Last night, I got the call to cover the Women In Film 2007 Crystal + Lucy Awards which honors outstanding women in the entertainment business. Another event. Another red carpet. Red carpets are my least favorite assignments. You stand around for hours in a tight space with up to 30 other camera crews and journalists. You have to somehow be able to entice witty banter out of the celebrities brave enough to talk to an increasingly tabloid hungry media corp.
99 percent of the time attending a red carpet is never about talking about the event. It's about following up on an interesting news story. Last night that story was "Grey's Anatomy." It was announced last week that Isaiah Washington was not being asked back to the show. One of the honorees at the awards was Grey's Executive Producer Shonda Rhimes. She was the hot story everyone wanted... the first reaction to Isaiah's firing.
It's the third and final day of my trip to St. George, Utah where I've been hanging with the cast of "High School Musical 2." I realize now how special this experience has been after the numerous emails I've received from co-workers and friends with nieces, children, cousins and grandchildren. Everyone wants me to bring something back from the set for them. In the interest of fairness I decided it would be best to simply not bring anything back except my memories. That way no one will feel bad if I didn't bring them something and did for someone else. Besides won't seeing my interviews (which begin airing in July) be enough of a gift? Ok. Probably not but at least that's how I justify not bugging Zac, Vanessa, Ashley, Lucas and Corbin for autographs.
Fortunately, this was going to be a much shorter day than yesterday as my crew had a plane to catch back in Las Vegas (about a two-hour drive). We arrived to set around 9:30am after a quick stop at the craft service tent where the head cook/chef gave us a tour of his domain. I must say he was very proud of his barbeque grill which I kid you not was the size of an SUV! Then it was off to set which today was the front gates of the Entrada Country Club which is serving as the Lava Springs Country club where Sharpay and family are members and the rest of the cast are going to be working. The morning's shoot is Sharpay and her brother Ryan arriving to the club in her pimped out pink convertible.
The cover of OK! announces across a photograph of a smiling Jennifer Aniston, "At last... A baby for Jen!"
The magazine even quotes a "friend" of Aniston saying, "Jen has been thinking of adopting for a while," adding that "after seeing Sheryl [Crow] and her son Wyatt together, Jen didn't know why she was still waiting."
In fact, according to an OK! source, "The [adoption] process has 100 percent started." Ideally, she would "love a boy," further reports the magazine.
"K-Fed's gonna be a dad again," screamed a headline across the venerable gossipeuse Cindy Adams' column.
And the mother of his supposed fifth spawn is none other than Shar Jackson, the baby mama of his first two tots. According to Adams, who was tipped off by Star magazine, Federline's on-and-off "romance with Shar Jackson seems to have produced yet another baby between them.
She's into her seventh week." This is shocking news to all, including Federline and Jackson.
It's day two of my exclusive visit to the set of "High School Musical 2." While yesterday was all about rush, rush, rush to fit in my interviews with Ashley Tisdale and Zac Efron...today was all about hurry up and wait. Twelve hours after arriving to the set, I finally returned to my hotel room exhausted, sunburnt and out $115.
My crew and I arrived at the set around 9:15am. First up, we head up to the baseball field where its day two of filiming the big baseball themed musical number, "I Don't Dance" that pits Lucas Grabeel's Ryan Evans against Corbin Bleu's Chad Danforth in a baseball matchup with a message. The film's director wants to keep the details of the number hush-hush but what I can tell you is that the song has a catchy hip-hop swing beat and promises to be a fan favorite. Even after listening to it nearly fifty times during the day, I never got sick of it.
I was in the studio taping the show and during each break, we were all running into the green room to watch the mintue-by-minute coverage of Paris Hilton being taken back to jail.
It was interesting watching the national news outlets go back and forth with the international news and the news coming out of West Hollywood, California. While Paris certainly dominated, at many points, they had to use their "split screen" - on the left had side, the latest news on President Bush's trip to Germany and on the other, Paris Hilton being placed into the police car. And Paris' screen was larger than the President's.
I have interviewed Paris on several occasions and it's a question that I have trouble answering. What is it about this young woman that fascinates us so? . . .
It has struck me that due to conduct, some big media companies have let go of some high profile people. Don Imus was released. Isaiah Washington was dropped. Mel Gibson had a deal for a TV series event pulled.
This all happened because the actions of these people did not match the principles and mission of the parent companies.
Just after 3:30 PM, PDT and the highly scrutinized LA County Sheriff Lee Baca is at the podium and taking questions. His reputation on the line, he is defending his decision to release Paris to home confinement. He is doing a good job.
Baca spoke at fair length about overcrowding and the need for cell space. I think everyone accepts that as a legitimate reason to send Paris home. She has got to be one of the least threatening people to ever be behind bars. The problem he faces is that several hours after Paris left jail, the spokesman for the Sheriff spoke only about 'medical' purposes. He specifically stated it was not an overcrowding issue. Is the Sheriff's department changing their tune to one that everybody can sing or is he adding important information to this case?
I think I speak for a lot of people when I ask, 'What on earth is this psychological problem, termed 'severe' by the Sheriff, that she can't be in jail but she can quite easily be on every red carpet, club scene and late night gig she chooses?'
Paris is a partier. Whatever medication the Sheriff claims she takes for her mental health problems certainly mix well enough with other substances. She is constantly out and partying... this all adds up to a strong feeling of disingenuous dealings by her lawyers.
I'm on set and cameraman Kev just told me the space shuttle launches in 4 hours. Thanks Paris, I had no idea.
True, that in this current Paris obsessed news cycle, I was unaware that America was returning to outer space. Is there any chance I went to sleep a few days ago and woke up on another planet... one where a delinquent socialite garners much more attention than war, NASA, missing persons, immigration law discord and setback... and on and on.
I perpetuate this material every night, but my show is called Access Hollywood... It’s in the title; this is our niche and has been for the last 11 years, back when Dennis Franz' "backside" stirred opinion on “NYPD Blue.”
There is national outrage? Is it mostly justified because people honestly feel that her "re-assignment" further disenfranchises other inmates who aren't given that option and may have medical issues too? Is it more that people just want her put down and punished?
I think the latter prevails. There is a part of me that resents Paris for what she has given to society - sex tape, racial slurs on the Web... her main body of work is 'The Simple Life,' a reality show that derives its laughs from her mingling with the under class.
Ironically, it's partly her perceived detachment from reality [and everyday people living in it] that causes much of the vitriol.
It would be so much easier to rally behind her if she were even minorly known for giving back or charity of some kind. That's her biggest problem in this PR/image battle she is losing.
The countdown has begun to probably the most anticipated TV movie ever, "High School Musical Two."
I'd say most anticipated TV movie sequel ever but I don't think there has ever been a sequel filmed to a TV movie. In March, I spent three days on the set with the entire cast and got a glimpse into life on the set. Over the next week, I’ll share my HSM2 diary:
First Look: 'HSM2'
It's day one of my visit to the set of one of the most anticipated sequels of the summer, "High School Musical 2." Sure this is a movie that's become a phenomenon among the tweeny bopper set but I'm not ashamed to say I fell for its corny song and dance routine when I watched it too.
The sequel picks up as the high schoolers head off for summer vacation and get jobs at the local country club where Sharpay is a member. The serene setting of Southwest Utah stands in for Albuquerque, NM where East Valley High is said to be located.
I traveled to St. George, Utah where the cast has been since early February. Nestled amongst soaring red rocks sits the Entrada Country Club at Snow Canyon where filming is taking place. Today they are filming a big baseball number on the grounds but my day is all about hanging with Ashley Tisdale who plays the rich kid, Sharpay Evans and Zac Efron, the school's resident heartthrob.
