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Previously...
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Springing Forward with the
Luck of the Irish
Welcome to the "Springing Forward with the Luck of the Irish" edition of The Block Party for the week of March 17, 2008. As always, thank you for downloading the podcast from the link at the upper left, the Itunes feed, and the dedicated webpage at www.blockpartypodcast.com. And to my faithful readers, thank you. I cannot do this every week without you guys. We start this week with a bit of a plug. Ok, this is a straight on plug but if you are in the New York City area over the next 6 weeks, do whatever you can to catch "What's My Line-Live On Stage" at the Barrow Street Theater. J. Keith Van Straaten, host of "Beat The Geeks" takes his incredibly successful show, which ran at the ACME Comedy Theater in Los Angeles to New York. With his musical director Adam Chester, he faithfully recreates the game show live on stage with celebrity panelists such as Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Betsy Palmer, Michael Riedel, and Barry Saltzman trying to find out what unusual occupations people have and guess the "mystery guest." I have seen this show live in LA both at the ACME Comedy Theater and at Game Show Congress 5 and this is a FANTASTIC experience. J. Keith is phenomenal as host, and treats the property with incredible respect. And fellow columnist Gordon Pepper actually stumped the panel with one of his many occupations as bowling alley inspector. It's true, you can ask him. So please go to http://www.whatsmyline.org and you will have an absolute blast. If you are famous in Hollywood, you are on the A-List. The joke in the entertainment biz is that if you are on the downturn, you are available for weddings and bar mitzvahs. But a recent trend is to have incredibly rich parents pay for celebrities to entertain and/or just appear at the party. This week, a pretty funny story made the rounds as former American Idol finalist, Sanjaya Malakar appeared and sang at 12 year old Rachel Lader's black tie bat mitzvah over the weekend. He got his hair done at a salon with Rachel and sang "Isn't She Lovely" and "You Really Got Me" at the party. The whole shebang was documented for MTV for a "where are they now" type segment on Sanjaya. Rachel's father, a former sports memorabilia owner, claims Sanjaya wasn't paid. This is either too funny, or too sad or a bit of both. This is someone who is trying to extend his 15 minutes of fame and his clock is just about up. But, if he made Rachel happy, I am not going to be harsh on Rachel and her dad. Just let's just hope Sanjaya continues his fade into obscurity. Someone who is also trying to extend his 15 minutes is Joel "Truck" Anderson, a recent castoff on Survivor: Micronesia (Fans v. Favorites). He recently made his professional wrestling debut (and if you remember...Joel is a big boy) this past Sunday on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Pay-Per View "Destination X" in a confrontation with Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon). If you caught the pay-per-view, another Survivor castmate was there. Jonny Fairplay, also of Fans v. Favorites and was making his 2nd appearance in TNA. His first run, was after his appearance on Pearl Islands when he concocted "the greatest lie in Survivor History" about the death of his grandmother. That got him sympathy and a spot in the final three. Truck is scheduled to make several more appearances for TNA. He has an interview up on tnawrestling.com. Speaking of Jonny Fairplay, the court case which stemmed from his October 2007 appearance on the Fox Reality "Really Awards" has been delayed because he needs to provide more facts to a judge. Superior Court Judge Michael C. Solner gave Fairplay, whose real name is Jon Dalton, 20 days to amend his complaint to explain why the producers of Fox Reality Channel's "Really Awards" were negligent and involved in the alleged battery. For those who don't remember it....this is what happened according to Wikipedia...On October 2, 2007, Fairplay was in an altercation with celebrity Danny Bonaduce during the Fox Reality Really Awards. Fairplay was on stage after the end of the Awards show and being loudly booed by the audience, which Fairplay seemed to be confused about. Bonaduce walked on stage and told Fairplay the audience reaction was "because they hate you," and then started to walk back off stage. Fairplay then yelled "Whoa, whoa, Danny, Danny," causing Bonaduce to turn around and face Fairplay. Fairplay ran and leaped onto Bonaduce's chest and stomach, holding onto Bonaduce around his neck, and started "monkey-humping" Bonaduce's chest. Fairplay stated that this action is part of his act, but Bonaduce said that he felt it was an assault and was especially uncomfortable with Fairplay's hands near his throat. Bonaduce lifted Fairplay by his legs, heaving Fairplay headfirst up and over Bonaduce's head...sort of like a back body drop. Fairplay hit the stage face first behind Bonaduce, unable to break the fall with his hands since he held on to the microphone. He lay on the floor a few seconds before standing up and staggering off stage holding his face. He has since claimed that the fall knocked out a tooth (which shattered into eight pieces), moved three more within his mouth, damaged the supporting bone, and broke a toe. According to the Associated Press, Fairplay, 34, sued Bonaduce, Fox Reality Channel and the show producers for battery, negligence and emotional distress. He claims the producers encouraged Bonaduce to go on stage uninvited, did not provide security and failed to provide prompt medical care afterward. The next hearing is scheduled for May 12. I have one question for you...who do you root for in a case like this? Someone who also thinks they are a bit more important than they are is Omarosa, the latest person fired from "Celebrity Apprentice." She claims she will be back on the show before the finale, and on the show she was fired on claimed Piers was gay. She told the New York Post on Wednesday, "Piers Morgan wants to be Simon Cowell so bad, it's pathetic." Can't disagree with her there. She wants to be invited to sit on Trump's side in the boardroom. Oh boy. But she says that while most people are interested only in painting an ugly picture of her, she's carved out a secure niche as a "performer" on reality shows (she claims she's been on 20 different shows since her first "Apprentice" stint.) "I'm multi-faceted, I have all these different sides," she protests. "I'm very competitive. I love to kick ass and the press doesn't like to pick up on my kindler, gentler side." Uh, Omarosa. Piece of Free advice. You wouldn't know kindler and gentler if it bit you. You are the true definition of a self-created media star. You aren't going to listen to me, but you are a caricature of yourself. Go away for a while. You weren't the reason why the ratings went up on the Apprentice. The show went back to its roots. Get over yourself. MTV is banking on Randy Jackson and an American Idol copycat from the producers of Idol to continue their reality programming. MTV has greenlighted a second season of "Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew." I hope they continue to improve on this show as the talent is there, it's the execution I am a little wary on. But I do like this twist for season 2, which will debut in the summer. This time, viewers will serve as casting directors, with aspiring dance troupes getting the chance to post their videos at dance.mtv.com and the audience favorites being featured on-air. But MTV is venturing into
territory I am not sure they should. "Rock the Cradle," a co production
of MTV and FremantleMedia (the producers of American Idol) is an
eight-episode series that premieres April 3. It features the offspring
of famous musicians competing every week in front of their parents, a
panel of judges and a live audience to become stars in their own right.
Set to compete are Chloe Rose Lattanzi (daughter of Olivia Newton-John),
Crosby Loggins (Kenny Loggins), Jesse Money (Eddie Money), Lucy Walsh
(Joe Walsh), Lil Al B Sure (and if you couldnt guess it's Al B Sure),
Speaking of Idol, the
Lennon- McCartney songbook was opened up and we had some very good
performances. But Syesha Mercado, Kristy Lee Cook, and David Hernandez
were in the bottom three this week. David Hernandez was eliminated and
we are down to 11. This is the Block Party Power Chart(TM) for the
remaining 11. To end the week...time for the random newsbits -According to our friends at BuzzerBlog, Family Feud has been renewed for the 2008-2009 season. Another piece of good game show news in my opinion. -The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have reached a tentative contract which was done from the beginning of the talks on Feb.19 to it's conclusion on March 8. The so-called Network Television Code covers all on- and off-camera talent for "syndicated dramas; daytime serials; game shows; talk shows; variety and musical programs; news; sports; reality shows; and promotional announcements. AFTRA said the deal includes boosts in wages, residuals for Internet downloads, heath care and retirement contributions, including a 25% increase in overtime pay. Nice to see that these guys learned their lesson from the writer's strike. -My man Regis Philbin is getting a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences at the Daytime Emmy Awards on June 24 in Los Angeles at the Kodak Theater. The man who changed a ton of lives on Millionaire, including my own, and soon to be host of "Million Dollar Password" deserves this award not only for the 20 years as the host of "Live", but having to deal with Kathie Lee Gifford for so long! -Finally, Beauty and the
Geek debuted this week with the beauties going against the geeks. This
seems really bad to me, as the show actually tried to discourage a lot
of the stereotypes of both beauties and geeks. Now, with the competition
aspect at full bore, this just reeks of the producers running out of
ideas. You can't tell it, but Jason Block really IS a big fan of ol' fashioned ass-whuppin's. E-mail at jb.regis@verizon.net. |
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