Patrick Dempsey appeared on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show yesterday and, yes, the conversation turned to actress Brooke Smith's recent axing from ABC's Grey's Anatomy.
Some suspect ABC gave Smith the boot because her on-screen lesbian relationship was getting a bit too serious. Dempsey gave no credence to those rumors — not because they're not true, but because network executives told him what to say:
CAN YOU TAKE HEIGL WITH YOU? Spoiler alert: "Brooke Smith ends her run as Dr. Erica Hahn this Thursday on the ABC hit Grey's Anatomy. She joined the cast last season as the outspoken and brash Dr. Hahn, quickly becoming a fan favorite. On Thursday's episode Dr. Hahn made a weepy declaration that she was a lesbian after her bond with Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) quickly moved into relationship territory. EW.com's Michael Ausiello reported Monday that the relationship's fast clip may have factored in the decision to dump Smith. But show creator Shonda Rhimes denied the allegation."
Barack Obama is making a repeat appearance on The Daily Show this Wednesday guys!
The interview, combined with the highly anticipated(?) 30 minute infomercials Obama bought time for on NBC, Fox, and CBS tomorrow, means that ABC is the only major network (besides the CW, which only counts if you are voting Chuck Bass for prez) not featuring anything Obama-related in their prime-time lineup.
So what possible reason is there for ABC not airing a Barack-tastic Wednesday?
Magical tool David Blaine is pulling every excuse out of thin air for his failed stunt Wednesday night. First it was George W. Bush's fault (well, everything is, really). Now it's Mother Nature's fault, because she had the audacity to ruin his plans for "the most amazing ending for a stunt ever" (his words, not ours) with high winds.
Blaine said his grand finale of diving from a platform 44 feet to the ground while attached to a harness didn't go according to plan. He was supposed to jump and, at 10 feet, be swept away by a bunch of helium-filled balloons. Instead, he dangled awkwardly for a moment before disappearing in an ascent into the night sky.
Blaine said ABC, which aired the event in a two-hour special called David Blaine: Dive of Death, had encouraged him not to dive because of high winds. 'I wasn't going to let everybody down, so I just jumped, and somehow the guys with the balloons made it work, and they pulled me slowly up and I went over into the park and they pulled me down,' he said.
He went on to add that he knew the stunt had failed when his friends called him afterward to ask what happened because they were confused. DB? Those aren't your friends. That was every American idiot who sat through your ABC special. Don't get the two confused.
Um, what the hell just happened? No, seriously. I have never been more confused and at a loss for words than I am at this very moment.
I chose to witness the David Blaine Dive of Death from the comfort of my living room instead of trekking over to Central Park to hang out with Crazy Jennifer. The ABC special lasted over two hours — packed with filler and the host's false claims that David had stayed in an upside-down position for 60 hours — and Blaine still couldn't complete his stunt in time. He performed some of his world-famous card tricks, he caught a bullet in (a metal cup in) his mouth, and then he performed the Dive of Death. This DoD was never fully explained, so the DB-hating roommate and I just sat staring at the screen in utter confusion as he dove from a 44-foot-high platform while attached to a harness. He got stuck about halfway down and then was lifted back into the air. This is where things got really weird: The production crew flickered the lights on and off a few times and then cut away from David in the air, claiming he "vanished into the night." And … credits.
You know, I might have been willing to forgive David for his lack of a stunt if it ended in something truly awesome, but this? This was a waste of my time and could have been performed by a 5-year-old. I'm still confused.
[Video will be added as it is made available, but trust me ... if you stare at a dripping faucet for over two hours it will be infinitely more entertaining.]
Update: Video after the jump! CONTINUED »
WAS IT A LEGGINGS CHALLENGE? "When Project Runway returns on Lifetime in 2009, [Lindsay Lohan] will sit in the guest judge's chair for the season premiere. According to Access Hollywood, the 22-year-old — who has been in New York City recently shooting episodes of ABC's Ugly Betty — filmed the premiere episode on Thursday."
This is the third development today in the Lindsay Lohan-Michael Lohan-Samantha Ronson feud, which just goes to show how eager these people are to lash out via any media outlet who will listen. Michael upped the ante this afternoon by responding to a classier publication than normal: ABC News. It's a sad day when ABC News has gotten in on the Lohan family drama.
Michael had some not-so-nice things to say about both Lindsay and Samantha, then he threw Dina into the mix by saying she's a two-faced mother more concerned with being her daughter's friend. Tell us something we didn't know, Mike. Most endearing is the part where he insults Lindsay's decreasing movie salary — but he wants her to be "in a good place." What a sweetheart.
It's really difficult to explain the disaster that is Michael Lohan's view of the world, so we'll let him speak for himself (after the jump). CONTINUED »
Usually we see television shows get adapted for the big screen, and not the other way around. That's why all our favorite cartoons from childhood are the big summer blockbusters starring Shia Labeouf. That's why X-Files had another film, 10 years too late. But someone at ABC just said, "Eff it, let's buy the rights to that awful J-Lo film…..no, the other one…..no, not that one either."
John Edwards had a busy weekend. After admitting he cheated on his cancer-ridden wife, the former presidential candidate offered to take a paternity test to prove he did not father mistress Rielle Hunter's five-month-old daughter. Except — surprise! — Rielle announced that she would not participate in the test, therefore leaving this whole thing a mystery. Although it's not so much a mystery when it's obvious Edwards has lots more to hide.
Click through for his smarmy Nightline interview and count the lies. CONTINUED »
The Matt Grant edition of The Bachelor wasn't any more entertaining than every other season, but the breakup is proving otherwise. Former fiance (and constant famewhore) Shayne Lamas told People magazine about her plans for the engagement ring, purchased by ABC: She's keeping it "safe and clean and in a glass box — like a glass slipper." Also? Matt is totally on board with the idea and even "wants to come over and look at it."
Naturally, the magazine then got a response from Matt, because this is middle school and two adults can't just decide what to do with a piece of jewelry without using the media as a go-between. And, of course, Matt says he never spoke with Shayne about the subject.
We never discussed this. I never said it was cool to just keep it. If she said we spoke about it, she just made it up. Sometimes she thinks she can say anything and I’ll go along with it.
It wasn’t a ‘gift’ so much. It’s not a television or a handbag. It’s a symbol of marriage that didn’t happen. … Let’s have something good come out of this. Why hold onto it? What’s the point?
Matt wants to auction off the ring, valued at $65,000, and give the proceeds to charity. This, of course, will never happen, because then the spotlight would no longer be on Shayne, and we can't have that, can we?
According to media research firm Magna Global, the median age of television viewers is now 50-years-old, older than ever before and one year outside the all-important 18-49 demographic. Of the top five networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and CW) CBS's viewership is the most crotchety, with a median age of 54. By contrast, the CW – home of Gossip Girl – has a fan base with a median age 20 years less than that.
Why are couch potatoes graying? Because the olds don't know how to "googlize" things, nor do they get what those darn "virus videos" are all about.
"The median ages of the broadcast networks keep rising, as traditional television is no longer necessarily the first screen for the younger set," [a spokesperson for Magna Global] wrote.
The absolute oldest viewership of all ad-supported cable networks is that of Fox News' daytime and prime time lineup. Presumably that's also the viewership most likely to be "sick of all your lip" and racist.
• This is Christina Aguilera's idea of "mommy-daddy" time. [DListed]
• A member of the paparazzi has been arrested for stalking Jamie Lynn Spears. Um, isn't that his job? [ICYDK]
• "ABC breaks obvious, rude news." [QT]
• The Sex and the City women have competing Marie Claire covers. We smell yet another catfight. [PS]
• Pete Wentz says he felt "content" once he heard the heartbeat of Ashlee and Joe Simpson's unborn child. [Us]
According to ABC News, bushy eyebrows are back! Apparently Ashley Olsen's heavyish brows caused a "commotion" at this year's Costume Institute Gala, and that was that: trend.
Except! It seems to us that bushy eyebrows weren't really gone so much as they were choked out by society's absurd obsession with "cool" and fear of being different. Nice to see being slightly happy with how you were born and not fucking with your face so much is finally fashionable.
Moving on, getting older is still gross, right?
R.I.P. TV "Real-life broadcasters get set to announce their fall schedules next week in New York, they're still scratching their way out of a trench, otherwise known as the worst season in the history of the network TV business. Not a single one of the new fall series broke through to a big audience, even the ones that looked can't-fail on paper, such as ABC's spinoff 'Private Practice' and NBC's now-dead revival of 'Bionic Woman.' Every network except Fox has posted significant ratings declines for the season so far, according to data from Nielsen Media Research."
BENEDICT BRAFF "Like a tipsy party guest, it's going to be pretty tough for 'Scrubs' to gracefully exit NBC. The network's final 'Scrubs' episode airs next week, concluding its run with the network after seven seasons. But you'd never know it from watching NBC or perusing the entertainment media. At the conclusion of what was the comedy's third-to-last episode on NBC on Thursday, viewers were simply urged to check out the show's interactive features on NBC.com. The usual array of creator and cast interviews that usually accompany the final episodes of a concluding series are likewise largely absent. The super low-key exit for 'Scrubs' is tied to what's become the worst-kept secret in Hollywood: that the veteran comedy is moving to ABC. The long-pending deal for ABC to pick up 18 episodes of 'Scrubs' for next season is effectively, pretty much, essentially, done."
ABC's Martha Raddatz asked American soldiers in Iraq what issues are most important to them when looking at the presidential candidates. … PFC Jeremy Slate said he supported Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., because of his stated intention to pull out of Iraq right away. "That would be nice," Slate said, "I'd like to be home, yea."
SFC Patricia Keller also expressed support for Obama, citing his representation for change.
…
Only moments before speaking with ABC News, the troops had been listening to Vice President Dick Cheney give a rousing speech, but it didn't change their political preference.Spc. Imus Loto said he supported Obama. "It will be something different. But he's out there and he'll probably support us a lot more."
Barbara Walters is out of the fame game.
The aged tearjerker says she is no longer interested in conducting the schmaltzy celebrity interviews that have largely shaped her career. "I am not going after the tabloid stuff, I don’t do it," she recently said in an interview.
Last night on ABC, the newer, more thoughtful Walters interviewed Posh Spice and race-baiter Don Imus. Cerebral!
And speaking of reality television, Gary Zerola, a Boston attorney once considered for the starring role in The Bachelor and once highlighted by People as one of America's most eligible men, has been arrested on suspicion of serial rape.
Prosecutor Suzanne Kontz said in court Monday that Zerola took one victim he’d met at a Boston bar to Neiman Marcus and bought her a $700 dress and $250 shoes. She then alleged that he took the woman back to his apartment and slammed her head against a door and knocked a phone from her hand as she tried to dial 911.
What a cutie!
Perhaps major media should rethink wealth and social status as the main criteria for choosing good guys.
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