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Issue #14
Disinfotainment Today
By Michael Dare
From 'TBH Politoons'
Great Site!
Thanks, again, Tim!
Alex's Entertainment Report
Alex
Reader Comment
'Fried'?
<< Clinton lavished praise on work his fried and interior decorator Kaki Hockersmith did>>
In the late 90's we were pleased to play host to Kaki during a visit to address a decorative arts group of which my wife Linda is a member. She was a total
delight, and sent us a picture of herself in one of the White House rooms she had decorated. Funny, she never once seemed "fried." But you know how those Clintonites are!!!
Lar
Jeez, Lar, I must have been 'fried' to let that one get by. Thanks (the archived page has been corrected). ; )
Letters, We Get Letters
Re: Chloe Fitzjames
Reader Question
Re: Big Dog
If Clinton said on TV that he thinks we should go to
war with Iraq right away, do you think Bush would
cancel the attack? Might be the only way to stop him.
Tim
Excellent point, Tim!
Reader Assistance
from Alex
Saw someone asking about addresses of celebrities...this is a good site -
Ultimate guide to Hollywood
~~ Alex
Thanks, Alex!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
I attempted watching Anna Nicole last night, and had a hard time sticking it out. Can we say 'time for intervention?' How pathetic to
market (what appears to be) chemically enhanced mental problems for entertainment value. How many ass-shots does an audience need (if they aren't juggling towels, beers &
the remote?) Hey - why not hire a cameraperson with Parkinson's to complete the effect?
This is in the top 5 worst programs I've ever seen. The visual equivalent of pulling wings off a moth.
Today's lesson in automotive science was 'the fuel-pump and why the car won't move when it craps out'. Needless to say, we did not see the stinking corpse plant.
Toeser, the 6-toed wonder cat, had to visit the Vet today. Seems she has an upper-respiratory infection. Poor thing is the gassiest cat, ever, but add some antibiotics, and
we're talking arfing lethal! She's sleeping contentedly, and my eyes are watering...
Tonight, Tuesday, CBS has the usual 'Trifecta' of reruns - 'JAG', 'The Guardian', and 'Judging Amy'.
On a rerun Dave (from 7/19/02), the scheduled guests are Ted Koppel and Wendy Liebman.
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers, the scheduled guests are Vin Diesel, Minnesota Viking Cris Carter, Buddy Hackett, and comic Joe Matareso. (May say it's fresh, but it looks like a rerun to me)
NBC starts the evening with a fresh 'Spy TV', and follows it with a fresh 'The Rerun Show'. Then it's reruns of 'Frasier' and 'Scrubs'. 'Dateline' rounds out the evening.
Scheduled on a fresh Jay are Clint Eastwood, comic Gabriel Iglesias, and Gavin Rossdale.
Scheduled on a fresh Conan are John C. Reilly, Fred Savage, and Patrice O'Neal.
Scheduled on a fresh Carson Daly are Zooey Deschanel, Verne Troyer, and Thicke.
ABC starts the night with 2 reruns of 'Jim', then a fresh 'Mole II: The Next Betrayal', and then a fresh 'Widows', a 4-parter.
The WB has reruns of 'Gilmore Girls' and 'Smallville'.
Faux has a rerun of 'That 70's Show', and then a rerun of the 'Simpsons', followed by 'American Idol: The Search For A Superstar'.
UPN has a rerun of 'Buffy' (Buffy investigates Spike's attack), and then reruns of 'The Hughleys' and 'The Parkers'.
E! reruns an hour of Anna Nicole at 9pm (edt).
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Concert Plans Saved Miner
Ozzfest Saves!
A miner who didn't make the trip underground that left nine of his colleagues trapped for 77 hours thanks his love of rock and roll.
Roger Shaffer, 22, was at Ozzfest 2002, heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne's summer concert tour, on the day the nine miners became trapped
after breaking through to an adjacent, flooded mine. The miners ended up stuck in a cramped and flooded shaft at the Quecreek Mine for 77 hours
before they were rescued.
Shaffer, an apprentice miner, had used one of his few vacation days to go to the July 24 concert, which had been rescheduled because Osbourne's
wife, Sharon Osbourne, had cancer surgery.
"I have to thank Ozzy and (his) family, because if the events in their life weren't going on, my events would have been a lot different," Shaffer said.
Shaffer learned what happened to his crew while returning home after the concert near Pittsburgh.
Shaffer sat glued to the television July 27 when the good news broke that his buddies were alive.
Unlike some of his fellow crew members, Shaffer said he plans to return underground if the mine reopens.
He said he sees few options. He can't afford school and is about a week away from taking a test to move up to a better pay scale.
Ozzfest Saves!
2,202nd Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame
Susan Sarandon
Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon poses for photographers after receiving the 2,202nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, California August 5, 2002. Hundreds of fans attended the ceremony in front
of the Kodak Theatre including family members and actors Ryan Phillippe and Kieran Culkin who co-star with her in the upcoming film "Igby Goes Down."
Photo by Jim Ruymen
Guesting On 'ER'
Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle ("Traffic") is checking into "ER," where he will play a med student.
He has signed on for a four-episode guest starring arc on the drama, which begins its ninth season on NBC next month. The episodes will likely air during the November sweeps.
Cheadle's long list of feature credits include "Ocean's Eleven," "Boogie Nights," "Out of Sight," "Swordfish" and "Bulworth." He's also no stranger to television, having been a
regular on both "Picket Fences" and "Golden Girls" spinoff "The Golden Palace."
Don Cheadle
To Lead Chicken Dance
Verne Troyer
Verne Troyer, the 32-inch-tall actor who plays the mini-clone to Dr. Evil, will try to help break another record when he leads the world's largest chicken dance
and kazoo band at a festival in this Ohio River town.
Troyer will play lead clucker at the Oktoberfest Zinzinnati on Sept. 22.
The two-day event is the nation's largest Oktoberfest, drawing a crowd of about 500,000.
Other notables who held the job include singer Tony Orlando, Weird Al Yankovic, Monkees singer Davy Jones and Prince Luitpold Von Bayern, crown prince of Bavaria.
Verne Troyer
2-Inch Gun Seized
GI Joe
Airport security staff confiscated a TWO-INCH plastic gun from a toy soldier, it was revealed yesterday.
British tourist Judy Powell, 55, bought a GI Joe doll in America as a gift for her seven-year-old grandson George.
Security officials at Los Angeles airport found the toy — similar to Action Man — when they searched Judy's bags before she boarded a flight to London.
Then they took the figure out of its box and confiscated its tiny replica Armalite rifle.
Judy revealed: "They examined the toy as if it was going to shoot them.
"Then they asked me if there were toy grenades as well. I thought they were joking, but they weren't smiling — they were deadly serious."
"I can understand them wanting to ban weapons or things that look like weapons, but surely common sense has to take over at some point.
"The whole world is going mad if we resort to such stupid measures."
Security chiefs at Los Angeles airport said: "We have instructions to confiscate anything that looks like a weapon or a replica.
For the rest, GI Joe
Giant Jimmy Hat?
Cerne Abas Giant
A six-metre sheath has been placed on the Cerne Abas Giant in the middle of the night, a 60 metre fertility symbol cut into the hillside in southern England, August 5, 2002.
New From HBO
'Sopranos' Food Line
HBO is branching out into food as an ancillary business to "The Sopranos," the drama about a New Jersey mob family that begins its fourth season in September.
Warner Books, an HBO corporate cousin, will publish "The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco," a collection of southern Italian-style recipes. Bucco
is the fictional owner of the Nuovo Vesuvio restaurant in the TV series.
The recipes will be sprinkled with "advice" from other cast members, including Tony Soprano's grilling methods.
HBO is also planning a gourmet food line under Bucco's name, manufactured by The Halifax Group. The first products will go on sale this fall: marinara sauce,
pasta, salad dressing and frozen pizza.
Upcoming next year will be Bucco's brands of barbecue sauce, olive oil and additional salad dressings and pasta sauces.
'Sopranos' Food Line
Franchise Showdown
'Freddy Vs. Jason'
In a continuing effort to exploit its franchises, New Line Cinema has greenlit "Freddy vs. Jason," signing Brad Renfro to star alongside Robert Englund, who'll be back for
his eighth performance as Freddy Krueger.
The studio hasn't yet decided on the actor who'll play Jason Vorhees, the lumbering maniac from the "Friday the 13th" franchise who will be making his 11th appearance onscreen.
Ronny Yu, the Honk Kong veteran whose credits range from "The Bride With White Hair" to "Bride of Chucky," will direct the picture, with shooting to begin Sept. 9 in Vancouver.
The film's premise is a simple collision of legendary evildoers who've each racked up impressive body counts of promiscuous teens. Renfro ("The Client") will play a character
who finds himself pitted between the two combatants, and so his mission is to try and stay alive until the end credits.
"It's clash of the titans, the ultimate showdown," said New Line production president Toby Emmerich. "Freddy is the intellectual manipulator, Jason the killing machine. When
you have done 17 movies between these characters, it is hard to stay fresh, but putting these characters together makes it fresh. There is a hard-core fan base for each, and
we will be out in front of 'Predator vs. Alien' and 'Batman vs. Superman,' other films putting venerable characters against each other."
'Freddy Vs. Jason'
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Likes Working in New York
Jerry Stiller
Jerry Stiller has definite opinions about the difference between working in New York and Los Angeles.
"People in New York are very sharp," Stiller, a Brooklyn native, told TV Guide for its Aug. 10 issue. "I hate to say this, but I think it's because the weather in
California is so warm and tropical that people tend to fall asleep while you're talking to them.
Stiller still resides in New York, and he lives in a hotel when filming in Los Angeles.
"I always felt that L.A. was full of ghosts of people who I idolized so much, like George Burns and Jack Benny. I never felt I belonged there with them. When
everybody went west in the '50s like Rod Steiger and John Cassavetes, guys I used to hang out with, drinking coffee and exchanging tips, I said they were abandoning
ship. And the truth of the matter is, I was scared of California. But now I'm back and forth."
Jerry Stiller
Calls Brad Pitt Her 'Goofball'
Jennifer Aniston
Actress Jennifer Aniston says her Hollywood heart-throb husband Brad Pitt is a "goofball" who wants to have seven children.
"Brad is the kindest person I know and the sweetest goofball on the planet," Aniston said in an interview with Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper on Monday.
"I always thought two (children), but Brad wants seven," she told the Mirror.
Jennifer Aniston
40th Anniversary
Marilyn Monroe
Flower tributes left by fans surround the tomb of actress Marilyn Monroe on the 40th anniversary of her death August 5, 2002 in Los Angeles as a card with Monroe's photograph is placed at the tomb. Fans gathered
at Pierce Brothers cemetery in Los Angeles to honor the late film star who was found dead of an apparent sleeping pill overdose August 5, 1962.
Photo by Fred Prouser
Donates to Sipesville Firefighters
Travis Tritt
Country singer Travis Tritt is donating $25,000 to a group of volunteer firefighters who helped rescue trapped coal miners in Pennsylvania last month.
Tritt, who performed at the Ohio State Fair this weekend in Columbus, is donating the money to the Sipesville (Pa.) Volunteer Fire Company, according to his official Web site.
The volunteer fire company was the lead team at the scene on July 27 when the nine miners were pulled out after 77 hours underground.
The firefighters said they'll use the money for much-needed repairs to the fire hall, which hasn't been upgraded since 1981.
Travis Tritt
BartCop TV!
Visits Angola
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow, a United Nations goodwill ambassador, visited famine-hit Angola on Monday, much of which lies in ruins after a recently ended civil war.
Over the next week, the 57-year-old actress and her 13-year-old son, Seamus, will visit humanitarian projects and rebel demobilization camps.
Aid groups say up to a half million people face starvation because of the fighting and have appealed for an international relief effort.
Mia Farrow
Edinburgh
Fringe Festival
For stand-up comedians, Edinburgh's Fringe Festival offers the ultimate challenge -- to tickle the fans and tempt talent scouts to launch them on the road to fame.
From as far afield as Australia and America, they pour into the Scottish capital to launch a three-week bid for glory at the zany extravaganza billed as the world's largest arts festival.
Almost 350 comedians are trying their luck this year and festival director Paul Gudgin admires their optimism at the Fringe, which helped to launch the careers of Oscar winning actress Emma Thompson and comedian Dudley Moore.
Anarchy reigns supreme at Edinburgh 2002 -- from drag queen Tina C's Twin Towers tribute to "Mrs Armstrong and Her Amazing Naked Samoans."
American comedian Rich Hall is out to prove, tongue firmly in cheek, that George W. Bush is the greatest U.S. President of all time.
Edinburgh's Fringe Festival
Disney Production Deal
Affleck & Damon
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have secured a two-year film production deal at Disney for their Live Planet production company.
Initially formed to hatch reality shows, the company is now refocusing to use Disney as a launch pad for features.
Live Planet used the initial $15 million it raised to hatch Project Greenlight with Miramax, with writer-director Pete Jones winning a contest that entitled him to $1 million to make his Miramax-distributed film "Stolen Summer."
The headaches of indie filmmaking were captured for the HBO series "Project Greenlight," and Live Planet is moving forward with a second season, with several tweaks: This time, a winning director will be chosen to helm the winning
script in two separate contests that have been held over the past few months.
The primary focus for the foursome was that series, as well as the Bailey-and Affleck-created ABC reality gamer "Push, Nevada" and another HBO reality show revolving around a minor league sports team called "General Manager."
But Live Planet has done OK on the film production front without trying much. It has been involved in projects including "Matchstick Men," the Ridley Scott-directed drama starring Nicolas Cage; a three-part adaptation of the
Howard Zinn book "A People's History of the United States" for HBO (with John Sayles writing the first two-hour installment); and a New Line pic called "Solace," which is casting.
Affleck & Damon
This deal between Affleck, Damon & Disney is 15 times the deal Disney cut the 9 Pennsylvania coal miners. Who says having a 'real' agent & lawyer doesn't matter?.
Leading Contenders
Syndication
Add Chuck Norris, Bob Saget and Ahmad Rashad to the list of syndicated TV contenders for fall 2003.
Development for the syndication marketplace is in full swing, with potential shows piloted, or about to be piloted, at nearly every major syndication outfit. While much of what's in the
works is aimed at fall 2003, some series could be ready as early as January should room on local station schedules become available.
Norris ("Walker, Texas Ranger") will star in a weekly project featuring an ensemble cast and an exotic base of production. Hawaii and Vancouver are considered possible production locales.
Here are other highlights of recent entries to the development game:
= "Mobile Court" will be hosted by Judge Kevin Ross, who gets dispatched into the streets by car with his bailiff. They travel to locations where conflicts have happened, such as a home, a workplace or a club.
= "Jumble" (Tribune) is based on the word unscrambling game seen in hundreds of newspapers. A host is to be determined.
= "Eliminator" (Disney's Buena Vista), a tentatively titled hybrid quizzer that blends elements of high drama and comedy.
= King World Prods. is in development on a daily daytime program featuring Jack Ford and Alexandra Wentworth that is drawing comparisons to "Live With Regis & Kelly."
= In addition to the Ellen DeGeneres-led yakker that Telepictures Prods. is mounting, the Warner Bros. company is developing projects with Larry Elder, who hosted the studio's former series "Moral Court." Telepictures is also working on something with Ben Stein.
= NBC Enterprises is focusing much of its development attention on two projects. One, featuring Court TV's Nancy Grace, is called "Trial by Fire." The other is a talker from "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels.
= Twentieth Television has a handful of concepts in the works and has recently started regionally testing "Ex-Treme Dating," with Los Angeles TV personality Jillian Barberie as host.
= Universal Domestic Television announced a project with Sarah Ferguson earlier this year, as well as a magazine with Will Smith and James Lassiter's Overbrook Entertainment.
Syndication
In Memory
Roy Kral
Roy Kral, of Jackie and Roy, one of jazz's most famous duos, died Friday of congestive heart failure. He was 80.
He and his wife, Jackie Cain, worked together for more than 50 years. As Jackie and Roy, they recorded nearly 40 albums in 56 years and were known for their jazz interpretations of songs from other genres.
The couple would perform the songs in a sophisticated bebop style filled with scat riffs, known as vocalese. Their voices had similar ranges but were an octave apart, creating unusual harmonies.
Kral took classical piano lessons as a young boy, but he abandoned them to teach himself to play jazz piano by mimicking what he heard on the radio. He later served as an arranger for the Army band during World War II before beginning his professional career.
Kral met Cain in 1947, and they were married two years later. Their hits included "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most," "You Inspire Me" and "It's a Lovely Day Today."
The couple continued to perform in recent years despite Kral's declining health. They sang most recently at the Kaye Playhouse in June in a concert saluting the singer Teddi King.
Roy Kral
In Memory
Chick Hearn
Play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn, who made phrases like "slam dunk" and "air ball" common basketball expressions during his 42-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died Monday night, three days after suffering a fall. He was 85.
The only play-by-play announcer the Los Angeles Lakers have ever had, Hearn died at 6:30 p.m. at Northridge Medical Center Hospital, team spokesman Bob Steiner told a grim-faced news conference outside the hospital.
"Chick, we'll miss you dearly, Quite simply, you're the best," said Mitch Kupchak, the team's general manager and a former player, his voice breaking.
Hearn was rushed to the hospital Friday night after falling and striking his head in the back yard of the Encino home he shared with his wife, Marge. The two would have celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on Aug. 13.
Surgeons operated twice on Saturday to relieve swelling in his brain, but he never regained consciousness.
Hearn called a record 3,338 consecutive Lakers games, starting in 1965 and ending when he underwent surgery last December to repair a blocked aortic valve. While recovering, he fell and broke his hip.
Despite that setback, he returned to work April 9 and broadcast the Lakers' playoff run to their third consecutive NBA championship.
He became the Lakers' announcer when the team moved from Minneapolis from Los Angeles at the beginning of the 1960-61 season.
As word spread Monday that his condition was deteriorating, outpourings of concern came from all over Los Angeles. Radio stations continually broadcast reports, and when a news conference was called to announce his death several television stations interrupted their regular programming to broadcast it.
About 100 fans had gathered outside the hospital, and many broke into tears when they heard he had died.
Whether Hearn was the most famous Laker of them all can be debated, but his career with the team was far longer than such standouts as Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy and Michael Cooper.
And he was calling games long before current stars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were born.
"There's never going to be another Chick Hearn," Johnson said Monday. "He's a man who will be remembered long after. Some people grow bigger than their sport, bigger than their job."
In his case, Johnson said, he will remember Hearn for more than what he did in the broadcast booth.
"He didn't just support Magic Johnson for what he did on the court," he said. "He supported Earvin Johnson Jr. When I talked to Chick, a lot of times it was hardly about basketball. He was always so proud of me. I would get little notes from him. That would make me feel so good."
Hearn called his first Lakers game in March 1961 and his last on June 12 when the Lakers beat the New Jersey Nets 113-107 in East Rutherford, N.J., to complete a sweep of the NBA Finals and earn their ninth title since moving west from Minneapolis.
During the finals, he told The Associated Press he was getting stronger every day and planned to work at least one more season. And he said he believed his call of the Lakers' Game 7 victory over Sacramento in the Western Conference finals might have been as good as any in his career.
As recently as last week, he felt well enough to drive to Los Angeles with his wife to speak at a fantasy basketball camp.
Born Francis Dayle Hearn on Nov. 27, 1916, in Aurora, Ill., Hearn peppered his rapid-fire delivery with terms like "no harm, no foul," "the mustard's off the hot dog," "ticky-tack foul," and "faked him into the popcorn machine."
Whenever he believed a Lakers victory was clinched, Hearn would say: "You can put this one in the refrigerator. The door's closed, the light's out, the eggs are cooling, the butter's getting hard and the Jell-O is jiggling."
Hearn's unique "words-eye view" provided the soundtrack for nine NBA championships - one with West and Chamberlain, five with Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar, and the last three with O'Neal and Bryant.
Hearn also broadcast other historic Lakers accomplishments, such as the night in Las Vegas when Abdul-Jabbar broke Chamberlain's NBA career scoring record and when Johnson broke Oscar Robertson's career assist record.
Hearn also documented the Lakers' record 33-game winning streak in the championship season of 1971-72 with West and Chamberlain, saying: "That will never be duplicated." It hasn't.
He also was a comforting voice to fans in difficult basketball times - helping fans cope with Johnson's HIV announcement in 1991 and Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers' death in 1990.
When the Lakers moved from the Forum in nearby Inglewood to the downtown Staples Center in 1999, the press room was named in Hearn's honor.
He has been immortalized with a star on Hollywood's "Walk of Fame," and appeared as himself numerous times on television shows - including the TV movie "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island."
And he hosted the TV show "Bowling for Dollars."
Hearn missed just two games prior to his unprecedented streak - one because bad weather kept him grounded and one because he had another broadcast assignment.
The first game of the streak was on Nov. 21, 1965, at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Johnson was in grade school and Abdul-Jabbar was still Lew Alcindor and a teenager.
Throughout his career, Hearn refused to call in sick. He came to work when he wasn't feeling well - including a couple of times with laryngitis that forced him to sit out the second half.
A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and the American Sportscasters Hall of Fame, Hearn received a standing ovation on his 85th birthday in November during a Lakers-Milwaukee Bucks game.
He got his nickname when friends played a prank on him when he was an amateur player. Given a box he thought contained sneakers, he found a chicken inside.
When Hearn broadcast his 3,000th consecutive game in 1998, O'Neal said, "That's an amazing accomplishment. I don't think I've done anything 3,000 times in my life. I hope he stays around 3,000 more games."
Pat Riley, a member of that team who later spent 2 years beside Hearn in the broadcast booth before he became the Lakers' coach, credited him with being his mentor, and not only in a broadcasting sense.
"He was a man who taught me about discipline," said Riley, who guided the Lakers to four NBA titles in the 1980s and now coaches the Miami Heat.
Hearn kept few secrets from Lakers fans, but for many years one of them was his age. After he reached 70 or so, he would only chuckle and say, "I don't know, I lost my birth certificate."
You might say he was "caught with his hand in the cookie jar" during the NBA finals in June, acknowledging his age and saying he was proud of it.
Hearn's death leaves Los Angeles with two Hall of Fame broadcasters - Vin Scully of the Dodgers and Bob Miller of the Kings.
The Hearns had two children, but both died - a son of a drug overdose and a daughter after battling anorexia. The couple was very close with Shannon, their granddaughter, and her family.
Chick Hearn
'The Osbournes'
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