Last night's Bravo A-List Awards, hosted by Kathy Griffin and whose subway station ads have been defiled all over town, was worth watching for Lauren Hutton's acceptance speech alone. But it's online! Right here on your screen! So, um, no need to watch the actual broadcast. Like the reason for this awards show, Ms. Hutton, who claims to have gone without sleep for 46 hours, does not make any sense.
Homosexual Bravo programming chief Andy Cohen, who blogs gay things on homosexual website BravoTV.com, outs Good Morning America weatherman and homosexual Sam Champion while writing about his uppity gay Hamptons weekend. [Gawker]
Lesbian fitness lady Jackie Warner is feeling the wrath of disapproving sponsors.
Warner and one of her staff came under fire last week after having a laugh about a client’s breast, which was made worst when people learned that the breasts in question had beat breast cancer. The incident led many homos to label her a “negative icon.” Now Gatorade’s pulling out from Warner’s Bravo show, Work Out:
With so many lady properties, NBC Universal has decided to stick Oxygen, Bravo, and iVillage under a single umbrella, Women and Lifestyle Entertainment Networks, or Women@NBCU for short/cuteness. Also in the mix: the "Green is Universal" campaign, the Today show, and specific shows like The Biggest Loser and Lipstick Jungle. Heading things up is none other than Lauren Zalaznick [MP], who took over Lisa Gersh's job when NBCU bought Oxygen last fall, someone who, unfortunately for the gossips, we actually hear nice things about.
Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of production company Magical Elves are the duo responsible for turning Project Runway into ratings and publicity gold. That's why NBC was angling for 'em, and now they've got 'em, signing the twosome to an exclusive deal, effectively stealing them away from the Weinstein Co.'s fashion franchise just as they're moving from Bravo to Lifetime. Cutforth and Lipsitz will remain producers for Bravo's Top Chef and NBC's Last Comic Standing.
Oh, what's that? NBC owns Bravo? Yeah. It was basically Jeff Zucker's way of brushing the top of his hand underneath his chin at Harvey Weinstein. CONTINUED »
Lifetime, not content to serve just one historically oppressed group (womyn), is now going after the gays. By stealing Project Runway from Bravo and commissioning projects like Carson Kressley's How to Look Good Naked, it's clear the channel is finally catering to the audience of homothethuals it always managed to attract. Except as the Observer points out, the channel is a bit too earnest, a bit too P.C., a bit too Middle America. Army Wives, anyone? It's everything that isn't Bravo, the sassy and smarter channel.
And as if to show they've got something to prove, Lifetime is making the biggest mistake of all: They're bailing on Golden Girls and Will & Grace – the show for those who still find Sex and the City too edgy – which is the only excuse our DVR ever had for tuning in.
Why do the post-Elle Nina Garcia rumors keep circulating? Because no decisions have been made, which means it's conspiracy theory time! Though she's no longer the magazine's fashion director, Elle's Robbie Myers understands her relationship with Project Runway may hinge on her foe's involvement, which is why Myers is so ready to offer Garcia an editor-at-large assignment. That would at least keep her on the magazine's masthead, but only through season six, according to one rumor mill, which means she'd be done wit Elle by mid-October. Meanwhile, Harvey Weinstein, who is taking the show to Lifetime, could possibly keep her on the show sans Elle affiliation. She would simply be listed as "author and Blackberry ad face."
In what can only be described as good news for Lifetime as it successfully swindles the Project Runway brand away from Bravo, new research shows TV viewers are loyal to their favorite shows, and not the networks they're broadcast on.
Analysts at Accenture see this as a ripe opportunity for content creators (producers, directors, self-absorbed video bloggers) to start putting their commodities on "multiple platforms and distribution channels and find new revenue streams by doing so."
Perhaps that's why the Weinstein Company is so enthused about its new deal. CONTINUED »
Under the original deal struck between The Weinstein Company and Bravo, Project Runway cost the NBC Universal channel $600,000 per episode. That was not enough for Harvey Weinstein, especially when Bravo started taking all the credit for the show's success. So Harvey started going around NBC's back to try and make the show more lucrative on his end, striking product placement deals without telling Bravo suits, even though they had already lined up major sponsorship deals with brands like L'Oreal and Tresemme. Bravo's deal with Macy's totally dried up when Weinstein insisted a rep for Wal-Mart, which it had an arrangement with, appear in the finale. In Weinstein's new deal with Lifetime, the lady network will be paying upwards of $1 million per episode, a nice 66 percent fee hike. And reality television was supposed to be the cheaper alternative.
Bravo parent NBC Universal filed suit against The Weinstein Company today after, in a shock to them, losing the network's biggest show, Project Runway, in a backroom dispute with producers. If things go accordingly, Lifetime will snap up the show, with a new season airing in November. "Weinstein officials said that NBC had filed the suit after 'declining to compete for the right to have Project Runway' and the legal action was simply, NBC trying to 'disrupt the series moving to Lifetime.'" [NYP, Variety]
You'd be kidding yourself if you thought Bravo had a problem putting former Playboy models on its shows. The network's The Real Housewives of Orange County is practically an ad for the magazine, though the obnoxious Jeana doesn't make the best spokeswoman. So it's of little surprise Millionaire Matchmaker chose "wholesome Jewish girl" Cidney, a former Playboy Cybergirl, to date one of its bachelors. But what about "travel agent" Marcela? Turns out she's actually a Victoria, and can be rented for $300/hour from MiamiCompanions.com. [TMZ]
After web series-cum-TV show Quarterlife bombed on NBC, with just 3.1 million viewers, the "never should have been a TV show" is getting a second chance. On Bravo. [NYT]
MIXED MESSAGES "It's dangerous for me to put myself at the forefront," says Rachel Zoe OF HER NEW BRAVO REALITY SHOW. [FWD]
SILLY FAGGOTS YouTube cewebrity William Sledd, who thinks he coined the term "Hey Bitches!," is getting his own Bravo reality show – named Hey Bitches! – after his appearance on the network's OutZoneTV.com performed well. The show will follow him as he moves from Paducah, Kentucky, to New York, where dreams happen. [B&C]
Bravo chief Lauren Zalaznick is adding a new title to her business card: head of Oxygen. With NBC Universal completing its $875 million purchase of the upstart cable network, it's posting one of its own on top, which means the sitting Oxygen head, the vivacious Lisa Gersh (seen here), will stick around for three months before, as Variety reports, she "take[s] a new position within NBC U." (The smoky-haired Zalaznick will continue as chief of Bravo and continue reporting to NBC Universal COO Jeff Gaspin.) At least that's the official story, though one NBC insider, who was on the periphery during the NBC-Oxygen buyout, suggests Gersh might already be exploring options back within Harpo – Oprah Winfrey's production unit that financed Oxygen – or they've been reaching out to her. Or maybe she's just keeping her options open?
Last night, as we regretted not wearing a thicker coat or comfier going-out shoes, it occurred to us that going from the Gotham/Bravo launch party for The Better Half at Room Service to the College Humor "One Last Desperate Gasp of Summer" bash at an East Village dive bar was the veritable party-hopping equivalent of jumping from a hot tub into a freezing cold swimming cool.
Which is to say, an extremely disconcerting adjustment that, in time, reminded us exactly why it is that we've always hated swimming so much in the first place.
Judging by reality TV, you would never guess that black models are having trouble finding work.
Tyson Beckford has inked a deal to star with Nikki Taylor in Make Me A Supermodel, Bravo's not-very-subtle answer to America's Next Top Model.
Instead of a panel of model hasbeens and pseudo drag queens, this show will rely on on viewer voting to determine who is still in the running to be America's next top model its winner. With any luck, the public will be able to pick a model who is thin enough to actually work in modeling.
Kathy Griffin is no Dick in a Box, but she did win an Emmy this weekend for outstanding reality program. Her acceptance speech left some tact to be desired:
A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. So, all I can say is, 'Suck it, Jesus.' This award is my God now.
E! will censor the speech when they broadcast the awards on Saturday. The Catholic League is outraged that Jesus wasn’t given credit for the success of My Life on the D-List.
Just as an aside, how exactly did Kathy Griffin turn a supporting role on Suddenly Susan into an entire career?
Another night, another party and another chance to remind ourselves that we're not nearly as fashionable and glamorous as we like to think we are. Yes, Fashion Week is upon us, which means shapeless pillowcase dresses are the new black and naturally slender is once again the new morbidly obese.
And yesterday, we spent the better part of our evening ogling the reality stars of yesteryear at the Bravo/Entertainment Weekly party for Tim Gunn at the Soho Grand and marveling at the fact that somebody had the lack of foresight to serve miniature Reuben sandwiches at a snotty skinny-person party.
As always the event was, well, eventful.
• Twelve weeks and counting for Us Weekly EIC Janice Min and boss Jann Wenner to reach a new deal before her contract runs out.
• Bravo buys TelevisionWithoutPity, tries to keep on screwing the freelancers.
• Meanwhile, Bravo's Project Runway re-ups with Tim Gunn as host. Nice negotiating with those rumors of begin too busy, Gunn!"
• That Page Six plugs corporate cousin HarperCollins is news now relegated to a footnote.
• Fox TV and Hearst team up for web videos you won't watch, be able to find.
• Salon gossip aggregator Scott Lamb tires of checking RSS feeds. So does that mean the celebrity category is or isn't saturated?
• Mr. Magazine names Relish the "Launch of the Year." We name Mr. Magazine the "Needs to Give Up That Hack Name" of the decade.
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Editorial Director
