A few weeks ago, Jossip had some fun comparing how journalists cover journalists in movies. If you remember, the conclusion was the Washington Post thinks movies portray journalists as tough-talking boozers who have Superman's day job, while the New York Times thinks journalists are shown as slimeball, flawed morons.
Which is why we couldn't be happier to have David Carr come along and really clear things up for us: journalists are drunk floozies — especially the women. And the only way a female reporter can land her story is by sleeping with her source. We agree — it really is so unfair that the film industry pigeonholes reporters like that. Especially when we have the reality shows to prove that things aren't really like that.
The show, set in the newsroom of The Daily News in New York, is that rare reality series that actually uncovers something fundamental about its subject. For starters, it is hard to imagine anyone being seduced by any of these reporters.
Ouch. Though it's pretty obvious David Carr never ran into Hudson Morgan at the Soho Grand.
Reporters on Film: Drunks and Tarts [David Carr, New York Times]
Earlier: A Look Back on Journalists reporting on Journalists in Films
Who needs reality TV folks when you've got Ryan Adams sticking up for Jessica Joffe for no reason? Well, we do. And Intern Calista does, too. Which is why we tied her down, again, and made her waste her summer watching The Hills and Tabloid Wars. Here's the top 10 funniest lines of the week …. come on, you know you love it. The top five, including Lloyd Grove's VD inquiries, after the jump.
10. “We were all happy with Angela’s fabric selection – it was more appropriate for this particular challenge than the full-tilt boogie, Angela-quilted extravaganza of puff.†–Wtf is Laura talking about? Project Runway
9. “Vincent kept disagreeing with me, and I was like, ‘You’re entitled to your wrong opinion.’†–Robert, PR
8. “You came just in time for the sunset.†–Jason's spews his cheese ball lines, The Hills
7. “I used to have a new boyfriend every five minutes in preschool… and I used to make guys fight over me. So, I’m gonna start doing that again.†–Heidi, remembering her slutty days as a 4-year-old, The Hills
6. “Keith… what an asshole. I’m glad to see him gone.†–Laura could care less that Keith was the first Project Runway contestant disqualified.
CONTINUED »
We know everyone is just thrilled about tonight's premiere of Tabloid Wars on Bravo. Hell, the Daily News even gives the show — you know, the show about their staff — a surely much deserved three stars. And here we have a sneak peak of Hudson Morgan at "work." A glowing example of how at least one of those stars was earned.
After asking a girl for a beer so he can prove his manhood (the girl kindly points out that she's not a waitress) he goes on to be shunned by Carson Kressley (who we think he calls Carson Daly) and totally ripped up by Adrian Grenier. It really a tough world out there folks. You need to be thick skinned. And too busy going to parties to read the gossip about yourself.
Like Hud says, "I know that being with the column for a year has affected me personally on some level, but I'm too fucking busy with the column to figure out all the bad things that's done to me."
Did we, like, win some kind of contest or something? Because along with the reward of sparkling Lloyd Grove quotes from WWD, we feel like we just hit a jackpot: Hudson Morgan/Lloyd quibbling over the grade of Sheryl Crow's ass.
Ok, Media Mob, you've convinced us. We are so going to watch this new gossips gone wild reality show … even if you've already snatched all the good quotes and we can't use them for our round-ups! A sample of the banter we have so been missing:
MORGAN: Even Sheryl Crow can't get Lance Armstrong into the sack during the Tour de frfance (sic), blah blah blah, one quote.
LLOYD GROVE: Why is Sheryl Crow–is she, is she, like, a great piece of ass?
MORGAN: Sheryl Crow–yeah.
GROVE: She is?
MORGAN: Are you kidding?
GROVE: I don't know!
MORGAN: Do you know who she is?
GROVE: That's why you're here, to tell me these things.
MORGAN: Yeah! Yes!
Other quotes include Hud calling himself charming, the moment his grandfather read he was gay on Google, and why nobody cares about dead people. Conde Nast is so going to love this!
Tabloid Wars: Hud Morgan, Hollywood Is Calling [Media Mob]
It's time to bid adieu to our favorite gay vague banter, which graced the pages of Lloyd Grove's Lowdown for 18 months. With Hudson Morgan leaving for Men's Vogue, the Daily News gossip columnist has found a new flak in Katherine Thomson.
A Princeton grad, Thomson has moved on from her days of assisting Joe Scarborough to the glamorous job of transcribing Baird Jones' tape recorded conversations. We're not really sure how Thomson and Grove met, (possibly at his 50th birthday party?) but Grove says that Katherine's been around since the column's skeeviful birth.
Katherine has been a friend of the column since the beginning and has been a great supporter and eagle-eyed Lowdown spy as well. She’s a terrific young journalist … she was an obvious choice when Hud departed. She will do the same things my other assistants have done — a lot of reporting and writing, plus a little bit of admin … her canny knowledge of pop culture will give the column a leg up.
We seriously hope that this "new understanding of pop culture" will help stop Grove from using words like "natch," and banning celebrities he can't afford to lose from his column.
Scoop! It’s A Girl! [Fashion Week Daily]
Now that Michael Cooke has flown the coup at the Daily News – literally, he's not even in the office anymore – we must turn our attention to the most important issue at hand: What's to come of Bravo's Tabloid Wars, the Daily News vs. New York Post reality show?
Personally, we're not sure what the problem is. The film crew stopped tailing Hud Morgan & Co. months ago and the footage is being parsed in an editing bay somewhere, readying itself for broadcast. And while Bravo has yet to set an air date, that's just fine too: It wasn't expected to be seen till spring '06, anyhow.
But Post-it Keith Kelly is worried Bravo doesn't want to miss out on the obvious closed-door tension between editorial director Martin Dunn (who will now fill Cooke's role) and Cooke, the "mistake" hiree. Capturing it on film is surely an honest pursuit, but this is, after all, Tabloid Wars.
Shouldn't Morgan's pouncing on junior publicists be enough?
Cooke Beats Fast Retreat [Keith Kelly, NYP]
Related: Tabloid Wars: Bravo brings it for NYDN v. NYP
• So content without Michael Cooke, the New York Daily News isn't even going to replace the outgoing editor (editorial director Martin Dunn is filling in). The pink stilleto boots Col Allan is sending over, however, are staying. [E&P]
• Hudson Morgan is leaving Lloyd Grove's side after 19 months stumbling through Bungalow 8 in search of a scoop. He's headed to Men's Vogue to prove that the magazine isn't just for the gay man — it's for the straight-ish man too. [Gawker]
• For just $2,500, you can get your product in front of a Gannett-owned morning show audience. Some, and we don't know who, might say this crosses the line between editorial and advertising. [AdAge]
• Glad that whole Nipplegate thing is over so we can get back to broadcasting the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Tonight at 10pm! [Hartford Courant]
• CNN Pipeline is "breathtaking," exclaims PC Magazine. "We don't pay for media porn," exclaims Jossip. [TVNewser]
• In Touch isn't only in the business of promoting Jennifer Aniston but has the mission of peddling GQ, too. [MIN]
• King Kong's premiere last night was so big, so huge, so gigantic .. that it barely deserves a mention. [NYDN]
The same network that brings you such gems as Kathy Griffin is putting the icing on Tabloid Wars, the New York Daily News v. New York Post "docusoap" we've been wishin' and a hopin' for.
Bravo is wrapping up filming its six one-hour episodes for next spring's debut and it's no surprise its footage sports plenty of the camera-friendly (but not New York's hottest gossipist) Hudson Morgan, otherwise known as Lloyd Grove's biatch.
You could see young Hud – described by producers as a "young, hip kind of guy" – running around the summer's slow season with camera crew in tow, though we're guessing we won't see any clips of his "real" partying.
At long last, we've got somewhere to turn to see who's running the celebrity stock exchange. Until now it was just sites like us, Gawker, Mediabistro and Dominick Dunne. Oh, and the gossip columns themselves.
