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September 21, 2007 geri's big part (Showbiz.sky.com)Geri Halliwell has been flirting with the idea of acting. But one party appears not to be interested. Seems the acting foreplay started when Geri was in talks to be a guest star in Hotel Babylon, which is back on our telly boxes early 08. But now it may have all gone a bit frosty. Why? Apparently it's because of Geri's headstrong ways. Geri's Big Part A source told the Daily Mirror: "She wanted a 'proper part', more substantial than the average cameo. "She is keen to establish herself as an actress but sadly it wasn't available and she's ended up with nothing." But where Geri's lost out, Paula Abdul has benefited - the word is she's snapped up the chance to be on the show. Better luck next time, Gezza? » Posted by Igor at 12:00 AM | Discuss September 17, 2007 Seacrest, out! Mac attacks the Emmys BY KRISSY MAC I hesitated to accept this assignment because, well, been there, done that, you know? I've blogged the Oscars, I've blogged the Emmys, I would have blogged the Grammys, but then the editors found out that I wouldn't be able to pick Faith Hill out of a crowd unless she was throwing a temper tantrum at the time. Anyway, I was worried that the jokes would be old, the comments tired and the whole thing would be all together boring. Then I found out Ryan Seacrest was hosting. Sign me up! Exactly how many people did they have to ask to host the Emmys before someone said, "OK, it's time. We have no choice. Get Seacrest on the phone." I heard they asked all the usual suspects … Conan, Ellen, Jon Stewart before moving on to their alternate choices: Oprah, Seinfeld or Leno. When they said no, they asked Tyra Banks, Jerry Springer and every other "talk show" host on television right now. Then, they got a little creative and tried the "we can bring in younger viewers" strategy by asking Dakota Fanning (who cares that she's not on TV?) and that kid from "Two and a Half Men." Nope. Other invitations went out to: Matthew Perry, William Shatner, the guy from "House," America Ferrera, James Gandolfini, each of the "Desperate Housewives," Jeremy Piven, the entire old "Friends" crew, and the creepy guy from "Lost." Finally, they gave up. So Ryan Seacrest it is. This is going to be fun. Let's hit the Red Carpet for the E! Network's "Red Carpet: Emmys" show, hosted by ... Ryan Seacrest! OK, I'll stop for now. Here are my thoughts on the red carpet walkers ... Ellen looks old (That's not how I wanted to begin, but I'm sorry, she does) and I'm confused by the snake hanging around Portia's neck… is it holding her dress up? Weird. America Ferrera = still not ugly. Favorite Couple So Far = William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman. I feel like maybe I can start calling him Bill now. I just switched over to the Fox coverage briefly, but those people are so boring! "Your TV show is so great!" Duh, that's probably why they're at the EMMYs. Ugh, Jerry O'Connell is so annoying. Why, oh WHY did Rebecca Romiijjiinn marry him? I'll never understand. Katherine Heigl looks pretty. Her big, giant, red lips don't. It's probably a bad sign when someone appears on the screen and I gasp and say, "Oh my." Hear that Ellen Pompeo's hair? There's Charlie Sheen and the stupid, stupid girl that's going to marry him. OK, so clearly there was a long Hollywood phone chain called, "Pin your hair up in underneath so it looks ugly… pass it on." Pompeo started it. She then called Sandra Oh. Phew, it's over. E! mangaged to use their Ryan Seacrest connection to gain all sorts of behind-the-scenes tours and footage. I used those segments as opportunities to get snacks. Who needs Tivo? The show is starting … I have extraordinarily low expectations. I HATE when they do animated characters on awards shows. Can the people in the audience see them? I mean, are they real? OK, well maybe I like these animated guys a tiny bit. They're a little funny. Let's just make our predictions now … how many times is Ryan Seacrest going to make "American Idol/Simon/Randy/Paula " jokes? It's only 8:05 and there have already been too many. I just had a thought… maybe Seacrest will chose tonight to announce something we've all suspected! Hang on, it's Fox. He just identified "who" William Shatner is wearing, so I guess he did, he did! Ray Romano? I'm pretty sure no one loves you anymore. Jeremy Piven beat Dwight? Puh-lease. "I would like to take this opportunity to … give all the girls in this room my new cell phone number." Vanessa Williams, once again, has made an odd dress selection. And by "odd," I mean horrific. It's furry. I feel like she just can't get this stuff straight. Someone needs to tell her: less is more. And stylists are in your budget now. [Ah, insert predictable "loopy Paula Abdul " joke here.] Wow, did they just give Jaime Pressly an Emmy? Maybe Tyra Banks really will host next year. Hahahaha… I love that Katherine Heigl just corrected the Announcer Lady on the pronunciation of her name. But I love that the Announcer Lady mispronounced her name even more. Note to Emmy People: Mini Series Awards are boring. No one really thinks they count. I think the fact the Mini Series winners can add "Emmy winner" in front of their name now must tick off the real Emmy winners. Wow, Thomas Hayden Church is now the second man to cry while thanking his dead Dad. Trend alert! The Announcer Lady just said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the host of the Ellen DeGeneres show, Ellen DeGeneres." First of all, I'm fairly certain everyone in this audience is familiar with who Ellen DeGeneres is and what she does. Two, who else would host the "Ellen DeGeneres Show?" I bet Ryan Seacrest replaces Announcer Lady next year. I know Jennifer Love Hewitt 's on a hit TV show and all, but I think in order to be a presenter at the Emmys, at least eight people should be able to name that show. The little videos to announce the nominees for "Writing for Best Late Night Talk Show" created by the late night talk show people should win Emmys. How great would it be if Tony Bennett pointed at Christina Aguilera 's belly as he sang the lyrics, "Stepping Out With My Baby!" Oh yeah, Tony. If the Emmy's are sooooooo green, why isn't Leo DiCaprio there? Huh? Someone should tell these "Roots" guys that they're not in a Shakespeare play right now. Remember what I said about the Mini Series Awards not being real Emmy? Ditto for these "Guest Actor/Actress" awards. I hope that as David Chase from "The Sopranos" thanks everybody under the sun, they just cut out to black screen. What goes around comes around, buddy. Tony Bennett looks seriously medicated. And kind of fossilized. Nobody cares what the boring accounting people look like. So they don't tell anyone who won. Big deal! I think they should cut out that introduction, as well as all those other boring awards, and this show could be one blissful hour shorter. "The Jersey Boys" should have made up words to these Frankie Valli songs to make them more relevant to the Sopranos. "You're just too good to be true … can't take my gun off of you…" or you know, something better than that. Louis Black is screaming at television executives right now and Mary Louise Parker is wearing that, "I'm clapping because everyone else is, but who the heck IS this guy?" face. Oh, Ryan Seacrest is still there? I thought maybe they sent him home early. Of course Al Gore was invited… he killed at the Oscars this year. Is it me or is Tony Bennett sweeping the Emmys? How is this possible? Note to Teri Hatcher 's people: Demand only long-range camera shots. Trust us on this. You'd think that the guy who wins a Best Writing Emmy would have a better acceptance speech. I was just about to comment that Ryan Seacrest was keeping it pretty low key, but then he had to go and put on that costume get-up. In what dimension did anyone think that was funny? Has Kanye West ever turned down an invitation to be on TV? Felicity Huffman just leaned over to her husband, Bill, and said, "Oh Bill… I have to follow the Rainn and Kanye bit AND Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell skit? That's just mean. Don't they know I'm not funny?" I'm sure they asked Steve Carell to host this year, right? But did they ask everybody from "The Office?" Every single cast member? Because any one of them would have been good. And by "good," I mean "better than Seacrest." Oh, we're winding down now. They just gave America Ferrera an Emmy for Best Actress Who Lies About Being Ugly. James Spader wins Best Actor again. He'll be offed by Tuesday. 10:57 and no "Best Comedy" OR "Best Drama" awards yet. Luckily, I napped during the "Best Guest Appearance in a Variety type Mini-Series" awards. "30 Rock" just won Outstanding Comedy over "The Office." Questionable. 11:04: Commercial break?!? Can they do that? They're already over by many, many minutes and they can still go to commercial break? Outstanding Drama is……………….. "The Sopranos." Not surprising and I suppose, deserved. Ah, it's over. Well, thanks to Ryan Seacrest, this had potential to be the worst awards show ever, but thanks to Jon Stewart and Steve Carell, it wasn't. And I'm fairly certain Ryan Seacrest did make an announcement. Right? » Posted by Igor at 12:00 AM | Discuss 59th annual primetime emmys: show recap Kit Bowen Hollywood.com Staff ""If you want it, you can find it on TV!"" That was the theme of the 59th Annual Primetime Emmys. Family Guy's Brian and Stewie opened the ceremony with a little song and dance number, spoofing everything from new primetime swill, such as the upcoming sitcom Caveman, to the ages of the women on Desperate Housewives, Grey's Antatomy's Isaiah Washington replacing Michael Richards' Kramer on a revamped Seinfeld—and even The Sopranos' blackout ending. An interesting but hilarious choice to open the show. Then host Ryan Seacrest kicked things off, exclaiming, ""You can tell we are definitely on Fox this year!"" He tried to be funny, really he did, pointing out that this year's Emmy set was done in a theater in the round environment. Unfortunately, Seacrest ended up sounding very much like he does hosting American Idol, his radio top 40 show, the E! red carpet stuff--and just about anything else he does. Here's just a sampling of some classic Seacrest moments for the night: ""Look at all the celebrities we have here tonight. All of them incredible--and all of them passed on hosting this year. It's OK, I've got the time."" ""We've seated Hayden [Panettiere], who just turned 18, as far away as possible from Jeremy Piven."" ""Weeds is a great show…and what an amaaaazing after party! Right, Paula?"" The camera pans to his American Idol co-star Paula Abdul, who didn't look to happy to be spotlighted. ""This looked a lot less gay on the rack. Can I keep it?,"" after coming out in a costume from Showtime's show The Tudors. Let's just say, Ellen DeGeneres was deeply missed. The show was not a total dud, however. Here are some choice highlights from both the winners and presenters: » Posted by Igor at 12:00 AM | Discuss September 13, 2007 idol judges want to help britney 'American Idol' judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul believe they have what it takes to bring back Britney's career. Speaking to Fox news, Simon Cowell says that, among other things, getting her "away from her stupid friends" will help revive her career. "MTV ratings are up and all we're hearing is Britney, Britney, Britney!" Simon said. "She can turn it around." We have decided we can bring Britney back, we are serious. We plan to buy her underpants and get her bigger shorts to perform." It is unclear whether they want Britney to be a guest star or a contestant. » Posted by Igor at 12:00 AM | Discuss September 8, 2007 politicians, press and celebrities to be spared the spotlight for next 12 months Katie Gillmor Ellis Toronto Star Linwood Barclay's editors are in mourning. He's taking a year off. Politicians are no doubt relieved. Barclay puts a spotlight on their shenanigans so clearly, in so few words, with such deceptively simple images. Dubya's "renditions" exposed in a light-hearted column about taking a trip with CIA Travel. Or our made-in-Canada sponsorship scandal, nailed so well in a little story about going for a coffee with his dear friend, the ad executive. Barclay's barbs are surgical. The knife is in and twisted before you realize he's even armed. He doesn't let his readers off the hook, either, or the press that feeds the spin. Group think is skewered just as sharply as political sleaze. Like the hue and cry when a politician crosses the floor. Barclay's take: "Who knew that politicians trade favours?" He punctures hypocrisy but he's kind to us, too, writing sympathetically about the small humiliations that pass for modern life, like running errands, maintaining the house, wrestling with the 407 apparatchiks, parking at the mall. Celebrities – the likes of Paula Abdul and Tom Cruise – are no doubt relieved that Barclay won't be writing columns for a year. But readers will be deprived. How will we know how Barbie's Ken is faring? And those newly adopted orphans? Here's a line that's been making me smile since December's annual roundup of the year's events: "Madonna is rumoured to be heading back to Malawi for another child. Apparently, there is a sale." His family may be relieved. Or maybe not. When Barclay uses his home life to illustrate the sad, sweet and funny truths about the human condition – a lunch of KD and tuna with Paige, say, or a shopping trip with Neetha – no one looks foolish except, sometimes, Barclay. The loved ones he writes about are always the wise ones. He doesn't make fun of people; he's not nasty or mean-spirited. Even in his political columns, his outrage never descends into a rant. Barclay's humour is quality stuff. No cheap shots. He's a craftsman, a story-teller, shaping his vignettes one well-chosen word at a time. It's the same care he takes with his books but, for his Star columns, there has been the added pressure of daily deadlines and length limits. Which gets me back to why his editors are in mourning. We have to read and reread stories, ready to pounce on mistakes and inconsistencies, clarifying, tightening, enforcing style. With a Barclay column, one quick run-through and it is good to go. That's probably because he has paid his dues. Barclay started at the Star as an editor (he says I trained him, which I don't recall but am happy to take credit for it) and then survived the insanity of management (I do recall that he was a good boss). When he became a full-time columnist, we all felt it was practically a vacation. But that was June 1993. And it turns out that being funny in print, on deadline, with a strict word count, about 140 times a year, as well as writing a slew of books, hasn't been enough of a vacation after all. So now we'll have to get our chuckles raw – straight from the source, the news pages – and without his insights about how the world works or, more often, doesn't. It's going to be a long year. » Posted by Igor at 12:00 AM | Discuss |