The Hollywood Writers Strike's Last Gasp: March Midseason TV

There’s one more bit of television left over from the dark days of Hollywood's writer's strike: March's new midseason TV series.

That's because TV industry suits still have several weeks before newly-filmed, post-strike episodes of your favorite programs can start bulking up the networks’ schedules. So what’s waiting over the long weeks until new 30 Rock and CSIs appear? Oprah, a tabloidized Monica Gellar, Parker Posey and a grown-up TV-tized version of There’s Something About Mary.

Here’s some capsule reviews of what’s coming:

Oprah’s Big Give; debuts at 9 p.m. Sunday on WFTS-Ch. 28 -- Media queen Oprah Winfrey spreads her brand to ABC’s patented style of feel-good reality TV, handing 10 contestants a few grand and the power of her name to try doing good work for other folks. Split into teams of two, they tackle raising money for a woman whose Home Depot manager husband was killed in a robbery and a community-minded young doctor with $200,000 in medical school bills, among others. See a sample here.

Will it survive, post-strike? Are you kidding? It’s Oprah! The series itself is an odd mix of Extreme Makeover and The Apprentice, with teams facing criticism from a panel of celebrity judges which include Oprah pal Jamie Oliver and the host, another Winfrey acolyte, designer Nate Berkis. Oddly, it took a contestant to remind the judges that the worth of their help couldn’t just be judged by its dollar value alone – this being Winfrey’s world, there was a price tag on most everything – and Oprah’s narration barely covers the fact that she’s mostly absent from the series.

Unhitched, debuts at 9:30 Sunday on WTVT-Ch. 13 -- At a time when some Boomers are proclaiming 60 is the new 40, Fox’s sitcom about four thirtysomethings feeling over the hill while tackling today’s dating scene feels obsolete as a Farrelly brothers movie. Which explains why the minds behind There’s Something About Mary produced this fairly pedestrian sitcom idea, spiced by jokes about a guy getting sexually assaulted by a monkey and a woman with a “skin tag” growth sprouting from her shoulder. See the assault clip here.

Will it survive, post-strike? In an age when Two and Half Men is TV’s most successful comedy, anything is possible. But, much as I want to see Craig Bierko (Cinderella Man, Boston Legal) knock a series out of the park, I’m afraid this ain’t the one.

Dirt, debuts at 10 Sunday on FX -- Does anybody really want to see Friends’ Monica Gellar reincarnated as a self-centered, self-righteous tabloid magazine editor? Apparently, FX does, resurrecting Courteney Cox’s jarring attempt to humanize a scoop-hungry tabloid editor (she actually loves a star she can never have, and only prints salacious gossip which also turns out to be true!). See a sample here.

Will it survive, post-strike? Doubtful. Storylines about a drunken celebutante constantly in legal trouble (named Milan, get it?) and a sitcom star filmed in a drunken stupor after leaving a harsh voice mail for his daughter feel ripped from last year’s headlines –because they were. This mish mash of TMZ knockoffs is punctuated by the existentialist observations of schizophrenic paparazzo Don Konkey, who notes of Milan “She’s just the part of ourselves that we loathe.” You mean the crazy guy sees through all this absurdity the clearest? That’s never been done before.

  New Amsterdam, debuts with a preview at 9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, shifting to 9 p.m. Mondays on March 10, airing on WTVT -- Fox has come up with the season’s other drama about a crime-solving immortal, matching CBS’ Moonlight with a tale of a 400-year-old homicide cop given immortality by a Native American mystic. He has a 65-year-old son, talent for making antique furniture and the amazing ability to live in New York for four centuries without aging a day or attracting attention. And yes, it’s even goofier on screen than it sounds. See a preview here.

Will it survive, post-strike? CBS managed to turn Moonlight’s vampire private eye into a ratings success by amping up the romance. This series’ hero, John Amsterdam, may turn mortal if he finds his true love, who just happens to be a nurse at a New York hospital. I’ve got a feeling most of this hinges on whether female viewers find Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (left) hunky enough. What do YOU think?

Bubba the Love Sponge Accuses Mark Lunsford of Exploiting His Daughter's Rape and Murder

  It was a brutal sentence, uttered in the middle of a heated argument.

But shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem isn't backing off a harsh comment he made Thursday morning while pressing Mark Lunsford, whose 9-year-old daughter Jessica was abducted, raped and murdered by convicted sex offender John Couey in 2005.

Clem insists that Lunsford, who last week revealed his intention to file suit against the Citrus County sheriff's office for failing to investigate the disappearance properly, is addicted to the fame which has resulted from his daughter's death. The radio personality also raised pointed questions about what Lunsford has done with cash contributions to the foundation he established in his daughter's honor.

Lunsford called in to Clem's Cox Radio show Thursday morning. As he was talking about how he had to wait for IRS approval to establish his foundation, Clem let the bombshell drop: "You have to wait for your daughter to die before you can start raping money from people -- I understand."

"The only thing I'm guilty of is sticking up for the people of Citrus County, who will have to pay for this lawsuit," Clem said Thursday night. "I'm the most pro-law enforcement radio person out there. I stick up for cops...Maybe if he would have spent less time at the tavern (the night Jessica disappeared) she would still be around."

Lunsford's counsel,  Jacksonville attorney Eric Block, accused Clem of trashing the father of a murdered girl to win ratings for his radio show. "(Lunsford) lost his daughter to a rape/murder....He was furious. I was listening in and I was shocked," said Block, who added that Lunsford has hired a First Amendment attorney to explore the possibility of suing Clem. "They're not interested in facts; they're interested in shock radio."

During the 12-minute interview, Lunsford insisted all his foundation's financial records are available online, disputing a Tampa Tribune story which said the foundation claimed $25,000 in expenses for office supplies and furniture. Lunsford said he takes a salary of $54,000, inviting Clem to join his  board of directors so he could see all the records.

Clem asked Lunsford if he would take a drug test before coming on his show, repeatedly asking where cash donations to the foundation have been spent. Lunsford eventually hung up the telephone when Clem asked a pointed question alleging he was at a bar while Jessica was abducted. 

Block said Lunsford is limited to a maximum $100,000 award, which he has promised to donate to charity minus attorney's fees. The attorney added that Lunsford blames the sheriff's office for focusing on his father Archie as a suspect when Jessica's disappearance was first reported.

"The police lied to Mark and told him Jessica's blood was found in his father's underwear," said Block, noting that Jessica was taken from Lunsford's home while he was out and his father was babysitting; Lunsford maintains Jessica was alive for days after Couey abducted her. "The sherriff's office decided she was dead and Archie killed her. They weren't looking for a live little girl. they were trying to get Archie to admit to a crime he didn't commit."

Citrus Country Sheriff Jeff Dawsy disagreed with Lunsford's assertions last week, telling the St. Petersburg Times "Jessie was already dead before I hit the street looking for her."

Producer Brent Hatley said Clem knows Dawsy and may be partially reacting to defend the sheriff. But Clem claims to have two private investigators and a forensic accountant looking at the publicly-available financial records for Lunsford's foundation. And given that Lunsford is a nationally-known advocate who called into the radio show himself, Clem isn't worried about a lawsuit, either.

"I cannot wait to get into a courtroom over this," said Clem. "I may be looking like the bad guy now. But I won't be for long."

Hillary Clinton's Saturday Night Live History May Be Dodgy, But Her Debate Claims are Not

I was surprised to see Hillary Clinton quoting a Saturday Night Live parody as evidence that the media adulation for her opponent had gotten out of hand.

That's because there's plenty of times in the past that SNL portrayals of Clinton have not been as flattering or advantageous to her current position. Leave aside the raft of Bill Clinton horndog skteches which have filled the show over the past ten years; Obama made one of his most notable media appearanced last year, during a sketch about a Hlloween party at the Clinton home.

One thing she did get right, according to our political fact-checking Web site Politifact: She has been asked the first question at many Democratic debates. We found she was asked the first question in five of the six Democratic debates this year; what remains an open question, is whether that's such a bad thing.

As our site says: "it’s funny that Clinton would complain about getting the first question all the time because it wasn’t too long ago that there were so many Democratic contenders, many were complaining about not getting enough questions. Besides, in a debate format, isn’t it a good thing to go first?"

Check out the 2007 SNL skit about Halloween at the Clinton home:

If they were right last week, does that mean they were right a year ago, too?

Family Sets Saturday as Memorial for WTSP-Ch. 10 Weatherman Dick Fletcher

From the moment WTSP-Ch. 10 meteorologist Dick Fletcher's death was announced Tuesday, area fans have asked about details regarding a public memorial service.

Today, the station announced a memorial set for 11 a.m. Saturday titled a "Celebration of Life," scheduled at the Suncoast Cathedral, 2300 62nd Ave. North in St. Petersburg. WTSP news director Darren Richards said the location, chosen by Fletcher's wife Cindy, may have been picked due to its large capacity -- 2,500 seats. Richards said Fletcher's immediate family, including three adult children, will also have a separate, private ceremony.

WTSP reporters Mike Deeson, Fletcher's friend for 26 years, and Beau Zimmer are expected to speak. Richards could not provide any more details on the programming.

Currently, the station doesn't plan to air the entire memorial service, though it will film parts of the event for a news story to air later. WTSP will also re-broadcast it's hourlong tribute to Fletcher at 8 a.m. Saturday.

Multimedia Journalism Workshop in Tampa March 8

Sometimes I worry about the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists.

Mostly, I worry that because of our name, journalists who are not black or people who don't consider themselves journalists will not want to get involved with our programs.

It's an odd concept to explain, but the name of our group -- which is a local chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists -- mostly describes the focus of our organization. Anyone of any ethnicity who is in the media or communications field can join our group, and you don't even have to join the group to participate in our programs.

So it is in that spirit that I roll out a big welcome for TBABJ's second annual session focused on Multimedia reporting on March 8, featuring members who have done extensive work translating their newspaper or TV work into online platforms.

On deck so far: Ken Knight, multimedia reporter for Media General; Demorris Lee, reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, who recently completed a multimedia reporting fellowship at the Knight Digital Media Center; Boyzell Hosey, photo editor at the St. Petersburg Times and Eric Deggans, St. Petersburg Times TV/Media critic and editor/creator of The Feed blog.

Scheduled for 11 a.m. March 8 at the Tampa Tribune, 200 S. Parker St. Tampa, this seminar is free and open to anyone who wishes to attend.

During the panel discussion, we will talk about ways to think about expanding traditional journalism work to multimedia platforms, the advantages and challenges of blogging for journalists, the resources available for those who hope to learn more about this kind of work and more...

Last year, we got a great response from area bloggers of all ethnicities and had a chance to turn it into a wide-ranging discussion. Even if you don't consider yourself a journalist, but would like to learn more about this new field, please feel free to attend.

As we all work to try and understand these new media platforms,sometimes the most fun comes from getting together and swapping ideas on what it all means. And fellow bloggers, feel free to post this on your blog somewheres...

Dick Fletcher's Death Caps a Tough Year for Tampa Bay Area TV Industry

This was a sentiment which came up repeatedly Tuesday, as I juggled interviews with local TV personalities about the death of WTSP-Ch. 10 weather forecaster Dick Fletcher: the Tampa Bay area TV industry has had a rough year.

Starting with the suicide of WFLA-Ch. 8 forecaster John Winter last April through the arrest of suspended WFTS-Ch. 28 general manager Bill Carey, the retirement and DUI arrest of former WFLA anchor Bob Hite, the death of former WTVT-Ch. 13 anchor Hugh Smith, the retirement of WTVT anchor Bill Murphy and the revelation that WTVT anchor Tom Curran has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, the local news industry has seen the roughest string of headlines in a long while.

Fletcher's death Tuesday morning, eight days after suffering a massive stroke in his home, seemed an awful culmination of a terrible trend.

That may help explain why WTSP devoted so much airtime Tuesday and today to the 65-year-old meteorologist's passing. It was a flood of coverage I have never seen before for a local TV personality, with special broadcasts at 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., along with lots of coverage in the station's regular newscasts.

  The on air reports seemed most effective when Fletcher's co-workers shared stories. Meteorologist Sherry Ray's emotionalism and obvious closeness to her boss made an impact, along with well-chosen anecdotes from longtime pal Mike Deeson, who knew Fletcher for 26 years. Other testimonials seemed a bit of a stretch -- like the interview with the woman who served Fletcher nachos every morning at a local convenience store.

I didn't get to see as much of the coverage as I would have liked; traveling back to the area from a conference in North Carolina, I had to beg my wife to record some of the tributes on our DVR for later viewing.

I wondered how a forecaster who seemed to focus so much of his work on THE work of informing viewers would feel about so many minutes devoted to him personally -- especially when there were fierce storms locally and power outages in south Florida which reached all the way up to parts of the Tampa area.

Still, the reports were obviously a catharsis for a staff -- and many viewers -- caught off-guard by this unexpected tragedy.  Fletcher's passing also marks a further changing of the guard in local TV, as yet another long-tenured personality who forged a lasting connection with viewers leaves the airwaves in a market where the big names rarely leave.

Dick Fletcher, WTSP-Ch. 10 meteorologist, has died

View a photo gallery of Fletcher

Offer your condolences

Officials at local CBS affiliate WTSP-Ch. 10 have confirmed that meteorologist Dick Fletcher died early this morning after suffering a stroke at his home last week.

The 65-year-old meteorologist, who was considered the dean of local forecasters with a nearly 30-year tenure in the market, never recovered from a stroke suffered in his home on Feb. 18. Initially, the station offered hope that Fletcher might rebound quickly as he did after his first stroke in November 2003, which kept him off the air just a few weeks. But Fletcher died at 4:30 a.m. today at St. Anthony's Hospital.

Hundreds of well-wishers have offered condolences through the station's Web site and cards sent to the CBS station. Fletcher's wife Cindy declined to speak with the St. Petersburg Times Tuesday; he is also survived by three adult children.

"We've lost a legend," said WTSP President and General Manager Sam Rosenwasser. "People counted on Dick Fletcher for their weather. He really did touch a lot of lives and he will be missed tremendously."

WTSP news director Darren Richards was juggling phone calls from reporters while assembling material  for a special 10 a.m. tribute and segments throughout the CBS affiliate's newscasts today.

"Dick was an icon in this market -- and his impact goes beyond the Tampa market to all the young meteorologists he helped train and inspire," said Richards. "The guy was encyclopedic in his memory -- not just about the weather, but about everything in the market. And if he didn't know the answer he would try to find the answer."

A native of Omaha, Neb., Fletcher joined WTSP as the station's first chief meteorologist in 1980 after stints in Texas and Colorado, when the then-ABC affiliate decided to get serious about the news, said Fletcher's longtime friend and co-worker, WTSP reporter Mike Deeson. Fletcher, a former news anchor, was part of a new breed of local TV weathermen who concentrated more on delivering solid forecasts than serving as comic relief or delivering jokes.

WTVT-Ch. 13 anchor John Wilson was hired as a news anchor at WTSP one year after Fletcher in 1981. Wilson remembered that the weatherman insisted the station set aside large parts of a planned Labor Day telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in 1985, when a hurricane named Elena looked as if it might get close to the Tampa Bay area.

Elena wound up stalled off the Gulf Coast for three days. Fletcher turned in a marathon performance, spending long hours updating viewers on the storm's progress, gaining a huge local following in the process.

"He could be incredibly blunt when talking about the weather," Wilson recalled. "There was no question when Dick told us something was coming, whether it was going to happen. He wouldn't stand and shout in the newsroom. But he would say 'This is going to happen. If you don't pay attention, then don't blame me.'"

Indeed, Fletcher once offered a "3-degree-guarantee," giving a Ch. 10 mug or t-shirt to a lucky viewer if his forecasts were off more than 3 degrees. Later, he presented "Weather Whys," answering questions from viewers on air about weather issues.

"There wasn't any other competition in the Roy Leep era until Dick Fletcher came along," said WTVT weatherman Howard Shapiro, referring to WTVT's immensely popular weatherman, who retired in 1997. "You don't stay in the top spot in a station as long as he did without people having confidence in what you say. (WTSP) didn't bring him in to be a funny guy -- you knew he knew his business."

Deeson, Fletcher's friend for 26 years, recalled his friend as someone who might seem crusty on the outside, but was a good friend at heart. Knowledgeable over a wide range of subjects "he was not the kind of guy you could have a short conversation with," noted Deeson. "He didn't like lazy people and he didn't suffer fools gladly. I'll miss him a lot."

He received numerous awards and recognitions, including a national award for Outstanding Service by a Broadcast Meteorologist from the American Meteorological Society in 1987, the Media Award from the Governor's Hurricane Conference in 1993 and the distinguished service award from the National Hurricane Conference in 2003.

"I can't count the storms that Dick has been on the air for endless hours, but it sometimes would cut into his life," wrote Deeson in a tribute to Fletcher. "I'm not sure what storm it was, but Cindy had planned a birthday party. We were all at Cindy and Dick's house as he kept checking the computer and said he had to leave his own party, because the storm was heading our way. Dick was the first to go and slowly we all ended up leaving the party and reassembling at the station for another weekend of storm duty."

WTSP anchor Reginald Roundtree remembered how Fletcher kept tracking Hurricane Charley on air in 2004, even as the approaching storm forced the station to evacuate its St. Petersburg studio and broadcast from a county-owned public access studio in Clearwater. "He just had one radar loop, and explained (the storm) like he had a whole symphony of equipment behind him," said Roundtree. "I remember him telling me, 'Every time I think about leaving (during storm coverage), I think about that older couple in Pinellas Park who is hanging on my every word. And I stay.'"

Fletcher also spent time in the community educating school children, business groups, senior citizens and others on the importance of preparing for tough weather. He was also involved with the station's efforts to collect school supplies for needy children and support research for breast cancer and heart disease.

He could be a private man, spare with details about his personal life. Several co-workers noted that he was a heavy smoker who quit the habit after his first stroke in 2003. Roundtree recalled Fletcher's close connection to wife Cindy, who he met while she was working in WTSP's sales department, noting that the weather man called her every night after the 6 p.m. broadcast ended.

"I guess the hardest part is understanding that he was so athletic," Roundtree said during WTSPs 10 a.m. memorial. Fletcher loved sports and played tennis with a passion.

"He was a great tennis player," said Mike Mayo, a St. Petersburg a public affairs and political consultant who played tennis with Fletcher on Sunday nights at Northshore Courts. "I think I beat him once, and I think it was probably the highlight of my life."

Meteorologist Paul Dellegatto, a friendly rival from Tampa's Fox station WTVT-TV Channel 13, appeared on WTSP's tribute. He said he saw Fletcher a few times a year at weather conventions. Fletcher always had a story - he spared no detail. Once, Fletcher told Dellegatto about a backhand tennis lob he was working on, down the 85-degree angle.

"He would just go on and on and on," Dellegatto said, laughing.

During WTSP's tribute, friends described a man intensely knowledgeable about everything, especially the weather, sports and religion. He was opinionated and didn't sugar coat things.

"He was never shy about expressing his opinions," said Channel 10 anchor Dave Wirth. "That's one of the things I loved about him."

Hundreds of well-wishers have offered condolences through the station's Web site and cards sent to the CBS station since Fletcher's stroke last week. WTSP officials kept Fletcher's family aware of the outpouring from fans, taking cards and email printouts over to the hospital.

"Dick was one of the true leaders at our station," said Rosenwasser in a statement from Channel 10. "We all learned from him. He made us better. And we will miss him terribly."

Two foundations have been selected by Fletcher's Dick's wife, Cindy, for those who wish to make donations in his memory. One fund will help to fund programs at the Pinellas Education Foundation selection by Cindy, another will provide scholarships at the University of South Florida.

The Dick Fletcher Memorial Fund
The Pinellas Education Foundation
12090 Starkey Road
Largo, FL 33773
Note on the check:  Dick Fletcher Memorial Fund

The Dick Fletcher Memorial Scholarship Fund at USF

Make checks payable to:
The USF Foundation, Inc.
Attn:  Julie Benson
4202 East Fowler Ave.-CPR 107
Tampa, FL  33620
Note on the Check:  Dick Fletcher Scholarship Fund

(Editor's Note: Many thanks to various Times staffers, including Tom Scherberger, Leonora LaPeter and Karen McAllister, who contributed reporting as I worked to file and update this blog post from North Carolina, where I flew last night to appear at a civil rights conference.)

NBC's Quarterlife: The Groundbreaking Internet-To-Network Series That Isn't

Last year, when thirtysomething creators Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick debuted their birthed-on-the-Internet twentysomething drama Quarterlife, I cranked out a snarky blog post noting that the most revolutionary thing about this series was it's delivery system.

And now that NBC has used the writer's strike as an excuse to boil the 30 or so snippets aired online into a network TV series, which they've circulated to know-it-all critics like me, I'm prepared to second my first emotion -- with a huge side order of "told you so."

Thanks to its cyberspatial pedigree, Quarterlife has an almost irresistible patina of cool as the first series to make a backward migration from online to TV. Standing centerstage is Dylan, a boyish, thrift-store-fashion-wearing heroine who reveals her friends’ innermost secrets on her confessional video blog.

Fans of Herskovitz and Zwick's previous series will recognize the self-obsessed angst which permeates the show; the kind of overwrought navel-gazing which used to drive critics of thirtysomething crazy -- substituting the “quarterlife crisis” facing just-out-of-college Millenials for Baby Boomers’ existential worries.

Fear is the subtext drilled into every scene: from the terror of Dylan’s actress roommate Lisa, who is afraid to really perform, to Dylan's guy pal Jed, who worries about his romantic feelings for Dylan’s other roommate, Debra.

And almost all the male actors seem to be afraid of razor blades, sporting the kind of unruly beards guys  first wear after they realize they can grow facial hair. The result feels mostly like Dawson’s Creek: The Post-Graduate Years, right down to the knowing observations set to poignant, singer-songwriter tunes.

Indeed, it’s the stuff surrounding the program that’s truly revolutionary. Producers are developing a Quarterlife community around the show’s Web site, where fans can upload photos, videos, music and other creative projects to be shared or even used in the show.

There’s also a space for people who know you to talk about who you are, just like Dylan dishes on her friends. No wonder creatives like Eric Stoltz (Mask) are on board directing episodes.

But this also makes the TV product frustrating. Because Quarterlife isn’t nearly as groundbreaking as the process that created it, which suggests Zwick and Herskovitz may have missed the point along the way.

Random Oscar Thoughts and Jimmy Kimmel F-ing Ben Affleck

Since everyone is bound to be talking about the Academy Awards today -- it is, after all the Super Bowl of pop culture -- I slapped together a few random observations after suffering through Tinseltown's three and a half hour orgy of self-congratulation.

-- Was it me, or did host Jon Stewart get increasingly unfunny as the night went on? By the time he introduced presenter Harrison Ford as one of the world's biggest movie stars or the name of a used car dealership, I was actually pining for the return of Whoopi (well, almost).

-- The women's categories seemed to be the head scratchers of the night, with Marion Cotillard's win giving ammunition to those who say Best Actress is nothing but a beauty contest anymore. Tilda Swinton's supporting actress award was so unexpected even Swinton herself was caught offguard, rising from her seat like a character from a Charles Addams cartoon wrapped in a burlap sack. (Seriously Tilda, get some sun before somebody mistakes you for David Bowie)

-- If Amy Adams could sing one of the two best song nominees from Enchanted, why did they rope Pushing Daisies co-star Kristin Chenoweth into doing the other one? And why was a song this lame nominated in the first place?

-- The best comedy bit of the night didn't even come during the ceremony, but during Jimmy Kimmel's post-Oscar show, where he unveiled his answer to girlfriend Sarah Silverman's "I'm F-ing Matt Damon" video, "I'm F-ing Ben Affleck."

This cast of thousands video, featuring everybody from Affleck and Brad Pitt to Robin Williams, Macy Gray, Harrison Ford and Josh Groban (?!) manages something I never thought possible -- topping Silverman's sidesplitting video with a even more bawdy and star-studded response.

Check it out here:

 

If Oscar Night Is So Awful, Why Do We Pay So Much Attention?

Most great stories start with a great idea. And when we started slinging around ideas for our Oscar coverage this week, one of our editors came up with a good one:

If Oscar is the Super Bowl of pop culture, why do we complain about it so much?

I wrote a Floridian column today about that issue, turning to some cool folks such a humorist Andy Borowitz and media psychologist Stuart Fischoff. Turns out, the reasons we turn to the Oscars are pretty simple: we value movie stars as special celebrities; we recognize that movies set trends while TV follows them; we want to know enough to participate in all the next-day chatter and some of us are waiting for a career-ending moment, so we can say we were watching.

When I asked producer Warrington Hudlin (House Party, Boomerang) about it, he related to the way black folks often take careful note of how many people of color win awards: "“As African Americans, we're always kept on the margins of American life. We have this yearning for full citizenship. And when you get an Oscar, you get full citizenship in Hollywood life. I’ve always admired those who ran away from the plantation."

Showbiz awards expert Tom O'Neil uses the Oscars as a window into Hollywood politics: "Nobody gave Nicole Kidman an Oscar for one scene in fake nose in a movie many critics called the worst of the year. they gave her the award because they felt sorry or her getting dumped by Tom Cruise. Anybody who thought Gladiator was the best movie of the year wasn't paying attention. Nobody thought Crash was the best movie when it won Best Picture. They just didn’t want to give it to the gay movie (Brokeback Mountain."

O'Neil expects No Country for Old Men to sweep most categories, except for Daniel Day Lewis as Best Actor and Julie Christie as Best Actress: "Until recently, that best actress category was a beauty contest. You could see all these old geezers voting for the hottest actress. Still, only two women over the age of 50 have won the award in 15 years. This year, there’s no babe alternative and the old geezers (from the Oscar academy) remember Julie Christie when she was a  babe.”

As frustrated as he gets about the choices, Hudlin also said fans need the Oscars as much as Hollywood does: "They need a yardstick. This is the yardstick that measures greatness. Even if we don’t agree with the measurement, we mostly agree that we need one.”

Click on the link below to see Homer Simpson's take on the Oscars:

Tone of Coverage Changes at WTSP-Ch. 10, Amid Delayed Recovery of Weatherman After Stroke

It's a tough subject for folks at WTSP-Ch. 10 to talk about. But news director Darren Richards admitted today that the recovery of weatherman Dick Fletcher, who was found in his home Monday suffering from a stroke, is not going well as they had hoped.

Initially, staffers at the CBS affiliate were optimistic that Fletcher's recovery might go the same way as in 2003, when the longtime forecaster had a minor stroke and was back at work in weeks. But the station posted an update on its Web site today noting that "despite the best efforts of doctors and all your prayers, Dick is not making the kind of recovery we’d hoped for."

Still, Richards could not answer the toughest question about this situation: Is Fletcher's condition still life-threatening?

"I hate to veer into speculation about this," said Richards. "We've reported what we know on the Web site."

The tally of public comments on WTSP's Web site now stands at more than 700 messages; mostly well-wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery. WTSP has revealed which hospital is treating Fletcher, struggling to inform the public about his condition without violating laws regarding the confidetiality of employees' health information. So far, Fletcher's family members have not decided to speak with the media, Richards said.

But even as fans wish fervently for Fletcher's quick rebound, staffers at WTSP are steeling themselves for the possibility that the weatherman's return may be more complicated and difficult than they first realized.

Who Are Your Favorite Faux-Journalists?

Mediabistro's blog on New York media, Fishbowl NYC, has an interesting post about fake journalists, comparing the qualities of Lou Grant (the show which made me enter the journalism profession, by the way) to Eight is Enough's Tom Bradford and the classic comic reporter Brenda Starr.

But I've been thinking more these days about faux-journalists. These are guys who cloak their shtick in the guise of journalism, assuming the gravitas and believability of journalists, while peddling a curious mix of activism, opinion and often, pandering.

On the right, the most obvious example is Fox News pundit Bill O'Reilly. Despite the fact that he hosts a nightly opinion show in which he has invented a War on Christmas and suggested my employer was "in the tank" to see a child molester freed, O'Reilly consistently scores high in polls to find the mosty admired journalists. (to be fair, I should note that the St. Petersburg Times has made O'Reilly's own Nixonian Hall of Shame list of media outlets "which regularly help distribute defamatory, false and non-newsworthy information" and his list of "media outlets soft on child predators")

On the more progressive tip is someone like Tavis Smiley, who has written books, hosted political debates, a talk show and a radio show, but resist efforts to categorize him as a journalist. As my friend Richard Prince noted on his Web site Journal-isms: "Tavis Smiley is sometimes called a journalist, though he creates news events and accepted a Chrysler automobile from a sponsor. In 2004, asked to clarify his role, his publicist, Joel Brokaw, told Journal-isms, "Mr. Smiley is not a journalist by training or profession, nor does he refer to himself by that title. Mr. Smiley is a television and radio talk show host, commentator, author, public speaker and activist."

Washington Post reporter Darryl Fears featured a quote on his blog in which Smiley referred to hismelf as a journalist. Brokaw responded with this, according to Journal-isms: "Mr. Smiley said that Mr. Fears was referring to him as a journalist in their conversation. As a teacher of English as a second language in Europe many years ago and a good speaker of foreign languages, I learned that we naturally look to use as few words as possible in conversation, our own form of spoken shorthand. So, for Mr. Fears, it was easier to lump all the roles Mr. Smiley does in that one word."

Riiight. I think, for O'Reilly and Smiley there is a simpler explanation. When they want the authority of journalism, they assume its trappings. But when they want to do something at odds with journalism's professional values -- like indulge conflicts of interest or avoid correcting obvious mistakes - then all of a sudden, they're not journalists, anymore.

Depending on your definition of journalist, there are lots of folks out there who could qualify for faux-status: CNN's Lou Dobbs cloaking his xenophobic anti-immigration patter in the veneer of news programming; Nancy Grace's shameless pandering to fearful viewers by focusing on sensational crime stories; Rush Limbaugh's daily anti-liberal rants, etc.

It's a shtick old as the hills. But at a time where there's more information than ever before available from more sources than ever before, maybe we should all think a bit more about who exactly in giving us our information, and whether they deserve the kind of journalistic credibility these figuresa so often seem to crave.   

McCain and the Lobbyist: Will Journalists Derail His Straight Talk Express?

I gave a speech yesterday to a community group and made the mistake of bringing up perceived political bias in the media. Usually, I try to explain why people on the right think mainstream media is biased to the left (our aggressive pursuit of social justice stories) and why people on the left think mainstream media is biased to the right (our support of corporatism, capitalism and materialism).

But these folks were having none of it. Many of the most vocal participants were conservatives, convinced that Rush Limbaugh and Fox News present the only "fair and balanced" reportage. My speech, which was contentious but ended on common ground, wound up with a  fellow asking me in a portentous voice: "Tell me, honestly, what do you think of the New York Times?"

Given the newspaper's revelations yesterday about John McCain and his ties to a beautiful, 32-year-old female lobbyist, I wonder how my inquisitor would answer that question himself, now.

I'm not that old, but I still remember the days when a bombshell newspaper story would mostly produce one question: Did they get it right? But today's media have been so demonized -- and in a post Jayson Blair, Post-Judith Miller-age, rightly unmasked as occasionally dysfunctional -- bombshell political media stories bring a different question.

Why are they reporting this? And why now?

Indeed, that's the biggest question left following the New York Times' revelations that McCain aides  interceded to make him back away from an apparently close friendship with lobbyist Vicki Iseman (okay, maybe the second-biggest question; the first being, did they, or didn't they?) The Times report was echoed by the Washington Post a few hours later, but rumors of this story surfaced in December; why did it take the Times and Post so long to publish?

Obviously, the Post's report reveals there was competition for the story, and rumors abound the New Republic is publishing a piece today on the fight within the Grey Lady over the delay of the story.

Congressional Quarterly columnist Craig Crawford has written some interesting stuff about how politicians have convinced the public to mistrust the media. I found myself thinking about his work this morning, as I parsed all the reasons why the New York Times wouldn't necessarily be gunning for McCain now: the newspaper endorsed him during the New York primary; the newspaper, along with other media outlets, has long been accused of being too soft on McCain; the newspaper didn't publish the allegations when the Republican primary was still in doubt, or when the general election was in full swing -- much more delicate times for the candidate.

There are even some bloggers implying that the Times held the story because they were intimidated by conservatives -- conveniently forgetting the way many politicians and pundits called for the Times to be prosecuted for treason in 2006 over its reporting on the Treasury Department's monitoring of financial networks for terrorist activity without oversight.

I liked this piece noting that there's no better time for McCain for this piece to hit print: It solidifies conservatives behind him as a victim of a liberal press, coming after he's sewn up the GOP nomination but before the general election, so voters have plenty of time to forget it. But then the author makes an uninformed observation, blaming the Times for endorsing McCain while its reporters were working on this story.

Those of us who know newspapers know that the editorial boards are separate from newsgathering operations. The editorial board likely werote its endorsement with little knowledge of the news side's McCain story beyond the rumors which surfaced in some press stories in December. Indeed, that separation is the primary argument editors use when people accuse the paper of reporting which serves its admittedly liberal op-ed focus.

It's an interesting paradox: people have complained about the press giving McCain a free ride because they like him so much. But when the New York Times tries to show there may be some hypocrisy behind his anti-lobbyist stance, they are criticized for trafficking in old news. And some of the same people who complain about an inaccurate, trigger happy press also grouse when the newspaper takes time in reporting a blockbuster story. 

And as I think back to the fellow I met last night -- who wasn't buying my answer that the New York Times' problems have a lot less to do with political bias than he thinks -- I wonder what it would take to convince that guy anything printed in the Times was true.

 

ABC Sets April Return Dates for Hit Shows

Hot off the press, ABC has finally provided the post-writers strike return dates for new series every other network had last week. What we still don't know: Will marginal players such as Big Shots, Cavemen, Carpoolers, Men In Trees and Women's Murder club ever return? (my money's on WMC and Trees; Cavemen and Carpoolers, not so much)

“Samantha Who?” returns Monday, April 7 (9:30-10:00 p.m., ET) with six original episodes.

“Boston Legal” returns Tuesday, April 8 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) with six original episodes.

“Desperate Housewives” returns Sunday, April 13 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) with five original episodes and a special two-hour finale (seven hours total).

“Brothers & Sisters” returns Sunday, April 20 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET) with four original episodes.

“Ugly Betty” returns Thursday, April 24 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) with five original episodes.

“Grey’s Anatomy” returns Thursday, April 24 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) with five original episodes.

“Lost” will move to its new 10:00 p.m. time period on Thursday, April 24, with five weeks of original episodes.

“Pushing Daisies,” “Private Practice” and “Dirty Sexy Money” will return next season.

Wacky Radio Stunt or Dimwitted Exercise in Exploitation?

Seems the morning crew at 97x thought it would be cool to re-enact the infamous deputy wheelchair dumping incident with a paraplegic listener who was willing to sacrifice his self-respect for tickets to a Radiohead contest.

I'm sure they're probably expecting somebody to bellyache about how abusive this all is. But all I can think of, is how lame radio stunts have gotten since the FCC cracked down on explicit sexual stuff on the radio. (hat tip to Reax magazine for the item)

PBS Funding Threatened Again: What Does This Dance Tell Us?

Recently, I spent some time talking with an executive from a local PBS station about George W. Bush's latest attempt to cut funding for public broadcasting.

This time, Bush advanced a proposed budget cutting $200-million from 2009 funding levels and $220-million from 2010's budget (about 50 percent). The move brought a flurry of lobbying, as PBS executives from across the country flew into Washington D.C. to beg their legislators to do what they always do -- put the cash back in.

"One (legislator) said to me, 'Why do you guys get so worked up about this?'" the exec said to me. "We always put it back in.' But we can never be sure that's going to happen again."

Indeed, this is a dance that reminds me of a phrase coined by Arnold Schwarzenegger: "Doing the Kabucki." Sometimes in politics, people feel the need to go through motions to advance their point of view, even when they will quite obviously never get what they're shooting for.

It's hard to see why Bush once again has tried to cut funding for PBS. It's not a move that's popular with voters; one reason why Congress has kept putting the money back -- even when Republicans had iron control of Congress -- is because most Americans want publicly funded radio and TV offerings. And now that the Democrats control Congress, it seem highly unlikely to  be approved by the legislature (my suspicion: he's upset about the amount of PBS public affairs programming highly critical of his administration).

And when the New York Times lets some knucklehead try making the case that PBS isn't necessary, a flood of reader letters reminding folks of all the quality, non-flashy programming offered by PBS, NPR and local stations comes pouring in.

I mean, at a time when the government admits $8-billion in cash has just disappeared in Iraq, does it really make sense to quibble about $400-million spent over two years or the home of Sesame Street, Nature, Masterpiece Theater, Antiques Roadshow, Washington Week, Fresh Air, Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, Frontline and Florida This Week?

   

Little Information Available Following WTSP-Ch. 10 Weather Anchor's Stroke

A spokesman for local CBS affiliate WTSP-Ch. 10 couldn't offer much elaboration to the story featured on their Web page noting meteorologist Dick Fletcher suffered a stroke yesterday.

According to WTSP spokesman Pete Nikiel, Fletcher's wife Cindy found him at their home early Monday afternoon. He would not say which area hospital was treating the meteorologist; only that news director Darren Richards is in touch with the longtime forecaster's wife and hoped to have an update soon.

The station's Web site has logged more than 350 comments since WTSP announced Fletcher's stroke Monday evening. The 66-year-old forecaster, a WTSP employee since 1980, had a previous stroke in November 2003, which kept him off air for two weeks.

According to a St. Petersburg Times story from December 2003, that stroke occurred at about 3:45 p.m. Nov. 26, when Fletcher was sitting at his computer, preparing the graphics for his forecast on the 4 p.m. program.

Back then, Fletcher told the Times of the experience: ""I turned my head fairly quickly to the right and literally lost control of my eyes. It felt like they were rolling. I couldn't stop to make them focus on anything. And I felt dizzy. I told myself, 'Calm down, just open one eye and control it.' But I couldn't."

The Times story in 2003 said: "Anxious co-workers told Fletcher they would call 911, but he insisted on contacting his wife instead. His family doctor's office had closed for the holiday, so his wife drove him to St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg."

Now, anxious co-workers are waiting for word from Fletcher's family about his condition, gratified by the community interest.

"We're on pins and needles waiting for information, just like everyone else," said WTSP's Nikiel. "But it has been amazing to see the response from the community."

Dancing With the Stars Cast Season 6: a Skater, a Presley, a Magician, a Guttenberg and More

It's become the Holy Grail for marginal showbiz figures.

Dancing With Stars is the Love Boat of the 21st Century, bringing celebs who once were or never have been onto a series which usually ranks among the highest rated programs of the TV season. Among this year's crowd, former Police Academy star Steve Guttenberg was apparently so excited about joining the cast, he told everyone at his dry cleaners.

Now, ABC has revealed the cast for the latest incarnation of the show, which debuts March 17 in a special edition OK-ed by the network when the Hollywood writers' strike was still on. Here's the list, as provided by ABC in a press release issued last night and announced at the end the lame-o spin off Dance War: (Click on the link at the end of this post to see which dancer each celebrity is paired with)

ADAM CAROLLA – Television and radio personality Adam Carolla is host of the Los Angeles based and nationally syndicated morning radio program, “The Adam Carolla Show.” The actor/comedian has his first starring film role in the soon to be released in “The Hammer” (in theaters March 21), which he co-wrote and co-produced. Carolla was also one of the creators and hosts of Comedy Central's "The Man Show" (alongside Jimmy Kimmel) and the MTV and long-running syndicated radio program, “Loveline,” with Dr. Drew Pinsky.

CRISTIÁN DE LA FUENTE – Having started his acting career in his native Chile, the international film and television star’s Spanish language projects include Univisión's miniseries "Como ama una mujer" and Sony television's "Reyes y Rey," which aired on Telemundo.  He gained recognition in the U.S. as a series regular on “Family Law” and “CSI: Miami.” Recent TV guest roles include “Ugly Betty” and “Psych.”  He stars in the upcoming USA Network series “In Plain Sight.” Other film work includes “Driven” and “Basic.”  Cristián is a First Lieutenant in the Chilean Air Force Reserve and a member of “Halcones,” the high aerobatics team. People Magazine named him one of their "50 Most Beautiful,” and he was the first man ever to grace the cover of Cosmopolitan en Español.

SHANNON ELIZABETH – Actress/model Shannon Elizabeth starred in the box office hits “American Pie” and “Scary Movie.” Some of her other credits include “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” “Love Actually,” “Cuts” and “That 70s Show.” Shannon is also an accomplished poker player, taking third out of sixty-four invited professionals at the 2007 National Heads-Up Poker Championship. 

STEVE GUTTENBERG – Actor Steve Guttenberg has starred in blockbusters such as "Police Academy," "Three Men and a Baby," "Short Circuit" and "Cocoon,” as well as such acclaimed dramatic hits as "Diner" and "The Boys from Brazil."  Guttenberg has starred in a dozen films, each of which earned in excess of $100,000,000 at the American box office. His television credits include one of the highest-rated telefilms of all time, "The Day After."  Guttenberg runs The Guttenhouse Project, which houses selected children who are phased out of foster care programs.

MARIO – Twenty-one year-old, multi-platinum selling R&B/Pop singer and actor Mario is known for such hit singles as “Just a Friend (2002)” and “Let Me Love You.” He was the recipient of Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Single of the Year in 2005 for "Let Me Love You," and has been nominated for a Grammy, BET Award, Vibe Award, MOBO Award and Soul Train Music Award. His latest album, “Go,” is in stores now. Mario has also appeared in the feature films “Step Up” and “Freedom Writers.”

MARLEE MATLIN - Marlee Matlin received worldwide critical acclaim for her film debut in "Children of a Lesser God," for which she received the Academy Award for Best Actress. At 21 she became the youngest recipient of the Best Actress Oscar and only one of four actresses to receive the honor for her film debut.  In addition to the Oscar, Marlee received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama. She has since appeared on a number of hit television programs, including “The West Wing,” “The L-Word,” “Nip/Tuck” and “Desperate Housewives.” In Spring 2008, she will star opposite Jeff Daniels in the telefilm “Sweet Nothing in My Ear.”

PENN JILLETTE – Penn Jillette is one-half of the famous illusionist team Penn & Teller. Penn & Teller have been performing together for thirty years and are currently headlining in their own theater at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. They’ve received 11 Emmy nominations for their television series, “Penn & Teller: Bulls**t,” and created several TV projects together. The duo has also written three best-selling books. In 2005 Penn produced and co-created the critically acclaimed documentary “The Aristocrats.”

PRISCILLA PRESLEY – Actress, producer and entrepreneur Priscilla Presley starred in the “Naked Gun” films and the internationally popular television series “Dallas,” as well as guest-starred on TV’s “Touched by an Angel,” “Spin City” and “Melrose Place.” Founder of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Priscilla has also served as executive producer on the feature film “Finding Graceland” and the television version of her autobiography, “Elvis and Me.” Presley was married to music icon Elvis Presley.

MONICA SELES – Tennis champ Monica Seles is the holder of nine grand slam singles titles and was the top-ranked player in the world. She turned pro in 1988 at the age of 14 and won her first grand slam championship, the French Open, just two years later. After a two-year absence from the tour in 1993 and 1994, Seles rose above adversity and returned to capture her final grand slam crown in 1996, winning the Australian Open. She holds an outstanding career win-loss singles record of 595-122 and was ranked the13th greatest player of all time by “Tennis Magazine.” Her accomplishments also extend beyond the tennis court as Goodwill Ambassador for the Laures Sports Foundation and the Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Microalgae Spirulina Against Malnutrition (IIMSAM).

JASON TAYLOR – This year's NFL Man of the Year Award winner and last year's NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Taylor has played defensive end for the Miami Dolphins for over a decade. The six-time All Pro formed the Jason Taylor Foundation in 2004 and continues to be heavily involved throughout the South Florida community. Taylor holds the NFL record for touchdowns by a defensive lineman (7) and is the Dolphins’ all-time leader in quarterback sacks (117) and consecutive games played (130). Jason is married to Katina, and the couple reside in Weston, Fla., with their two sons, Isaiah Paul and Mason Paul, and daughter Zoe Grace.

MARISSA JARET WINOKUR – Marissa Jaret Winokur is best known for creating the role of “Tracy Turnblad” in the hit Broadway musical “Hairspray,” a performance for which she won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress. Winokur has since been seen in the Farrelly Brothers film “Fever Pitch” and the television series “Stacked.” She just finished filming the series lead in a new pilot entitled “Fugly” for 20th Century Fox and CBS, and is currently working as one of the leads in the Lifetime movie “Betrayals.”

KRISTI YAMAGUCHI – An Olympic Gold medalist and World Champion, Kristi Yamaguchi is one of the most popular and successful figure skaters of our time.  Since winning the 1992 Winter Olympics, Yamaguchi retired from competitive skating, performing in numerous television specials and traveling the globe on "Stars on Ice" tour.  Along with her many awards and accomplishments, she is a member of the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame, World Figure Skating Hall of Fame and the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.  In 1996 she founded the Always Dream Foundation dedicated to fundraising and supporting children’s charities.  Yamaguchi is married to Stanley Cup champion and Carolina Hurricanes star Bret Hedican.  Together they have two young daughters.

A Sarasota-Bred Big Brother Star May Have a Gay Porn Past

The Reality TV-focused Web site RealityBlurred is reporting that Sarasota native and Big Brother 9 contestant "Crazy James" Zinkand once appeared in an amateur porn video and an ad for a gay porn Web site.

According to RealityBlurred, Zinkand is shown, um, pleasuring himself in a video on the site SpyOnDudes and also shown making out with another guy in an ad for the Web site Dirty Boy video. Such disclosures -- while hardly a surprise, given the exhibitionistic nature of folks who do reality TV -- are relevant because some contestants have been kicked off other reality shows (notably American Idol) for such histories. And this year's Big Brother features couples, pairing Zinkand with  woman he says is his soulmate. (UPDATE: RealityBlurred found more video featuring Crazy James from Dirty Boy, which seems to be trying to sell its wares using his tenure on Big Brother as a hook)

I also noted in a previous blog post Zinkand's notorious local history as one of the guys who made headlines jumping off the roof of a local resort into a pool when one of them -- not Zinkand -- missed the water and got badly hurt.   

Times Takes a National Feature Reporting Honor

It's hard not to sound like you're sucking up when noting your own news organization's award wins, so I tend not to mention contest stuff perhaps as much as I should.

But my fellow features department buddy Lane DeGregory helped feed her reputation as one of the nation's best features writers by winning  the American Society of Newspaper Editors' award for non-deadline writing. Lane was honored for a collection of work which included her amazing profile of Evel Knievel. I have often felt that national contests haven't recognized the caliber of our work as often as they could, so seeing Lane do well in this contest is a great recognition for the paper as well (and having former times employee Anne Hull also in the winners circle just spreads the love further).

Perhaps as a disappointing sign of where newspaper's attentions are, I was dismayed to see that ASNE's main Web site doesn't have an easy link to the list of its own awards winners. Arg.

WFLA Crunches Research to Find Viewers in New Places

The industry Web site TVNewsday has a interesting story about how a researcher at WFLA/Media General is tying together different types of data to get a sense of who is viewing their video streams, who may be watching their cellphone newsblasts and how many people in the market may only be watching video online.

It's the kind of stuff more media companies should be doing: excavating exactly how consumers are using all these new media platforms we're creating for them -- and more importantly, instructing advertising sales people on how they can employ that usage information to often more advertising revenue.

Unfortunately, there weren't a lot of practical examples provided on how this information has changed WFLA's buying strategies or the product they're creating -- other than to note that the NewsChannel 8 brand name is so strong, they're even using it on platforms where the idea of a channel number is non-existent.

   

Which American Celebrity's Fake British Accent Do YOU Like Most?

More than her decision to write and direct a film when she hasn't shown any acting competence, the grandmommy of all pop stars, Madonna, is taking shots from critics for an amazingly bad aspect of her latest performance:

Her faux-British accent.

While critics haven't been very kind to Filth and Wisdom -- the tender story of a Ukrainian immigrant who finances his dreams of rock stardom by working as a cross-dressing dominatrix -- much of the coverage from its debut at the Berlin Film Festival last week centered on the odd British accent Madge has developed since marrying Brit director Guy Ritchie.

Like a true talent-challenged actress, Madonna has trouble maintaining the cadence. Watch this publicity interview she conducts for the film and note how her accent floats in and out, simultaneously ranging from the refined tones of an upper-class Britisher to a more working class lilt, to nothing at all:

   

And she's not the only celebrity to dabble with the idea of changing accents to sound more sophisticated.

Britney Spears began flashing a British accent around Hollywood not long before her last hospitalization; perhaps as result of spending too much time with her new paparazzo-turned boyfriend, British import Adnan Ghalib.

The trend even landed on this year's edition of American Idol, when overconfident young singer Josiah Leming -- a kid who was living in his car before earning a spot in Idol's Hollywood auditions -- employed the accent during his first tryouts.

It's hard to know what these folks have in common -- other than very high-profile examples of identity crises. Are they Anglophiles angling for more pop culture credibility? Or reality-challenged wannabes who somehow think sounding British -- even when everyone who hears them knows they are NOT -- makes them cooler?

Feel free to list your fave faux-British accents here, along with any better theories as to why performers employ them. It's more fun and less disturbing than the press' last celebrity obsession; tracking starlets who go commando in public.   

Editing Dexter: F-Words and Sex Before Gore

This is the greatest irony about the FCC's trumped-up crusade to police indecency on television: viewers are more likely to see severed limbs on TV than a naked woman's backside.

That's the clear lesson I've drawn after watching the first two episodes of Showtime's serial killer drama Dexter, edited down for broadcast on CBS starting Sunday. There's lots of changed language -- the potty-mouthed dialogue of some characters (particularly, Dexter’s bawdy sister Deb and hard-edged nemesis Sgt. Doakes) gets a significant scrubbing, as the f-word becomes “fricking” and the m-f-word becomes “motherloving” or “mothersucker.”

But a scene in which killer Dexter Morgan -- a forensic technician for the Miami police who kills killers on the side -- holds up a bloody, severed foot and plops it in a garbage bag, remains intact. And though they won't show Dexter actually cutting his victims' cheeks -- he does that to take a drop of blood he keeps as a trophy -- they do show the dismembered bodies of victims of another murderer, the Ice Truck Killer.

“One of the early CSI: Miami’s showed (a moment