of the Iranian revolution, whether its war or high gas prices. But, this isn't a political-based blog, so I'm just giving this background information so you, the reader, can understand why I claim that MJ was bigger than life.   

If you have been watching FOX primetime recently than you have certainly see the promos for their new reality show, "More To Love." Twenty plus-size women compete for the love of one plus-size man. When the show was first announced it sparked a bit of a controversy since FOX in the past has done some questionable reality dating shows (Who Wants To Marry A Millionaire, Mr. Personality, The Littlest Groom). Plus, its from "The Bachelor" creator Mike Fleiss and we all know the track record that show has with finding love matches. However, I recently had the chance to meet this show's Bachelor, 26-year-old Luke Conley who assured me that finding love is his only goal and that the producers are sincere in their approach. 
 
DOS: Tell us about yourself.
LUKE:  I'm 26 years old I'm from the Bay area, California. Right now I live in Santa Barbara county because I was going to school there. I ended up buying some property and starting a business. I'm a subcontractor. So I do like interior finishes, remodels that type of thing. I'm the outdoorsman type. I love to do anything at the beach. I love to take my puppies for runs. I played college football. I've traveled around the world. So, I really feel like that I'm ready to settle down.
 
DOS: What was your first thought when heard the title of the show?
LUKE: I thought it might have been a joke.
 
DOS:  And what did you find out?
LUKE: I found out that it was a serious show. They're really hoping that two people could fall in love.  

By Terri MacLeod


The King of Pop will live on forever. The gravity-defying moonwalk, the sequined glove, the cropped pants, and black loafers - Michael defined my generation. I can document my life by his music. When the news broke of his sudden death, I (like the rest of the world) was stunned, shocked and saddened - now a week later, I still can't believe Michael Jackson is gone!

When I returned home from work on June 25, I told my 14-year-old daughter about his death. ...To which she replied, "Why are you upset about him? Isn't he the creepy guy who slept with young boys?"  

My daughter's reaction shocked me! She had no appreciation or understanding of Michael's musical legacy. Obviously, this generation isn't growing-up on Michael. Most tweens today are familiar with his dance moves and mega-hits like "Billie Jean" or "Thriller," but for the most part Michael's 'Wacko Jacko' reputation eclipsed his immense talent, or, seemingly so to my daughter.  

While, I am not here to debate Michael's addiction to painkillers, his questionable relationship with children, or his gasp-worthy plastic surgery, I do believe there are many life lessons we as parents can pass on to our children about Michael's complicated and seemingly very lonely life.

For starters, let's try and get our kids to stop and listen to the music. Michael is, in my opinion, the greatest entertainer our generation has ever seen! He set off a global phenomenon that is rarely seen and quite possibly will never be seen again. His music, his dancing, and his outright sheer genius as a performer, is something to celebrate and be inspired by. For a moment, try and forget all the craziness in his later years and let his music get passed on to the next generation, and hopefully, set into motion a new crop of young artists. As Michael once said, "I always wanted to do music that influences and inspires each generation."    

 
She may not have made it past the first round but the little girl known as 'Crying Girl,' Ashley Ferl, is happy about her "American Idol" audition experience.

 

"I'm still glad I did it!" she exclaimed.

 

[left, Ashley Ferl and mom Stacy at the American Idol auditions]

 

I spoke to Ashley this morning - the Riverside, California teen who gained national fame two and half years ago for her tearful reaction to seeing season six contestant Sanjaya Malakar perform live during Top 11 week on "American Idol." 

 

In April she turned 16, which made her eligible to audition for the show. Despite having no true singing experience she went for it!

 

"I just kind of practiced in my room and that's about it," she told me this morning.

We may never know who is telling the whole truth in the he said/he said battle between "The Bachelorette's" Wes Hayden and Jake Pavelka. This morning Jake defended his decision to rat Wes out to Jillian on Monday night's episode for having a girlfriend.

 

In a conference call with reporters Jake admitted to being a, "god fearing man" and hit us with this declaration,

 

"Beyond a shadow of a doubt, you know, shall God strike me down with lightning... if I am mistaken and he did not tell me that."

 

I have to admit Jake did make quite the case for himself when he repeatedly made it clear that Wes, a country singer from Austin, TX, told him he went on the show to further his career, and that he had a girlfriend named Laurel waiting for him back home. Laurel is the same girl who also dated "The Bachelor's" Brad Womack. 

 

"I know 100 percent that he [Wes] and Laurel are together. They were together during the show. Brad introduced them." Jake revealed.

I keep reading articles where the kids on Bravo's new reality show "NYC Prep" say they don't want to be compared to the spoiled teenagers on CW's "Gossip Girl." Well, don't worry guys... there is no comparison because as it turns out... your lives are not even half as interesting as Chuck, Blair, Serena, Jenny or Dan.

 

"NYC Prep" aired its second episode last night where cupcakes were the hot topic du jour. Not really -- but between Sebastian, Taylor and Kelli's obviously forced love triangle and PC's, "whoa is me... I'm single" rants, not much else was going on in the show.

 

The series seems completely flat when you compare it to Bravo's fantastic drama fueled "Real Housewives" franchise. I don't know... maybe it's because I'm not a teenager anymore that these kids' lives just seem lame and boring. I like little Sebastian and his crazy hair, mean girl Jessie and even PC (who they are trying to make out to be the bad boy of the show). Although, to me he's more Jack from "Will and Grace" than Dylan from "Beverly Hills 90210"... if you catch my drift. They just need to lose the other three girls. Perhaps bring in a few Jersey teens in to shake things up and rattle some tables.