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Tour Talk
Paula, Paula, Paula
Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
A week into its sixth season, “American Idol” already has garnered its largest premiere audience in history and more than its share of controversies surrounding judge Paula Abdul. On Saturday, Abdul and her fellow judges, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson, appeared with host Ryan Seacrest and executive producer Ken Warwick to face the music before the television press in Pasadena.
Abdul, who has been confronted with drama practically since the talent competition show premiered on Fox, has recently faced allegations by the press and bloggers that she appeared to be drunk or drugged during a series of television interviews to promote the show. “The View’s” Rosie O’Donnell also took her to task this week, saying: "Paula was very thirsty last night. Did anyone else notice? Every shot, that woman was sipping the 'Coca-Cola' in her cup. O’Donnell added a wink during the words "Coca-Cola" that seemed to indicate Abdul wasn't sipping a soft drink. "Towards the end of the show, one eye was wandering," she said.
During the session at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa, Abdul and her colleagues defended her behavior, denying that she was intoxicated. Here are the highlights:
On her seemingly odd behavior during the recent morning talk show interviews:
Abdul: A lot of you may not know when you do the satellite media tours, you’re in a small room, you get up really early at 3:30 am. And all there is one camera that you’re looking into. You don’t see anyone. You don’t have a monitor that shows you. You’re being broadcast out to different morning news shows. I did three hours of them. There was a couple of glitches. But the very last one that I did had tremendous technical difficulty. And what happened was that there were split cities in my ear. I thought it was just one group of people…I had no idea there were two different cities. So when they started to have difficulty, I was holding on waiting and I’m in a swivel chair and I’m very animated with my hands. Had I known that I was answering questions, it was very weird because what you’re hearing is not exactly what I was answering questions to. It’s very hard to explain, but it’s very easy. It’s very strange. Unfortunately, that’s what happened. What I was answering was transmitting right to one of the cities.
When I was watching it myself. I was going, Oh my God. I’ve been in this business 20 years. I’ve done these every single year, practically. I really am a veteran in doing this. I was waiting in between. Once I knew there was a glitch. I was talking. I didn’t know who I was talking to, but I was answering questions.
(At this point, Cowell interrupts to clarify the matter and even apologizes to Abdul):
Cowell: I can remember last year there was all this controversy because Paula started talking about moths and melons. The truth was behind that was on the show, Paula said to me, I genuinely don’t know what I should say. So I said—I did make it up—use a Chinese proverb I use: The moth who finds the melon will eat the corn flake.
I publicly apologize.
Abdul: You’ve never done that and I love you for that because you have caused me for the past year and a half, the worst…you know what, I love you first of all. He’s kept this going and I’ve taken the blame. What’s wrong with Paula? She’s drunk, She’s drugged? She’s not making sense. The moth and the melon ball. He did this to me!
(Now Jackson interrupts)
Jackson: Let me clear the air even further. Let me clear the air once and for all. In the Coke cups, it’s all Coca Cola products: it’s all water or diet soda. You guys are thinking something in those cups. Are you kidding?
(On how she feels when she reads that she appears to be drunk or drugged on the show or during interviews)
Abdul: It’s really fun. (Pause). You know what? I have been in this business 20 years. But I’ll tell you this much, I’ve never had to weather the storm of publicity, controversy. It’s this show. It’s huge. It’s a blessing. Having a music career and selling over 50 million records or having been the best choreographer during my time, it’s almost like it never it happened. It’s insignificant because I’m a judge in the world’s biggest show. And I love it, but it’s often daunting. But, yeah, sometimes it’s very, very frustrating.
(Cowell jumps in again)
Cowell: I’ve got to say and I’ve only watched it from afar. We all work well together and I hate to admit this publicly but I wouldn’t do this show unless Paula, Randy and Ryan were on the same show. We’re all a bit nuts occasionally. We all say things we’re going to be criticized for. But don’t condemn somebody for being a bit wacky occasionally or whatever because it makes it interesting. Otherwise, it’s going to be a boring show and I don’t want to work with boring people. To me, the whole thing was overblown. I’ve done it so many times, these public interviews, that by the end, I am talking complete and utter rubbish. And if anyone had put the same clip of me on You Tube or anything else, it would have been a lot worse.
(After the panel, Abdul gave more interviews with the press, and addressed the allegations that she drinks or takes drugs).
Abdul: I cannot believe what’s been going on. In a million years. It’s the most ironic thing. I grew up being a square girl, a girl who grew up in the Valley who doesn’t go out and party. Never gotten drunk in my life or do recreational drugs….Sometimes being too nice is a disease as well. My parents are nice. I’m a relatively decent human being and I care a lot about being artist as well, the well-being of these kids. I want them to do well, I really do. I try to help in every way I can.
(On O’Donnell’s comments on The View)
Abdul: She doesn’t know the truth. I don’t have any apologies to make. I didn’t do anything wrong. She wants to take shots like that. I can’t make her not do that. I don’t care. I really don’t.
(Was it difficult facing the TV press today?)
Abdul: Not at all. I have nothing but truth. I have no apologies to make. I work my butt off and I’m proud of what I’ve done and who I am. I’ve lasted in this business 20 years and I have not gone “loco en la cabeza” (gone crazy).
Chris Rock brings laughs (and shocking language)
Saturday, 11:11 a.m.
Thirty minutes with Chris Rock on a panel brings more laughs (and shocking language) than the previous 11 days of the mid-season press tour combined. Rock appeared with “Everybody Hates Chris” co-creator Ali LeRoi and three members of the cast: Tyler James Williams, Tichina Arnold and Terry Crews
Question: Does getting renewed for a third season make you relax or say uh-oh?
Rock: I don’t relax. I’m already on the CW. What’s next, BET?
Question: How did you feel earlier on in the season when the CW premiered “Chris” on Sunday nights?
Rock: That was rough. My TiVo wouldn’t even watch the show on Sunday. It’s true. It didn’t record it. Every week, “60 Minutes.” Damn!
Question: How do you get more people to watch the show?
Rock: In about a week, I’m gonna have Terry running through a club screaming nigger. (Pause) To generate some buzz.
Question: What do you make of the people who are calling for the n-word to be banned in comedy acts?
Rock: I don’t know. I just told my broker to buy me 80 shares of Coon. Question: Are you surprised that your show has been successful internationally?
Rock: I’m not surprised it’s worked internationally. The white man’s been putting a foot in the black ass all over the world.
Question: Would you invite Michael Richards to come on your show?
Rock: Wow. I don’t know. Probably. I mean, I’d have to make sure all the other non-nigger screaming people didn’t need jobs first. Once they are all working, I guess I’d have to give him a job.
Critics howl at Pussycat Dolls
Friday, 3:16 p.m.
When you sing along with the Pussycat Dolls — "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?" — do you know what you are saying?
In case you don't, here's the translation offered from über-film and television producer McG:
"Don't you wish your girlfriend could be free and comfortable to do her own thing?"
Yes, dear reader, this is the part when you giggle.
McG appeared Friday before the TV media in Pasadena to promote a new reality series for the CW, "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll." The eight-episode series, which premieres March 6, follows the recording group's search for "another doll." McG was part of a panel, also attended by Robin Antin, the group's creator; other producers; and judge Lil' Kim, who explained that she is perfectly suited to judge who should become the next Doll because she was born "a Doll."
"Freak," the TV media were told, is not what you think. "Freak is a dance." "It's just a word." "Even Rick James knew that."
Asked by critics to defend the show's sexualized depiction of young women, Antin said: "It is empowering to get up there and dress up like a Doll."
She added: "There's nothing skanky about it. Their clothing is cute. It's fun. Yes, of course, it's sexy."
It was the second-to-last day of the tour, and one of the only sessions during which members of the media booed the panelists.
'Chris' renewed; 'Crown' coming
Friday, 3:00 p.m.
In her first news conference since the CW launched in September, Dawn Ostroff, president of entertainment, announced Friday the renewal of critically acclaimed "Everybody Hates Chris" for next season and a new competition reality series for this season, "Crowned," which features mother-daughter teams working together to win a beauty pageant.
Ostroff, who said that the network's biggest challenge so far has been how to let viewers know where it can be found on the dial, said overall, "I think we're very happy where we are." (The CW can be found in some markets on the WB's former channel; in other markets, it's on the UPN's former home.)
Ostroff faced many questions about choices the network has made, including whether "Everybody Hates Chris," a single-camera comedy with mainstream appeal, should be leading a block of multi-camera African American sitcoms, and whether those other low-rated comedies will survive this season. The session was part of the TV midseason press tour in Pasadena.
"Our advertisers are very happy with the shows," Ostroff said. "It's an extremely successful night for us. We employ more African American producers than any other network, and we're very committed to that."
Ostroff was also tight-lipped about the future of "Gilmore Girls," the network's second-highest-rated show. Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, its two stars, do not have contracts beyond this season. Ostroff said only that she is "talking" to the stars and producers about its possibilities.
Also, "America's Top Model" returns for its eighth season, starting Feb. 28.
CBS' rise in ratings is tempered by return of 'Idol'
Thursday, 3:59 p.m.
PASADENA — CBS, historically seen as the network for older viewers, has found itself quite popular this season with the younger set. And a trio of CBS executives wasted little time Thursday morning trumpeting the steady-as-she-goes network's rise to No. 1 in the highly coveted 18-to-49 age demographic after 17 weeks into the 2006-07 season.
"When we have a chance to brag about the 18-to-49 demo," said CBS programming chief Kelly Kahl during the morning's executive session at the midseason press tour, "we're going to do it."
But any celebrating is clouded by Fox's "American Idol," which registered huge audiences in its sixth season premiere this week.
The first two "Idol" episodes each drew about 37 million viewers — astonishing numbers in the current age of audience fragmentation.
"Our shows aren't 'Idol' proof," added Kahl, making special note of the solid performance of "NCIS" against Fox's ratings giant. "But they are 'Idol' resistant."
Kahl was on stage with Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, and Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Paramount Network Television Group.
CBS' solid but not terribly flashy schedule has prompted its executives to seek out shows that will create more buzz. Though they own some of the most popular shows with the "CSI" franchise, CBS' targeting of the broadest audience has made it seem sleepy in comparison with more youth-oriented networks. So far this season, they have found success in this strategy with "Jericho," but failed with "Smith," which was canceled after only three episodes.
"We want to turn it up a notch," said Tassler. "We want to find shows that are going to be talked about."
But at least in the spring, there isn't much to discuss. The network is launching just one show, a new comedy called "Rules of Engagement" starring David Spade. The fairly traditional-looking sitcom begins airing Feb. 5 at 9:30 p.m., and clearly CBS executives hope its humor can cut into the serialized seriousness of its hot competitors in the Monday time slot — NBC's "Heroes" and Fox's "24."
Tassler said there may be more to talk about in the fall when a couple of shows could boost the network's profile among the media and public.
Barbara Hall, the creative force behind "Joan of Arcadia," is working on a show infused with dark humor and irony about demons. And another program tentatively called "Swing Town," which CBS is considering, is an "Ice Storm"-like look at three Chicago couples in the '70s dealing with open marriages.
'Scrubs' fans: the sky is falling down!
Wednesday, 3:59 p.m.
Zach Braff made a declaration Wednesday afternoon at the television industry press tour about his NBC comedy: "'Scrubs' can go on with or without me."
Say, que?
"Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence, Braff and co-star Sarah Chalke appeared on a panel at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa to discuss the future of the series. If it has one, is the key question, as Braff weighs whether to renew his contract at the end of this season and Lawrence decides whether he will return without the show's narrator and star.
"I wouldn't do it without you," Lawrence said to Braff in an "I-mean-it" tone.
"The show could totally go on without me," Braff continued. "There's so many variables. I would love to do it. I think everyone is procrastinating that decision until the last second."
Lawrence said he is not writing a series finale this year. If Braff were to leave the sixth-season show, Lawrence vowed that J.D. would return next year to explain why he left.
"I'll come back and find a way to die," Braff said.
O.K., so maybe the show could survive, but what about Turk?
'Today' gets longer
Wednesday, 12:29 p.m.
Love the "Today" show? You're about to love it more. At least, that's what NBC is hoping for next fall when the top-rated morning show expands to a fourth hour that will include a mixture of the morning's headlines, entertainment news and feature stories.
NBC will announce the hour's host in September, but "Today" co-host Matt Lauer, weatherman Al Roker and news anchor Ann Curry will contribute to it, NBC President of News Steve Capus announced on Wednesday at the mid-season gathering of the TV press in Pasadena. (Co-host Meredith Vieira's contract prohibits her from appearing on NBC's air when "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" is on in some markets.)
NBC views the fourth hour as a "natural extension" of the current program, which was extended to three hours in 2000, Capus said.
Lauer admitted he initially had "mixed emotions" about the extra hour and worried about the toll it would take on the crew, but now thinks it makes sense.
"You don't want to dilute the brand," Lauer said. "You want people to want more, not less...As long as we do the kinds of segments we'd be proud of, regardless of the time we air it, I just don't want to be asked to leave the party before I'm ready to go."
Are we losing 'Lost'?
Sunday, 1:50 p.m.
In the beginning, the producers of "Lost" cast it and shot it in 12 weeks, and wondered if their show would make it past 13 episodes.
Now, in its third season, "Lost" is a hit on television and the Web, and its executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are talking about...(gasp)...ending it all.
Relax, Losties, they are not talking about this season. But relatively soon, sooner, in fact, than most hit shows go off the air, since the broadcast networks tend to turn what might be a happy ending in the fifth season into miserable endings in the ninth.
With "Lost," especially, because of its ever-growing ensemble cast and complex island mythology, there seems to be pervasive anxiety among fans that the writers don't know what they're doing.
So "it's time for us to find an end point for this show," Cuse explained Sunday during a panel session at the mid-season press tour. "When we discuss when that is going to be, a lot of that will go away."
Lindelof and Cuse have always felt that their island mystery would best be told in about 100 episodes, which would put them at the beginning of the fifth season. They recently began talks with ABC President of Primetime Television Steve McPherson and Mark Pedowitz, president of Touchstone Television, which produces the show, to determine a finite ending for the popular series.
"We all looked at each other at the very beginning and said by the grace of God would this show ever survive 13 episodes," Lindelof said after the session. "So, you know, Carlton and I are able to now sit down with them and say, 'Remember in the very beginning when you were having us convince you that this thing could go on for years and years and years? And we all agreed it couldn't?' Well, now just because it's successful doesn't mean that that's changed."
Lindelof said he and Cuse would not continue to run the show if ABC and Touchstone decide to extend it. So far, the network and the studio are open to the idea of ending the show sooner rather than later, with its creators still at the helm, he said.
And for fans who are feeling a little lost by the show's recent direction, Lindelof offered this thematic description of the series: "This show is about people who are metaphorically lost in their lives, who get on an airplane and crash on an island and become physically lost on the planet Earth. And once they are able to metaphorically find themselves again, they will be able to physically find themselves in the world again. When you look at the entire show, that's what it's always been about."
"Lost" returns on Feb. 7 in its new 10 p.m. time slot.
David Milch mystifies
Saturday, 5:05 p.m.
After watching a preview clip of HBO's "John From Cincinnati," an innocent reporter at Press Tour raised his hand late Friday to ask creator David Milch ("Deadwood") about a puzzling element.
"David...about Mitch elevating. There's a couple of scenes where he's floating in air. The bird seems to come back to life. Is there a mystical component going on there? What's going on?"
The show, that centers on three generations of a surfing family living in California across the border from Tijuana, takes its locale from Kem Nunn's novel "Tijuana Straits" but not much more. Nunn who also worked on "Deadwood" shares creator/executive producer status with Milch and sat, largely ignored, on the panel as Milch attempted to explain.
But many reporters unfamiliar with his personality quirks just dropped their pencils, stopped typing and gaped at the producer as he launched into serial monologues on topics ranging from the "coordinates of reality" to string theory. He quoted at length from William James.
"What James suggested was...that there are certain abrupt and lawless inexplicable intrusions through essentially what would be described as tears in the fabric of the dimensions we perceive. John from Cincinnati," he finished.
Milch cited a "continuity of themes" between Nunn's novels and what the series is trying to examine--that "reality can sometimes be a little problematic." He also made several barely veiled references to his own history of alcohol and drug abuse and education in accepting "life on life's terms."
Cast members appeared affectionately exasperated with Milch's suggestions, such as playing a character's state of mind and spirit one particular way, and then the opposite way.
"You have to have faith. Faith in David," said Bruce Greenwood who plays the character of Mitch Yost, an over the hill surfer.
"American Masters" reflects on Ertegun
Saturday, 4:05 p.m.
The afternoon panel for "American Masters" featured a discussion about the forthcoming program on Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records, who died last month.
Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber, the famed songwriters, were among the panelists. They told stories about Ertegun, and recounted how the song "Stand By Me" was written with Ben E. King, who was also on the panel. Stoller said that when the director Rob Reiner called him to ask for permission to use the song in his 1986 movie, he suggested that they re-record the song with a hot, new artist, but Reiner wanted to use the original version. This fact appeared to be news to King, who then said that Stoller would pay for dinner tonight.
One journalist asked the panel what Ertegun's greatest accomplishment was. Leiber said that it was "fitting the most 12-year-old girls in the backseat of his car without getting arrested." The crowd laughed. Susan Lacy, the creator and executive producer of "American Masters," then quickly said that Ertegun's proudest achievement was bringing African American music to a mainstream audience.
At the end of the session, the group, minus Lacy, performed "Stand By Me." Panelist Solomon Burke, a member of the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame, commanded the television journalists to clap, which everyone did. He then told everyone to stand up, which also happened, simultaneous with the clapping. And then, yes, there was singing.
PBS brings the "News War" home
Saturday, 10:50 a.m.
The press tour mood took a sharp, somber turn Saturday morning with the arrival of PBS, which replaced panels on partying snowboarders and stylists with one on truth, public service and what will happen to newspapers like the Los Angeles Times.
The topic: Frontline's four-hour documentary, "News War," funded through the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Foundation, executive produced by David Fanning and hosted by Lowell Bergman. It will air on Tuesdays Feb. 13-27 and March 27.
The sudden shift seemed to illustrate the situation at many news organizations that believe their watchdog reporting threatened by cultural, political, and financial pressures. At the Times, Bergman said, "There's a conscious move of reporting into Hollywood and entertainment. It's the big industry here."
Fanning observed that Bergman had just been out interviewing the third managing editor of the Times he needed to talk to in order to finish up the film.
Bergman held up a photocopied portrait, the face pictured from a low angle, saying, "This poster is not a Soviet leader, it's hanging in the halls of the Los Angeles Times, all over the newsroom. Do you know who it is? It's Dean Baquet, the now fired managing editor...."
One question he put to many of the 80 key figures he interviewed for the special was: How could an industry that produces so much cash be in so much trouble? He said profits at the Times reached 200 million, more than twice the Fortune 500 average. The rise of the Internet offers no easy explanation: A single newspaper subscriber is worth $1,000 a year to a company but only $5.50 to its dotcom version, he said.
The fate of the Times' parent organization The Tribune Company will come to a head next week, he said, when bids are due.
"A number of people in Wall St. and elsewhere say the newspaper decline will bottom out," he said.
"We'll see private equity groups coming in and taking them private," he said, comparing the situation to a wealthy individual buying football franchises. In some cases, individual owners have created chaos, such as in Santa Barbara. In his interview with Eli Broad, a contender for the Times, the wealthy developer admitted "he does want to play around with the content," he said.
Other solutions include a nonprofit model such as the St. Petersberg Times where investors must content themselves with a 6 or 7% profit.
PBS, of course, is in the same boat.
Considering the special was made with added contributions from the Goldman Foundation, he said "I don't know that we'll ever have the opportunity, without the Goldman fund, to present this information to a general audience at this depth.
Maher gets real
Friday, 4:56 p.m.
HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher" returns for its fifth season on Feb. 16. On Friday, the liberal comic stopped by the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa to talk with the TV press and share his political views:
His advice to the electorate for the 2008 presidential election: "Vote for the guy who reads instead of the guy who prays."
On the last election: "Democrats got votes in places they never got them before. Like America."
His favorite guests:
"Ben Affleck: He's always gold. That kid really does his homework. He could run. He really knows his stuff."
D.L. Hughley: "It's very rare when a comic can be funny in the service of making a point. Not a point and then a joke, but one seamless sentence."
Robin Williams: "I am always impressed with the way Robin Williams can go from being crazy, kooky, Robin Williams...and dial it right back and be serious on the panel. He's really matured a lot that boy since he's been in rehab."
Quien es Norwood Young?
Thursday, 1:24 p.m.
He appeared Thursday morning at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa to promote a new reality series for the E! network, holding one of his Maltese pups, dyed in pink. His other Maltese pup, the blue one, sat in the lap of Young's butler, Brian Armstrong, who aspires to someday wait on the high minds inside the White House.
But we digress. Let's get back to the ostentatious Norwood Young. Decked out in a red furry ensemble with matching red shoes, the young man who collects David statues (the recent wind storm blew over three of them), is being documented for "High Maintenance 90210."
The series follows the supposedly wealthy man as he hires a butler and drives him crazy with his insane requests.
When asked (quite discreetly) by a TV critic how he makes a living, Young declared himself a singer who has been recording since he was 16. His new CD will premiere on the series in February, he added. As soon as the lines were uttered, critics and reporters turned to their laptops, furiously digging for Young on the Web.
Those efforts proved futile. Norwood Young, the artist, simply does not exist. Yet, here he was in the ballroom explaining that the dye he uses for his doggies is not chemical and he would never hurt them. "They have flair and style and we love it," he said.
He also explained: "I've been living this way professionally since I was 16. It's not upkeep as much as it is maintenance."
Ted Harbert, president and CEO of E! Networks, concluded the session saying that he could be found in the back "Trying to figure out who Norwood is."
Tori Talk
Tuesday, 2:53 p.m.
When you work and play in the 90210 your whole life, you can miss out on some things. Like staying at a bed and breakfast. But one day you decide that life is an adventure and you trade in your five-star hotel digs in Ottawa, Canada, for a local B&B, and low and behold, what happens? Despite everything being so "old and musty" -- and even a raggedy stuffed teddy bear smells like urine -- your first child is conceived there and you begin to think more lovingly about this little inn that has housed you and served you breakfast while you and your actor spouse toil in front of cameras for a movie.
In a nutshell, that's how Tori Spelling and her new husband, Dean McDermott, came to invest her $800,000 inheritance (minus the taxes, people!) to buy a Temecula-area inn that they will renovate and operate in front of reality TV cameras for Oxygen. Premiering on March 21, "Tori & Dean: Inn Love," will offer an intimate view (yes, there is a camera in their bedroom and maybe even one in their bathroom), of their blossoming marriage, business venture, and the birth of their first child (a boy due in late March).
Tori & Dean were panelists at press tour Wednesday. Showing off her mommy belly in an ivory baby doll dress with black trims, black designer stockings and black platform shoes, Spelling was at ease and good-natured, even when questions about her much-publicized rift with her mother, Candy Spelling, came up. (No, they have not made up).
Although she only lived two years in her parents' 100-plus-room mansion, Spelling said it was easy to adjust to the size of the bed-and-breakfast she and Dean shared in Canada.
"I had never stayed in a B&B and had some trepidations," she said. "B&B's are creepy and they're old. Go back to chicness, ugh...Indeed, it was old and musty and had people's old things. But B&B's are good for us because we conceived in Ottawa and that's how we came away with the idea to re-invent it for our generation."
In other words, there will be no must and urine odors wafting from the couple's "chic" four-bedroom bed-and-breakfast. And more than likely, while they live there, Dean will be the one making breakfast for their guests because Tori says she does not usually wake up early enough to partake in that meal.
"I'm more into happy hour and hors d'oeuvres," she said proudly.
Asked if they were worried about the track record of couples (think Jessica Simpson/Britney Spears) who have allowed reality cameras into their new marriages, Dean said confidently," We're going to be the exception."
Later, Tori explained that their show will take things to a new level because it will document them as they become parents and start a business together.
And also because "I know what tuna is."
Kids liven up slow-starting press tour
Tuesday, 11:55 a.m.
Leave it to the children — ordinary kids who have allowed The Learning Channel to film their lives for a six-part documentary and appeared on stage at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena — to steal the show at the television industry’s mid-season press tour.
The 12-day series of press conferences got off to a ho-hum start on Tuesday, with no juicy tidbits to pass on from celebrities who participated in various panels, not even press darling Courteney Cox, who is starring in and executive producing FX’s new drama, “Dirt.”
But Wednesday morning the TV press met eight-year-old Cole Massie, of Los Angeles; 11-year-old Drew Nelson of Plainsboro, N.J.; 11-year-old Lisetanne Scherschel, of New York City; and eight-year-old Joshua Bynum of Baltimore, and what came out of the mouths of these babes was compelling, moving, and downright entertaining.
TLC asked 20 children, ages 7 to 12, to tape themselves for four months to give their unfiltered views on parents, peers and growing up for “My Life As A Child,” which premieres on Feb. 26. On Wednesday, the four participants described how their lives are different from other children’s and discussed the lessons they gleaned from directing, producing and acting as a cameraperson for their own segments.
Listen:
Drew: My life is different because I do ballet. I think boys can do ballet. I think they were meant to do ballet. King Louis XIV, if any of you have heard of it, he really liked it. He did something about it, I forget. He almost created it. It’s a different form of dance. So I really like doing ballet and that’s how I’m different because my life is different. Most kids my age, boys would be doing football. I think I’m going to be a dancer. Maybe I’ll be a screenwriter and be on TV that way.
Cole, who has cerebral palsy and was on stage with his service dog whom he called his “brother:” You know how your average person does things - you all know that right? — I’m in wheelchair and all this stuff. I can do things your average person can just in a different way. Any questions about that? (Cole was asked to elaborate) For one, thing I take theater class as well as Drew. And I also do horseback riding in a different way. Just because I’m in a wheelchair doesn’t make me any different. If you take some skin off, which you really couldn’t do, if you took someone’s skin off, they’re just the same inside. It doesn’t matter our skin color. It doesn’t matter.
Lisetanne: If we didn’t have bodies and just our personalities were floating around, we wouldn’t get criticized. So much of the criticism is how you look outside and not who you are.
Joshua: I think that since I did this, some of my friends won’t think of me any different but will just congratulate me and everything. Some people who were mean to me in school will probably try to be my friend but I wouldn’t fall for it.
Lisetanne: “My Life As A Child” has influenced my life a lot because in some form I have expressed myself to the world. Having the camera there was very helpful because it was like a person watching you without judging you. I look at myself differently.
Saturday, 6:30 p.m.
A week into its sixth season, “American Idol” already has garnered its largest premiere audience in history and more than its share of controversies surrounding judge Paula Abdul. On Saturday, Abdul and her fellow judges, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson, appeared with host Ryan Seacrest and executive producer Ken Warwick to face the music before the television press in Pasadena.
Abdul, who has been confronted with drama practically since the talent competition show premiered on Fox, has recently faced allegations by the press and bloggers that she appeared to be drunk or drugged during a series of television interviews to promote the show. “The View’s” Rosie O’Donnell also took her to task this week, saying: "Paula was very thirsty last night. Did anyone else notice? Every shot, that woman was sipping the 'Coca-Cola' in her cup. O’Donnell added a wink during the words "Coca-Cola" that seemed to indicate Abdul wasn't sipping a soft drink. "Towards the end of the show, one eye was wandering," she said.
During the session at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa, Abdul and her colleagues defended her behavior, denying that she was intoxicated. Here are the highlights:
On her seemingly odd behavior during the recent morning talk show interviews:
Abdul: A lot of you may not know when you do the satellite media tours, you’re in a small room, you get up really early at 3:30 am. And all there is one camera that you’re looking into. You don’t see anyone. You don’t have a monitor that shows you. You’re being broadcast out to different morning news shows. I did three hours of them. There was a couple of glitches. But the very last one that I did had tremendous technical difficulty. And what happened was that there were split cities in my ear. I thought it was just one group of people…I had no idea there were two different cities. So when they started to have difficulty, I was holding on waiting and I’m in a swivel chair and I’m very animated with my hands. Had I known that I was answering questions, it was very weird because what you’re hearing is not exactly what I was answering questions to. It’s very hard to explain, but it’s very easy. It’s very strange. Unfortunately, that’s what happened. What I was answering was transmitting right to one of the cities.
When I was watching it myself. I was going, Oh my God. I’ve been in this business 20 years. I’ve done these every single year, practically. I really am a veteran in doing this. I was waiting in between. Once I knew there was a glitch. I was talking. I didn’t know who I was talking to, but I was answering questions.
(At this point, Cowell interrupts to clarify the matter and even apologizes to Abdul):
Cowell: I can remember last year there was all this controversy because Paula started talking about moths and melons. The truth was behind that was on the show, Paula said to me, I genuinely don’t know what I should say. So I said—I did make it up—use a Chinese proverb I use: The moth who finds the melon will eat the corn flake.
I publicly apologize.
Abdul: You’ve never done that and I love you for that because you have caused me for the past year and a half, the worst…you know what, I love you first of all. He’s kept this going and I’ve taken the blame. What’s wrong with Paula? She’s drunk, She’s drugged? She’s not making sense. The moth and the melon ball. He did this to me!
(Now Jackson interrupts)
Jackson: Let me clear the air even further. Let me clear the air once and for all. In the Coke cups, it’s all Coca Cola products: it’s all water or diet soda. You guys are thinking something in those cups. Are you kidding?
(On how she feels when she reads that she appears to be drunk or drugged on the show or during interviews)
Abdul: It’s really fun. (Pause). You know what? I have been in this business 20 years. But I’ll tell you this much, I’ve never had to weather the storm of publicity, controversy. It’s this show. It’s huge. It’s a blessing. Having a music career and selling over 50 million records or having been the best choreographer during my time, it’s almost like it never it happened. It’s insignificant because I’m a judge in the world’s biggest show. And I love it, but it’s often daunting. But, yeah, sometimes it’s very, very frustrating.
(Cowell jumps in again)
Cowell: I’ve got to say and I’ve only watched it from afar. We all work well together and I hate to admit this publicly but I wouldn’t do this show unless Paula, Randy and Ryan were on the same show. We’re all a bit nuts occasionally. We all say things we’re going to be criticized for. But don’t condemn somebody for being a bit wacky occasionally or whatever because it makes it interesting. Otherwise, it’s going to be a boring show and I don’t want to work with boring people. To me, the whole thing was overblown. I’ve done it so many times, these public interviews, that by the end, I am talking complete and utter rubbish. And if anyone had put the same clip of me on You Tube or anything else, it would have been a lot worse.
(After the panel, Abdul gave more interviews with the press, and addressed the allegations that she drinks or takes drugs).
Abdul: I cannot believe what’s been going on. In a million years. It’s the most ironic thing. I grew up being a square girl, a girl who grew up in the Valley who doesn’t go out and party. Never gotten drunk in my life or do recreational drugs….Sometimes being too nice is a disease as well. My parents are nice. I’m a relatively decent human being and I care a lot about being artist as well, the well-being of these kids. I want them to do well, I really do. I try to help in every way I can.
(On O’Donnell’s comments on The View)
Abdul: She doesn’t know the truth. I don’t have any apologies to make. I didn’t do anything wrong. She wants to take shots like that. I can’t make her not do that. I don’t care. I really don’t.
(Was it difficult facing the TV press today?)
Abdul: Not at all. I have nothing but truth. I have no apologies to make. I work my butt off and I’m proud of what I’ve done and who I am. I’ve lasted in this business 20 years and I have not gone “loco en la cabeza” (gone crazy).
--Maria Elena Fernandez
Chris Rock brings laughs (and shocking language)
Saturday, 11:11 a.m.
Thirty minutes with Chris Rock on a panel brings more laughs (and shocking language) than the previous 11 days of the mid-season press tour combined. Rock appeared with “Everybody Hates Chris” co-creator Ali LeRoi and three members of the cast: Tyler James Williams, Tichina Arnold and Terry Crews
Question: Does getting renewed for a third season make you relax or say uh-oh?
Rock: I don’t relax. I’m already on the CW. What’s next, BET?
Question: How did you feel earlier on in the season when the CW premiered “Chris” on Sunday nights?
Rock: That was rough. My TiVo wouldn’t even watch the show on Sunday. It’s true. It didn’t record it. Every week, “60 Minutes.” Damn!
Question: How do you get more people to watch the show?
Rock: In about a week, I’m gonna have Terry running through a club screaming nigger. (Pause) To generate some buzz.
Question: What do you make of the people who are calling for the n-word to be banned in comedy acts?
Rock: I don’t know. I just told my broker to buy me 80 shares of Coon. Question: Are you surprised that your show has been successful internationally?
Rock: I’m not surprised it’s worked internationally. The white man’s been putting a foot in the black ass all over the world.
Question: Would you invite Michael Richards to come on your show?
Rock: Wow. I don’t know. Probably. I mean, I’d have to make sure all the other non-nigger screaming people didn’t need jobs first. Once they are all working, I guess I’d have to give him a job.
--Maria Elena Fernandez
Critics howl at Pussycat Dolls
Friday, 3:16 p.m.
When you sing along with the Pussycat Dolls — "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me? Don't you wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?" — do you know what you are saying?
In case you don't, here's the translation offered from über-film and television producer McG:
"Don't you wish your girlfriend could be free and comfortable to do her own thing?"
Yes, dear reader, this is the part when you giggle.
McG appeared Friday before the TV media in Pasadena to promote a new reality series for the CW, "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll." The eight-episode series, which premieres March 6, follows the recording group's search for "another doll." McG was part of a panel, also attended by Robin Antin, the group's creator; other producers; and judge Lil' Kim, who explained that she is perfectly suited to judge who should become the next Doll because she was born "a Doll."
"Freak," the TV media were told, is not what you think. "Freak is a dance." "It's just a word." "Even Rick James knew that."
Asked by critics to defend the show's sexualized depiction of young women, Antin said: "It is empowering to get up there and dress up like a Doll."
She added: "There's nothing skanky about it. Their clothing is cute. It's fun. Yes, of course, it's sexy."
It was the second-to-last day of the tour, and one of the only sessions during which members of the media booed the panelists.
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
'Chris' renewed; 'Crown' coming
Friday, 3:00 p.m.
In her first news conference since the CW launched in September, Dawn Ostroff, president of entertainment, announced Friday the renewal of critically acclaimed "Everybody Hates Chris" for next season and a new competition reality series for this season, "Crowned," which features mother-daughter teams working together to win a beauty pageant.
Ostroff, who said that the network's biggest challenge so far has been how to let viewers know where it can be found on the dial, said overall, "I think we're very happy where we are." (The CW can be found in some markets on the WB's former channel; in other markets, it's on the UPN's former home.)
Ostroff faced many questions about choices the network has made, including whether "Everybody Hates Chris," a single-camera comedy with mainstream appeal, should be leading a block of multi-camera African American sitcoms, and whether those other low-rated comedies will survive this season. The session was part of the TV midseason press tour in Pasadena.
"Our advertisers are very happy with the shows," Ostroff said. "It's an extremely successful night for us. We employ more African American producers than any other network, and we're very committed to that."
Ostroff was also tight-lipped about the future of "Gilmore Girls," the network's second-highest-rated show. Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel, its two stars, do not have contracts beyond this season. Ostroff said only that she is "talking" to the stars and producers about its possibilities.
Also, "America's Top Model" returns for its eighth season, starting Feb. 28.
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
CBS' rise in ratings is tempered by return of 'Idol'
Thursday, 3:59 p.m.
PASADENA — CBS, historically seen as the network for older viewers, has found itself quite popular this season with the younger set. And a trio of CBS executives wasted little time Thursday morning trumpeting the steady-as-she-goes network's rise to No. 1 in the highly coveted 18-to-49 age demographic after 17 weeks into the 2006-07 season.
"When we have a chance to brag about the 18-to-49 demo," said CBS programming chief Kelly Kahl during the morning's executive session at the midseason press tour, "we're going to do it."
But any celebrating is clouded by Fox's "American Idol," which registered huge audiences in its sixth season premiere this week.
The first two "Idol" episodes each drew about 37 million viewers — astonishing numbers in the current age of audience fragmentation.
"Our shows aren't 'Idol' proof," added Kahl, making special note of the solid performance of "NCIS" against Fox's ratings giant. "But they are 'Idol' resistant."
Kahl was on stage with Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, and Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Paramount Network Television Group.
CBS' solid but not terribly flashy schedule has prompted its executives to seek out shows that will create more buzz. Though they own some of the most popular shows with the "CSI" franchise, CBS' targeting of the broadest audience has made it seem sleepy in comparison with more youth-oriented networks. So far this season, they have found success in this strategy with "Jericho," but failed with "Smith," which was canceled after only three episodes.
"We want to turn it up a notch," said Tassler. "We want to find shows that are going to be talked about."
But at least in the spring, there isn't much to discuss. The network is launching just one show, a new comedy called "Rules of Engagement" starring David Spade. The fairly traditional-looking sitcom begins airing Feb. 5 at 9:30 p.m., and clearly CBS executives hope its humor can cut into the serialized seriousness of its hot competitors in the Monday time slot — NBC's "Heroes" and Fox's "24."
Tassler said there may be more to talk about in the fall when a couple of shows could boost the network's profile among the media and public.
Barbara Hall, the creative force behind "Joan of Arcadia," is working on a show infused with dark humor and irony about demons. And another program tentatively called "Swing Town," which CBS is considering, is an "Ice Storm"-like look at three Chicago couples in the '70s dealing with open marriages.
-- Martin Miller
'Scrubs' fans: the sky is falling down!
Wednesday, 3:59 p.m.
Zach Braff made a declaration Wednesday afternoon at the television industry press tour about his NBC comedy: "'Scrubs' can go on with or without me."
Say, que?
"Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence, Braff and co-star Sarah Chalke appeared on a panel at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa to discuss the future of the series. If it has one, is the key question, as Braff weighs whether to renew his contract at the end of this season and Lawrence decides whether he will return without the show's narrator and star.
"I wouldn't do it without you," Lawrence said to Braff in an "I-mean-it" tone.
"The show could totally go on without me," Braff continued. "There's so many variables. I would love to do it. I think everyone is procrastinating that decision until the last second."
Lawrence said he is not writing a series finale this year. If Braff were to leave the sixth-season show, Lawrence vowed that J.D. would return next year to explain why he left.
"I'll come back and find a way to die," Braff said.
O.K., so maybe the show could survive, but what about Turk?
— Maria Elena Fernandez
'Today' gets longer
Wednesday, 12:29 p.m.
Love the "Today" show? You're about to love it more. At least, that's what NBC is hoping for next fall when the top-rated morning show expands to a fourth hour that will include a mixture of the morning's headlines, entertainment news and feature stories.
NBC will announce the hour's host in September, but "Today" co-host Matt Lauer, weatherman Al Roker and news anchor Ann Curry will contribute to it, NBC President of News Steve Capus announced on Wednesday at the mid-season gathering of the TV press in Pasadena. (Co-host Meredith Vieira's contract prohibits her from appearing on NBC's air when "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" is on in some markets.)
NBC views the fourth hour as a "natural extension" of the current program, which was extended to three hours in 2000, Capus said.
Lauer admitted he initially had "mixed emotions" about the extra hour and worried about the toll it would take on the crew, but now thinks it makes sense.
"You don't want to dilute the brand," Lauer said. "You want people to want more, not less...As long as we do the kinds of segments we'd be proud of, regardless of the time we air it, I just don't want to be asked to leave the party before I'm ready to go."
— Maria Elena Fernandez
Are we losing 'Lost'?
Sunday, 1:50 p.m.
In the beginning, the producers of "Lost" cast it and shot it in 12 weeks, and wondered if their show would make it past 13 episodes.
Now, in its third season, "Lost" is a hit on television and the Web, and its executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are talking about...(gasp)...ending it all.
Relax, Losties, they are not talking about this season. But relatively soon, sooner, in fact, than most hit shows go off the air, since the broadcast networks tend to turn what might be a happy ending in the fifth season into miserable endings in the ninth.
With "Lost," especially, because of its ever-growing ensemble cast and complex island mythology, there seems to be pervasive anxiety among fans that the writers don't know what they're doing.
So "it's time for us to find an end point for this show," Cuse explained Sunday during a panel session at the mid-season press tour. "When we discuss when that is going to be, a lot of that will go away."
Lindelof and Cuse have always felt that their island mystery would best be told in about 100 episodes, which would put them at the beginning of the fifth season. They recently began talks with ABC President of Primetime Television Steve McPherson and Mark Pedowitz, president of Touchstone Television, which produces the show, to determine a finite ending for the popular series.
"We all looked at each other at the very beginning and said by the grace of God would this show ever survive 13 episodes," Lindelof said after the session. "So, you know, Carlton and I are able to now sit down with them and say, 'Remember in the very beginning when you were having us convince you that this thing could go on for years and years and years? And we all agreed it couldn't?' Well, now just because it's successful doesn't mean that that's changed."
Lindelof said he and Cuse would not continue to run the show if ABC and Touchstone decide to extend it. So far, the network and the studio are open to the idea of ending the show sooner rather than later, with its creators still at the helm, he said.
And for fans who are feeling a little lost by the show's recent direction, Lindelof offered this thematic description of the series: "This show is about people who are metaphorically lost in their lives, who get on an airplane and crash on an island and become physically lost on the planet Earth. And once they are able to metaphorically find themselves again, they will be able to physically find themselves in the world again. When you look at the entire show, that's what it's always been about."
"Lost" returns on Feb. 7 in its new 10 p.m. time slot.
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
David Milch mystifies
Saturday, 5:05 p.m.
After watching a preview clip of HBO's "John From Cincinnati," an innocent reporter at Press Tour raised his hand late Friday to ask creator David Milch ("Deadwood") about a puzzling element.
"David...about Mitch elevating. There's a couple of scenes where he's floating in air. The bird seems to come back to life. Is there a mystical component going on there? What's going on?"
The show, that centers on three generations of a surfing family living in California across the border from Tijuana, takes its locale from Kem Nunn's novel "Tijuana Straits" but not much more. Nunn who also worked on "Deadwood" shares creator/executive producer status with Milch and sat, largely ignored, on the panel as Milch attempted to explain.
But many reporters unfamiliar with his personality quirks just dropped their pencils, stopped typing and gaped at the producer as he launched into serial monologues on topics ranging from the "coordinates of reality" to string theory. He quoted at length from William James.
"What James suggested was...that there are certain abrupt and lawless inexplicable intrusions through essentially what would be described as tears in the fabric of the dimensions we perceive. John from Cincinnati," he finished.
Milch cited a "continuity of themes" between Nunn's novels and what the series is trying to examine--that "reality can sometimes be a little problematic." He also made several barely veiled references to his own history of alcohol and drug abuse and education in accepting "life on life's terms."
Cast members appeared affectionately exasperated with Milch's suggestions, such as playing a character's state of mind and spirit one particular way, and then the opposite way.
"You have to have faith. Faith in David," said Bruce Greenwood who plays the character of Mitch Yost, an over the hill surfer.
-- Lynn Smith
"American Masters" reflects on Ertegun
Saturday, 4:05 p.m.
The afternoon panel for "American Masters" featured a discussion about the forthcoming program on Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records, who died last month.
Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber, the famed songwriters, were among the panelists. They told stories about Ertegun, and recounted how the song "Stand By Me" was written with Ben E. King, who was also on the panel. Stoller said that when the director Rob Reiner called him to ask for permission to use the song in his 1986 movie, he suggested that they re-record the song with a hot, new artist, but Reiner wanted to use the original version. This fact appeared to be news to King, who then said that Stoller would pay for dinner tonight.
One journalist asked the panel what Ertegun's greatest accomplishment was. Leiber said that it was "fitting the most 12-year-old girls in the backseat of his car without getting arrested." The crowd laughed. Susan Lacy, the creator and executive producer of "American Masters," then quickly said that Ertegun's proudest achievement was bringing African American music to a mainstream audience.
At the end of the session, the group, minus Lacy, performed "Stand By Me." Panelist Solomon Burke, a member of the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame, commanded the television journalists to clap, which everyone did. He then told everyone to stand up, which also happened, simultaneous with the clapping. And then, yes, there was singing.
-- Kate Aurthur
PBS brings the "News War" home
Saturday, 10:50 a.m.
The press tour mood took a sharp, somber turn Saturday morning with the arrival of PBS, which replaced panels on partying snowboarders and stylists with one on truth, public service and what will happen to newspapers like the Los Angeles Times.
The topic: Frontline's four-hour documentary, "News War," funded through the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Foundation, executive produced by David Fanning and hosted by Lowell Bergman. It will air on Tuesdays Feb. 13-27 and March 27.
The sudden shift seemed to illustrate the situation at many news organizations that believe their watchdog reporting threatened by cultural, political, and financial pressures. At the Times, Bergman said, "There's a conscious move of reporting into Hollywood and entertainment. It's the big industry here."
Fanning observed that Bergman had just been out interviewing the third managing editor of the Times he needed to talk to in order to finish up the film.
Bergman held up a photocopied portrait, the face pictured from a low angle, saying, "This poster is not a Soviet leader, it's hanging in the halls of the Los Angeles Times, all over the newsroom. Do you know who it is? It's Dean Baquet, the now fired managing editor...."
One question he put to many of the 80 key figures he interviewed for the special was: How could an industry that produces so much cash be in so much trouble? He said profits at the Times reached 200 million, more than twice the Fortune 500 average. The rise of the Internet offers no easy explanation: A single newspaper subscriber is worth $1,000 a year to a company but only $5.50 to its dotcom version, he said.
The fate of the Times' parent organization The Tribune Company will come to a head next week, he said, when bids are due.
"A number of people in Wall St. and elsewhere say the newspaper decline will bottom out," he said.
"We'll see private equity groups coming in and taking them private," he said, comparing the situation to a wealthy individual buying football franchises. In some cases, individual owners have created chaos, such as in Santa Barbara. In his interview with Eli Broad, a contender for the Times, the wealthy developer admitted "he does want to play around with the content," he said.
Other solutions include a nonprofit model such as the St. Petersberg Times where investors must content themselves with a 6 or 7% profit.
PBS, of course, is in the same boat.
Considering the special was made with added contributions from the Goldman Foundation, he said "I don't know that we'll ever have the opportunity, without the Goldman fund, to present this information to a general audience at this depth.
-- Lynn Smith
Maher gets real
Friday, 4:56 p.m.
HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher" returns for its fifth season on Feb. 16. On Friday, the liberal comic stopped by the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa to talk with the TV press and share his political views:
His advice to the electorate for the 2008 presidential election: "Vote for the guy who reads instead of the guy who prays."
On the last election: "Democrats got votes in places they never got them before. Like America."
His favorite guests:
"Ben Affleck: He's always gold. That kid really does his homework. He could run. He really knows his stuff."
D.L. Hughley: "It's very rare when a comic can be funny in the service of making a point. Not a point and then a joke, but one seamless sentence."
Robin Williams: "I am always impressed with the way Robin Williams can go from being crazy, kooky, Robin Williams...and dial it right back and be serious on the panel. He's really matured a lot that boy since he's been in rehab."
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
Quien es Norwood Young?
Thursday, 1:24 p.m.
He appeared Thursday morning at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa to promote a new reality series for the E! network, holding one of his Maltese pups, dyed in pink. His other Maltese pup, the blue one, sat in the lap of Young's butler, Brian Armstrong, who aspires to someday wait on the high minds inside the White House.
But we digress. Let's get back to the ostentatious Norwood Young. Decked out in a red furry ensemble with matching red shoes, the young man who collects David statues (the recent wind storm blew over three of them), is being documented for "High Maintenance 90210."
The series follows the supposedly wealthy man as he hires a butler and drives him crazy with his insane requests.
When asked (quite discreetly) by a TV critic how he makes a living, Young declared himself a singer who has been recording since he was 16. His new CD will premiere on the series in February, he added. As soon as the lines were uttered, critics and reporters turned to their laptops, furiously digging for Young on the Web.
Those efforts proved futile. Norwood Young, the artist, simply does not exist. Yet, here he was in the ballroom explaining that the dye he uses for his doggies is not chemical and he would never hurt them. "They have flair and style and we love it," he said.
He also explained: "I've been living this way professionally since I was 16. It's not upkeep as much as it is maintenance."
Ted Harbert, president and CEO of E! Networks, concluded the session saying that he could be found in the back "Trying to figure out who Norwood is."
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
Tori Talk
Tuesday, 2:53 p.m.
When you work and play in the 90210 your whole life, you can miss out on some things. Like staying at a bed and breakfast. But one day you decide that life is an adventure and you trade in your five-star hotel digs in Ottawa, Canada, for a local B&B, and low and behold, what happens? Despite everything being so "old and musty" -- and even a raggedy stuffed teddy bear smells like urine -- your first child is conceived there and you begin to think more lovingly about this little inn that has housed you and served you breakfast while you and your actor spouse toil in front of cameras for a movie.
In a nutshell, that's how Tori Spelling and her new husband, Dean McDermott, came to invest her $800,000 inheritance (minus the taxes, people!) to buy a Temecula-area inn that they will renovate and operate in front of reality TV cameras for Oxygen. Premiering on March 21, "Tori & Dean: Inn Love," will offer an intimate view (yes, there is a camera in their bedroom and maybe even one in their bathroom), of their blossoming marriage, business venture, and the birth of their first child (a boy due in late March).
Tori & Dean were panelists at press tour Wednesday. Showing off her mommy belly in an ivory baby doll dress with black trims, black designer stockings and black platform shoes, Spelling was at ease and good-natured, even when questions about her much-publicized rift with her mother, Candy Spelling, came up. (No, they have not made up).
Although she only lived two years in her parents' 100-plus-room mansion, Spelling said it was easy to adjust to the size of the bed-and-breakfast she and Dean shared in Canada.
"I had never stayed in a B&B and had some trepidations," she said. "B&B's are creepy and they're old. Go back to chicness, ugh...Indeed, it was old and musty and had people's old things. But B&B's are good for us because we conceived in Ottawa and that's how we came away with the idea to re-invent it for our generation."
In other words, there will be no must and urine odors wafting from the couple's "chic" four-bedroom bed-and-breakfast. And more than likely, while they live there, Dean will be the one making breakfast for their guests because Tori says she does not usually wake up early enough to partake in that meal.
"I'm more into happy hour and hors d'oeuvres," she said proudly.
Asked if they were worried about the track record of couples (think Jessica Simpson/Britney Spears) who have allowed reality cameras into their new marriages, Dean said confidently," We're going to be the exception."
Later, Tori explained that their show will take things to a new level because it will document them as they become parents and start a business together.
And also because "I know what tuna is."
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
Kids liven up slow-starting press tour
Tuesday, 11:55 a.m.
Leave it to the children — ordinary kids who have allowed The Learning Channel to film their lives for a six-part documentary and appeared on stage at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena — to steal the show at the television industry’s mid-season press tour.
The 12-day series of press conferences got off to a ho-hum start on Tuesday, with no juicy tidbits to pass on from celebrities who participated in various panels, not even press darling Courteney Cox, who is starring in and executive producing FX’s new drama, “Dirt.”
But Wednesday morning the TV press met eight-year-old Cole Massie, of Los Angeles; 11-year-old Drew Nelson of Plainsboro, N.J.; 11-year-old Lisetanne Scherschel, of New York City; and eight-year-old Joshua Bynum of Baltimore, and what came out of the mouths of these babes was compelling, moving, and downright entertaining.
TLC asked 20 children, ages 7 to 12, to tape themselves for four months to give their unfiltered views on parents, peers and growing up for “My Life As A Child,” which premieres on Feb. 26. On Wednesday, the four participants described how their lives are different from other children’s and discussed the lessons they gleaned from directing, producing and acting as a cameraperson for their own segments.
Listen:
Drew: My life is different because I do ballet. I think boys can do ballet. I think they were meant to do ballet. King Louis XIV, if any of you have heard of it, he really liked it. He did something about it, I forget. He almost created it. It’s a different form of dance. So I really like doing ballet and that’s how I’m different because my life is different. Most kids my age, boys would be doing football. I think I’m going to be a dancer. Maybe I’ll be a screenwriter and be on TV that way.
Cole, who has cerebral palsy and was on stage with his service dog whom he called his “brother:” You know how your average person does things - you all know that right? — I’m in wheelchair and all this stuff. I can do things your average person can just in a different way. Any questions about that? (Cole was asked to elaborate) For one, thing I take theater class as well as Drew. And I also do horseback riding in a different way. Just because I’m in a wheelchair doesn’t make me any different. If you take some skin off, which you really couldn’t do, if you took someone’s skin off, they’re just the same inside. It doesn’t matter our skin color. It doesn’t matter.
Lisetanne: If we didn’t have bodies and just our personalities were floating around, we wouldn’t get criticized. So much of the criticism is how you look outside and not who you are.
Joshua: I think that since I did this, some of my friends won’t think of me any different but will just congratulate me and everything. Some people who were mean to me in school will probably try to be my friend but I wouldn’t fall for it.
Lisetanne: “My Life As A Child” has influenced my life a lot because in some form I have expressed myself to the world. Having the camera there was very helpful because it was like a person watching you without judging you. I look at myself differently.
-- Maria Elena Fernandez
TOUR TALK
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Are we losing 'Lost'?
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PBS brings the 'News War' home
Maher gets real
Quien es Norwood Young?
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