The New York Post reports that Bon Jovi fired his longtime manager, Jack Rovner, after Rovner’s many mistakes. First, he promised a band meet-and-greet to the fans that paid extra for tickets, which never happened. Second, he granted NBC exclusive access to the band, which meant they couldn’t appear on other networks to promote their new album, ‘The Circle.’ And finally, Jon wasn’t too happy with his portrayal in the Showtime documentary, ‘When We Were Beautiful’. Jon responded to the Page Six article by denying the details, and merely said that the parting was due to simply moving in “different directions.” I have to give Jon credit. If you are going to fire your manager (allegedly, of course), the least you could do is release a statement that the parting was an amicable one. No need to tarnish the guy’s name in the press. That’s not to say that Page Six is the mecca of truth. Actually . . . aren’t they?
Underrated Actor of the Week: Michael Rady
This week’s pick for underrated actor of the week was an easy one. I first noticed Michael Rady on ‘Swingtown’, one of the best shows on television that was sadly canceled after season one. ‘Swingtown’ came on my radar mostly by accident. I was studying for the California bar exam and looking for a show on Netflix that I could watch every day when I came home from class. After watching one episode, I was hooked. Needless to say, I lost an entire day of studying because I was dying to see what happened next. The show was a bit of a boundary pusher, and I think CBS had trouble promoting it. And as we know with television today, networks don’t afford shows the opportunity to “find their way.” Struggling ratings in season one means you’re canceled – and ‘Swingtown’ was an unfortunate casualty. After coming out from my television cave, I googled Rady to see what his next move was. He’s appeared on both ‘Greek’ and the new ‘Melrose Place,’ but has yet to become a household name. He should be. If you don’t believe me, Netflix ‘Swingtown’ and judge for yourself. Just make sure you have enough time on your hands to watch all of season one in one pop – because I promise you’ll get hooked.
Blog Daily Roundup
- Lady Gaga is banned from the Yankees clubhouse. [Radar Online]
- Toy Story 3 is #1 at the Box Office with over $100 million. [Entertainment Weekly]
- Dougray Scott’s ex-wife angrily responds to his comments about their custody arrangement. [Contact Music]
- Christina Aguilera’s new album, ‘Bionic’, made history in the UK, as the fastest tanking album ever. Ouch! [Vulture]
- Amanda Bynes announced her retirement from acting via twitter. [I’m not obsessed]
- Fox is scared that Tom Cruise’s new movie, ‘Knight and Day’, will be a box-office failure. [Movieline]
- Leann Rimes and Dean Sheremet are officially divorced. [Digital Spy]
- Japanese theaters are refusing to play Oscar winning anti-whaling documentary, ‘The Cove’, due to threats. [Reality Blurred]
- Jon Stewart calls BP’s Joe Barton a “disdainful asshole.” [New York Magazine]
- Desperate Housewives spoilers have been released about Vanessa Williams’ character. [TV Fanatic]
Cougar Town Will Keep Its Name After All – Good Idea
When I first heard about the idea of changing the name of Courtney Cox’s show, Cougar Town, I thought: what genius is behind this nonsense? You don’t change a show’s name after it’s already made its way on the air, and you certainly don’t change it if it’s successful. The main motive for the change is that Cougar Town transitioned from being a star-centered show, to more of an ensemble cast. Plus, the word “cougar” has surpassed its fifteen minutes of fame and it’s now an excessively off-putting term. Cougar Town producer, Bill Lawrence, discussed his desire for the name change in a pretty enlightening interview about how pitch meetings work. The chief problem in the Hollywood of today, is that the people you pitch your show to are usually a bunch of half-wit neanderthals that couldn’t predict the success of a show with even a crystal ball in-hand (we’ve all heard the stories about how everyone and their mother passed on Marc Cherry’s ‘Desperate Housewives). Lawrence gave a great example of this in his interview. Picture this: you walk into your pitch meeting and say that you would like to make a show about a bunch of guys that work in a bar. You would be kicked out of that meeting within 5 seconds – and Cheers never would have made it on the air. So when the word “cougar” was becoming part of our everyday comedic vernacular, it seemed like the best way to pitch the show. ABC jumped on it – and now they’re stuck. While I agree that the title creates issues, I still maintain my original point: what’s done is done. So I’m happy that it looks like Courtney will remain a cougar for the life of the series.
Project Runway Extends to 90 Minutes – – – Seriously?
Movieline reports that ‘Project Runway’ will extend its episode time to 90 minutes, and I can’t fathom how this is possible, given that they can barely fill the 60 minutes with original content. Personally, I’ve been a loyal fan of the show all along, but the last few seasons have gone seriously downhill. My biggest complaint surrounds the creatively devoid challenges, which used to produce the greatness that was Austin Scarlett’s corn dress from Season 1. Now, they lazily get any celebrity they can find and say, “designers, you’re challenge is to dress this star!” [Insert contrived yelps here]. My eyes almost rolled out of my head when they had to dress Heidi Klum. I’m aware that she is a famous supermodel, but how much brain power went into that production decision? “Gee, let’s walk five steps over to Heidi and ask her if she’s up for this.” Or what about the many visits to Michael Kors showroom? He’s a judge on the show, for goodness sakes! His contract can’t possibly have that much self-promotion built into it. My final complaint involves the best reality star in television history – Tim Gunn. Tim Gunn is the number one draw of the show, and the editors severely chop up his one-on-one conversations with the designers. The extended critique can be seen online later, but when you put your best content online instead of on television, you have a problem. As Tim Gunn would say, this decision “worries me.”
Perez Hilton Defends Himself to Joy Behar – I’m Done With Him
I listened to Perez defend himself, and it further convinced me that I am finished with him altogether. I started reading Perez about four years ago, mainly because everyone in the entertainment industry passed it around as their guilty pleasure. He had original content, he was breaking stories, and he was pushing boundaries. Years passed, and he went from being unconventional to straight up mean, which is unacceptable. You should never make fun of someone for something they cannot control. So when you use your blog to literally call people ugly, or pick on an individual that is clearly in the midst of a personal crisis/breakdown (i.e. Britney Spears), I draw my line in the sand. The Miley Cyrus situation solidified my outrage. The paparazzi are disgusting vultures of humanity that will continue to prey on people and invade their personal space until the California legislature gets its act together and passes a law to prevent them from endangering celebrities and all innocent bystanders around those celebrities. The only reason they are able to continue making money off crotch shots, is because people like Perez are posting them, or “linking to them.” Now I know these celebrities are not entirely innocent. Miley Cyrus is old enough and savvy enough to know that the paparazzi will attempt to get crotch shots, and she therefore should use her brain and wear some pants. That being said, it doesn’t excuse this behavior. And no matter who started it, it’s time to stop perpetuating it. It’s disgusting. Watch his “explanation” below.
[Great Related Article by: Rob Shuter – Who is Perez Hilton?]
Blog Daily Roundup
- Party of Five’s Jeremy London was kidnapped and forced to do drugs. [Radar Online]
- Eminem supports gay marriage. [The Superficial]
- Mtv may cut four original cast members for Season 3 of Jersey Shore. [TMZ]
- Ugly Betty star America Ferrera is engaged. [Huffington Post]
- Eddie Cibrian was cut from CSI Miami. [Entertainment Weekly]
- Oprah gave all of her employees $10,000 and an Ipad. [Hollywood Rag]
- Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen are “on a break.” [Monsters and Critics]
- Tiger Woods is not the father of porn star’s baby. [Zap2It]
- Audrina Patridge confirms that she and Ryan Cabrera pretended to be together on’ The Hills‘ after they had already broken up. [Radar Online]
Kate Walsh Stops Show Over Hearing Aid – Time to be a Better Actor
Kate Walsh revealed on ‘The View’ today that she stopped her monologue in the middle of her Off-Broadway show, ‘Dusk Rings a Bell,’ because she thought someone’s cell phone was going off – it turned out to be a hearing aid. Walsh isn’t the first actor to stop a show because of a distraction. Hugh Jackman & Daniel Craig stopped mid-scene in their Broadway show, ‘A Steady Rain,’ because of a cell phone. I have a couple of things to say about this. First, if you cannot continue a scene because of an audience distraction, get your ass off Broadway (or in Kate Walsh’s case – Off-Off-Broadway). I know that you are used to the Los Angeles way of filming, where you get to fart around all day while everyone else does the heavy lifting, but New York is for real actors. And real actors can tune out distractions during a live performance. Second, contrary to the ridiculous cowboy-like attitude of Jackman & Craig in the scene below, you aren’t proving any points by calling people out. Instead, you are ruining the entire show for the other 99% of the audience.
Alex Ray Joel Says She Did Not Try to Kill Herself – Make Up Your Mind Already
Alexa Ray Joel is seriously annoying me lately. Every time she talks to the press she contradicts herself. First, she responded to the coverage of her alleged suicide attempt by saying that she was suffering from “heartbreak related depression,” and she wanted to be a spokesperson to help others. Initially I thought, what on earth is “heartbreak related depression?” Perhaps you are just depressed in general and the break-up is the scape goat. After all, her father, Billy Joel, admittedly tried to kill himself in 1970 and was subsequently treated for depression. But then I thought – okay! If she wants to help others, I’ll drop it. She then went and got a nose job which was clearly a betrayal of our big-nose-girls club. But I backtracked again, reasoning that if she needs this to feel prettier then fine. I’ll drop it. Now she’s saying she never even tried to kill herself in the first place?! I realize she has it rough, because she’s either compared to her mother for her looks or compared to her father for his music, but here’s my advice: get your story straight before you start doing interviews. The public will embrace you if you’re honest and consistent.
Chris Klein’s Mamma Mia Audition Tape Comes Out – He May Too
It isn’t like me to kick someone when they’re down, but today I will make an exception. While I was reading about Chris Klein’s DUI arrest, I discovered what can only be described as pure treasure. Klein’s audition tape for ‘Mamma Mia’ surfaced not too long ago, and I would strongly encourage you to watch it. I have no idea how this tape leaked, but who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? Enjoy!