Chelsea Handler is a lot like Becky Sharp from William Thackeray's Vanity Fair (the one played by Reese Witherspoon in that movie no one saw). No really, both Becky and Chelsea are feminist anti-heroes; sleeping their way to the top and holding their own in a male-dominated society (19th century Britian and late night television, respectively). The fact that Handler is currently dating E! Entertainment Television head Ted Harbert, while that same channel has made a killing off her show Chelsea Lately, is further illustration of how symbiotic a relationship can be when you're whoring yourself (figuratively, of course) to the studios.
And ooh, symbolism! Chelsea recently graced the pages of another Vanity Fair when she was chosen to share the cover of Graydon Carter's mag with other female comedians like Amy Sedaris, Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey, and Wanda Sykes. The only ish? Let's not pretend that your fame is totally unrelated to your bodaciousness, Chelsea. "I don't have a lot of respect for women who play up their sexuality. I know I'm attractive, but that's not my best feature. What's up here in my head is more important." Sure, but in order to attract an audience to hear what's in that head Chelsea, you needed to use that attractiveness. Don't knock the beauty standard; like it or not, it helped get you where you needed to be.
Over the weekend, Keith Olbermann did not name Brooke Hogan one of his worst persons in the world, but he did pop up on E!'s Talk Soup to guest host a segment and give host Joel McHale a breather. There, he did make fun of the physical appearance of the reality star, who is a 20 years old. CONTINUED »
Kudos to Ryan Seacrest brand extension the E! channel, which is making no secret of its programming mantra: Our stars must go to prison. At PaidContent's EconCeleb conference — where the paparazzi panel bitched at each other over celebrity rights and Harvey Levin explained his moral compass — E!'s CMO Suzanne Kolb weighed in on shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The Simple Life, and Living Lohan*, where it's common practice for talent to spend some time behind bars. "A lot of our talent have gone to jail and we’ve been very clear on that." And that wasn't even the most amusing line of the whole panel. That award goes to Access Hollywood executive producer Rob Silverstein: "Access Hollywood follows the same guidelines that NBC News follows when it comes to reporting any news story." Wait, so that means checkbooks are kosher, right?
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]
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