All that Virgin Airlines promotion must have rubbed some HBO execs in their honey spots: the Mark Wahlberg (you know, that guy that talks to animals)-produced show, Entourage, was just picked up for a sixth season.
This, despite the storyline getting stale about two seasons ago and ratings not so great? The whole show is now resting its entire weight on the strength of Jeremy Piven's Emmys.
Ah the Emmys. Did anyone watch this year, or were you all too busy catching up on Mad Men, which as of last night is the first show on basic cable to win the award for best drama in a series?
Best comedy went to Tina Fey and the crew of 30 Rock, again. So you'd assume that this was the year where all the clever writing and poignant, meaningful, television came back from wherever it's been hiding since Arrested Development went off the air.
You'd be wrong:
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How relieved were you to find out that Justin Timberlake's William Rast campaign was for a clothing line and not a terrible, terrible Natural Born Killers rip-off he was starring in?
It can almost be excused then, the JT's premiere at Fashion Week last night at Roseland Ballroom featured a supporting cast that read like a who's who of 2008 douchery; Jeremy Piven and the Entourage cast, back from their mile-high season premiere, took front-row seats, while Anna Wintour had to beg to be let backstage to meet her favorite member of N'Sync. Some bouncer didn't recognize The Devil Wears Prada muse when he barred her from the private entrance, and was subsequently devoured at a post-show supper featuring fava beans and a nice chianti.
When you think of Jeremy Piven, you think of an Emmy-winning actor, Ari Gold, and hair plugs. This fall, add Broadway star, as the Entourage misfit takes one of the leads in Speed-the-Plow, which returns to the Great White Way after a twenty year hiatus. Piven will play one of "two dueling movie producers," which means he'll have to stretch the capacity of his ego exactly one-half a centimeter.
• JR Rotem, the music producer Britney "dated" for approximately five minutes (pre-rehab) has decided to go the classy route and offer an unsolicited (and uncomfortably detailed) glimpse into their sex life. No wonder that guy's name rhymes with "scrotum."
• When Entourage's Jeremy Piven challenges pint-sized morning talk show host Kelly Ripa to a push-up contest, we think it's fair to say everybody loses. And by "everybody," we especially mean Jeremy Piven.
• ABC clears out GMA studios when overly zealous Sam Champion fan sends anthrax-y envelope instead of amateur sex tape like a normal person.
• For those of you who missed last night's Queerty bash at the Chelsea Hotel, all we can say is "You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Fortunately, however, there's a recap.
• ParisJackson Exposed! Michael Jackson's in vitro offspring photographed without their body-armor.
• Lindsay's incarcerated dad continues his bad parenting streak; gives the term "Pen Pal" an amazing new meaning.
• Even super-pierced hipsters think DJ A.M. is lame.
• Anne Hathaway possibly likes chicks, possibly likes having lesbo sex with that dork from Welcome to the Dollhouse.
• Jeremy Piven jokes about being gay to explain his chronic singledom. Reality: Jeremy Piven is just horribly, horribly awkward with women.
• K-Fed gets tempting taco offer from Taco Bell; still nothing from real, live females.
This photo of Lindsay Lohan reminds us of one thing and one thing only: a Last Night's Party pic.
We especially love that Lohan goes back to her roots with the Long Island look of a bikini and high heels. Alas, we scoured LNP, but were unable to find a photo of a girl standing in a doorway wearing her bathing suit that didn't involve her nipples being sucked on. However, we did find this tribute to LaLo. On the underside of a toilet seat. Which is probably what she spends most of her nights looking at anyway.
It's a good thing Lohan can't legally drink… [Mollygood]
• Oh, snap. As if Lindsay Lohan needed another reason to hate Scarlett Johansson, Scarlett is now stealing Lindsay's classy signature shot (Kamikazes?) and downing them all night with Wilmer Valderrama at Marquee. [Page Six]
• But, Lohan has Jeremy Piven to help her forget about her problems. Or, y'know, give her more problems. [AP]
• A new book about John F. Kennedy Jr., complete with “never-before-seen†photos of the sexiest man alive?! We're so in. [Lowdown]
• Naomi Campbell dated Robert De Niro? Whoa, his stock just went down faster than the Observer's. [R&M]
• Expect a larger-than-normal drinking binge from Tara Reid soon. Looks like she’ll need the alcohol to get over her movie role embarrassment. [R&M]
• Lindsay Lohan doing anything at midnight but carousing at a club? Odd. But Lindsay Lohan trying to smuggle something to a rehabbing Brandon Davis? Inexplicable. [The Awful Truth]
• Italy headbutts France out of first, but France squeezed in a shot of their own. And Little Italy's celebrations were curbed by cops cutting the power. [NYT]
• Jeremy Piven has no problem smoking pot with twentysomethings. But tobacco? It ages you, brah. [Page Six]
• Brigitte Nielsen marries Guy No. 5 twice, because of that tiny little problem with the first wedding. You know, where she was still married to Guy No. 4. [People]
• Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow lucks out again. Too bad those Chinese kids won't ever get to see him/ [AP, LSE]
• Despite the fear of getting the clap just by looking, Paris Hilton's crotch is on full display. [MollyGood]
• Madonna and Kabbalah parting ways? So much bottled water gone to waste. [Dlisted]
• As the host of the CFDAs, Jeremy Piven tried his band geek moves on Karolina Kurcova. [R&M]
• But things didn't really work out, so in true Ari Gold style, he tried to pick up some Bungahos at the after party. And when that didn't work out, he took his overly testosteroned rage out on Stephen Dorff. [Page Six]
• If stalking her ex will keep Nicole Richie from starving to death, we guess it's a small price to pay. [Scoop]
• Kevin Federline has moved to the basement, where his bong sessions and rap practice won't bother anybody. [Us Weekly]
• Alanis Morrissette and Ryan Reynolds call it kaputz. We found the fact that they were dating in the first place a little too ironic, but we hope the break-up inspires more "You Oughta Know" ballads. [People]
We are getting a little nervous. Mostly because (you all know) we love Entourage. It is not just some ploy to give the show lots of press so that maybe we can meet Adrian Grenier and make-out with him. We swear! But, as a rule, every time a show, movie, blog, anything gets crazy over promoted, well, it usually means bad news is close behind.
Uh, hello, didn't Vince Chase himself teach us that with his reservations about Aquaman? Well, we don't have time for a full-out Entourage analysis (there are nerdier websites for that shit) we would like to use this platform to express our concern for the complete ho-out of our show.
First, there was this weird "be Ari Gold's assistant" posting. And we're sure none of you could dream of anything better than being Jeremy Piven's bitch, we just really don't get the point of the fake application. (Yes, we filled it out … nothing happened.) But, HBO didn't stop there. Oh, no. Now, they want their viewers to join gyms and work out while they watch the show.
As part of its plan to promote the third season of Entourage and the DVD release of season 2 … New York Sports Clubs will air season 2 of Entourage over the health club's private TV network.
During the week leading up to the premiere, 97 New York Sports Clubs put “Watch while you work out†cardio cards on the top of all the equipment, letting its 300,000 members know they can access season 2 on a special channel on the TV screens affixed to treadmills, bikes and other exercise machines. In addition, about one third of the TV screens suspended around the facilities also play the season 2 loop of episodes.
Again, we don't understand. Season two was great and all, but all the cardio in the world won't make up for missing Gary Buse and his crazy ass monologue.
HBO, Zoom to Run Entourage in Health Clubs [Katy Bachman, Mediaweek]
In the midst of stalking Bragelina baby photos, Googling ourselves, and laughing at Ann Curry, we somehow found a few minutes for the things other people (like, perhaps, you) care about. Such as those fabulous Hollywood meets New York fashion awards events . Ah, yes … last night marked the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) awards.
Of course any event that puts Tom Ford, Anna Wintour, and Janet Jackson in a room together gets our blood flowing — had only something actually happened at these awards besides the boring awards stuff, there may actually be more fun news about it out there.
Yet, for those who care, the big winners of the night were Francisco Costa (women's wear), Thom Browne (men's wear) and Tom Binns (accessories). Sandra Oh accompanied Peter Som, and Chloe Sevigny was disappointingly hideous.
But, by far, the talk of the event was Jessica Simpson and the hoochie dress that managed to out-slut Scarlett Johansson and Lindsay Lohan combined.
While we could have asked for more, we guess winners, losers, and the dahling Jeremy Piven surrounded by young thangs in trampy outfits will have to tide us over until the next People hits newsstands.
Francisco Costa Wins Top Fashion Award [AP via New York Times]
• Christina Aguilera admits that wearing clothing "makes her feel uncomfortable." [Sun]
• George Clooney's trash is Jeremy Piven's treasure. Is this one staying in Vegas? [Page Six]
• The golden rule of tabloid gossip is broken — Anthony Pellicano's tapes reveal rag sources, and dishers are named. Hmm, wonder why they say gossips have no ethics? [Lowdown]
• Nicole Kidman feels connected to her adopted children's birth parents. "We're just a big, strange family." Yeah, we doubt those people want any part of Tom Cruise's big strange anything. [People]
• Coyotes should have Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson's leftovers for dinner. In fact, they should just have Mischa and Rachel for dessert, too. [3am]
• Perhaps the lack of coke offerings was why Mike Tyson split the Meadows clinic after just five days of $4,000 per night rehab treatment. [P6]
• People beat out the other rags for rights to Donald and Melania Trump's first pictures of their new baby boy, Barron. Twenty dollars versus 10, we're assuming. [P6]
• Lloyd Grove reports Hachette Filipacchi head Jack Kliger is working to get int't creative director Gilles Bensimon booted — a story that's been floating around for months. [Lowdown]
• Maybe Lindsay Lohan will actually be able to follow through with this modeling job for Versace, unlike her brief encounter with Louis Vuitton. [FWD]
• Just when he was getting hot – landing Cargo covers! – Jeremy Piven is expected to get axed on Entourage. [P6]
• If he's got a decent accountant, April 15 could see Nelly writing off his golden teeth on his tax return. [Us Weekly]
• Do Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen need a bodyguard to protect them from their own? Foster Zeh, who's been guarding the twins for three years, has a rap sheet featuring five counts of insurance fraud, falsely reporting an incident and making a punishable false written statement. Yes, but can he protect a coffee frap so it doesn't spill?
• Foxy Brown didn't waste anytime between snogging Tyson Beckford last week and moving on to NBAer Chris Webber this week. But her star power liplocks didn't keep her from getting the boot at Home so Jeremy Piven and his crew could have the table.
• Fashion Week just wouldn't be the same without a Naomi Campbell temper tantrum. The anger-prone runway vet threw a fit at Bryant Park before Chris Aire's show Tuesday because she didn't like the dress she was supposed to wear. After having a personal pity party via cellphone, she stalked off (most likely to get a refund for those failed anger management classes).
• Paris Hilton's Sidekick hacker is on his way to a juvenile detention center for 11 months, thanks to his hacking exploits. It's just a shame he's not going to get inside anyone's box for quite some time.
• Kate Moss might be preparing to edit the December/January issue of French Vogue, but we have a feeling that deal might be rescinded once editirix Carine Roitfeld sees today's Daily Mirror with her blowing a couple lines.
• Lauren Bush and four galpals got turned away at Cain on Tuesday night because the bouncers didn't recognize the Elite model, whose uncle is the president. Or, well, maybe they did recognize her.
If Jeremy Piven isn't pretending nobody's seen his body, then he's pretending to really, really care about viewers donating money to support the American Red Cross.
Meanwhile, Mariah Carey is checking in to see how her Esquire cover is selling and Cameron Diaz is placing an order for another Proactiv kit.
Dennis Quaid is the only one actually accepting credit card numbers.
We don't usually read Liz Smith's column, if only because we put blinders on when anyone over 40 tries to address us. But when we hear she's letting Entourage's Jeremy Piven spew his lies, you know we'll pay attention.
'I DON'T think anybody has ever seen my body!" So despairs Emmy-nominated Jeremy Piven, the breakout star of HBO's "Entourage," a show where he plays a ruthless, suit-wearing agent. But we are sure somebody has seen Jeremy's body!
Interesting, especially for anyone who's seen Miami Rhapsody.
Though it's easy to imagine why he'd want to push that rumor.
One more example of nobody having seen Piven's body, after the jump.
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Editorial Director
