Gawker
Congressman Christopher Lee's Immediate Resignation Surprises Blogger Who Broke Scandal (VIDEO)
On Wednesday afternoon, Gawker released a flirtatious email correspondence between New York Rep. Christopher Lee, a married U.S. congressman, and a woman he linked up with through Craigslist's personals page. Gawker got the emails, which included a photo of a shirtless Lee flexing, from the woman.By Wednesday evening, Lee had resigned his seat.
Maureen O'Connor, who wrote the story, was on 'Piers Morgan Tonight' (Weeknights, 9PM ET on CNN), where she said she was taken aback by how quickly Lee resigned.
'Red Eye' Rips Gawker's Decision To Run Christine O'Donnell One Night Stand Story (VIDEO)
On Thursday the popular media and gossip website Gawker.com ran an extremely detailed first-person account of a 25-year-old man who claimed he had a sexless one night stand with Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell three years ago. The folks at 'Red Eye' (weeknights, 3 AM ET on Fox News) joined most of the rest of the media in being extremely critical of Gawker for running the piece, and the 25-year-old for spilling the beans in a public forum.They also suggested this only makes O'Donnell into a more sympathetic character.
"I don't think O'Donnell should hold elected office, but this story, in a weird way, kind of humanizes her," said writer John Devore, to the agreement of the panel. "In a way, she is so flawed and genuine and human, and for the first time I'm like, she is probably one of the most genuine politicians."
The Gawker piece seemed particularly gratuitous in light of the fact O'Donnell was already a virtual lock to lose her race on Tuesday. But on the other hand, who could blame them for riding out the Christine O'Donnell storyline for every last pageview. It may not be around much longer.
Guy Finds Call Sheet For 'Lost' Finale and Now It's Online
Needless to say, this post contains massive spoilers.So a guy was sitting in a Honolulu restaurant recently and saw a piece of paper that had the word 'Lost' on it. Turns out it's the studio call sheet for the series finale! What does he do? He sends it to Gawker, of course (see also iPhone, Apple's new). And it looks like it's the real thing because ABC contacted Gawker and they want the call sheet back.
What secrets does it hold? If you want to know more, continue after the jump. If you don't want to know more, click here for some great pasta recipes at Kitchen Daily!
Andy Rooney Angers Some Viewers (But He's Right)
I've never understood the animosity that Andy Rooney attracts by a certain segment of the TV viewing population. Take his segment on last night's '60 Minutes' (video after the jump). He talked about the jobless rate and the jobs that are available now and how maybe - just maybe - we need more plumbers and other people who actually do something more than we need, well, people who do my job.This isn't a new stance by Rooney. He's been saying the same thing for years. Rooney just turned 91 years old so he's earned the right to repeat things if he wants. But I know that Rooney has talked about this before because, well, I've actually read what Rooney has written over the years. Most people who dislike Rooney know him for only one thing, his weekly segments on '60 Minutes.'
But the guy has been a journalist since World War II and has written several books and a weekly column for decades, but the people who find him "unfunny" or "irrelevant" only know him from the CBS show.
Could Nikki Finke Sue HBO?
Last week, when Annie posted about the series HBO is developing the comedy 'Tilda,' about the life of "a powerful female online showbiz journalist with a no-holds-barred style," the first person I thought of was Nikki Finke, who writes the blog Deadline Hollywood.In fact, pretty much everyone who works in entertainment journalism thought of Finke; she's reclusive, opinionated, confrontational, litigious, and likes to punctuate news that corroborates with her inside info with a big fat "TOLDJA!" in all caps. So it's not a surprise to think that more than one person had to wonder if Finke was involved in this show, and if she wasn't, would she sic her lawyers after HBO and anyone else within subpoena-shot.
Gawker called Finke, who, in between threats to sue the site's writer and corporate parent, said she'd talk about her involvement (or lack therof) with the project soon. But The Hollywood Reporter managed to find out that Finke wasn't involved, leading to their wondering if Finke has the right to sue over this series.
Fox & Friends call shenanigans on Obama...for his beer choice?!?
Morning news shows are a goldmine of cringe-inducing moments and epic fail goodness. The title alone makes me laugh because only half of it is accurate due to the fact that it airs in the morning. By far the unintentionally funniest show is that morning cup of crazy on Fox News, Fox and Friends. They truly cover news stories that no one else does as their on-air promos suggest because no one in their right mind would consider it news. I'm finally starting to understand Walter Cronkite's distrust of the 24-hour news network model: you'll call anything news to fill time.
Hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson and Brian Kilmeade actually took President Barack Obama to task for ordering a Budweiser instead of an American-brewed beer during his recent "Beer Summit" with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley.
Paris: The Morning After
Did you see Paris Hilton on Larry King Live last night? Here's the transcript. Jeez, she really did nothing to help her cause, eh? She seems honestly, sincerely, and deeply clueless. And as a guy, I don't even find her hot or appealing. She has the personality of a wicker chair. I found all of her talk about wanting to help people and learning her lesson and "reading the Bible" completely unconvincing.
After the jump is a roundup of what the internet is saying today about her appearance.
Zach Braff says he's not a jerk
Gotta hand it to Zach Braff; he's probably one of the most wired celebrities out there. He was one of the first celebs (besides our very own Wil Wheaton, of course) to maintain a blog, and he seems to be well aware of whatever internet buzz is flying around about him or Scrubs.So it's no surprise to see him respond to the reports from Gawker, Radar Online, and other sites about how he's been tomcatting around New York this summer, seemingly talking up a different woman every night. On the latest entry in his blog (which is also on his MySpace page), he wonders why the tabloid coverage of him is saying that he's being a jerk:
Hillary Clinton as Carmela Soprano? - VIDEO
Several weeks ago, Senator Hillary Clinton asked the public to help her come up with a theme song for her presidential campaign. And then The Sopranos ended its historic run. And it was too much of a good opportunity to pass up.
So Hillary and hubby Bill made a video for her web site discussing what song the Senator had selected. Only the video is a parody of the Sopranos' last scene in the diner, with Hillary as Carmela, Bill as Tony, Chelsea as the parallel parking Meadow, a bowl of carrot sticks substituting for onion rings (Bill's got heart problems) and an abrupt cut-to-black.
See the video after the jump. (And if you have a burning desire to find out what campaign song Clinton chose, you can go here.)
[Via Gawker.]
Shocking News: David Hasselhoff has a book to promote!
I thought there was something fishy about this David Hasselhoff drunk tape nonsense. It smelled of publicity to me, though why anyone would want to be filmed drunk and slobbering over a cheeseburger and potentially hurt his relations with his family is a mystery.
But guess what? The Hoff has an autobiography coming out May 15! I'm sure it's just a coincidence though.
The title, by the way, is Don't HassleThe Hoff. Jeez, it's one thing for others to call you "The Hoff," but calling yourself that? The book has a lot of (supposedly) juicy details, including Hasselhoff's revelation that he knows that Baywatch was a sexist show. The above link includes an excerpt from the book.
Star Jones is looking for an executive producer
Here's something from the "I'd take that job as only a last resort" category: Star Jones is looking for an executive producer for her Court TV show.
While the position has all of the usual requirements for an executive producer gig, including the management of talent and staff, several years experience, and a big list of contacts, it also says that whoever gets the job will have to "oversee administrative functions like human resource issues, deal with Turner's legal department when necessary, and supervise budget allocations." Wow, doesn't that sound like fun?
But you're going to be working with Star Jones, which basically means puppies and rainbows all day, so if you want to apply for the job click on the link above.
[via Gawker]
Out of the Blogosphere
Hey, if Heather Mills can go on Dancing With The Stars with a fake leg, then how about Marlee Matlin or maybe the one-armed drummer from Def Leppard? - Will Brothers & Sisters star Calista Flockhart star in the next Indiana Jones pic with boyfriend Harrison Ford?
- Katie Couric says she doesn't obsess over ratings (though I wonder if her CBS bosses do).
- MTV plans to build thousands of websites around the world, and all of them will feature video of The Real World/Road Rules Challenge playing nonstop.
- A man falls asleep in the Mary Tyler Moore Show house in Minneapolis.
- Are the American Idol judges clueless when it comes to music?
- And finally, video of Lucy Lawless as Stevie Nicks, promoting her fajita-themed restaurant.
Entertainment Tonight should be ashamed
I promised myself - promised, promised, promised - that I wouldn't write another story about Anna Nicole Smith. But then I saw this video, and I had to post this. If it stops just one person from watching another second of Entertainment Tonight, then this post is worth it.
The video is from Entertainment Tonight, who had EXCLUSIVE! access to the funeral in the Bahamas (*cough* $$$$$ *cough*), and while we get all of the expected weeping and slow motion and doves being released, we also see various friends and relatives of Anna Nicole taking a shovel and grabbing dirt out of the back of a wheelbarrow. I'm sure this is done at funerals, but it just seems odd to have everyone at the funeral grab the shovel and join in. After a while it seems like less a tribute than just doing some maintenance work at the cemetery.
Pay special attention to the job Anna Nicole's mom does.
Out of the Blogosphere
How the death of Ed Bradley has affected the cast and crew of 60 Minutes. - TV Barn's Aaron Barnhart has a review of Fark TV.
- For some reason, Universal is going to make a movie out of MTV lip-synchers Milli Vanilli.
- Yes, Jennifer and Courteney are going to kiss on Dirt, but there won't be any tongue.
- HBO has opened a store in NYC. It's pink and features a giant image of Sarah Jessica Parker.
- Paul Davidson presents the American Idol Construction Kit.
- Is Scrubs turning into Desperate Housewives?
David Cross defends himself against critic
Sometimes a celebrity will (supposedly) leave his or her comments on a web site, but you're never quite sure if it's really them or just someone impersonating them. But comedian David Cross is online a lot and when he leaves a comment you know it's him. Case in point, this comment left after a SFist review of a recent gig in San Francisco.
You can read the review, but to summarize: the reviewer loved Cross' stuff on Mr. Show and Arrested Development, but she couldn't take his jokes about Mormons (and on Martin Luther King Day too!). Cross doesn't just leave a snide comment or a quick, expletive-filled putdown, he actually goes on at length about the review, how the show was really perceived by the audience (and he has it on tape to prove it), and tries to explain the comedy he was trying to do at the show. Now, it's never good to "explain" your comedy, but what else is someone supposed to do when they are basically called a bigot?
[via Gawker]
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