NBC went through a lot of hoopla and bad press to replace Conan O’Brien with Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show, but the results so far do not bode well for NBC. Earlier this summer, we learned that the ratings for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for the second quarter this year were down by 20% over the same time period last year when Conan was at the helm.
You may find that funny, but I doubt NBC is laughing. NBC paid Conan $30 million to leave, and is now paying Jay $15 million a year more than what they were paying Conan. Ouch. That is a big payout to obtain lower ratings. Score: Conan 1; NBC 0.
Now, in another interesting twist of fate, we learned today that The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien earned an Emmy nomination.
Conan will compete against The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, Real Time With Bill Maher and Saturday Night Live in the Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series category. But Conan will not have to compete with Jay Leno because, Jay was not even nominated. Double ouch. Score: Conan 2; NBC:0. In World Cup terms, this would mean a blowout win for Conan.
Good for you Conan. You may not have had the first, but you now have the second to last and the last laugh at NBC.
Conan will have a new show on TBS beginning in November.
It’s not every day that two of the hottest stars in America (and arguably the world) happen to make a surprise showing at a screening of the number one movie in the US. But that is exactly what happened Monday night (July 5th) at a screening of Eclipse in Century City, CA when Robert Pattinsonand Kristen Stewart made a surprise appearance to the utter delight of 100’s of screaming fans.
Pretty cool clip, despite or perhaps even because of the shrieking fans. I have one question: Why was I not invited to this theater which is 15 minutes away? Possibly a better question: Where was Taylor Lautner?
Oh Boy. The end is near. At least all of the signs are pointing that way.
First, American Idol negligently messed with a proven formula and hired ice-cold Kara DioGuardi as a fourth judge for a seat on the much sought-after judge’s panel. Kara was never able to gain fan approval and the situation became even worse when Idol let Paula Abdul walk by refusing to meet her contract demands, but curiously kept Kara for a second season.
If all of that wasn’t bad enough, the judges assembled the least-talented bunch of Idol hopefuls for Season 9. Before the ratings even started to slip as a result of mediocre talent and lack of chemistry between the judges, the ever-astute Simon Cowell saw the writing on the wall and announced at the start of Season 9 that he was abandoning ship, leaving the future of American Idol in a state of disarray.
As if all that isn’t enough bad news for American Idol, there was even more bad news released about the Idol camp today. What do Portland (OR), Omaha, Kansas City, Winnipeg, Toronto, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Portland (ME) have in common? Well, until today, these were all cities on the American Idol Tour which now have been quietly nixed off of the slated tour schedule.
And other cities’ dates have been rescheduled so the run period of the tour is shortened even more. Although no reason has been given for why the Idol Tour has been truncated, CelebMagnet saw the writing on the wall back in June when Ryan Seacrest announced a temporary drop in price of Tour tickets to $20. We could tell then that the reason for a drop in ticket prices was not a mere special promotion as Ryan mentioned, but more likely an attempt to boost lackluster ticket sales. I guess that price drop did not help as hoped.
For the sake of American Idol, I hope they make the right changes for season 10, or else, my and possibly your favorite show may very well be facing TV extinction land after next season.
Although I wish Vienna Girardi well and was saddened to hear how unhappy she was in her relationship with Jake Pavelka, I am all about Team Jake. When it comes to their very public and gut-wrenching breakup, I don’t care who is telling the truth, who is lying and who did what to whom. All relationships have issues and problems and nothing is ever a one-way street. And none of what happened between those two is any of my business – and so, I won’t write about it.
All I know is that Jake Pavelka has always been nice to and extremely open with me whenever I have seen him around town and I don’t have one negative thing to say about him. So I feel the urge to help clean up his image a bit. I also want to defend him against the accusation that he is a “fame whore.” I see that everywhere and it is just not a fair assessment.
I ran into Jake the day the news about his breakup with Vienna first hit the stands and I found Jake hiding from Paparazzi. Call me crazy, but I would think “fame whores” would run to instead of hide from cameras. I actually helped Jake calm down by telling him, mistakenly I learned later, that the Paparazziwere not there for him but instead for Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens who happened to also be around our vicinity at the time. I was wrong as I saw a picture of Jake from the same time period in the tabloids later that same day.
When someone nearby asked him that day “Who are you that the Paparazzi thinks so much of you?” Jake simply answered, ” I am nobody. I was on a reality show. That’s all.” Those words would not come from the mouth of someone who is “smug,” “arrogant,” and “publicity hungry;” some other false adjectives I have read describe Jake.
Anyway, what’s the big deal about wanting to be famous or on TV if that is what Jake wants to be/do?? How many of us would turn down an opportunity to act on TV or make TV appearances? I can safely say no one I know in LA would avoid such chances, including myself. So, why can’t Jake pursue such activities – let’s give the guy a well-deserved break and stop all the judgment.
I ran into Jake again today as he was rushing to get to Dodger Stadium. It was the first time I have seen him since the airing of the ABC special where he and Vienna went about 12 rounds throwing mud at each other. Jake flashed me a smile as he ran by and asked me how I have been doing since we last met. I said unbelievingly, “How am I doing? Are you kidding me Jake? How the heck are you doing?” He just smiled back. I think he looks like he is doing great considering his world came crashing down not too long ago.
Jake was in a rush because he was on his way to Dodger Stadium where he threw the first pitch at tonight’s game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Florida Marlins.
Jake is also flying again and he Tweeted this picture yesterday. Jake surely looks great in any uniform, whether it be a Dodger jersey or his pilot attire.
Next up for Jake is an appearance on The Bachelor Padset to premier on ABC August 5. I don’t know if I will be watching since the little faith I had left inThe Bachelor series went out the window with this break up. The fact that another Bachelorette couple, Jillian Harris and Ed Swiderski called it quits today doesn’t help either. [UPDATE: After meeting the cast of The Bachelor Pad at their Red Carpet Event, I changed my mind. The cast has me all excited about this show and I can’ wait to tune in.] Jake will also be on the August 22nd episode of Drop Dead Diva. Here is a sneak peak of that episode:
Justin Bieber‘s camp is trying not to freak out over the inevitable change in Justin’s voice as the 16-year old approaches puberty. All red-hot child and teen singers have had to face this same challenge and many have fallen into obscurity as they aged. Even those that succeeded in making the jump to adult entertainers (Michael Jackson, Donny Osmond) took a few years to recover from changes in their voices brought on by puberty.
Remember what happened on The Brady Bunch when they covered this issue? Greg Brady, the family’s eldest son, wanted to make a music record. He booked a recording studio and planned on singing a song with his siblings. However, when Peter’s voice begins to change, Greg’s hopes of recording a song were crushed. That is until Greg came up with a new idea just to accommodate Peter’s changing voice:
Obviously this same trick will not work with today’s teen sensation, Justin. So Justin’s camp has come up with the next-best approach. They have engaged the help of Usher as a mentor to help Justin make the move from teen star to adult entertainer. See a sneak peek of today’s E! special on this subject:
Watch the original iPhone 4 v. HTC EVO video and then watch the rebuttal video below. Both videos are made by the same guy and after watching both, and laughing like crazy, I am now left more confused than ever as to which of the two phones I should buy. Methinks I will stick with my piece-o-crap Blackberry.
OMG! I died laughing watching this…PLEASE BE WARE this is NOT a family-friendly video. Once you watch this, click here and watch the rebuttal video made by the same guy.
The iPhone 4 vs. HTC EVO has received over 3 million views, but when Best Buy found out it was their employee that made the video, they weren’t happy at all and in fact, they asked him to take it down. But the employee Brian Maupin declined, saying that it didn’t mention Best Buy anywhere.
But Best Buy suspended him and now he might even be fired. It won’t matter – Brian will now be famous! And note to Best Buy: have a sense of humor, what’s wrong with you?
Lindsay Lohan has been ordered by a judge to serve 90 days in jail after ruling she violated probation in a 2007 drug case by failing to attend court-ordered alcohol education classes.
Lohan, 24, burst into tears upon hearing the ruling. The only bright spot for her is that she will not have to immediately surrender but has until July 20 to turn herself in. The best news is that she will also be required to enter an inpatient rehab program after her release from jail–hopefully, this will be the help that the young actress needs to get her life back on track.
Lohan has previously spent 84 minutes in jail in 2007 after she pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine and no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 percent and one count of reckless driving.
The plea came after a pair of high-profile arrests earlier that year. Lohan was sentenced to three years of probation but had to ask for a yearlong extension in October after she failed to complete her alcohol-education courses on time.
Marcus York is a wheel-chair bound actor who has a recurring part as business park manager, Billy Merchant on NBC’s The Office. Marcus was previously involved in a car accident which rendered him a paraplegic. That is why he also works for SCI Cure, a foundation striving to help those afflicted by spinal chord injury and get them “out of their wheelchairs as quickly as possible.”
SCI Cure needs money to help in researching a cure. How do they intend on raising money? They are asking you to donate $1 towards the cause. That $1 could also win you and a friend an all-inclusive trip to Los Angeles for a taping of The Office. Oh ya, that means, airfare and a two-night hotel stay for you and a guest, transportation to the studio, and a meet-and-greet with cast members …all for a dollar.
And as reported earlier, this upcoming season will be Steve Carell’s last season on the show, so, this will be the last chance for meeting him on the set. “The winner can expect to meet a cast and crew that are probably some of the friendliest people in Hollywood,” York tells PopEater. “And it would certainly assist in bringing in the funding to help the millions of paralyzed individuals worldwide.“
America’s fascination with celebrity or Hollywood memorabilia is getting out of control. Last week, I reported on Michael Jackson’s glove being sold at an auction for an unexpected $190,000; then, I reported that chest x-rays of Marilyn Monroe fetched an unbelievable $45,000 at another auction.
I thought I would get a lot of outraged comments about such sales; however, I instead received a lot of Tweets letting me know that these items were sold at bargain prices! So, apparently, there is high demand for ownership of a piece of Hollywood history.
If you missed your chance at those auctions, do not fret. Profiles In History is in the process of organizing an auction of props and memorabilia from ABC’s hit phenomenon, Lost. The auctioneers estimate that they will have over 1,000 lots of items covering all six season’s of the show. What could you possibly buy? You name or remember it, it will be up for auction.
Remember Eko’s “Jesus Stick!” Well, it can now be your stick for the right price.
Need a passport? Hurley’s, Jack’s and Kate’s will all be up for sale.
Say you want something more creepy? How about Ben’s handwritten orders to commute Juliet’s execution?
Oh, wait, you want something softer? How about Danielle Rousseau’s Music Box? I mean, the list of items for auction is impressively endless and is continually being updated. The auction will be held August 21-22, 2010 and you can bid in person, online or over the telephone. For more info and a full listing of the catalogue, visit, Profiles in History. [Thanks Sum for the Info.]I would LOVE to know which item you would bid on. Leave a comment!
