auction

Remember when we reported earlier today about the portrait of Stephen Colbert that's up for auction? Turns out that they didn't find a painter who could draw hands; it's just that Stephen took a new photo in front of the old portrait.

Which means... the old portrait is also a photo! Netscape's Dakota Smith called up Comedy Central and found out from a spokeswoman that the old portrait is a digital photo made to look like a painted portrait via digital manipulation. Not a bad job, I must say.

Anyway, the bidding continues on eBay for the next nine days; the bogus bids like the one we described earlier today have been removed and the highest current bid is $6200.

While celebrating the first anniversary of The Colbert Report last night, Stephen Colbert unveiled a new portrait of himself, replacing the old one that hung over the set's fireplace all year. This year's portrait has three images of Colbert, as opposed to the two that were in the old portrait. In addition, they apparently found an artist who "knows how to paint hands," since last year's portrait painter decided he liked painting Stephen with his hands in his pockets or with his arms crossed.

So what's to become of the old portrait? Colbert is putting it up for auction, with proceeds going to Save the Children. Information is at the Colbert Nation website, but the direct link to the portrait's eBay page is here. One problem: the current bid right now is $99,999,999. Not sure if that bid was entered by Colbert's hench-staff or by a goofy fan with a mean streak. But, as far as I can tell, the auction looks legitimate. Good luck!

From the "sad and pathetic file" comes this story. There was an auction on eBay to spend an entire day with Paula Abdul ... and NOBODY bid on it. Ouch. The prize package included two first class tickets to Los Angeles, a $2,225 shopping spree and a backstage meeting with the American Idol judge. The proceeds were intended to go to multiple sclerosis charities, but the minimum asking price of $26,000 was just too much. Fox pulled the auction off eBay after four days.

Why wouldn't anyone bid on that package? Besides the price, maybe it's because Paula seems A) Drunk, B) Weird, and/or C) High Maintenance. Or, maybe it's because of the false advertising. The auction said the winner would spend a day with Paula, but really it's only a backstage meeting. Sounds like something a teeager would like. A teenager without $26,000.

Related:
Paula calls Idol hopefuls in Seattle "astoundingly awful"
Fox considers moving Idol to Thursdays

I don't get to talk about music much here, this being a television blog and all, but once in awhile those two worlds mesh and I get to tell everyone I'm a big fan of Badly Drawn Boy, whose new album Born in the UK will be released on October 16. The video for the song "Nothing's Gonna Change Your Mind" shows Badly Drawn Boy, (a.k.a. Damon Gough) "driving" a car that's operated by a piano keyboard where the dashboard should be. Now, you can bid for the chance to win the car on eBay, but only if you live in the UK. So there you go, UK readers, don't ever say I never did anything for you. Unfortunately, the auction ends really soon, but don't fret too much, it's not like the car actually works or anything. To ease your suffering, I've placed the music video after the jump. Let the soothing tones soothe your savage soul. Besides, it's not like you couldn't glue a keyboard to the inside of your car and get the same effect.

Christie's auction house wrapped up the first auction of official Star Trek memorabilia on Saturday. To say it was a success would be a huge understatement. Almost all of the items sold for more than their pre-sale estimates, and the final take of $7,107,040 was more than double what was expected.

Models and miniatures were the big winners. A model of the Enterprise that was used in the Next Generation series and the Generations movie went for an astounding $576,000. It was estimated to sell for $15,000 to $25,000. Eight other items in the models and miniatures category also managed to sell for more than $100,000. The top costume was a space suit worn by Dr. McCoy in the original series episode "The Tholian Web", going for $144,000.

The History Channel streamed the auction live on their website, but if you missed it, they also filmed everything for a future documentary. You can find more info about other items that sold in the Washington Post article.

[ thanks Evadne ]

(S01E03) Whoops. I missed the second episode of Men in Trees. I was out of town last weekend and didn't realize the pilot wasn't also playing on Friday (there was an early premiere of it last Tuesday). Anyway, the recap surprised me so we'll see if I can play catch-up. Of course, this is the one show that is neither streaming on ABC.com nor is it available in iTunes. Grrrr.

My only question is... where did all the snow go?

Not too long ago I mentioned an upcoming auction at Christie's for tons of Star Trek memorabilia. If you're a Trekkie, or Trekker, or Trekhead or whatever you call yourselves these days, and you happen to have $90 burning a hole in your pocket you can try to pick up a 500-page pre-auction catalog that contains pictures and information on the 4,000 items being placed on the auction block. Some items include a model of the Enterprise and DeForest Kelley's mummified corpse. Only 10,000 of the catalogs were printed, and contain information written by Michael and Denise Okuda, who also worked on both the TV series and feature films.

If you're a trekkie and find yourself suddenly extremely wealthy and in New York City on October 5, you might want to stop by Christie's auction house to bid on memorabilia from the myriad TV and film versions of Star Trek. The auction, where you can bid on over 1,000 items including Vulcan jewelry and a replica of Kirk's famous chair, is being conducted to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the airing of the first episode of the original series. Right now the items are on display in London, but they'll be making their way to US cities as part of an international tour. People in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Uncasville, CT should click here to see when the items will be beaming into your neck o' the woods.

We all know that they do a lot of editing on reality shows. They cut out boring moments, they rearrange the time to make things go by quicker, and they edit carefully to create tension and/or villains we get root against. Last Comic Standing is doing some editing too, and one comic wants you to know about it.

Mark Saldana was actually picked to go to the next round after the first episode, but you didn't see that happen. He says it gave the impression that he wasn't picked, but if you watch the end of the episode he's right on stage with the others. Now he's on ebay, auctioning off the red envelope he got that proves it. So far the bids are up to $100.

Saldana also gives his opinion on which comics you should vote for.

In case you have an empty room in your house that you don't plan on using anytime soon, may I suggest something to put in it? As the final episode of The Tony Danza Show quickly approaches (it's this Friday), the show has listed it's trademark Extravadanza gameboard on E-Bay. For those that have never seen the show, Extravadanza works just like Plinko on The Price is Right. However, Extravadanza is far superior because it has two large moving hands that shake uncontrollably while the contestant drops the puck. If you're interested though, better break out the checkbook and fast. Last I checked, there were almost 60 bids and it's already over $700 with an $800 minimum shipping fee.

Hey, Trekkies! Did you spend all your money on the complete set of Star Trek DVDs? Time to get a bank loan because there's more stuff to buy. A lot more.

CBS Paramount Studios is unloading its vault of Star Trek memorabilia for an auction at Christie's this fall. There will be something from every series and all 10 movies. More than 4,000 items will be up for bid, including big ticket numbers like a replica of Capt. Kirk's chair that was recreated for a Deep Space Nine episode called "Trials and Tribble-ations". It's expected to go for $10,000 to $15,000. And the actual miniature USS Enterprise used as a visual effect in the movie, Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, could fetch upwards of $25,000.

The collection goes on tour this week in Germany. It goes up for auction on October 5-7 at Christie's in New York.

I love it when TV shows end and they hold auctions for props and clothing that were on the show. When Ed ended, I got a few things from an auction they held at the set in New Jersey.

Now, Arrested Development fans who are miss the show can at least grab a piece of the show so it will always be with them. If you're in L.A. this weekend, May 19 to the 21, FOX will hold a Bluth Family Estate Sale. Included will be one of GOB's magic casket, Lucille's parking sign, and furniture from Lucille's living room.

[via Gawker]

How would you like to have the coffee table from That '70s Show? Or maybe Kitty's crockpot? Then again, maybe you're more of a Malcolm in the Middle fan and want to own the couch from the living room set? If any of these props (and others) sound cool to you, Mr and Mrs. Moneybags, you should check out this auction going on right  now over on eBay. This is a charity auction, and proceeds from the That '70s Show stuff will go to The Young Storytellers Foundation while money made off props from Malcolm in the Middle will go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The auction ends May 17.

ABC and auction site eBay are teaming up for what is ostensibly a reality show about helping people, but upon further inspection sounds like a long form commercial for eBay. The new show, which has the working title of Make it Happen, will focus on families who have big dreams but a lack of finances to make them come true. In swoops eBay, where the family will be able to auction off items they own in order to garner enough money to make whatever "fun and attainable" dreams they have come true. ABC apparently wants to keep the show light and fun, so people aren't allowed to have dreams of any serious nature. Essentially, this sounds like the television equivalent of being down on your luck and lugging your stereo to the pawn shop for cash. Of course, the payoff on this show will be much more, but I'm not sure I understand the allure of being asked to get rid of what you own in order to have your wish fulfilled.

[via TeevBlogger]

Back in May, Carmen Electra put herself up for sale in an eBay auction, in hopes to raise cash for The National Prostate Cancer Coalition. The auction had said the winer would get a date with the former Baywatch star, though, since I didn't see the auction myself, I'm assuming it didn't go into strict detail of what a "date" meant. Apparently, at one point, a bidder got a bit overzealous, bidding an untold amount that far exceeded what anyone had imagined. Had the bidder not been disqualified, Electra says: "It went up to some crazy number and I actually felt obligated to, like, sleep with the guy." Doh!