Reality Rocks

  • I'm kind of surprised it took me this long to blog about Fuse's Redemption Song, since I was ridiculously obsessed with it from episode 1. A sort of hybrid of American Idol, Top Model, and Bad Girls' Club, this deliciously sleazy (Chris Jericho-hosted!) show chronicled the lives of "talented but troubled" female singers as they attempted to leave their checkered pasts behind, literally get their acts together, and land a contract with Geffen Records.

    Along with the inevitable catfighting and binge-drinking that ensued during Redemption Song's 10 totally addictive (pun intended) episodes, there were many enjoyable interviews with the colorful cast of characters--enjoyable because they were so entertainingly accompanied by helpful and descriptive captions like "Used To Run An Escort Service," "Was Once Engaged To A Girl," "Kicked Out Of Her Band For Stalking The Lead Singer," "Boyfriend Stole Life Savings," "Has More Than 30 Piercings," and my personal favorite, "Once Threw A Girl

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  • With the premiere of American Idol season 8 taking place Janaury 13, I can think of no better time to reflect on last season's top 10  moments. All of these watercooler-chatter-worthy, The Soup-championed highlights (or lowlights) oddly already seem so very long ago...which indicates that I've already moved on and am more than ready for the new season, fourth judge and all. But this recap will hopefully tide me, and other Idol fanatics, over until the new season begins...

    10) "No Sex Allowed" On The AmIdol Set!
    In the early audition rounds, leopard-vested New Jersey comedian Milo Turk warbled perhaps the finest pro-abstinence anthem since Jermaine Stewart's "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" or Janet Jackson's "Let's Wait A While," a little original ditty called "No Sex Allowed." At a time when today's pantyless pop stars were giving a free peep show every time they drunkenly stumbled out of a car, and the airwaves were teeming with salacious commands to "Superman that ho," what a

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  • A few weeks ago, when season 5 American Idol reject Paula Goodspeed was found dead of a possible drug overdose/suicide near the home of her own idol, judge Paula Abdul, I questioned whether or not AmIdol producers tend to exploit the mentally ill for the purposes of "entertainment." (Read my original blog here).

    Well, after listening to Abdul's shocking recent interview with Barbara Walters, I'm beginning to think the answer to that question is YES. In this tragic case, it seems the show's powers-that-be not only exploited Paula Goodspeed, but that they exploited the not-exactly-100-percent-mentally-stable Paula Abdul as well.

    This week during an interview on The View--and later in more depth on Sirius XM Radio--Abdul told Barbara Walters that the Idol powers-that-be allegedly allowed Goodspeed to audition for the show, even though they knew she'd stalked Abdul for years.

    Why would they put their star center judge in possible danger like this? Because, according to Abdul, "This was

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  • What's the true measure of a man? Getting your own E! True Hollywood Story special, of course.

    And now out-and-proud American Idol alum Clay Aiken is joining the illustrious ranks of other THS subjects like, um, Loni Anderson, Ty Pennington, Tara Reid, Andy Dick, the Barbi Twins, Corey Feldman, Joe Piscopo, Pia Zadora, Jim "Ernest" Varney, and Herve "Tattoo" Villechaize.

    Yes, people...Clay's getting his own made-for-E! TV doc, premiering Friday, December 12 at 9pm!

    According to the salivatingly received (by me, at least) E! press release, self-declared "number-one fan" Kathy Griffin will get some screen time on the special, as will Idol also-ran Rickey Smith (remember--the guy who wore the Afro wig on '70s Night?), a guy who once directed Clay in regional theater back in the day, and the president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD).

    But I for one am even more GLADD that the episode will feature an interview with John Paulus (the former Green Beret soldier who

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  • As Britney Spears releases her supposed comeback album Circus today, I'm reminded of another Britney circus: Her short-lived 2005 reality show with her infamous then-husband, Britney & Kevin: Chaotic.

    Even by reality-television standards, Chaotic was real barrel-bottom-scraping material. It pretty much consisted of cobbled-together amateur webcam footage (much of it shot in ghoulish green nightvision) of the Spederlines gazing as their pierced navels with their suspiciously bloodshot eyes, slurrily yammering about deep stuff like love and the meaning of life, y'all, in between their cow-like chewing-gum chomps.

    It was probably not what broadcasting pioneer Edgar R. Murrow had in mind when he envisioned what the television medium might be like in the new millennium...and probably not what (the successful, schoolgirl-skirted, pre-K-Fed) Britney envisioned her career would one day be reduced to.

    Of course, we all know how chaotic Britney's life really became after her divorce from her

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  • Obviously,the 2008 holiday season for the surviving members of the Hudson family will not exactly be a joyfulone. On October 24, Jennifer Hudson's mother (pictured here), brother, and nephew were brutallymurdered in Chicago...thus ensuring that there would be little cause for celebration between Halloween andNew Year's Eve this year.

    But perhaps today's news will give the Idol and hergrieving relatives a little bit of much-needed peace this season.

    Today WilliamBalfour--Jennifer's brother-in-law and the prime suspect in this tragictriple-homicide, who refused to take a lie-detector test when the policeinvestigation began weeks ago--was officially arrested. According Chicago policespokeswoman Monique Bond, he will be formally charged with the killings of DarnellDonerson (Jennifer's mom), Jason Hudson (her brother), and Julian King (hernephew).

    Balfour, age 27, is the estranged husband of Jennifer's sister, Julia, andthe stepfather of 7-year-old murder victim Julian (Julia's son). He

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  • I knew there was a reason I liked MyChemical Romance! Sure, I dig their music. But there's something else: ourshared love of reality television.

    It seems Ihave a fellow fanatical blogger in MCR's Gerard Way--who, like me, is currentlyobsessed with VH1's horror-movie talent search Scream Queens and latest hoochie-tastic dating show, Real Chance Of Love.

    My Chemical Romance just relaunched theirwebsite, and Gerard is now blogging about these chemically addictive Celebrealityshows:

    ------------------------------------------------------

    Scream Queens was solid yet again, very tense episode. Ladies are getting fierce forthat part in Saw 6. I realized it'salso very unnerving to watch people act on television. It gives you the"motts."

    The best way to describe "themotts" is like this:

    Do you remember the first time youwatched a bad daytime interview show, like Springeror something, and someone is just making a total ass out of themselves, doingor saying something very uncomfortable?

    Or when

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  • In the new issue of Elle, the December one with Carrie Underwood on the cover, the seventh-season American Idol top 10 finalists clean up real nice in a very slick, sophisticated photo shoot.

    Brooke White looks so positively gazelle-like (or make that Giselle-like), she seems more like an America's Next Top Model contestant than an Idol alum. Ramiele Malubay isn't wearing her trademark ill-advised high-waisted pants anymore (thank gawd!) and looks seriously fierce. Carly Smithson and Michael Johns pair up for a photo that'll surely only fuel those rampant blogosphere rumors of their supposed romance. (The pic is a hot one, dawg.) Kristy Lee Cook looks better than she ever has. Even David Archuleta rocks a Fonzie biker jacket and pulls it off.

    And David Cook is of course a showstopper in a Gucci shirt, a Tom Ford vest, and a stack of leather bracelets that cost $200-plus apiece. Hey, he's the Idol winner--if the guy wants to wear $1,000 worth of cowhide on his wrist, let him!

    You can

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  • A Very Cook Christmas

    By | Reality Rocks – Tue, Nov 18, 2008 8:14 PM EST

    I gave David Cook a tough time a couple of blog posts ago, because I'm disappointed by his new single. It's pretty much the audio equivalent of a lump of coal. But after watching this Good Morning America clip, I'm loving me some David Cook again:

    It's a Christmas miracle! David is COOL again! And I for one am pretty jolly about it.

    Now I just hope Clive Davis and the people at BMG give David Cook what he really wants for Christmas: some decent songs. Come on, Santa Clive--David's been a good boy, he deserves them!

  • There was a time not so long ago when the words "Paula Abdul stalker" conjured up only feelings of snarky amusement. Because the phrase was mainly associated in American Idol viewers' minds with this guy:

    But this week, the term took on much sadder--and much more literal--meaning, when a 2005 Idol reject and self-confessed Paula Abdul fanatic, troubled soul Paula Goodspeed, was found dead of an apparent drug overdose (possibly a suicide) outside Abdul's home.

    Here's Paula Goodspeed's ill-fated Idol audition:

    Now, I'm not going to say that Simon Cowell's vicious remarks to Goodspeed, not even the pointlessly cruel ones about her orthodontia, caused her to become suicidal. No one forces any of these wannabes to audition, and by now (or even by 2005, for that matter), anyone who walks into that audition room knows the drill and humiliating risks involved. I'm not saying they ASK for it, but they should at least EXPECT it. Plus, in Goodspeed's case it was clear she was unstable and had

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Pagination

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    BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — In the new film "Behind the Candelabra," veteran entertainer Debbie Reynolds has just three major scenes to flesh out one of the most complicated figures in piano-playing showman Liberace's life: his loving but sometimes manipulative mother Frances.

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  • The new consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony

    NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is the last of the three big video game console makers to unveil its latest gaming system. The unveiling comes nearly eight years after the Xbox 360 went on sale. It follows last fall's debut of Nintendo's Wii U and a preview in February of the upcoming PlayStation 4 from Sony.

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