by Deborah Starr SeibelNothing, it seems, is calm this season on Dancing with the Stars (airs Mondays at 8 pm/ET and Tuesdays at 9 pm/ET on ABC). It isn't just the stars who are having trouble (Marie Osmond fainting, Jennie Garth crashing, Jane Seymour losing her mother). The guest stars are in the weeds, too. Last week Gloria Estefan had to bow out of performing on results night when her mother became seriously ill. And this week Jennifer Lopez had to tape her two segments on Sunday night — instead of performing live on Tuesday — due to her own family emergency, the passing of her grandmother...read more
read more
It was proving to be an unusually long taping at Dancing with the Stars. Starting at 3 in the afternoon and not wrapping until 7 at night, Tuesday's results show was a demonstration of what can happen when a headline act cancels at the eleventh hour and everybody else has to take up the slack. The missing link? Guest star Gloria Estefan, who was supposed to perform but had to rush home to Miami on Monday after her mother, Gloria Fajardo, was taken into the hospital for emergency stomach surgery. "You have to take care of your real life, first," says Dancing judge Carrie Ann Inaba. "This is just TV."
But in this case, big TV, and a top-ten show that's become a ratings monster. Which meant that Dancing executive producer Conrad Green had an imp
read more
This week, two of my favorite reality shows signed off with satisfying (if, in one case, anticlimactic) season finales. On Bravo's thoroughly addictive Project Runway, Chloe Dao won on the strength of her glamorous, vivid collection, which to my eyes did outshine both Daniel Vosovic's and Santino Rice's. But in the bigger picture, I still feel Daniel won the season, so I was a bit deflated when it was all over.
Daniel dominated many of the challenges, and even his relatively tame collection was lovely to behold. And unlike businesslike Chloe, Daniel's passion for his craft was evident throughout the season. (The less said the better about Santino, who did manage to create a couple of stunners in his collection. But he's had his time hogging the spotlight, and I'm more than happy to move on.)
And then there's WB's adorable
read more
The third season of American Idol ended last week, but people are still buzzing about it, including former guest judge Gloria Estefan. The Latina diva took a break from her busy pre-tour schedule to discuss her experience with the pop-culture phenom, Fantasia's victory and, of course, the acid-tongued Simon Cowell.
Do you think these reality-music contests are taking away from "real" musicians? Gloria Estefan: I think it's kind of arrogant of us to think that we're the only "real" musicians. If you think back, there have been these kinds of shows since the dawn of time; all the way back to Arthur Godfrey, there's always been talent shows. I think the difference with this one and why it's had such success, quite honestly, is Simon. We started watching, my daughter and I, a couple seasons ago, because of "the mean guy."
Is Simon really that nasty in real life? Gloria: No, of course not. It's a shtick and he's gotta do it. He'
read more
