extortion
Letterman's Blackmailer Takes Deal, Pleads Guilty
He took a plea deal with prosecutors in federal court that nets him six months in prison and 1,000 hours of community service, plus four and a half years of probation. For the unfamiliar, Halderman was busted in an undercover sting in which he tried to extort more than $2 million from Letterman. If Letterman didn't pay, Halderman would go public about Letterman's secret relationships with female members of his staff.
News of the plea came as quite a surprise since he and his attorneys have waged a loud campaign to expose and humiliate Letterman in open court. Halderman has since made a public statement, as seen in the video below, apologizing to Letterman and 'Late Show' staffer Stephanie Birkett and their families.
[via Comedy News]
You don't mess with John Stamos
TV Squad interviewed John Stamos in 2006 and found him to be a nice guy. Naturally, when one is a nice guy, people try to take advantage. That's what happened when a Michigan pair tried to extort money from John Stamos to prevent the release of supposedly incriminating photographs. Stamos contacted the FBI and the duo were arrested.Considering the fact that the photos are so tame that Stamos himself is going to release them, this is probably the case of a slow news day. However, given the recent incident with Dave Letterman and Tiger Woods, the media probably smelled a story here too. After all, he's probably still lonely since Rebecca Romijn left him (yes, it's been a while, but it's Rebecca Romijn for pity's sake).
Obviously, I'm on Team Stamos in this instance. If you think there is actually a case here, please let it be known in the comments.
What should happen to Letterman?
David Letterman's confession last Thursday was the last we've heard from him on the subject (Friday's show is taped earlier in the week - he returns tonight). The columnists and pundits and fans have had their say, though. Some people defend him, some dislike him, and some aren't fazed by it at all.But beyond the "creepy" factor of it (that's Dave's own word), what about the moral and/or legal side of it? Should Letterman be fired? Reprimanded? Will he be sued? Should people stop watching him? Should advertisers leave his show? Should one of the women come out and do a "Ten Things About Dating David Letterman" list?
| Nothing, let's move on. | |
|---|---|
| Suspend him. | |
| I hope advertisers leave in droves. | |
| Fire him! |
Meet Robert Halderman, Letterman's blackmailer
So just who had the unbelievably huge Mammoth balls to extort late night legend David Letterman? You're looking at him, not his balls thankfully. Robert "Joe" Halderman, pictured at the right sitting in his unholy beach chair of evil, is the man the Manhattan District Attorney's Office brought extortion charges against for trying to score more than $2 million from Letterman as part of a blackmail plot.
Letterman admitted on the air that he had a sexual encounter or encounters with members of his staff, and that Halderman used the info he had on those encounters as leverage to extort money from him. I've got three to one odds that the "Fire David Letterman" club awards Halderman their "Humanitarian of the Year Award."
According to New York City's Department of Correction records, Halderman received a felony count of attempted grand larceny. He entered a not-guilty plea at his arraignment.
The Jay Leno Show: Jenna Fischer

I had a really hard time finding an image to include with this article. I went through every newspaper article that had "The Jay Leno Show" in the body of its text. I did searches on Google Images until Google got sick of me clogging their bandwidth. Even my editor Jane Boursaw couldn't use her super press connection powers to find one stinking shot of Jay blowing his nose in between sets from Friday's show.
Perhaps that's because Friday's late night appetizer on NBC wasn't really all that eventful. Don't take that to mean that it was totally dull, drab or boring, just a typical show for Jay and company.
And given some of the past episodes that sucked out loud, there's nothing wrong with being typical. Compared to the Pee Wee Herman debacle, it's a Devil's Tower sized step up.
Man tries to extort $1.5 million from Oprah
According to several Chicago-area newspapers, the FBI has arrested a man who allegedly tried to blackmail Oprah's company for $1.5 million. It's a little confusing but I'll try to explain it. The feds say 36-year old Keifer Bonvillain met one of Oprah's employees at a party and began recording their subsequent telephone conversations about Oprah and her business. After getting 12 hours of tape, Bonvillain allegedly e-mailed Oprah about the awful things his employee-friend said about her. He also threatened to write a tell-all book, claiming he'd received offers from tabloids and publishers. Oprah's company apparently 'agreed' to pay him $1.5 million in exchange for the tapes. He agreed to a meeting spot to collect the dough and-- presto!-- the FBI nabbed him. I wonder if Oprah ever knew about it until the conclusion.Big Love: Roberta's Funeral
(S01E06) Fathers and sons often have awkward conversations, especially during the
teenage years. Any of us who have had them with our Dads can relate. However, in all the conversations that I have
either read about, heard, seen, or experienced myself, none ever gave me the chills more than when Ben Henrickson asked
his father Bill if he was worthy of "living the principle" i.e. having the ability to have more than one wife,
just like dear old Dad.
And dear old Dad Bill is having a rough go of it lately. Nicki last week said she wanted to bring "another soul" into the family, so Bill does his best to make that happen. However, Nicki is seen taking birth control pills, so what exactly is Nicki up to? If you remember a couple of weeks ago, Bill found Nicki in a somewhat compromising position with her father, his nemesis, Roman Grant, so could Nicki be doing her father's bidding in her own wacky way?
Big Love: Eclipse
Last
night's episode was all about premonitions and revelations. Bill has been having premonitions about whether his
father-in-law Roman Grant aka "The Prophet" will bring harm to him, his stores, or his family because he is
adamant against giving Roman a share of his businesses' profits. He's been having dreams of being chased and of someone
drumming his/her fingers on a table and it seems to keep getting closer and louder.
In addition, with his balancing three families, things are getting more unsettled, if that can be believed. Nicki, who is one of Roman's many children, is $60,000 in debt, and from the looks of things, her father may exploit her plight to turn the screws even tighter on Bill, who was served with papers by Roman to get audited. Plus, Roman asks his daughter about her husband's business, and sounding like a true Mafia wife, says she and Bill don't discuss it. It isn't much of a stretch to think Roman will take advantage of his apparently weak-minded daughter to get at Bill one way or another.
Barb is the
most logical and well-grounded of the three wives, and her acceptance of a long-term teaching gig is not sitting well
with Nicki and Margene who, as we've seen already, are not exactly the most responsible of people. It's obvious they
fear the "Boss Lady" will wield more power over them because she'll be bringing more money into the general
pot and is bound to get more of Bill's attention.
Big Love: Home Invasion
Watching Big Love is like watching someone else's weirdest dream. As you see Bill
Henrickson do his best to keep his family happy, you almost forget that he's got THREE families, and no one can do what
he's attempting to do without going literally insane.
How can you not? Between his youngest wife Margene begging and pleading for a car before finally getting a van, his middle wife Nicki planning an expensive birthday party at the posh Monte Cristo Hotel for their son Wayne and over a hundred guests, and getting his first wife Barb to take care of the "neighbor problem," who wouldn't want to scream in anguish? Of course, Bill didn't have to put himself in this situation, but then we wouldn't have a show to discuss, either.
This episode focused on how cunning and evil Roman Grant is. He explains the benefits of polygamy to the press, and says that he truly loves all of his 31 children and 187 grandchildren. (It would have been funny if the reporter asked him to name them, but I bet you he would have been able to do it without flinching.) In addition, he is still after Bill to tithe over 15% of his new store's revenues to the Juniper Creek compound, and Bill is worried that Roman might do something to harm his family, hence the installation of alarm systems in all three of his houses.
After Bill explodes over Nicki's party plans and how expensive it will be, he orders her to have the party in their
home. To make matters more complicated, one of his store employees is threatened by apparently someone connected to
Roman, who gets the message across that the 15% tithe is due. (The signs are definitely pointing to more
"messages" being sent to Bill as the weeks roll on.)
Big Love: Viagra Blue
It only makes sense that the theme song for a series about a dysfunctional family is
"God Only Knows," recorded by another dysfunctional family, The Beach Boys. (If you want details, read
Heroes and Villains: The True Story of the Beach Boys.) Watching this latest episode with that song playing in
my head definitely made it an interesting experience.
You certainly get the impression that a man with three wives may have a fantasy life in one respect, but for those moments of pleasure, he certainly has to deal with more tension in his house (or in Bill's case, three houses) than any other married man or woman would need to deal with. However, I don't feel any kind of sympathy for Bill's plight--he put himself in this position. No one said polygamy was going to be easy!
Let's review what was on Bill's plate this week. His youngest wife Margene, who is a bit loud
in intimate situations, is begging Bill for a car so she can run errands. Barb and Nicki also continue to compete for
Bill's attention, and he pops Viagra like Tic-Tacs to keep pace. (Is it too much to ask for less shots of Bill Paxton's
bare behind?)
The Book of Daniel: Acceptance
After last week's premiere where we got to meet all the
players amidst a blizzard of plots and subplots, this week things settled down a bit for The Book of Daniel.
We last left Reverend Daniel Webster' getting the news that the stolen money ($3.2 million) that was earmarked for the
construction of a new school has been located, but the situation becomes a bit sticky when the Mafia-connected priest
tells him that if the construction job does not go to Vaporelli Construction, then there is no found money. Daniel
spends a good bit of time wrestling with the question and, in a case of mistaken identity, agrees to the deal. It
seems that Daniel has offered his acceptance to the situation, but he (obviously) has his doubts about going along
with this extortion.
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