new york magazine
New York Magazine's 'Approval Matrix' Comes to Bravo
Wondering where the latest pop-culture blips rate on a scale of "Highbrow Despicable" to "Lowbrow Brilliant?" Well, wonder no more -- New York magazine's back-page feature, 'The Approval Matrix,' is becoming a TV series.
The New York Post reports that Michael Hirschorn, a former executive editor at New York magazine and now a TV producer, sold the show to Bravo last week. The series, also to be called 'Approval Matrix,' will feature four "rotating pop culture pundits" debating the week's "buzzworthy news items."
Starz Eyes 'Insatiable'
Leave it to a premium cable network like Starz to figure out a way to combine The Food Network with Cinemax. They will be producing a series based on former New York magazine writer Gael Greene's 2006 memoir of her time as a food critic.Greene has most recently been seen on television as a judge for 'Top Chef Masters' on Bravo. She's been writing about food for over 40 years.
But don't let her career as a writer fool you into thinking of this as another cookbook. She slept with porn stars, famous chefs and the Studio 54 set (including a tryst with the King of Rock and Roll). In other words, it's perfect fodder for one of those cable adult dramas that creep into the softcore porn territory (and can use the analogy of eating as sex).
Starz itself is becoming a player in the game with the success of its 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand' series. It looks like the network seeks to continue the streak.
Odd TV news clip of the week: woman can MSNB-See (but not hear)
[via TV Newser]
Rachel Dratch needs a job
I can't help but feel really sorry for Rachel Dratch. The comedian left Saturday Night Live two years ago for a role on 30 Rock. She played the original 'Jenna', but the network replaced her with Jane Krakowski, who made the role a lot ditzier than Rachel played it. After that, Dratch had a few guest parts on 30 Rock but we haven't seen her at all this season.Evidently, she's not doing much these days. She told New York magazine that she's getting bored and, "I'm starting to go crazy. I'm ready for a job." The reporter for the magazine must've caught her on a bad day because she says she'd take a job in a "black-box theater company" at this point.
Send your hair to ABC to save Cavemen
OK, now this might be the grossest "save our show" mail campaign yet.
The folks over at New York mag's Vulture Culture are urging readers to send hair to ABC to save the in-trouble sitcom Cavemen. They're upset that the show wasn't on ABC's list of shows renewed for the 2008-09 season, and they want people to start mailing envelopes filled with their hair to ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson. And they're suggesting you even shave your head completely. They want you to include the note "Hair Today, Hair Tomorrow." No word yet on whether or not the stuff will be sent Hair-Mail (ha!).
Guess what? Rachael Ray doesn't like Dunkin' Donuts coffee either
When Rachael Ray signed on to promote Dunkin' Donuts, it always seemed like the pairing was a curious one. Whatever you may think of her shows or her recipes, almost everything she endorsed up until that time was of reasonable quality. Don't get me wrong, I like DD's coffee -- if I make it at home. But whenever I get it at a store, it tastes like crap most of the time. I don't know if they skimp on grounds, use too much water, or don't clean their coffee machines, but the result is almost always the same weak, bitter brew no matter which store I go to (at least the ones here in New Jersey).So it didn't surprise me to read this piece on New York magazine's website that speculates that Ray Ray doesn't think much of DD's coffee, either.
Project Runway winner slams Bravo
Interesting piece in New York mag about what happens to reality show stars after they appear on TV. Top Chef winner Ilan Hall split with his girlfriend. Project Runway finalist Wendy Pepper changed her look and left her husband. And Project Runway winner Jay McCarroll is homeless.
For some reason, McCarroll blames this on fame and the show.
McCarroll had a hard time after winning the competition. He found out that The Weinstein Company owned 10% of whatever he created if he took the $100,000 prize. He didn't take the money, and now he's broke and doesn't really do anything for the network anymore, which hurts his images and brand (the clause is no longer in the show's contract). McCarroll doesn't even have a permanent home: "I haven't been living anywhere for two years...I sleep at other people's houses. I sleep here [a studio] if I'm drunk."
Place your bets on whether or not Katie will leave CBS

I think Katie Couric giving that interview to New York has pushed this whole "will Katie leave CBS?" talk to a whole new level.
Intrade.com, a web site where you can trade event futures on political, current, financial, weather, and unique events, has listed a new market on whether or not Katie will leave The CBS Evening News by the end of the year. There are a lot of different rules (it has to be announced on or before December 31, etc) so read carefully.
Just so you know, I have absolutely no idea what any of the above means. The stock market and anything to do with finances just confuses me. It's just a little less comprehensible than Klingon to me, but it certainly sounds exciting!
After the jump, give us your opinion on when Ms. Couric will leave CBS.
Couric not sure she's happy with the way her show is now

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric says that she's not sure she would have made the move from NBC if she knew she'd be doing the type of show she is doing right now.
In a New York interview, Couric says that understands that viewers hate change and that they tried to change too many things in the first couple of months that she was there, but that she's not sure she would have taken the gig if she knew it would end up as the same traditional network news show. She says there are days she wishes she hadn't taken it. She even hints that if it doesn't turn out to be the job for her, "I'll do something else that's really exciting and fulfilling for me."
I bet her CBS bosses are thrilled with those type of comments.
And now, a post about Debra Messing's breasts
Everyone knows that Debra Messing has small breasts, including Messing herself. But NBC execs wanted her to have bigger ones.
At a panel discussion during the Tribeca Film Festival, the Will & Grace star disclosed that she wore "chicken cutlets," a form of silicone breast enhancer, when she shot the pilot of the show. But when the show was picked up by NBC, she didn't want to wear them anymore. After seeing the next couple of episodes, the president of NBC called the producers, wanting to know where her breasts went. They wanted her breasts back, but she refused to wear them.
NY Mag features Olbermann as "Limbaugh for lefties"
"Bush-bashing accidental liberal hero." "Keith the Impaler."
Those phrases were used to describe MSNBC's Keith Olbermann in a New York magazine profile of the cable talker who first earned fame as the wise cracking sports guy on ESPN's SportsCenter, which later inspired Aaron Sorkin's SportsNight.
The article -- which describes Olbermann as a "world class agitator" and "sworn enemy" of Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly -- says Olbermann appeals to liberals like radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh appeals to conservatives.
Former 24 actress: Show is 'James Bond on crack'
New York Magazine -- which has been running a weekly 24 "Absurd-O-Meter" to mock scenes the writers find ridiculous -- interviewed actress Reiko Aylesworth whose character, Michelle Dessler, was killed at the beginning on the fifth season, shocking many fans.
When asked whether she'd ever read an unrealistic "What the hell?" type of script for a 24 episode, Aylesworth said yes, pointing to a season when her character was supposed to become suicidal in a single day. She added that a lot of proposed material that she and others found absurd didn't wind up in the episodes.
"The entire show is a series of, 'Oh come on!'s," Aylesworth said. "It's really James Bond on crack. They do have a lot of realistic elements, but the show is complete fantasy."
Project Runway's Jay McCarroll on Tim Gunn
Apparently, back in the day, Tim Gunn expressed disappointment that season one Project Runway winner Jay McCarroll hadn't debuted a collection by the age of 29. Well, Jay would like you to know that he's "not bitter" about that comment, but it was "hurtful." In the February 4th issue of New York Magazine, McCarroll goes on at length about Tim Gunn, and it's not pretty, Runway fans. (If you're offended by profanity, you may want to close your eyes for this next part.)"I just hate that because middle America looks at him like, 'He's so nice, he's like a father to them.' On [Project Runway] he was, sure ... At one point he said I was an embarrassment because I didn't show yet. And it's like, f**kin'-A, man ... I don't think [Gunn is] an authority on any designer's life. He went to school for sculpture or something. I don't think he's ever, to my knowledge, started a fashion line and therefore should not be the adviser or the f**kin' creative director." Oops ... too late. Liz Claiborne just made him their creative director. They hadn't gotten the memo from Jay yet, I guess.
Top Chefs turn up the heat on Padma
It is tough being a model in the kitchen. Your taut bare midriff is a cooking oil accident waiting to happen. Your chainmail bikini plus all those flying knives equals nothing good, and don't even get me started on the whole stiletto/non-slip mat combination. Ex-model and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi has bravely faced down the hottest of kitchens all season, and for what? She's getting nothing but guff from the ousted Top Chef competitors.
Reporting to New York Magazine, cooks Ilan Hall, Cliff Crooks and Sam Talbot have all turned tight-lipped and a wee bit sour at mention of Padma's name. When asked about her culinary taste, Hall turned to the Bravo publicist at his side and asked, "Um, are we allowed to say disparaging things about Padma? No. She's beautiful. Mostly, she just explained things, and she did a good job at that." Commenting on her attire, Crooks suggested that around a working kitchen, poor Padma would either be a "fire hazard" or "get hurt." Somebody's got to be the face of this competition, people. Give Ms. Salman Rushdie a break.
Gibson said he'd quit if he didn't get World News Tonight
That's the news from Joe Hagen at New York magazine, in this long (but worth reading) piece. Before ABC tapped Bob Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas to be co-anchors on World News Tonight, they approached Charles Gibson, asking him to "keep the seat warm" until the 2008 election and then they would find a permanent anchor. But Gibson said he didn't want to just fill the seat (and he also didn't want to continue doing Good Morning, America), and that if he didn't get the anchor position for good - and without Vargas - then he was going to walk.Vargas is said to have been surprised by her ouster from the show.
[via Romenesko]
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