Newlyweds: Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey
Finding romance on television is hard (or indecisive, as The Bachelor tells us), but holding onto it on television is even more difficult. Look no further than the apparent unraveling of Jon and Kate Gosselin's nearly 10-year marriage on Jon & Kate Plus 8. Caught in a media frenzy and battling infidelity reports, the two said on the Season 5 premiere that they are unsure about their future together. "Parents of multiples have, like, triple the divorce rate, and I was thinking we were going to beat that," Kate said. "I don't know if I can say that anymore." Another overwhelming statistic working against them is the trail of divorced reality-TV couples that came before them. Check out our roundup of the small-screen lovebirds who didn't have a happy ending.
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Kathy Griffin
Guilty pleasures are those things that make you feel guilt and shame, and yet you can't stop yourself from indulging. But here's my problem: I don't have any pleasures that aren't guilty. I'd like to say I never miss a Frontline, or that I watch NewsHour with Jim Lehrer every single night, but the truth is I never miss Being Bobby Brown.
My guiltiest pleasure is probably Oprah, because she's gotten so high and mighty and has lost touch with regular people. You don't have to feel guilty on days when there's some wonderful woman on who's built a clinic in Africa and she's saving lives. But when Oprah's telling
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Question: A while back, I saw a preview for a movie with Johnny Knoxville in which he's confessing to a priest and his confessions are so bad the priest kicks him out of the church. I haven't heard about it since, but would love to know the title.
Answer: I haven't seen the trailer to which you're referring, but Johnny Knoxville has two completed movies kicking around, one awaiting a belated release and the other playing theaters on a regional basis. The Ringer, a broad comedy directed by Barry Blaustein and executive produced by Bobby and Peter Farrelly, stars Knoxville as an all-around failure who comes up with
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I would like first to clarify something I wrote in my Watercooler recap of the season finale back in May, since I got a few feedback replies about it. When I referred to George telling Olivia he had syphilis and I called her Mayim Bialik, I was kidding. One of my many middle names, which you'll know if you've read my Being Bobby Brown recaps, is "Sarcastic." Olivia was actually played by Sarah Utterback, an utter Mayim clone. OK, got that out of the way. Awesome season premiere. I love that we now know that Addison Shepherd was the actual cheater in the marriage with McDreamy, not the one being cheated on — and she cheated with his best friend! Why do I keep relating to the characters I write about? I had a similar experience once (and it was an extremely hurtful experience), so I know exactly how McDreamy feels. The fact that he's McSeparated and not still McMarried makes him look so much less like a McJerk. Meredith still ain't havin' it, tho
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Question: You recently mentioned that the middling ratings for Bravo's Situation: Comedy prompted its move to Fridays. But honestly, does it really matter when Bravo airs new episodes? If I don't catch it on Friday, I know I can catch it Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. And if I miss a week or two or three, I can catch the repeats that air before the new ep. Or I could wait for the whole thing to be over and catch the entire series marathon that Bravo will surely repeat for at least three weeks. Part of what makes watching Survivor or Amazing Race such an "event" is that it's aired exclusively on one day and at one time. And if you miss it, it sucks to be you! Do you think that Bravo could improve ratings by having fewer repeats?
Answer: Ha! So true. Except if you're low on the Bravo totem pole, like Situation: Comedy, you're not nearly as overexposed. If you don't watch this one on Fridays, that "sucks to be you" refrain (nice shout-out to my beloved Avenue Q)
...
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Question: I've heard that Sunday has the largest TV audience, but that Thursday is the second-most important night for advertisers, especially movie studios. There are a large number of movies released during the summer, but original cable programming seems to be missing on Thursdays. Is that because cable networks don't get the movie ads, or is there some other reason? On Sunday, we have The Dead Zone and The 4400. On Monday, we have The Closer. On Tuesday, we have Rescue Me, on Wednesday we have Over There and on Friday we have Sci Fi Friday. FX recently put two comedies on Thursday, but why is that not a bigger night for summer series?
Answer: That's an interesting question, and I wish I had a good answer. My guess is that because CBS in particular has such a powerful lineup on Thursdays, with shows that tend to repeat very well in the off-season (CSI and Without a Trace), cable networks generally prefer to stay away from launching new shows on the night. (Still, Bravo did OK with
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Is Bravo now reality-TV central? They've got Kathy Griffin's series, Battle of the Network Reality Stars and Being Bobby Brown. Normally home to B-listers who are real actors or some kind of actual celebrity, Bravo has become the landing place for reality-TV "stars." It's got pint-size but adorable Charla from The Amazing Race; Bachelor's Andrew Firestone; Trash — I mean Trishelle; insane-o Jonny Fairplay and Omarosa. None of them has a good handle on the game. As a poker player, I was almost in tears when Charla threw away a straight she didn't know she had. Omarosa was oblivious to the fact that she had a flush and Jonny just bet at pretty much any hand. Are these people trying to kill one of my favorite addictive shows? Anyway, Mr. Fairplay lived up to his cruel reputation by calling Charla a Lilliputian and Omarosa "Omagrossa." But at least he was self-derogatory, too, saying that
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As the whole world knows by now, the relationship between Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston carries the kind of baggage that could never fit into an overhead compartment.
Year after year these two stagger back into the headlines, what with her repeat rehab attempts and his arrests, court appearances and prison stretches. So when the new Bravo reality series Being Bobby Brown — Thursdays at 10 pm/ET — was first announced earlier this year, it was easy to assume that we'd be getting a highly controlled exercise in image repair, with Bobby and Whitney trying to look as harmless as Ozzy and Sharon or Nick and Jessica.
The assumption was wrong. This jittery, reckless probe into the lives of urban-music royalty is the rawest "celeb reality" show yet. From their first moments on screen, it's clear that neither Bobby, 36, nor Whitney, 41, is particularly concerned about how they come across to the viewing audience. He
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