E! late night television host Chelsea Handler, who is no longer afraid to tell people how she slept her way to the top, is also a do-gooder for the little people. Literally.
She helped her personal assistant Chuy Bravo, who maintains his own profile page on E!’s website, score a book deal. (Even still, Bravo will remain Handler’s assistant.) Little Nuggets of Wisdom, pun-ily named because Bravo is a little person, will feature 90 fortune cookie/Jack Handy-esque tidbits.
Nugget No. 1: Work for a nice pretty lady who has connections. [STA]
On last night’s Living Lohan, 14-year-old Ali was “tormented” by some classmates who said she needs to stop trying to be like big sister Lindsay. (Well, they have a point.) Naturally, mother bear Dina was appalled, because apparently she forgot about what’s said in all those tabloids she reads every morning over coffee.
Click through for video of the worst bullying in history (except not).
On last night’s episode, an electrical fire leads Dina Lohan to mapping out an emergency escape route. Perhaps Ali will use it to escape her mother. [earlier]
Though we only trust Nielsen’s ratings numbers about as much as Lindsay Lohan’s denials about enjoying a smooch with Samantha Ronson now and then, the ratings company is the bearer of bad news for the starlet and her fam.
Lohan’s guest appearance on Ugly Betty’s season finale only bumped audience numbers up by 300k from the previous week’s episode; and that number was down 16.2 percent from last season’s finale. [E!]
Not only that, but Lohan fatigue is on its way to officially becoming a trend: E!’s Living Lohan, which only mama Dina, sister Ali, and that little boy appear in, couldn’t even beat Denise Richards’ own reality show It’s Complicated, which premiered back-to-back. Living nabbed 1.45m viewers to Richards‘ 1.5m. [Us]
At least there’s a break between now and Lindsay’s Carlos Gardel biopic Dare to Love Me, which might mean box office receipts will be down a mere 85 percent from I Know Who Killed Me.
Is news of Ben Widdicombe’s departure about to get trumped – in gay gossip circles – by Ted Casablanca? The E! gay-ssip today mentions his upcoming nuptials: “You’re pissy; we’re less so (I’m getting married in less than a week, and Becky’s gonna be free of my pushy ass for a whole two, woo-friggin’-hoo!).” Um, congrats?
Partner Jon Powell proposed to Casablanca last June “on a deserted Hawaiian beach.” At their wedding, they’ll still be wearing Speedos, but with tuxes over ‘em.
Looks like E!’s Chelsea Handler isn’t so concerned about keeping her relationship with network president Ted Harbert in the closet any longer. When Jossip first broke the story in December 2006, network brass was furious and even made an attempt to cover up our claim, which might’ve been due to the fact Harbert wasn’t yet officially divorced from his wife. Now, she’s telling Page Six about what it’s like to have sex with a man twenty years older than she: “The sex is great because he knows what he’s doing!”
Granted, The Soup is hilarious and irreverent and really good. That said, does anyone else worry that tons of great comedic parts are slipping through Joel McHale’s fingers while he toils away on the same network that’s hired Dina Lohan to run her ridiculous mouth?
Is E!’s new Ashton Kutcher vehicle Pop Fiction so desperate for viewers its taken to spamming blogs? At least one victim, the fantastic Celebitchy, found someone with the same IP address posting not-so-transparent plugs for the new series in its comments section.
“Hahaha!! It was all a prank on the paparazzi!! Its that new show on E! Pop Fiction. Its freakn awsome. The celebrities play pranks on the pap. What a genies idea. Paris Hiltons one was great all the paparazzi bit right into it. Shes not religious come on people. I love this show. Heres the link you wanted. Tell me what you think.”
You see how misspelling “genius” and extra exclamation points make it seem like a real tween posted that? CONTINUED »
Did new E! staffer Ken Baker sign up one of his kids – either son Jackson, 5, or daughter Chloe, 3 – at Britney Spears’ dance class at Millennium Studios in Burbank so he would have an excuse to drop by and spy? That’s one wild Hollywood rumor floating around about the former Us Weekly editor. (Baker hasn’t returned a request for comment.)
How many ways are there to describe having sex with E! host Chelsea Handler? Let’s have her Touré-attending round table discuss it for a full minute, because the commentary on Britney Spears’ shrine to Justin Timberlake certainly isn’t anyone’s time. (Scoll to the :30 mark.) Maybe E! chief Ted Harbert knows a thing or two about all this?
Might Ashton Kutcher’s latest punk’d project be a rip-off of an Anna Nicole Smith idea? Back in ‘04, the now-deceased Playmate and attorney Howard K. Stern pitched E! execs on Celebrities Bite Back, which carried the very premise of Kutcher’s Pop Fiction. This week, Ashton’s show aired, making it the perfect publicity opportunity for Stern to begin threatening legal action.
KEN BAKER E-LATED Us Weekly departure Ken Baker unofficially joined E! weeks ago. This week, he officially becomes Ryan Seacrest’s corporate buddy, securing the title of executive news director. Meanwhile, for extra fun, we phoned his old line at Us, expecting the mag to pull a Jill Ishkanian, and keep his extension open without notifying callers he no longer worked there. Alas, the recording tells you Ken has left the building. [FBNY]
For a long time, we had trouble distinguishing between Forbes and Fortune. They both start with “For,” both cover business and are both kind of boring.
But over time, we learned that Forbes is the one that puts out web hit generating lists and Fortune is the other one. Forbes love of lists has extended to a partnership with E!. Forbes 20 Richest Women in Entertainment wasn’t exactly the Frontline quality TV journalism.
If Forbes wants to let E! siphon off its gravitas, so be it. Until now.
Forbes put New York as the fourth most miserable American city to live in. Have their editors even visited the rest of the country? CONTINUED »
The exiting Us Weekly veteran is “in final negotiations with E! with Ted [Harbert, the network president] who loves him and Ryan Seacrest pushed to get him this job,” says the inbox. “Ryan has made it easy for his friend to get a job there. No official announcement yet but he is already working stories for them. He’s very excited about his new role thanks to the one friend he has left in Hollywood. With Ryan’s help he is negotiating for a big role and the top guns at E! love Ryan and love Ken.”
The much-talked about – as in, we’ve been talking about them much – rumors of AMI editorial director Bonnie Fuller meeting with TV folks and taking meetings in LA are once again causing a stir among the top tabloid set.
We’re told that, among other outlets, she’s met with the E! channel. Except rather than focus on her own projects – such as a reality show about her family or something that her NYU film student son would spearhead (?) – the latest gossip suggests she’s simply trying to raise her profile among David Pecker’s set before Ron Burkle’s takeover of the company.
She’s been working with a “TV trainer” to help avoid her oft-mocked awkward presence on screen. “Apparently she’s much better on camera now as a result,” says a source.
Even more evidence of a new Bonnie? She’s been meeting with Star’s reporters (”something she hadn’t done for a long while until recently”) and even calling her own contacts to report stories, which we’ve already seen her do once.
Congratulations, Rumer Willis. The spawn of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis will be Miss Golden Globe 2008.
While it might not seem like a big deal that Rumer Willis will be handing “you’re probably going to win the Oscar” awards, E! insists that it is. And if E! doesn’t know about these things, who would?
Having appeared a few times on Emmy caliber shows like 25 Celebrity Near Death Experiences on E! – where we practice how to say Jason Priestley “was nearly torn to shreds and burnt alive” gingerly – we’ve met the fine folks who produce these shows. We even have an intimate relationship with the guy who reaches under our shirt to attach the mic and “accidentally” brushes up against our nipples.
These fine folks are the best in the business. Or at least deserving of our sympathy: None of them receive health insurance from E!
Until now! After meeting with the Producers Guild of America over concerns that freelancers might fall into one of Hillary Clinton’s health care pie charts, the network decided to offer health benefits to freelance producers who clock 200 consecutive days of work, as well as make some 100 associate producers eligible for overtime.
Obvs, this isn’t going to be good for profit margins. Nor will it be good for the inescapable negotiations with writers’ guilds, who want their reality TV members to receive the benefits that go along with constructing a story-line out of boring pretty people.
Who knew that moments after posting bail O.J. Simpson would be stalked by a crazed E! online reporter seeking to chronicle EVERY SINGLE BORING DETAIL of his four hour and 20 minute plane ride (US Airways Flight 888!) from Las Vegas to Fort Lauderdale, FL.? According E!’s breaking news report:
O.J. purchased a $3 snack pack for himself (the pack included chips, salsa, fruit bar, chocolate bar, cheese and breadsticks) and a $5 chicken caesar sandwich for his girlfriend and paid for the meal with a $50 bill. O.J. drank Coca-Cola and ice water while in flight, while Christie drank a small $5 bottle of red wine.
Worse still? He actually sat in coach, where he reportedly fit in nicely with all the other homicidal maniacs.
Fox and E! don’t have a legal leg to stand on for censoring Sally Fields and Kathy Griffin. Goddamn repression. [Queerty]
NBC may have paid $1 million for Paris Hilton’s interview – outbidding ABC by some $900k – but what did Ryan Seacrest and E! have to pay for access?
Nothing. CONTINUED »
Editorial Director
