WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is joining the cadre of reporters who cover him, along with many others, at the annual White House Correspondents' dinner Saturday night.
It's an evening of schmoozing and networking that's one of the hottest tickets in town, spiced up by the presence of scores of Hollywood stars and other celebrities. There'll be no shortage of fun poked at Obama, and he'll probably take a few swipes at himself.
After Obama speaks, comic Seth Meyers, the "Weekend Update" anchor on "Saturday Night Live," gets in a few licks.
When you have to make a choice between early retirement and making a movie about a male stripper, starring a male stripper, the decision is easy: male stripper movie.
Steven Soderbergh, who has sworn that he'll retire soon, is staying in the movie making game to direct Channing Tatum in "Magic Mike," a film about a male stripper and his protege. Its based on a true story, starring the story's inspiration -- before becoming an actor, Tatum worked as a stripper. So he'll be going method.
"This was a wild and pivotal time in my life and I couldn't be more thrilled to go down the rabbit hole with Steven," Tatum said in a statement. Soderbergh was similarly excited.
"When Channing talked to me about this, I thought it was one of the best ideas I'd ever heard for a movie," the Oscar-winning director said. "I said I wanted in immediately. It's sexy, funny and shocking. We're using Saturday Night Fever as our model, so hopefully we're on the right track."
Speaking to Esquire in January, Matt Damon, a frequent Soderbergh collaborator, explained Soderbergh's reasons for retiring.
""He's kind of exhausted with everything that interested him in terms of form. He's not interested in telling stories," Damon says. "Cinema interested him in terms of form and that's it. He says, 'If I see another over-the-shoulder shot, I'm going to blow my brains out.'"
Damon also laid out Soderbergh's timeline.
"After this movie we're doing 'Liberace' next summer with Michael Douglas, and then he might do one more movie after that with George [Clooney], and then after that he's retiring."
The movie with Clooney will be "Man From U.N.C.L.E."
As for Tatum, he's currently filming "21 Jump Street," the film adaptation of the classic TV cop show.
Katy Perry looked stunning at the launch of her scent, Purr, in Melbourne on Saturday. The singer is in Australia for part of her California Dreams tour.
Here she is holding the fragrance, which comes in a bottle shaped like a cat.
January Jones announced she was pregnant yesterday, and while the father remains a mystery, there is no hiding her growing belly! Even though it is super small we see a slight bump on the tiny Mad Men actress as she heads into a building in Los Angeles, Friday.
As network news continues to leak anchors and see their audience numbers sink, art, it seems, is imitating life. And so the newsroom lights go dark on Ron Burgundy, the legendary San Diego newsman turned iconic national co-anchor.
Out promoting his new indie film "Everything Must Go," Will Ferrell, who starred as the blustery, brain-dead late 70's local news anchor, blasted the suits at Paramount Pictures for their refusal to produce a sequel to the smash hit 2004 film "Anchorman."
The film, which cemented Ferrell's movie superstar status and brought Paul Rudd and Steve Carell to the forefront of comedy, grossed $90 million worldwide on a $26 million budget and is a regular television syndication favorite. Still, it's not enough to convince Paramount to green light a second film, Ferrell says.
"'Anchorman 2,' you'd have to really assert some kind of email hate campaign to Paramount picture because they've told us, quote unquote, 'We've run the numbers and it's not a good fit,'" Ferrell told an audience of journalists (via CinemaBlend).
The stop sign from Paramount means that an old school approach that Will Ferrell and Adam McKay had planned for the sequel will not be happening.
For now, we can ogle these rather stunning recent Mike Rosenthal photos of still sextastic Lindsay Lohan. These covered topless pictures just remind us that if Lindsay Lohan really wants to make up for her sins of the past, the very best way would be some sins of the future. Enjoy.
Before he gets back to Terminating, Arnold Schwarzenegger is going soft. And he'll be crying all the way to the bank.
Schwarzenegger is set to star in the film "Cry Macho," and will make a pretty penny for his big screen comeback. Deadline's Nikke Finke reports that the movie star turned Governor turned movie star again will play a Kentucky Derby-winning horse breeder who sinks to depression and alcoholism after losing his wife and kids.
A deal is being worked out, Finke reports, that will pay Schwarzenegger $10 million upfront and 25% first dollar gross on the back end. For his first major film since 2003, it's an impressive package.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Schwarzenegger gave more detail about the project.
"He's a little bit over-the-hill. The last two years didn't go so well. But then the owner of the horses gives him a challenge," the former Governor said. "He sends him to Mexico to get his son. The owner's wife cheated him out of a business and took their son, and the owner wants to pay her back, so he sends the trainer to get his kid."
Don't expect to see this one get its own ride at Disneyland anytime soon.
Emily Browning goes tastefully nude in the new Cannes poster for her Jane Campion-produced film, "Sleeping Beauty." There's no maiden in desperate need of a prince's kiss, though; Browning plays a girl lured into a world of secret prostitutes who convinced to take a drug that makes her comatose as clients fulfill their most twisted sex fantasies.
Browning, most recently of twisted fantasy film "Sucker Punch," landed the role after a real Disney princess, Mia Wasikowska, turned it down. Nice pickup for Browning; it looks like it could be an indie coup.
Long before the debut of People Magazine on March 4, 1974, one of the most popular forms of celebrity appearances was the "Mystery Guest" spot on What's My Line? The popular television game show originally ran on CBS from 1950 to 1967 with former television newsman John Charles Daly as its host.
During the "Mystery Guest" segments, the panel was required to wear blindfolds to prevent them from recognizing the mystery guest. What I always loved about these appearances is that the audience could see the mystery guest sign his name. The show's mystery celebrities would often try to disguise their voices to confuse the panelists (Gypsy Rose Lee stuffed marbles in her mouth).
Thanks to YouTube, many of the classic "Mystery Guest" segments from the show are now available online. As viewers watch these appearances from a distance of nearly half a century, they offer a fascinating look into a world of entertainment and celebrity lifestyles that seems much smaller, tamer, and more intimate than today's relentless publicity machines and rabid paparazzi.
April 11. It was Joel Grey's birthday and what a celebration: an opening of an exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York featuring a chronology of his life in the theater and his own photographs with an essay by playwright Jon Robin Baitz. Explaining Grey's particular eye, Baitz calls Grey a magician, "a very close observer" of the city around him.
Grey urges everyone to read what Jon wrote: Kathleen Marshall who is director/choreographer of Anything Goes, the revival everyone calls perfection, in which Grey sings, dances and whoops it up, starring with Sutton Foster. Ben Vereen, Sondra Lee and Bob Balaban greet Grey on this special night. Balaban says he's loaned a book Grey gave him to Kate Winslet, to wit he replies, Wow! Mildred Pierce wants my book!
Meantime, Grey was working on another play, The Normal Heart but this time as director. Because Grey would be performing in Anything Goes, George C. Wolfe would co-direct with Grey. In a switch, the director Joe Mantello would return to acting for the first time in 17 years. This week's opening, at the Golden Theater followed by a party at the Edison Ballroom was a who's who of New York theater: Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Gabriel Byrne, Jessica Lange, Cheyenne Jackson, Amy Ryan, Patricia Clarkson, Sam Mendes, Mike Nichols, Neil LaBute, Rosie Perez, Nathan Lane, Kelly Ripa, Tovah Feldshuh, to start.
Co-Producer Jayne Baron Sherman said that even now 26 years after the play's first run, the issues involved are relevant; she wanted to put author Larry Kramer, a pioneer in HIV-AIDS activism, in the spotlight. A witty, quick-paced, and moving account of those terrifying times in the first flourishing of the deadly disease when no one knew what it was and when those affected, mostly in the gay community, were dying in the proverbial phrase like flies, the play features a superb ensemble: Patrick Breen, John Benjamin Hickey, Lee Pace, Mark Harelik, Luke MacFarlane, Jim Parsons, Richard Topol, Wayne Alan Wilcox.
Joe Mantello plays Ned Weeks, a man much like Kramer, so freaked out at the numbers of friends afflicted by the painful and ostracizing illness, including his lover, that he became an activist insisting that attention be paid.
Ellen Barkin in her Broadway debut as a doctor who is treating this community is simply brilliant. The Outer Critics Circle has already nominated Barkin's performance and the revival for awards. Of course, because in this country mainly gays were dying, it took awhile, with many Bible thumpers gleefully spreading hate. The climate for hate mongering still exists, Sherman pointed out. Or to return to Baitz's words about Grey's photo of young boys, "You wonder how this image plays into his current production of Larry Kramer's masterpiece, The Normal Heart, which tells of how the old world powers that be ignored the signs at the beginning of the AIDS years, which led to the deaths of so many thousands of young boys like the ones he has just captured."
Whoops went up at the Edison as early raves were coming in for The Normal Heart and Joel Grey exulted: "Anything Goes and The Normal Heart. Can you imagine having that on your plate?" The yin and yang of theater. A Cole Porter musical, a colorful and exuberant crowd-pleaser and a politically heartfelt superb drama. Perfection.
The dress is not meant for someone with Amber's shape. Also, we're not sure if its the red lipstick or what . . . but Amber's not looking"special" like she usually does.
How Hunter Thompson and The Stones Drove a Spike into Hippie Hearts
Did you ever wake up to find/
A day that broke up your mind/
Destroyed your notion of circular time/
It's just that demon life has got you in its sway.
-- The Rolling Stones
Sticky Fingers
Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting -- on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave
We know nothing is sacred anymore. How else could a book, a movie about ethics, reason, written by a woman who epitomized the American dream, a woman who fled a totalitarian state, who championed individual rights, fall prey to Tea Party propaganda, liberal denigration and other distortions that go on and on depending on one's political beliefs or disbeliefs.
Atlas Shrugged Part 1, the recently released movie based on Ayn Rand's magnum opus, Atlas Shrugged, -- hijacked. Director Paul Johansson, actors: Taylor Schilling, Grant Bowler and Jsu Garcia, among others, bring Rand's characters to glorious life across this magnificent country of ours from East to West, coast to coast, evoking just what Americana is. This story hits us today, resonates just as it did when published over 50 years ago, its relevancy seemingly eternal. Why? Celebrating individual freedom, the power of one's vision, the power to create, to risk for what one believes, to work hard and make a good life, doesn't this represent classic American values?
Atlas Shrugged, still in print, reported to have sold over 25 million copies to date, proves Ayn Rand had and still has her finger on the proverbial pulse of not only America, but also the aspirations of world. When Atlas Shrugged was first published the majority of critical reviews were less than favorable. Obviously the people spoke and overrode the critics. It's time to speak again.
To quote Ayn Rand: "You don't have to see through the eyes of others." Why then are we seeing through the eyes of critics, naysayers, political propagandists, and falling victim to others' agendas. This is missing the point of Ayn Rand: individual freedom. Ayn Rand saw firsthand, experienced firsthand what happens when that freedom is denied. Lionized, demonized, she stood for individual freedom above all else because she personally experienced living under a repressive regime, under a philosophy of control that extended from dominating the world, the economy, religious thought, all aspects of life, our individual expression -- and yes control of our thoughts. Atlas Shrugged was created in response to these early formative years growing up in the Soviet Union and the fear that this system might prevail.
What was she espousing? The glory of man, the glory of the individual, the infinite possibilities we possess, can manifest, the power we have within us to be creators, doers, thinkers. In my opinion she wanted to open minds, hearts, show us how to think, to transcend dogma, politics, mores, cultures, to see all points of view not to stifle them, not to say this is what you should think. We all know to put the oxygen mask on ourselves first, then others. How can we help others if we ourselves are a burden? So we take care of ourselves first so we can take care of others if necessary. We rely on ourselves first before we seek a handout. Isn't this what America is all about? Why our ancestors came to this great land? Why Ayn Rand left her native country for our great shores.
Individual freedom means we are all entitled to our opinions. We all have varying tastes, likes and dislikes. Some may see the movie and hate it. Others come out raving. Personally when I was present for two screenings, the audience was ecstatic. I would say 98 percent of those who attended loved the movie. They were fans of the book thrilled to finally have Dagny Taggart, Hank Reardon and Francisco D'Anconia up on the big screen and excited to see the next installments.
In the spirit of Ayn Rand, let us not go quietly into the night. If we can agree with Ayn Rand and advocate the morality of rational self-interest, then don't sell yourself short. Judge for yourself. Go see the film. Don't let the hijackers get away with it.
I wanted to see six films today, but the Gasper Noe extravaganza Enter The Void was not the estimated 150 minutes but almost 180 minutes (without credits, no less), so I only saw five. Too bad they were all bad, to one degree or another. On the plus side, one of my picks of the fest -- Xavier Dolan's I Killed My Mother -- won three out of the four available prizes at the Directors Fortnight. I had already requested an interview so hopefully we'll be chatting Saturday or Sunday. And now, sigh, the five movies.
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS * 1/2 (out of four) -- This modest fantasy feels like a mishmash of the usual Terry Gilliam obsessions, but less so. A traveling troupe led by Christopher Plummer as Dr. Parnassus scurries around central London of today hoping to lure people into their magical mirror. On the other side? A fantastical world of the imagination where you are tempted with a choice between your basest desires (a one night stand with Johnny Depp; a drink at the bar for an alcoholic on the wagon) and a more challenging journey towards true and earned happiness. People usually choose the base desires. Tom Waits is lingering around in bohemian mode as Ole Scratch himself waiting for the lovely daughter of Dr. Parnassus to turn 16 so he can claim her. (They made a deal: immortal life in exchange for his first born child.) The appealing Andrew Garfield is a foundling they took in that is hopelessly in love with her. Heath Ledger is a disgraced public figure/con man hiding out from the Russian mob. When he travels into the imaginary world, he transforms into Depp or Jude Law or Colin Farrell -- a seamless way of making up for Ledger's tragic death that doesn't seem awkward or affect the film in the least creatively. The story is slight and uninspiring; you know you're in trouble right from the start because virtually every actor other than the leads is broadly cartoonish. But for me the biggest letdown of this mild movie is the special effects. Gilliam has been a standard bearer of sorts for old-fashioned special effects. You can feel the handmade complexity and detailed modeling that make Baron Munchausen, Brazil, Time Bandits and others so delightful. But almost all the effects in the Imaginarium are poorly detailed digital affect. You could call them dream-like but they're really just lazy and uninteresting. Ledger is fine in an unmemorable role with little resonance. We'll remember nis final triumph as The Dark Knight and celebrate the comradeship of the industry illustrated by the actors who stepped in to make this film happen.
THE SILENT ARMY * -- The road to cinematic hell is often paved with good intentions. This noble, purposeful film highlights the horrific trend of child soldiers throughout Africa: kids kidnapped by rebels/terrorists and forced to commit atrocities while being shamed/frightened into denying your past life. Numerous other films have been made and more are in the works but none yet have been artistically satisfying in the least. This one is typical: little black boy is best friends with little white boy. Black boy's family is slaughtered and he's taken to be a child soldier. White boy shames dad into idiotic journey into jungle to get the boy back. (I've reduced the characters to their racial identity because the film is so simple-minded. That's how it plays; no one comes alive as an actual living and breathing character.) Virtually all the actors are weak. An NGO worker spends all her time making a bemused/frustrated/admiring expression on her face when it comes to the dad. In perhaps the most bizarre plot twist, the dad reaches the rebels, gets the boy, and is allowed to leave with two armed guards accompanying them. Cut to them walking through the jungle and the dad jumps the guards and tries to knock them out, figuring he won't be let out alive. But then they pull back the camera and instead of waiting till he was a mile or two away from the armed camp filled with trigger happy rebels, the dad has made his big move literally feet away from the cruel and vicious leader and all his minions. Because why wait till you're out of sight of the enemy before jumping your armed guards? Laughable doesn't begin to cover it.
ENTER THE VOID * 1/2 -- Gasper Noe's follow-up to his terrific Irreversible is a nearly three hour glimpse at a young man who is shot by the police, arguably has his life flash before his eyes and then gets reincarnated as his sister's baby. It's technically proficient, but once you've seen a fly-over shot of Tokyo or rather once you've seen it eight or ten times the point of seeing it yet again begins to pale. Two orphaned siblings are at the heart of the story: a sister who strips at a Tokyo bar and a brother who is dealing drugs. At the very beginning of the film, overly aggressive police trying to bust him shoot the brother in the chest. We soon get loads of flashbacks showing how he became a dealer, seeing their parents die in a car crash, watching the brother sleep with a friend's mom to get money, getting drugs from a dealer and on and on, all while our hero refers endlessly to The Tibetan Book Of The Dead in order to prepare us for the reincarnation. The show-stopper here is certainly the shot of a penis entering a vagina
Once again, Eminem just doesn't give a fuck. Perhaps he never stopped, but the results of his, ahem, care-free attitude are vastly different on his fifth major label release. Call it a return to form (with a twist), as there's a sharp lyricist's fervor--recalling his days as a "true emcee"--one that was wholly absent from The Eminem Show and Encore (his third and fourth records). Relapse recaptures the angry verbal acrobatics from those first two records that sold a cajillion copies and caused every white kid in the suburbs to pour peroxide in his hair. And yet, despite re-bottling that immature angst, Relapse is different and, in a way, it's mature.
Contemporary pop culture knows everything about Eminem. They've followed the violent turns and lawsuits of the marriages, divorces, re-marriages and re-divorces with his star-crossed and beloved Kim, mother of his also-famous daughter, Hailie. Even if we've rarely seen a photograph of Hailie, she's been a character in his rhymes since the now-teenager was a toddler. His life was fictionalized, tweaked really, for an Oscar-winning film. We know everything about Marshall Mathers
The other day I blogged (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-david/adam-lambert-loses-homoph_b_206154.html) about Adam Lambert's "American Idol" loss being due to homophobia. It got a the biggest response of any HuffPost piece I've written, both positive, negative and outright nasty. In my post, I said, "Go ahead, give me another reason" why Lambert lost. And many posters here proceeded to call my bluff and, indeed, give me a piece of their minds and plenty of other reasons.
I see what they are all talking about, appreciate the comments, and I agree that for many it is just a simple matter of taste and has nothing to do with homophobia. I stand corrected. I shall proceed to wrap my body in barbed wire, throw acid in my face, and do penance.
I also neglected to properly congratulate Kris Allen on winning fair and square. Congratulations, Kris, if you care. You're my American Idol. Although worshiping you is breaking a Commandment, I will come to your concert and throw my panties at you and say "Awww" when you get all red in the face.
Some of the critics of my piece called me a 'typical knee-jerk liberal' playing the 'victim mentality.' To clarify, I am not a liberal. I am a pragmatic moderate. My views are all over the place. For example, I believe in capital punishment, and since I was a former teacher, I believe in starting it at the 8th grade level.
But while I am not at all one of those 'knee-jerk liberals' who screams, "homophobia!" or "racism!" when something doesn't go my way, I still believe that homophobia played a part, however big or small, in the Idol results, maybe enough to tip the scales against Lambert. I didn't get this idea all by my lonesome. Some said, "What research do you base this assumption on?"
I will now confess to a guilty pleasure/unhealthy obsession: I visit conservative and right-wing websites, read articles, and read posters' comments. I'm a comedian looking for material. I also like to see how people think, especially those completely unlike me. Sometimes reading these threads makes my blood pressure rise to the level of a shell-shocked Vietnam Vet watching a fireworks display. There is a huge amount of unchecked id in the land. One poster, commenting on Wanda Sykes' comedy routine at the White House Correspondent's Dinner, called her a "nignoramus." Clever word, but yeeeeow.
On some of these websites, I read nasty comments about Lambert. I will not repeat them, but they were all anti-gay and had nothing to do with him, his artistry or talent. Reading these posts made me naturally assume that there were a good many people out there who don't like him because he's either gay or perceived to be.
Some also took me to task for use of the word 'homophobia.' 'Homophobia' literally means 'fear of homosexuals.' Homophobes, especially, resent being called homophobic. One poster wrote, literally, "I'm not prejudiced, but I do not want a gay American Idol. I do not want my children to grow up like him." That, to me, says "fear."
But I can see why some reacted negatively to my post. Lambert's loss could be because of anything -- the judges' blatant favoritism, Adam's flair for the outrageous, the Danny Gokey vote, or simple taste in music and performance. One thing is for certain: they guy's a star. We're all wasting our valuable time talking about him.
In the end, Idol is just a dumb television show a bunch of us got addicted to, the perfect cure for the downturn blues. It cracks me up how passionate people get about these things, including me. Now that Idol is over, we can all return to our lives and deal with more pressing matters, like Miss California's breast implants.
LOS ANGELES — Natalie Cole's sister, actress Carol Cole, has died. She was 64.
Natalie Cole's publicist, Maureen O'Connor, says Carol Cole died Monday, the same day Natalie received a kidney transplant.
The singer was by her older sister's side when she learned that a donor organ had become available.
Carol Cole, who went by the nickname Cookie, appeared on her father's "The Nat King Cole Show" on television in the 1950s and went on to appear on TV and in movies in the 1960s and '70s. Her credits include "Sanford and Son" and the 1974 movie "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three."
The final portion of the draft's first round is where most of the big spenders have their draft choices. The Angels, Red Sox, Yankees and Cubs all hold picks between twenty-one and thirty-two, and if a big bonus seeking high schooler drops into this range, the drama begins. Several premiere prep players, headed by Jacob Turner, Max Stassi, and Matt Purke, could drop into the latter part of the first round due to signability concerns and rake in record-breaking money if one of the big-market teams is willing to comply.
* Denotes a compensation pick.
21. Houston Astros - Bobby Borchering, 3B, Bishop Verot HS (FL)
The Buzz: Right now, the Astros' farm system is a disaster and they have to focus on taking the best player available. Borchering fits that description as a big switch hitter with good power who has the ability to play third base.
22. Minnesota Twins - James Paxton, LHP, Kentucky
The Buzz: A British Columbia native, Paxton possesses a blazing fastball and a sweeping slurve that sits around 80 and can keep opposing hitters off balance. His results have been up and down this year, but I still see him landing near the middle of the first round.
23. Chicago White Sox - Jared Mitchell, OF, Louisiana State
The Buzz: Mitchell was a football and baseball star at LSU and is considered the top college athlete in the draft. Because of the time spent playing football, Mitchell is naturally a little more raw than most college players, but his tools are all there and the White Sox would be glad if he fell to them at twenty-three.
*24. Los Angeles Angels - Everett Williams, OF, McCallum HS (TX)
The Buzz: Following the best college athlete is one of the best prep athletes in Everett Williams. He is slightly undersized, but he's got a very well developed bat and is the kind of athletic do-it-all player that the Angels organization craves.
*25. Los Angeles Angels - Kyle Heckathorn, RHP, Kennesaw State
The Buzz: Heckathorn stands at an imposing 6-foot-6 on the bump and flaunts a fastball that has been clocked as high as 99 mph on the gun. He backs his heater up with a sinking two-seamer, a strong change-up, and a slider. He has not had as much success as he would like during his junior season, but his stuff alone should keep him in the first round.
26. Milwaukee Brewers - Chad Jenkins, RHP, Kennesaw State
The Buzz: Wouldn't that be something? Two righties from Kennesaw State going back-to-back in the first round. Jenkins has outpitched his teammate Heckathorn to the tune of a 2.54 ERA and has only allowed opponents to hit .229 off him. The Brewers have a lack of pitching prospects in their organization, so Jenkins seems like a sound choice.
*27. Seattle Mariners - Eric Arnett, RHP, Indiana
The Buzz: With their second pick of the first round, the Mariners will likely look for pitching if they do indeed spend their first pick on North Carolina's Dustin Ackley. Arnett is a imposing righty with a fastball averaging in the mid- to high-90s, and he is putting a solid junior year together after a slow start to his collegiate career.
28. Boston Red Sox - Tony Sanchez, C, Boston College
The Buzz: If any of the potential big bonus babies such as Jacob Turner, Max Stassi or Matt Purke fall this far, Boston will look to snatch them in an instant. However, if they are all off the board, look for the Red Sox to select a player like Tony Sanchez with this pick. After 201 at bats, Sanchez has hit 14 homers and is getting on base at a .450 clip for Boston College.
*29. New York Yankees - Mike Trout, OF, Millville HS (NJ)
The Buzz: The story about the bonus seekers applies here as well with the Yankees. If they can't nab one of them, they may look towards a local in Mike Trout who possesses great tools highlighted by top-notch speed and a "gritty" style of play.
30. Tampa Bay Rays - Wil Myers, C, High Point Wesleyan Christian Academy (NC)
The Buzz: With one of the top farm systems in baseball and a young and talented major league squad, the Rays have few organizational weaknesses aside from catcher. Myers has a well developed bat and the versatility to play other positions on the field if need be but would likely stick to catching if he gets chosen by Tampa.
31. Chicago Cubs - Rich Poythress, 1B, Georgia
The Buzz: Poythress has seen his draft stock slip since the season began, but in a draft which is so shallow on collegiate power hitters, he may still see his way into the first round. Although his performance may have not reflected it this year, he still has potential to be a legitimate power hitter at the professional level.
*32. Colorado Rockies - A. J. Pollock, OF, Notre Dame
The Buzz: The Rockies have taken college players with their first pick in each of the last four drafts and Pollock's well-developed skill set may cause them to make it five in a row. With three of the first thirty-four picks, the Rockies are on a budget and will also be intrigued by Pollock's signability.
The "American Idol" also-ran has blasted this season's runner-up on his Web site, mocking Lambert's rendition of "Ring of Fire" as "contrived," "awful" and "slightly frightening."
According to Aiken, he tunes into the show about once a season _ and this year, he caught Lambert's take on Johnny Cash and thought his ears would bleed.
But wait _ there's more. Aiken aims his vitriol on "Idol" itself. He thinks the series showed bias for Lambert over eventual champ Kris Allen and has focused on "slick productions and polished contestants" rather than raw talent.
Aiken lost out to Ruben Studdard in 2003. He's since released several albums, appeared on Broadway and publicly confirmed he's gay.
SAG and AFTRA announced yesterday that their combined paid-up membership, about 132,000 members, overwhelmingly ratified the contracts between the unions and the advertising industry. The result was expected, as there was no organized opposition. About 28% returned their ballots, about typical. Of those voting, about 94% voted yes. The deals expire March 31, 2012.
The news from the TV/theatrical side is nowhere near as placid. The ballots went out a few days ago--they're due back June 9--and SAG's conducting a series of town hall meetings across the country. The first was last night in Hollywood, and the fur flew. About 600 people attended; although the crowd was reportedly 70% composed of hardline Membership First partisans, they didn't manage to fill the room. That's a bit surprising. I'd expected an overflow crowd, given their (apparent?) strength in Hollywood.
What they slightly lacked in numbers, they made up in volume and conviction, according to sources inside the room. Fellow MF-ers like SAG President Alan Rosenberg were applauded for their statements against ratification, while pro-contract voices such as SAG interim National Executive Director David White were booed. The approximately three-hour confab kicked off with statements from the dais, and was mostly taken up by member questions and comments, which were described as overwhelmingly anti-ratification.
That dais, by the way, included SAG Secretary/Treasurer Connie Stevens, chief negotiator John McGuire, White, SAG 1st VP Anne-Marie Johnson (who chaired the meeting), Unite for Strength leader Ned Vaughn, UFS-er Stacey Travis, Deputy NED Ray Rodriguez, and Rosenberg. General Counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland responded to questions from time to time.
According to Vaughn, Rosenberg was asked at the meeting what he proposed the union do if it voted down the deal. Rosenberg apparently replied that the union should get a strike authorization and then, if necessary, strike. How he expects to conjure up the necessary 75% vote for a strike authorization is unclear. In contrast to that high hurdle, it only takes 50% + 1 (a simple majority) to ratify the deal.
More colorful speakers at the meeting were Ed Asner and Seymour Cassel. Asner compared the contract's effect on actors to "taking the Jews out and shooting them," leading one audience member to comment that he hadn't expected Holocaust metaphors at a SAG meeting. Well, why not? SAG politics seem to know no bounds.
Cassel, for his part, spotted former SAG president Melissa Gilbert, a moderate, and, standing at the mic, told the room that she was a [nasty word]. This was understandably too much for Johnson, as chair of the meeting, and she ordered Cassel to leave. Out in the hallway, Cassel told me that "I tend to speak my mind, perhaps too candidly." That certainly seems true. UPDATE: I have been contacted by Peaches Johnson, Bonnie Bartlett and Anne-Marie Johnson, who tell me that Cassel did not use a nasty word in reference to Gilbert. Bartlett, referring to Cassel as a "naughty boy," told me Cassel did refer to Gilbert dismissively, but not using nasty language. Johnson told me that she later ejected Cassel because he responded to one of David White's comments by saying "bullshit." I regret the error.
Another notable out in the hall was Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura on the original Star Trek. We chatted briefly about the Star Trek movie, not SAG politics, let alone Trekian essays about SAG politics. There was also a Jack Nicholson lookalike, wearing a snappy suit, white shoes, and tinted eyeglasses. Maybe it was Jack Nicholson, but somehow I wouldn't expect to see him aimlessly wandering the halls at a SAG meeting and using the hotel ATM.
David White chatted for a bit after the meeting, and explained the contrast between his reaction to the studios' February offer (it "sucks," he said at the time) and the current one ("a good deal with solid gains," he told me yesterday, and, in the context of the economy and the dragged out negotiating process, even a "fantastic" one). The key difference is the contract expiration date, which in the current deal is synchronized with the WGA, AFTRA and DGA (mid-2011). In the February deal, it wasn't, and the significance is that synchronicity allows at least some of the unions to make common cause and present a united front when the contract is up.
White previously predicted the deal would pass, so this time I asked whether he thought it would pass in Hollywood. (That's not necessary for passage, but it would give some signal of a reduction in divisiveness within the union.) He predicted it would, citing the strong messages of support he was receiving from Hollywood members (though not at the meeting), but noting judiciously that "members will vote their conscience."
Ned Vaughn also told me the deal would pass, both in Hollywood and nationally. He pointed to the importance of consolidating gains and negotiating in solidarity with other unions, especially AFTRA, in 2011. I asked if he thought SAG and AFTRA would be merged by 2011, and he replied that he "would love it if they were."
A contrasting post-meeting voice was MF stalwart and SAG board member Clancy Brown, who explained his opposition to the deal in more measured terms than Asner and Cassel had used. He argued that "there's a better deal out there to be had," and cited "the paltry Internet move over residual" and the "larcenous" force majeure settlement as reasons.
The day before, I spoke with 2nd VP Sam Freed, who is president of the New York board, and separately with board member Mike Pniewski of Atlanta, both supporters of ratification. The latter predicted the deal will pass, and commented that the guild "got the best deal we can." He cited a variety of positive aspects of the deal, and underlined the need for "stability in the marketplace" for labor.
Freed pointed to the estimated $105 million value of the deal, and said it addresses "the plight of the middle class actor." He emphasized that the level of concern MF expresses over new media was not supported by current figures: of $1.3 billion in SAG earnings in 2008, Freed told me only 0.05% came from new media. (That's one-twentieth of one percent, not 5%.) Alluding to the opposition, he quipped "There's a guy who would be complaining if it was raining vegetable soup and he only had a fork in his hand."
In other union news, Variety reports that 85 year-old actor Theodore Bikel "has been re-elected to an 11th two-year term as president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America." The 4-A's, as it's known, is in turn a unit of the AFL-CIO. Its affiliates are AFTRA, SAG, Actors' Equity and several smaller performers unions:American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), and the Guild of Italian American Actors. AFTRA has a direct charter with the AFL-CIO, awarded last year. The other unions are chartered with the 4-A's, as far as I know, and derive their AFL-CIO affiliation that way (as did AFTRA prior to 2008).
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This Memorial Day Weekend, 75% of PBS stations across the U.S. will broadcast Fighting For Life, a feature documentary I made about military medicine, the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, and the wounded. The film focuses on the incredible skill, compassion and dedication of military doctors, nurses, medics and medevac teams, and the heroic "fight that begins when the battle ends." As one nurse in a combat support hospital says in the film, "It's a great mission to be on the life-saving end of things."
Though Memorial Day is traditionally a time to remember and honor those killed in war -- and the ongoing hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in over 5,000 American dead -- it is equally important on this day to remember and reflect on the fact that for every soldier or marine killed, there are 10 who were wounded and survived, many with profound and devastating disabilities. And there are tens of thousands of others who have suffered the hidden wounds of post traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury.
The current revolution in body armor and battlefield care has greatly reduced battlefield fatalities, with soldiers now surviving what previously would have been fatal wounds. Stabilized downrange, seriously wounded soldiers are evacuated on C-17 flying intensive care units to the U.S. military hospital in Germany where they are further stabilized and flown to hospitals in the U.S. The care is superb, but the wounds are often heart-breaking -- many young men and women with missing body parts -- some with triple amputations.
In filming Fighting For Life, we were tremendously impressed with the courage, dignity and determination to heal of the wounded. As Lt. Col. Paul Pasquina, medical director of the Walter Reed Amputee program says in the film, "The thing that keeps us going is the attitude of our patients. The way these soldiers feed off one another, motivate one another, and push the limits of medicine and rehabilitation is incredible to see."
For Spc. Crystal Davis, the tough, spirited 21 year-old who lost a leg below the knee in an IED blast, and whom we were privileged to follow from Iraq through to Walter Reed, "It's all a mind game. If you let it get the best of you, you won't survive. But if you keep your head up high, and you set goals for yourself to achieve, and you achieve those goals, then you'll make it." I'm happy to report that Crystal is definitely making it. Out of the Army now, and living in Augusta Georgia, Crystal has a 3 month old baby son and is studying to be a Physical Therapist Assistant, planning to work directly with amputees.
I came away from filming "Fighting For Life" with a hope that the lasting legacy of the documentary would be to help remind us of our obligation to the wounded. I fear that 15 years from now, they may be forgotten. And that would be truly tragic. Col. Pasquina says in the film, "I remind my folks, all the time, that many of our soldiers coming back injured are 19, 20, 21, young individuals who will have these disabilities or impairments for the rest of their lives. We need to be committed to care for them, not just today or tomorrow, but for the next 20, 30, even 50 or 60 years."
It's a sobering and important thought for Memorial Day.
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — Bruce Springsteen will be closing Giants Stadium.
The rocker told fans at the nearby Izod Center on Thursday that he and his "wrecking crew," the E Street Band, will be the final musical act before the stadium is demolished after the 2009 football season.
Three shows are scheduled on Sept. 30, Oct. 2 and Oct. 3. Tickets will go on sale June 1.
Over the course of nearly three hours, Bruce and the boys performed a 20-song show and six encores Thursday. They'll return to the Izod Center on Saturday.
The New Jersey native has sold-out 44 concerts at the center and 16 at Giants Stadium, making him the area's top-selling artist.
CANNES, France — Heath Ledger's zeal roused his co-stars to up their game in his final film, and his death inspired them _ and three A-list friends who completed his role _ to carry on with a story the late actor had wanted to see, director Terry Gilliam said Friday.
As Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, the filmmaker said Ledger almost co-directed the film.
"Heath was enjoying himself so much, and he was ad-libbing a lot, which I don't normally allow
Alberta Cross Alberta Cross is the blues-rock quintette founded by Stockholm native Petter Ericson Stakee (vocals, guitar) and Londoner Terry Wolfers (bass) in 2005. Guitarist Sam Kearney, drummer Austin Beede, and keyboardist Alec Higginson round out the Brooklyn-based unit. Alberta Cross has a passionate and profound '70s mysticism amidst sincere rock-'n'-roll swagger. Check out the arresting "Song Three Blues" on their MySpace page--it satisfies. Currently on tour.
Buy: MySpace Genre: Rock Artist: Alberta Cross Song: Song Three Blues Tour: Visit
Dmitri Shostakovich Revolutionary 20th-century composer/pianist Dmitri Shostakovich was born in Russia in 1906. Considered a child prodigy, Dmitri began with piano and then moved on to composition. By the age of 19, he penned his first symphony and graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Dogged throughout his early career by Stalin's minions, he fell into a deep depression after being thrust into the Communist straitjacket in 1960. Along with an Academy Award nomination in 1961, his accolades include the 1966 Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal and national awards from Austria (1967) and Denmark (1973). In 1975, Shostakovich passed away in Moscow. His catalog is extensive and brilliant. Start with "Twenty-Four Preludes & Fugues, Op.87: No.1 in C Major (Moderato)" from Great Recordings of the Century - Shostakovich.
Buy: iTunes Genre: Classical Artist: Dmitri Shostakovich Song: Twenty-Four Preludes & Fugues, Op.87: No.1 in C Major (Moderato) Album: Great Recordings of the Century - Shostakovich
Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons Wisconsin-based singer/songwriter Cory Chisel has the voice of an old soul. As the son of a Baptist minister, he grew up with gospel music and his mother's piano playing. His musical army, The Wandering Sons, includes 
Adriel Harris,
 Miles Nielsen,
 Dan McMahon, Adam Plamann, and Noah Harris. Chisel is an authentic artist who knows how to pull tears out of a phrase. The title "On My Side," from his 2008 Cabin Ghosts EP will disarm you. Currently touring.
Buy: iTunes Genre: Americana Artist: Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons Song: On My Side Album: Cabin Ghosts EP Tour: Visit
Sol Hoopii Hawaiian steel-guitarist/jazz virtuoso Sol Hoopii was born in 1902, the youngest of 21 children in Honolulu. Relocating to L.A. during the roaring '20s, Hoopii started his recording career, creating his thumbprint concoction of jazz, ragtime, folk, country, and blues. He also developed his own guitar tunings. After recording several sides, he devoted himself to spreading the Gospel. His credits include cameo appearances in Bing Crosby and Charlie Chan films. In 1953, Hoopii passed away in Seattle. Remember him with his Appalachian Hawaiian blend "Kauoha Mai," recorded in the 1930s, from the History of Hawaiian Steel Guitar collection.
Buy: iTunes Genre: Hawaiian Folk Artist: Sol Hoopii Song: Kauoha Mai Album: History of Hawaiian Steel Guitar
Half Cousin Half Cousin is Scottish-born frontman Kevin Cormack and producer Jimmy Hogarth. Self-described as distorted junkyard pop, this London-based avant-folk electro-unit pulls in unexpected ways. With a million different musical flavors to choose from, including percussive coat hangers and recyclables, Half Cousin is all its own. Collaborations include Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Ingrid Eto (of Zero 7), members of the Mescaleros, and a rotating collective of remixers. Innovative and fearless, "The Diary Fire," from Half Cousin's 2004 debut album The Function Room, leaves the mind full.
Buy: iTunes Genre: Folk Electronica Artist: Half Cousin Song: The Diary Fire Album: The Function Room
The Chalets The Chalets are the Dublin-based quintette of Peepee (keyboards, glockenspiel), Pony (keyboards, glockenspiel), Enda (guitar), Chris (bass), and Dylan (drums). Founded in 2001, their music feels like a party that's been going on since the '80s. The Chalets picked up the 2005 Best New Band trophy at the Irish Meteor Awards. But most unfortunately, the unit split up in 2008. Get "Sexy Mistake," from their 2005 release Check In, and blast it.
Buy: iTunes Genre: Pop/Rock Artist: The Chalets Song: Sexy Mistake Album: Check In
Kiefer Sutherland joined Jimmy Fallon Thursday night, and Jimmy joked about the Met gala a few weeks ago that ended with Kiefer charged with assault for allegedly headbutting designer Jack McCollough and breaking his nose.
"The last time I saw you, we went out to dinner and then
Tom Cruise enjoyed a night out with son Connor at the Staples Center Thursday night, as the Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.
Connor, 14, is Cruise's son with ex Nicole Kidman.
Earlier in the week, daughter Suri went to American Idol with with Katie Holmes. The pair were shown momentarily during Tuesday night's final performances.
Director/co-screenwriter Stephan Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert) had his work cut out for him in adapting one of Noel Coward's more obscure plays. Coward continues to cast a long and glamorous shadow as American audiences currently enjoy his better known and well-loved play Blithe Spirit on Broadway (with a cast that includes Angela Lansbury, Christine Ebersole, Rupert Everett, Jayne Atkinson and Susan Louise O'Connor).
Easy Virtue was originally written in 1924 when Noel Coward was 23 years old. It was later adapted into a silent film and dark thriller by Alfred Hitchcock in 1928 and now, back into a light comedy about post-WWI English mores and manners at the dawn of the modern Jazz Age by Stephan Elliott and co-writer Sheridan Jobbins.
A wildly naive and well-born young Englishman John Whittaker (Ben Barnes) is smitten by and quickly marries Larita (Jessica Biel), a modern American woman whom he meets in, of all places, the "scandal ridden" French Riviera! With a shady past, hair as platinum as Jean Harlow's (always a recipe for "trouble") and zany, current circumstances that find her racing cars in Monaco, how can a flapper girl bordering on 30 adapt herself to jolly old England?
A daughter of working-class Detroit, Larita accompanies John home for "a few days" to meet his parents in their enormous estate in the English countryside. While his dissociated, WWI-fatigued father (Colin Firth) decidedly approves, John's formidable mother (Kristin Scott Thomas) couldn't be more opposed to the impulsive union.
Upon meeting her new "Mum-in-law," Veronica Whittaker, an eager-to-please Larita exclaims, "The pleasure is all mine." Mrs. Whittaker drolly replies, "Oh, you're American." Thus begins the battle of the quickly tarnishing Victorian gentry of post-WWI England vs. the shiny new platinum Art Deco era of the roaring 20s whose motto was "Let's Misbehave!"
On the surface, Veronica and Larita couldn't be more different. Veronica is an accomplished equestrian, while Larita shocks the English gentry during a fox hunt by riding a motorcycle. Larita longs to live in London, while Veronica is determined to keep the couple sequestered in the country. Veronica adores flowers. Larita is allergic to flowers. Veronica is basically allergic to Larita. You get the picture.
Much of the film revolves around the battle of the aristocratic matriarch vs. the modern flapper, but there is also plenty of subtext and back story about the father and son. John has decided to remain at the manor when it is revealed that the family is in dire straights financially. He clings to his love for Larita until news arrives from a relative in London about her status as a widow whose husband died under suspicious circumstances. The straw that truly breaks the camel's back, however, is a scandalous tango at Veronica's annual Christmas ball between Larita and Mr. Whittaker, who seems to have come back to life (a potent tango can do that to people).
Newlyweds Ben Barnes as John Whittaker and Jessica Biel as Larita a modern American woman with a penchant for fast cars, motorcycles, multiple scandals and, in the end, older men. Photo: Sony Classics.
While director Stephan Elliott may not have the "Lubitsch touch" (think Cluny Brown, Ernst Lubitsch's 1946 masterpiece poking fun at English manners and starring Jennifer Jones, with sublime comic timing, as a plumber's niece flung into the manner born), his film is beautifully photographed and masterfully designed to show the contrasts between a fading, formerly golden Victorian England and the blinding platinum glory of the emerging Art Deco era. This is also reflected in the costumes (note Larita's tony evening gowns against the worn velvets and satins of her sister-in-laws) and in the sets (compare the frayed edges of the manor's period furniture with Larita's impeccably polished motor car), which make for a completely consistent and symbolically meaningful visual style.
Regarding performances, Biel's role is central and the most demanding. It's hard to tell if she's sometimes stiff from a lack of experience and training or because the intent is to make her character seem uncomfortable and out of place. She doesn't fit in, but whether it's the character's authentic uneasiness or the actress is in over her head is hard to figure out. Biel is not without her charms in several scenes, but in trying to portray a "fiery" siren, she's just too restrained.
While playing casting director is not a film reviewer's primary job, one cannot help but imagine if this film had been done in the early '30's, the role of Larita might have been played by Bette Davis or Barbara Stanwyck each of whom had several turns as fiery platinum blondes battling class conflict. In the 90s, Jennifer Jason Leigh might have played the misbehaving flapper to great effect. In 1996, Kristin Scott Thomas herself could have been plucked fresh off the set of The English Patient, in which she played the passionate, independent and very blonde Katharine Clifton, and had her turn as Larita.
Kristin Scott Thomas as the matriarchal, mother-in-law Mrs. Whittaker flanked by her daughters in fading evening wear in Easy Virtue. Photo: Sony Classics.
What is obvious in this current production are the almost seamless performances of Scott Thomas and Kris Marshall (Furber, the butler) in their charming, just slightly-over-the top but well-crafted character roles. Their timing for light comedy and English wit is impressive. More scenes with Furber would have been a desirable and delightful touch.
Colin Firth gives a nuanced performance as the titular head of the Whittaker brood. His background, like Biel's, is shady and fraught with trauma, which makes them kindred spirits from the start. He plays the lost WWI veteran racked with survivor's guilt, who will never again be able to blend into the English countryside, with sincere melancholy.
Easy Virtue is well done in many respects and mostly entertaining, but ends with a cliche that's no real surprise. It's a well-intentioned, made-for-grown ups film that you really want to love, but, at best, only like. It requires a stronger actress to play the pivotal leading lady on which so much of the film depends.
Easy Virtue (2008) Directed by Stephan Elliott. Screenwriters: Mr. Elliott and Sheridan Jobbins adapted from the play by Noel Coward. Released by Sony Picture Classics. Running time: 1 hour 36 minutes. Starring: Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Barnes, Kris Marshall, Kimberley Nixon (Hilda), Katharine Parkinson (Marion), Pip Torrens (Lord Hurst), Christian Brassington (Phillip), Charlotte Riley (Sarah). Opens Friday, May 22, 2009 in limited release.
NEW YORK -- Has Kate Gosselin been cheating on her husband, Jon? Has Jon been cheating on Kate? And have they been pulling the wool over their viewers' eyes?
What manner of reality have they and their eight conscripted co-stars (that is, their children) been dispensing to the multitudes who follow "Jon & Kate Plus 8"?
Questions have raged in recent weeks amid reports of marital strife and off-screen mischief. Splashed across Web sites and magazine covers are accounts of infidelity by both spouses -- Jon with a 23-year-old schoolteacher and Kate with her bodyguard (accusations both of them deny).
Can this marriage be saved? How about the series? "Saturday Night Live" weighed in last week by joking about two replacement shows: "Jon Plus 4" and "Kate Plus 4."
But as the Gosselin homestead seems increasingly at odds with the happy, wholesome version of reality approved by TLC, one thing is sure: Viewers are stoked to watch "Jon & Kate Plus 8" when it returns on TLC for a new season Monday at 9 p.m. EDT.
Two months ago, more than 4.6 million viewers flocked to the fourth-season finale. But now, for better or worse, "Jon & Kate" has raised its must-see stakes. There's significantly more suspense than was ever in the show's original concept: rearing a house-full of twins and sextuplets.
The suspense is surely felt at TLC. It must strike a balance between the racy new reality of its monster hit series, and holding firm to what the network stands for: family friendly fare.
"Attention and big audience are desirable," said Robert Passikoff, president of the market research firm Brand Keys, "but not at the expense of the network's brand -- or the audience and advertisers who like the show the way it is.
"I can't imagine this does anything to reinforce the core values of TLC or the show itself."
TLC has withheld any comment on the "Jon & Kate" media firestorm, apart from declaring support for the family and "respecting their needs as they work through this challenging time."
Meanwhile, the network has been scrambling to finish the season kickoff, promising it will properly address the negative publicity bombarding the Gosselins.
A challenging time, indeed.
"This is certainly not the way the network would have preferred things to go," Larry Gerbrandt, a principal of Media Valuation Partners, noted.
Since "Jon & Kate" premiered two years ago, TLC has been the proud custodian not only of a show with broadcast-network-size viewership, but also of a merchandising golden goose. (Latest samples from the product line include Kate's third book, due this fall, with nearly a million copies of her first two books in print, according to their publisher, Zondervan. And another batch of series DVDs will be hitting stores in July.)
Can TLC navigate the stormy, uncharted waters and keep the franchise intact?
"They've got some tough choices to make," Gerbrandt said. "They must handle it with great sensitivity."
Like maybe: Add marriage counseling to the narrative mix.
"They could bring in a Dr. Phil," suggested Gerbrandt.
Of course, it isn't just up to the network and producers. The stars of the show will obviously have some say. After a decade of marriage, do Jon (age 32) and Kate (34) mean to stay together -- or at least recommit to a convincing simulation of togetherness for the cameras?
"Kate and I obviously have been going through a lot of stuff, and discussing what's best for our kids," Jon says in his roundabout way during a "sneak peek" clip from Monday's episode, posted online by TLC a few days ago.
"My kids are the reason I have always done everything," says Kate.
If the Gosselins are discussing anything, it would seem to be by e-mail. In the two-minute excerpt, each addresses the camera seated solo on a sofa. And in scenes at their sextuplets' fifth birthday party, each gives the other a wide berth.
A recent People magazine story quoted Kate Gosselin saying she and Jon had struggled with their marriage for months.
"I don't know that we're in the same place anymore, that we want the same thing," she said.
It's the sort of sentiment that clashes with the feel-good tone of past shows that has Kate declaring in the title sequence, "We're a family," as Jon chimes in, "We're in this together."
Granted, a certain stress level was always part of the show's recipe. Kate came off as snippy, Jon as taciturn. Their less-than-perfect relationship was just another way that made them seem relatable to viewers.
"She's so emasculating, it's just a matter of how much is he going to take? There's tension every episode between them," said Jessica Remo.
Remo, a contributing writer for Philadelphia magazine, was a big fan of the show, which she found "cute and adorable," when a few months ago she began reporting an article on the Gosselin phenomenon.
"Jon + Kate + 8 $$$" appeared in the magazine's March issue. While sidestepping any mention of marriage vows broken, the article charted a vivid distinction between being a family and performing as a TV-friendly family-for-hire.
Now Remo wonders how her story, and the recent avalanche of tabloid coverage, could have caught the Gosselins off-guard.
"You're selling your privacy and going on television," Remo said. "You guys are celebrities, your show is a hit, and everybody wants to know about you."
And that sums up the plight of "Jon & Kate" as it begins its planned 40-episode new season. It must bridge the gap between the Gosselins its viewers used to think they knew, and an alternate, less sanitized family the media are racing to expose.
"Viewers aren't stupid. You've got to explain it away somehow," said Remo, laying out the challenge facing TLC. "But I think even if the network doesn't do it well, people will still watch. It's human nature: They want to see what happens next."
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