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Catwalk. Picket Line. Whatever.

August 11, 2006

It seems that over at “America’s Next Top Model,” a dozen of the writers have gone on strike. Writers? But it’s reality TV, there are writers?

Well, yes and no.

The writers are actually producers and no, they do not create dialogue for contestants. They would like to be clear about that. They do, however, shape the series. And what they do is, in essence, storytelling.

''There seems to be this idea that we feed lines to the girls and that we really do manipulate the actual shooting. That is not true at all,'' said one of the strikers.

Said another, ''We look at primary characters, maybe look at who is being eliminated that week, and craft an arc so that their elimination is either something the viewers are sad about or happy about.” This is why they are referred to as the “Story Department.” They are responsible for watching over 200 hours of raw footage per episode, and shaping it into a story.

Ask a writer, and we’ll tell you: dialogue is a snap. Shaping the story -- that’s the real writing.

Other secondary story lines are decided and, after an outline is drafted, the writers scrutinize the footage and choose ''line by line how to best tell the story and craft it to a 41-minute episode with a beginning, middle and end.'

That makes them eligible for WGA representation and benefits they now lack, including health insurance, pensions, wage minimums, residuals and credits.

The strike is the latest and most aggressive move in the Writers Guild of America’s two-year effort to unionize reality TV. The ''Top Model'' strikers have been joined on the picket line by writers from ''Family Guy,'' ''King of the Hill'' and ''The Simpsons'' -- all animated series, which gained WGA coverage only after a strike threat.

So what does “Top Model” creator Tyra Banks have to say about it all?

“No Comment.”

Follow Up With Phil

Phil McGraw, who brought his ''Dr. Phil'' show to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, is returning this week to tape follow-up episodes. And probably to get in some good old-fashioned snack-time.

Since touring the city by boat last September, the TV pop-psychologist has used his show to focus on, among other things, New Orleans' recovery efforts. McGraw is specifically focusing on first responders -police officers and firefighters who lost their homes while rescuing others.

This week, McGraw is revisiting many of the people and places he saw last year, taping episodes that will air in several weeks. Now if only we could get the government to check up on the progress of clean-up efforts ....

Shatner Wants You

One-man PR juggernaut William Shatner, aka Capt. James T. Kirk, aka web-travel-site-barker, aka the guy who loves to spoof himself -- is looking for a spokesperson for his new science fiction DVD club.

He's launched an online contest and wants the voting public to select 10 finalists. Shatner will then pick the winner, who will be named spokesperson for the William Shatner Science Fiction DVD Club.

The winner also will receive ''a large cash award,'' according to the contest announcement. Entrants must create a short video clip that shows why they have what it takes and submit it by Sept. 30.

''This is an opportunity for new faces and new voices in the science fiction world to be seen and heard,'' Shatner said in a statement Thursday, “Plus, this is a chance for passionate fans to be the first to discover the next M. Night Shyamalan or Brandon Routh, and help propel them into stardom,'' the 75-year-old actor said.

That’s right. 75. And still going strong.

Jay Z, MTV and Water

August 10, 2006

First Angelina Jolie fell in love with Africa. Then Brad Pitt was convinced. And now Jay Z.
The rapper/president of Def Jam Records whose real name is Shawn Carter, said he had been looking for a way to help people, and when he visited Africa on tour he was struck at how many of the world's poor lacked such a basic necessity.

So the rapper is teaming up with the United Nations and MTV to get children involved in the fight against the worldwide water crisis. He cites statistics that 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water and 2.6 billion lack proper sanitation.

''I figure that once I stumbled upon that, if the information was out and young people knew that these problems exist while we're having Poland Springs at Cipriani and things like that, that we'll get involved,'' said the 36-year-old rapper, referring to the high-class restaurant chain.

''As I started looking around and looking at ways that I could become helpful, it started at the first thing _ water, something as simple as water,'' he said at a news conference at U.N. headquarters yesterday. ''It took very little, very little to see these numbers.''

MTV film crews will follow the rapper on his worldwide tour, which begins Sept. 9. ''The Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life'' will feature first-person accounts of meetings with people around the world who lack water, MTV President Christina Norman said.

Screech Scuffles in Omaha

Dustin Diamond, who played geeky Screech Powers on the '90s teen comedy ''Saved by the Bell,'' says he scuffled with a woman at an Omaha hotel earlier this week.

Diamond, who performed at the Funny Bone Comedy Club Thursday through Sunday, told a Tampa, Fla., radio station that a woman broke into his room in a west Omaha hotel early Monday morning.

Diamond said the woman grabbed some video games, and he held her against the hotel room door until police arrived. The 28-year-old woman denied attacking Diamond and told police he had assaulted her.

Omaha Police Sgt. Teresa Negron said no charges have been filed. ''It's a case of 'he said, she said,''' Negron said.

Diamond, 29, is touring the United States with an 18-and-older standup comedy show.

In June, Diamond said he was selling T-shirts with his photo on them to try to raise money to save his Milwaukee home, which was under a foreclosure order.

You can still buy his T-shirts here. Now who wants to guess how long it will take the alleged victim to make a T-shirt that says: “I scuffled with Screech?”

Relevant TV News

No, it’s not a joke. A network news division is actually going to air some relevant programming. CBS' Mike Wallace travels to Tehran to interview the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Really.

The newsman snagged an interview this week with the current president of Iran while the country is at the center of several international controversies from nuclear power to the Israel/Hezbollah war.

The interview will be shown Thursday on the ''CBS Evening News.'' A fuller report will air on Sunday's ''60 Minutes.”
Of Ahmadinejad, Wallace said, ''He's an impressive fellow, this guy. He really is. He's obviously smart as hell.''
Wallace said he was surprised to find that the Iranian president was still a college professor who taught a graduate-level course.

''You'll find him an interesting man,'' he said. ''I expected more of a firebrand. I don't think he has the slightest doubt about how he feels ... about the American administration and the Zionist state. He comes across as more rational than I had expected.''

Wallace said he and producers Bob Anderson and Casey Morgan had been seeking the interview for more than a year, since he sat next to Ahmadinejad at a United Nations breakfast and told the Iranian leader that he'd like to come to Iran to talk to him someday. Wallace admitted he had forgotten about that encounter until the Iranian president brought it up.

Summoned to Iran for the interview, Wallace and his team waited for nearly a week until he was brought in to speak to Ahmadinejad.

Tehran in August isn't Wallace's usual haunt; that's when you'll usually find him in Martha's Vineyard. It's also no way to spend retirement. CBS News announced in the spring that Wallace had retired as a regular ''60 Minutes'' correspondent, although he would still be available for special interviews.

Wallace said he nearly fell out of his chair when Ahmadinejad told him, ''I hear this is your last interview.''
Wallace said he replied: ''What do you think? Is it a good idea to retire?''

He said the Iranian president told him it was important to keep doing interesting things. And Wallace is already thinking about his next story: he said he's trying for an interview with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Danny Tanner Forever

August 09, 2006

Remember when Bob Saget was hosting “America’s Funniest Home Videos?” His role as MC was very family-friendly: full of pratfalls, jokes that made little sense, and a lot of terrible voice-overs for home videos about people getting hit in the jimmies.

And then things changed. Bob started to take delight in shocking audiences by playing roles that parodied his "Home Videos" and “Full House” days. His role on “Huff,” was of a coke-addled actor, carrying a show about an alll-American dad. He played himself (and seemed to be actively reliving some terrible childhood trauma) in The Aristocrats, a movie about the world’s filthiest joke.

Now he returns to television as the host of NBC’s “1 vs 100,” a game show where one person competes to answer trivia questions against a team of one hundred people. The prizes get larger the longer the first person stays on the show.

Confused? So are we. Bu tthe point is that Bob Saget needs this job.

As Howie Mandel’s career has been helped enormously by his role on the gameshow “Deal or No Deal,” so too, could Bob’s.

I Wanna Be a Limited Range Actor!

Apparently, there aren’t any actors coming out of undergrad theatre programs anymore.

So the Soap Opera Network is training actors for us. They have produced three seasons of “I Wanna Be A Soap Star,” wherein contestants compete for a 13-week contract on “One Life to Live.”

Season One winner Mykel Shannon Jenkins did his 13 weeks on “General Hospital” and the show signed him for a second season. Season Two winner Alex Musser ended up on “All My Children,” is now a series regular with a multi-year contract.

The final contestants for season three are down to two:

Kelly- a yoga enthusiast who can cry on cue, and is “good at playing the victim.”
Mikey- a bartender from New York who is certain his “positive attitude” and “ability to show emotion” will help him win.

The reality show’s big finale reveal will be when the character debuts this Friday on "One Life to Live." The real challenge has been keeping the winner a secret, as the soap is currently filming the winner on set.

Contestants on "I Wanna Be a Soap Star" are put through soap opera challenges such as kissing (convincingly) on cue, feigning amnesia, and returning from the dead.

Says Michael Bruno, a casting director and judge on the show, “As in daytime television, and television and film in general, there is no one voice in the casting process … the one I really like may not be the one who gets it.''

Kevin Arnold, Jr.

August 08, 2006

Aw. This is adorable. Fred Savage is a daddy!

The dimpled 30-year-old actor and his wife Jennifer Lynn Stone welcomed a 6-lb, 13-ounce baby boy on Saturday into their world (and ours!).

We at BBCancelled are still reeling from the cancellation of the Jane Curtin/Fred Savage sit-com “Crumbs.” We wish the show had been given a better chance -- it was impossibly smart, and judging by our message boards, it had a growing audience before ABC yanked it.

Fred’s not hurting for work, though. He is a producer and director on the Disney Channel’s “Phil of the Future,” as well as directing several episodes of Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh -- both shows which all of our pre-teen nieces are in love with.

We at BBCancelled wish Fred and Jennifer all the congratulations in the world. Does Winnie Cooper know?

Real Reality TV

While most reality programming is relegated to getting thin or finding a wife, there are places where it's actually about the gritty reality of the world stage. For the most part, anyway...

Iraqi television station Al-Shaqiya has been showing reality TV for the past three years.

The current mega-hit is a program called “Fame and Fortune” that takes a theme and runs with it. Contestants compete to win a prize that is suited to a specific goal. This season’s focus is “Youth Project,” where young contestants are given a chance to star in their own show on Al-Sharqiya.

''There's such little support given these days to the youth,'' said Mustafa Kadhem, head of the station's programming, ''we figure we can help uncover some of the talented ones.''

Past seasons have included awarding the winner a loan to start your own business, and 2004’s “Construction Contract” -- wherein homes destroyed by the U.S.-led invasion were rebuilt.

Despite having to film all of the outdoor tasks quickly and quietly in "safe neighborhoods" and despite the fact that contestants are routinely late due to the usual ins and outs of a war zone, there is the trickier problem about a show like "Fame and Fortune" in a country like Iraq: what about the fact that men and women are dancing in the same room?

In 2003, the network ran a show almost identical to "Big Brother" except that it combined the talent-show aspects found on "American Idol." It was later cancelled because viewers were having a very difficult time with the fact that contestants lived in the same house and were of different genders.

The solution was simple: send the contestants home at the end of the night. Says the producer: “The tasks don’t require (sleeping here).”

"Idol" Season

It’s open season at “American Idol.” The massive, cattle-drive-style tryouts start today in Los Angeles.

So far, it’s been a bit of a zoo as thousands of hopefuls descended on the Rose Bowl before the 6am “be in line” deadline. Accompanied by only one friend or relative, future contestants are strictly forbidden from bringing alchohol, drugs, pets, or hair dryers.

Those intending to try out were asked to register up to two days before an audition, but that offered no guarantee of being seen and heard on the big day. ''If our time is running short the producers may walk around the venue to pick out people to audition ... based on performing ability, look, style, personality and other factors,'' according to the show's Web site.

So what do former Idol contestants have to say by way of advice?

''Be yourself and pick songs that make you stand out,'' advises Carrie Underwood.

''Be yourself and sing like it's your last time singing,'' counsels Fantasia Barrino.

''Be you,'' suggests Paris Bennett, ''And no theater songs. Boring.''

“Don't sing Etta James' 'At Last,''' says Katherine McPhee.

And lastly, here’s some advice from finalist Bucky Covington: ''Plan to go to two cities. A lot of good people get cut in the first round.'' Those rejected in one city can jump to another and try again.

So, uhm ... they can stand in line. Again?

"Housewives" Defend Honor

August 07, 2006

''I'm so proud of this DVD because I think once you see it, you'll really realize how good Season Two was, instead of listening to, just, critics saying 'Oh, they're in a slump. Oh, it wasn't like last year.''' So says Eva Longoria, who plays Gabrielle on “Desperate Housewives.”

And even though Emmy voters, critics, fans, and just about everyone in the world agree that the second season was a real dud, ABC is hoping that the release of “The Complete Second Season; Extra Juicy Edition” will help to bring back the buzz by including an extra storyline that never made it on the show.

You mean there was stuff more boring than what we actually saw?

''When you really look at the DVD, and specifically Gabrielle's storyline and Gabrielle's arc, there was so much there. This was definitely the best work I've ever done in my life,” said Longoria, whose past work includes a movie called “Hustler’s Instinct” and an uncredited role on “The Young and the Restless.”

The good news? Season three will feature the return of Marc Cherry, the show’s creator, as head writer for all episodes. Does that mean no more boys-in-the-basement? We can only hope.

Clay Aiken Gets Sued

Clay Aiken has hit another scandal. Or, at least…a frivolous lawsuit.

Jeannie Holleman, 50, who is essentially a friend of a friend of Clay Aiken’s mom, is suing him for defamation, claiming that Aiken has done everything in his power to block the release of the “unauthorized tribute” book, “Out of the Blue, Clay it Forward.”

If the title doesn't stop it from being published, then nothing will.

Holleman is asking for $260,000 in damages and also that he agree to one of three bizarre conditions: Either he a) endorse the book, b) write a gushing introduction to it, or c) agree to sell it at his concerts for the next five years.

Is this what Kat and Taylor have to look forward to?