Mel Gibson: Like Father, Like Son?

Reports up all over the Net that Mel Gibson's DUI arrest on Thursday night didn't go exactly by the book. According to TMZ, the police report by the arresting officers was doctored. In the original report, Mel was yelling, "Fucking Jews...The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world." Then Gibson asked one of the officers, "Are you a Jew?" At the police station, Gibon yelled at a female officer, "What do you think you're looking at, sugar tits?"

What do we learn from this? Aside from appearing quite a bit anti-semitic (like his father), Mel sure is a classy, smart guy. If you ask me, he lost it ever since his Passion of the Christ movie.

I Love Stacy London

I'm watching a few TiVo'd episodes of TLC's What Not to Wear today while doing laundry and realized I'd forgotten how funny the hosts Stacy and Clinton are. Usually, though, Stacy is the one who lets loose with the zingers, like this one: "The shoes are atrocious. To me it looks like the woman who answers the phone for the old woman who can't get up."

Taylor Hicks to Solve Middle East Quagmire

Just a reminder that in the midst of this Middle East crisis, today President Bush took time out of his "busy" schedule for American Idol photo ops. Clearly Bush knows what's really important.

My friend Jeff said it best concerning Bush, the Middle East, and American Idol: "Why don't we just send over Simon, Paula, and Randy?"

Rhymes with Spit, and Lindsay Lohan's in it Deep

Lindsay Lohan got her ass handed to her on a silver platter this week. Remember how she left the set of Georgia Rule for a day due to "heat exhaustion"? Well, James Robinson (CEO of movie company Morgan Creek) wrote her a letter that is so deliciously scathing that it makes my teeth hurt.

"To date, your actions on Georgia Rule have been discourteous, irresponsible and unprofessional," wrote Robinson to Lohan this week. He followed up with: "You have acted like a spoiled child and in doing so have alienated many of your coworkers and endangered the quality of this picture. We refuse to accept bogus excuses for your behaviour."

Available on Smoking Gun, the letter from Robinson was hand-delivered to Lohan. Her agent must be going nuts--Lohan also left the set of the last Herbie movie for a few days because of exhaustion.

Mel Gibson DUI

Drudge has flashing sirens and a blurb about Mel Gibson being arrested last night at 2:30 in the morning on the Pacific Coast Highway because he was drunk. No details yet. But it's crazy to think people who live in the public eye think they can get away with anything nowadays.

No Litte Miss Sunshine for Me

I had planned on taking a cute cute guy to see Little Miss Sunshine this weekend, but it hasn't opened here yet! Sad! So sad! This used to happen to me when I lived in Atlanta--I had to wait weeks to see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But I didn't think it would happen in D.C.!

So we'll either see Woody Allen's new movie Scoop, though it didn't get good reviews, or it's no movie this weekend. It's not like I'm gonna see that straight-to-the-trashcan Miami Vice.

Katharine McPhee is Pretty McFake

I saw American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee on The View yesterday and she seemed pretty down-to-earth. But clearly she was on a mission to brush off the nasty rumors that A) she's a diva; B) she feels too important to tour with the other Idol finalists; or C) that she's pissed she didn't win the competition. Barabara tossed Katharine softball after softball on the show yesterday and Katharine kept repeating how sad she was that a sickness had kept her from nearly a month of the Idol live tour.

Well...she may have been on The View yesterday, but guess who didn't show up last night to the Pittsburgh Idol concert? Yep. Katharine McFake, er, McPhee. But as RealityBlurred points out, Katharine's fans need to keep "the McPhaith." Ugh. McGross.

Justin Hartley and Smallville

Justin Hartley, the former Fox Crane of NBC's Passions, was set to star as Aquaman in the new CW network show this fall. Trouble is, it didn't get picked up. But don't fret for Justin, he's just landed another comic book role on the CW. He'll be playing Green Arrow, and possible short-term love interest for Lois Lane, on Smallville. If you want to see the pilot for Aquaman, it's on iTunes.

Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives

Some great TV news this Friday:

• TV Guide reports that Elizabeth Mitchell (see pic) is joining Lost as possibly a new love interest for Jack--or is it Kate? Mitchell has played a lesbian in both Gia and on ER.
• Michael Ausiello at TV Guide has some Grey's Anatomy scoop: 1) Katherine Heigl doesn't want her character to be a doctor anymore; 2) Patrick Dempsey thinks his character should go ahead and choose between Meredith and Addison; and 3) the season premiere will not jump forward in time--it will occur an hour or two after the events of the finale.
• According to Kristin at E!, Jesse Metcalf will be coming back to Desperate Housewives. Though he may not be cutting Gabrielle's lawn any more, my hope is that we still see him shirtless a lot.

Cuchie Cuchie--Charo Rules!

I saw this Charo ad for Geico again last night. I think it's hilarious. Follow this link.

Who Wants to Be a Superhero Rules!

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. I used to be an exotic dancer, which took a toll on my relationship with my daughter..."
Major Victory, superhero in training


I am literally like 10 minutes into SciFi's new show Who Wants to be a Superhero and I love it. It is the perfect mix of craziness, earnestness and plain ol' fun. Granted it seems like an el cheapo reality series with the way its produced, but that could just be that the host--comic genius Stan Lee--is old as the hills of Zion. There is also a cute openly gay superhero named Levity! Anyway...you have to check it out. It airs again throughout the weekend on SciFi.

Talk About Indecent? Start with FCC Fines

This story about PBS scares me. It's a horrific example of what happens when Bush and his appointees use their self-righteous "moral" compasses to decide what's best for the American people. PBS is concerned about airing a documentary on WW II by acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns because in the soldiers' descriptions of the war some profanity is used.

Fines for profanity have increased from $32,500 to $325,000 under the Bush administration. According to Salon.com, the total of all fines in 2001 was $440,000 and grew to nearly $8 million in 2004. The people who complain about saying "shit" on television are zealots. Here's an idea: A) turn your tv off if you don't like what's on; and B) if you wanna claim hundreds of complaints against a show, best to make sure that it's not really only 20 or so people sending the same form letter more than once.

The Hills aren't Alive, with Diva Scarlett

Yahoo News has a great story about Scarlett Johansson denying claims that her diva-like behavior kept her from being cast as the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound of Music scheduled to open this November in London. According to Yahoo, it wasn't just the issue of a huge salary request by Johansson, but that Webber was told "Johansson would need two assistants stationed backstage at all times."

Kathy Griffin Brown-noses on The View

I was so disappointed in Kathy Griffin's appearance on The View today. Barbara Walters fleetingly mentioned that Kathy was never banned from the show, and I fully expected Kathy to give a nice retort regarding Star Jones. But alas it was not meant to be. Kathy skirted the whole issue.

But she was still funny as hell. Talking about the other nominees in her Emmy category, Kathy said, "I'm gonna kick that little Dog Whisperer dog in the head if I see her. Oh, and then there is the juggernaut that is Extreme Home Makeover where they give you a car if you don't have arms or legs or something."

"But if I win, I guarantee the best speech ever. I'm gonna yell, 'everybody can suck it,' and then it's gonna go to bar code. Beeeeeeep. And if I lose, I go right up to that dog whsiperer and I smack him in the face."

Her date to the upcoming Emmys is a hunky US soldier.

The Hoff = Sick, Not Drunk

David Hasselhoff was turned away from a Wednesday flight from London to L.A. because he was "sick" not drunk. The Sun reported that it was because The Hoff was intoxicated. Hmmm...If doctors examined him fully, my guess would be that his "sickness" would mirror Lindsay Lohan's recent "sickness." Hey, it's a hard life being a star.

Bark if you Love Project Runway

Last night was one of my favorite episodes of Project Runway ever--and that's saying a lot! The designers went to Central Park to find out what thier next challenge was and suddenly they see Tim Gunn coming over the hill with 13 different dogs on leashes. (To see stiff, acerbic Tim walking all these dogs made me laugh my ass off.) After picking a dog, the designers had to create a look for the owner of the dog, and then a design for the dog. Uli won with a great mod dress and then a little outfit for her pug. The pic isn't great, but go to the website to see or read more.

More Mark Wahlberg for HBO

He helped bring HBO the hit show Entourage, one of the funniest half-hours on tv, and now he's set to produce a new show for the cable channel. It's been announced that Mark Wahlberg will be producing a new show called "In Treatment" for HBO. The show is based on an Israeli tv show where a therapist leads a double life: professional, courteous, and fantastic to his patients and angry and doubting when seeing his own shrink.

Lindsay Lohan DRAMA!

The Insider is reporting that Lindsay Lohan was taken to an LA hospital today because of heat exhaustion. She was on the set of Gary Marshall's new film "Georgia Rule," also starring Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman. Girlfriend is 20 years old--she should know by now that liquor doesn't keep you hydrated.

Speaking of the Gays...

There's this "straight" redneck trainer on the Bravo show Workout named Brian (nickname: Peeler) who I'm sure is a closet case--I mean look at how gay that pic is! He spent last night's entire episode talking about how he couldn't wait to "haze" the new hot gay trainer (Jesse) during the upcoming staff retreat. You could all but see his hard-on as he brought up the "I'm straight, but if I had to sleep with a guy it'd be Jesse" argument. Dude, it's 2006. Grow a pair of balls and come out!

But Peeler said the hazing was because, "That Jesse needs so much attention." And to anyone who watches, it's pretty clear from the get-go that Peeler is the one who needs the attention. And it's also pretty clear that Peeler wants a little Jesse lovin'. That's a great thing about reality tv: these people are so self-involved that they have no idea how transparent their actions are. Watch the show and tell me what you think.

N'Syncher Lance Bass is Gay!

Lance Bass came out in People Magazine this week. Not such a shocker, since evidently he's been dating Reichen Lehmkuhl of The Amazing Race (see pic) for the past few months. But kudos for the former pop teen heartthrob for coming out. Sure, it would be nice for Jodie Foster or Tom Cruise to go public, but Bass's honesty shouldn't be overlooked.

Kathy Griffin on The View

Set your TiVo or put the VHS tape in your VCR--I can't believe I even have to say that last part--because Kathy Griffin is coming back to The View. There was no love lost between Kathy and Star Jones, but now that Star is gone, Kathy has been invited back. If you've seen Kathy's comedy, you KNOW she is going to rag on Star and I'm salivating just thinking about it. It all happens tomorrow morning--July 27.

A Little TOO into Project Runway

This is kind of a salacious story, so I hesitate to pass it on...but, bless his heart, it it turns out that the new show runner for Gilmore Girls, David Rosenthal, was a wee bit TOO into Heidi Klum. According to Defamer and a LA Times article: Rosenthal met Klum when she appeared on Spin City; his marriage broke up after he wrote a quite vulgar play called "Love" about trying to get Klum to bed him; the NY Times called the play "not only offensive but incompetent" and Rosenthal's agents dropped him as a client; and then Rosenthal was briefly committed at UCLA Medical Center. A even more detailed account is at Televisionary.

I know it's totally snarky to even mention someone's breakdown--we all have them on lesser or even greater scales. It's just that this meltdown was so scandalous and so very public. When Rosenthal was asked about Heidi Klum last week at a Television Critics Association Q&A session for the Gilmore Girls, Lauren Graham shot the question down flat-out. It's cool that she has his back.

Hotties to Lost and Desperate Housewives

Matt Mitovich and Michael Ausiello have some great scoop on the addition of new hotties to the fall lineup. Tom Cruise is joining Lost! Oh, wait, the "Brazilian Tom Cruise"--Rodrigo Santora (pic on left) which most of us know as Laura Linney's crush in the movie Love, Actually. And Josh Henderson (pic on right), from the FX show Over There, is coming to Desperate Housewives as Edie's naughty nephew. I don't know about you, but do we need another Sawyer? Cut Rodrigo's hair and we might have something going on--he's awfully cute.

More Richard Hatch News

Over at Reality Blurred they have a more detailed report on the Richard Hatch prison saga. But what is most interesting is the revelation that Richard has a full-frontal nude scene (eh, gross) in an upcoming film. And the film, called Another Gay Movie, has possibly the worst tagline ever: "a raunchy ride on the bumpy road to butt love." Yeah, I know. I'm gay and that disgusts even me.

Absolutely Unwatchable

10 minutes in, I'm wondering how in the world Tabloid Wars ever got on tv. I mean ever. It is the worst kind of reality tv: no characters and no overarching story--nothing but boring (albeit nice) journalists. I kept reading reviews on the Net, saying how true the show is to journalism. Well, if that's so, then journalism is like waiting for someone on the Real World to say something intelligent--a lot of hanging around for nothing.

Remember that episode of the V miniseries, the one where we first saw alien Diana eat a guinea pig and then get her human skin ripped off to reveal reptilian (!) scales? Remember how it rocked your world for days? Or maybe even the other V episode where the red alien baby puppet hissed its way out mother Robin as she was giving birth? Remember how it was completely fan-fucking-tastic? Well, Tabloid Wars is the exact opposite--the other end of the scale. I thought the producers of The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency were clueless idiots. But if they are, then the producers of Tabloid Wars are their crack-head retarded children.

TV News: Lost and More

• Kristen at E! has some great scoop on Lost from the San Diego Comic-Con: Kate finally picks a man in the first 3 episodes; Libby will return in flashbacks; the hieroglyphics on the timer translate to "underworld;" "if you're asking about daddy issues, you're asking the right questions;" and there may be an underwater hatch.
• TV Guide's Michael Ausiello has read the script for this year's first Gilmore Girls episode by new show writer David Rosenthal: there's still a spark of magic between Luke and Lorelai; Logan may be in London, but he finds a romantic way to communicate with Rory; Paris appears in a long scene detailing her job as an SAT prep course teacher; and Richard, Emily, Lane, Anna, and April aren't in this episode.
• Aint It Cool News released some spoilers about Battlestar Galactica, also from Comic-Con: one of the 12 human cylon models will be off the show; a major character is now missing a "vital" body part; life on a cylon base star will be part of 10 episodes; Baltar remains president; and expect some long-time-coming hookups and a lot of nudity.
  

Tina Fey leaving SNL

Over the weekend, Tina Fey announced that she will be focusing on her new NBC sitcom 30 Rock and will not be returning to Saturday Night Live this fall. Her new show is a "behind the scenes" look at a fictional SNL-type show. (Holy metafiction!) Lorne Michaels also made the intriguing announcement that due to budget constraints, some other longtime SNL comedians will also be leaving the show.

Television Critics Association Awards

The Television Critics Association gave out this season's awards on Sunday:

• Grey's Anatomy, program of the year
• My Name Is Earl, best new program
• Lost, best achievement in drama
• The Office, best achievement in comedy
• Frontline, best achievement in news and information
• High School Musical, best achievement in children's programming
• American Masters: Bob Dylan, best achievement in movies, miniseries and specials
• Carol Burnett, career achievement award

Richard Hatch to Oklahoma Prison!

Richard Hatch, winner of the first-ever (and best) Survivor was sent to a different federal prison last week. Now in Oklahoma, he is serving out a 51-month sentence (in part) for not paying taxes on that $1 million check that Jeff Probst handed him. Richard was so aggrivatingly fun to watch on that season, and he really relished his role as the villian. It's sad to think that he would try skirting taxes on a prize that nearly all of America knew he won. He seemed smarter than that on tv.

Tonight's TV Goodness

• Beach Patrol at 8 and 8:30 on CourtTV
• The series premiere of Tabloid Wars on Bravo at 9 p.m.
• The series premeire of Life on Mars on BBC-America at 10 p.m.

Tonight's a busy night. First off, the hot guys of Beach Patrol, which I admit wasn't as scintillating as I had hoped, but I think it will get better. Then we have Tabloid Wars which is "a documentary series set inside the New York Daily News...and like visiting a tornado." It seems like Bravo is going to be all reality all the time fairly soon. The last show of the night is Life on Mars which confusingly enough has nothing to do with Mars. The main character, Sam, is a detective who is in a near-fatal car accident while chasing a serial killer. When he wakes up he is still a detective, but in the past--1973! Mars is getting fantastic reviews.

Superman 2! Well, er, Superman 6!

Bryan Singer, the director of Superman Returns told fans this weekend at the San Diego Comic-Con that he's talking to Warner Brothers about a sequel. He hopes to have it released in 2009 and said, "I plan to get all Wrath of Khan on it!"

Super Secret TiVo 30-second Skip!

My coworker Reed shared some exciting news with me last week: there is a hidden "easter egg" with TiVo which allows you to skip forward 30 seconds with a push of a button. This means you can completely skip entire commericals instead of fast-forwarding through them. All you do is go to any recorded program and press: select, play, select, 3, 0, select. You'll hear three TiVo beeps and then you're good to go--the "skip-to-hash" button will allow you to skip commercials! There is a good breakdown of the process at bigmarv.net.

Entourage Quote of the Week

"I'm going to be stealing the bride to be, everyone...and lunch is on me provided that Joyce you still have your stomach stapled."
--Jeremy Piven as Hollywood agent Ari Gold on Entourage

Madonna Concert on NBC

NBC has made a deal with Madonna to air a concert from her Confessions on a Dance Floor tour this November. The concert will be recorded this summer at Wembley Stadium in London and will air just in time for fall tv sweeps in the U.S.