Spotted: Suri Cruise

April 30, 2010, 9:20 am - Suri Cruise and Tom Cruise's mom crossing Park Avenue, heading east on 54th Street, right next to me. Awesome! (And of course I know what Tom Cruise's mom looks like!)

Project Runway in LDTV?

I've been trying to give Project Runway on Lifetime a chance, but I have only so much patience to give when it's broadcast in murky, low-quality non-HD on Time Warner Cable in New York City. Wtf? How can I properly analyze the intricate stitching and unique patterns so as to enjoyably assess which designers are the best of the bunch, when I can barely see the color of each garment?

Sigh. I don't know how we lived before HD, but get with it Lifetime! You brought the show back to New York City, now can you please let your NYC viewers actually see the show? Hand whatever bribe is necessary over to Time Warner so that you can broadcast in HD. (Bravo does.) I can only take so much, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

Midnight Sun

This post is for Twilight fans. Actually, this post is for ignorant Twilight fans who have not kept up with all things Twilight as well as they should!

I'm new to the Twilight phenomenon. I got hooked on the first movie pretty late in the game -- November 2009. Since then, I've read all the books and watched the second movie. And as soon as I finished book 4 (the final book), I got the shakes. You know what I'm talking about -- those shakes you get when you're done with the series and find out there's nothing else left to read. Oh no! That's when I started Googling for any juicy info on when a new book might come out.

And that's when I stumbled upon Midnight Sun.

Midnight Sun was meant to be a companion book to the first Twilight, retelling the story of how Bella and Edward met...but through Edward's eyes (and through the eyes of everyone around him, as he can read their minds). Unfortunately, a draft of the book was leaked back in August 2008, when Stephenie Meyer had written only twelve chapters. Since then, she's stopped further work on the book indefinitely. Fortunately, she's decided to make the draft available to her fans on her website.

In my opinion, Midnight Sun is the best book of the series, even in its uncompleted, unedited form. (I'm currently re-reading it, in conjunction with Twilight. Obsess much?) If you've made it to the end of this post, I take it you're a fan. If you're a fan, you must read this book. And then tell me what you think.

Another Lesson in Killing TV Shows

If you haven't heard by now, it's official: Ugly Betty is getting canned after this season. And honestly, good riddance. The show's been pretty bad lately. Painful to watch, in fact. But, I do feel some sadness in seeing it go, particularly when I think of why it had to end so abruptly: a broadcast network's use of the usual time-slot-shifting-MO in the quest to kill another inconvenient show.

Yes, the writing for Ugly Betty really went downhill this season. But that's not why it lost its viewership. The fans were still willing to watch...if only they knew when it was on!

Ugly Betty started out on Thursday night. At the height of its popularity (and after viewers convinced ABC not to cancel it), Ugly Betty got quarantined to Friday night. And just when we finally got used to DVRing it on Friday and watching it over the weekend, ABC --always a step ahead -- bumped it to Wednesday.

I'm getting tired just keeping up with Ugly Betty in this post. So what viewer would have the patience to keep up with it on television (particularly in a year when the writing is a bit...off)? Thank you, ABC, for murdering yet another show. It's certainly not on the scale of Dirty Sexy Money, but the principle of the matter is still the same. I just hope Modern Family gets to stay put on Wednesday nights.

Conan: 1 - NBC: 0

Alec Baldwin's 30 Rock impersonation of an NBC exec is really spot on. When will those television big-shots learn that playing musical chairs with television shows kills television shows? Bravo to Conan for releasing the following statement today:

People of Earth:

In the last few days, I’ve been getting a lot of sympathy calls, and I want to start by making it clear that no one should waste a second feeling sorry for me. For 17 years, I’ve been getting paid to do what I love most and, in a world with real problems, I’ve been absurdly lucky. That said, I’ve been suddenly put in a very public predicament and my bosses are demanding an immediate decision.

Six years ago, I signed a contract with NBC to take over The Tonight Show in June of 2009. Like a lot of us, I grew up watching Johnny Carson every night and the chance to one day sit in that chair has meant everything to me. I worked long and hard to get that opportunity, passed up far more lucrative offers, and since 2004 I have spent literally hundreds of hours thinking of ways to extend the franchise long into the future. It was my mistaken belief that, like my predecessor, I would have the benefit of some time and, just as important, some degree of ratings support from the prime-time schedule. Building a lasting audience at 11:30 is impossible without both.

But sadly, we were never given that chance. After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t the Tonight Show. Also, if I accept this move I will be knocking the Late Night show, which I inherited from David Letterman and passed on to Jimmy Fallon, out of its long-held time slot. That would hurt the other NBC franchise that I love, and it would be unfair to Jimmy.

So it has come to this: I cannot express in words how much I enjoy hosting this program and what an enormous personal disappointment it is for me to consider losing it. My staff and I have worked unbelievably hard and we are very proud of our contribution to the legacy of The Tonight Show. But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn’t matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more.

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next. My hope is that NBC and I can resolve this quickly so that my staff, crew, and I can do a show we can be proud of, for a company that values our work.

Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it’s always been that way.

Yours,
Conan

Right on, Conan! Finally, someone is standing up to them. I hope this drama really pumps up your ratings, but I also hope that NBC gets burned when you leave them for Fox.

And the Award Goes To...

Huge apologies for the way-too-long time off from posting. I have all sorts of excuses, but I won't bore you with them. So, onto the next post!

There are 3 good places to go with the headline of this post:

1) It's official: my personal award for best new show of the season goes to: Modern Family (Wednesdays @ 8 p.m. ET on ABC). Each episode is laugh-out-loud funny and well-acted. And the biggest plus of the show? We get Al Bundy back -- as an older and more charming loveable grump. The show's gotten plenty of acclaim, so you can definitely give this one a chance without any fear of imminent cancellation by the man.

2) The award for most disappointing new show of the season? That one will have to go to Community (Thursdays @ 8 p.m. ET on NBC). I was really looking forward to this one, particularly because of Chevy Chase's return to TV -- so I really tried hard to like it. Unfortunately, I have not been able to keep watching past episode 3. It was quite bad in the first 3 episodes. For anyone who's been patient enough to sit through the rest of the season, let us known if it's gotten any better.

3) Finally, how can I not comment on the Taylor Swift/Kanye West MTV Video Music Awards rumble? I was abroad on vacation when it all occurred, so I was extremely anxious to catch up on this juicy piece of national pop gossip upon my return. For anyone who missed it, here's a live clip of the fumble and the save. No surprise that the award for biggest jackass of the season goes to Kanye West.

SEVERE crime of fashion!!!!

This man is the scum of the earth. Plain and simple. Anand Jon Alexander (a fashion designer who was on America's next top model, the Tyra Banks show and dressed Paris Hilton) was brought up on charges for not 1, not 2 but 16 counts of assault and rape!!! This scumbag designer would have models come up to his apartment to do a "photo shoot" for his line and would then rape and assault them! The worst part - the models were between the ages of 14 - 21!!! WTF! He is also facing similar charges in NY with 9 more women!

Anand was sentenced to a minimum of 59 years in prison. I say keep the bastard for life!

If that's not bad enough, his sister, Sanjana is being held in contempt of court for juror tampering (she offered herself up to a juror who found her attractive. He is also being held).