All Entries Tagged With: "David Letterman"

I Fiercly Miss the Old Katie Holmes

Katie Holmes was on Letterman last night. I still love Katie Holmes, despite what’s happened to her. She’s from my homestate of Ohio, and she exhibited a wonderful sense of humor and composure in the interview. But I do wonder in what ways she might be holding back - from hearing rumors about people in the Tom Cruise camp (her husband, sadly) briefing her about how to give interviews. I have no idea if there’s weight to that, but it does make me wonder. I really wish she hadn’t married Tom. From everything I see, it looks unhealthy and unbalanced. I want Katie liberated.

And yes, there is a typo in that title. When I change it, the URL changes and it’s just a world of bad. Today I shall embrace typos. What’s worse - my typo or Katie’s hair?

She appeared on Letterman wearing her new ‘helmet-bob’ haircut (see the picture on the left to see Katie with much better hair). That’s not the official name, that’s just the best way I can describe it. I wonder if she said to her hairstylist, “What I really want is something that will shield my head. I’m not really into hair anymore, I just want a helmet. What can you do that’ll help me with my needs?” And because people fear Tom Cruise, they didn’t tell her it would look ridiculous, and when JLH did it it made her look like a 40 year old Mom. They just…did it. It’s fairly awful. (See the picture below to view this hairstyle.)

She wore a simple white shift dress. It was cute, but it was so short she had to sit holding the dress down at her side. If you’re going on a talkshow, where you know you’ll have to sit and be on camera, you really should pick an outfit that you can actually wear without looking uncomfortable. It wasn’t until the very end of the interview that she finally looked at ease while she was sitting in that dress.

I don’t know if some stylist told her to wear it, or if Katie was trying to match the style to her hair, but it didn’t work and she’s looked a lot better plenty of times before. I wonder if Tom’s feeling like a dirty old man so he’s trying to make her appear older and less attractive on purpose? Or maybe in the future according to Scientologists, we’ll all be wearing helmets so Tom is using Katie as a prototype to get people used to the look.

Popularity: 28% [?]

The Triumpant Return of Late Night Talk Shows

Finally, after months of waiting, the late night talk show fests finally returned to the air. Just as all of them have handled their time off differently, they all handled their return differently, although none of them ignored the obvious reason for their absence.

David Letterman and Craig Ferguson were the only talk show hosts to return with writers, and this was on behalf of Letterman’s Worldwide Pants Production working out an agreement with the Writers Guild for their return. In true Dave fashion, he presented a Top Ten list of the writers’ top ten demands presented by the writers of a variety of different television shows. The list included items such as a complimentary tote bag along with an insulting offer, no disciplinary action against writers caught in an inappropriate relationship with a copier, and producers must immediately remove their heads from their asses. Ferguson resented the bloggers that are saying he and Letterman will now get all the A list celebrities due to not crossing the picket line, and he defended the stance, saying his show will continue to be crap.

While Letterman had a taped intro from Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, Jay Leno had Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee on as a guest, and not just chatting, but jamming with the band on his bass guitar. The Writers Guild is checking to see if Leno went against his own agreement as part of the Writers Guild by writing his own jokes for the show. He stated it was just like old times for him, as that’s how he started out years ago.

And just like Letterman, Conan O’Brien also showed up completely bearded. I’m not quite sure why the two equated the writers strike with an inability to shave. OBrien then showed how he spent his off time, performing Beastie Boys songs in the voice of Edith Bunker. He always does well at being an original, but he also showed he could jam pretty well on the guitar on his own.

In fact, that’s what all the late late night show hosts showed. They could do it on their own, one way or another, and most likely in the same vein that got them to the dance in the first place. Jay performs his standup, Dave does his top 10, Ferguson uses his self-deprecating humor, and Conan continue to have one-of-a-kind humor with a huge set-up that no one else could do. It makes you wonder why they haven’t been doing this all along.

Popularity: 41% [?]

Guys Following Ellen

The guys are now all following Ellen DeGeneres. When the writers’ strike first began, it was DeGeneres that kept her doors open, crossing the picket line. She received a lot of flak from everyone about it, but now the guys of late night talk shows seem to be following her, with plans to cross the picket lines and do what they have to do, just like she did.

DeGeneres had decided that while she certainly felt for her writers’ plight, she didn’t want to put the rest of her staff out of work. If she had closed the doors of the show, all those other staffers would be without money to support their families. She made the difficult decision to continue on, and did the show in the beginning without a monologue, but now it seems perhaps she is just writing her own material, something she is well-used to doing.

All of the men hosting late night talk shows wanted to do the right thing by their writers, and stopped production of their shows. Yet, their staffers began to suffer financial difficulty. David Letterman’s production company agreed to pay the staffers of both his show as well as the other one they produce for Craig Ferguson until the end of the year. Conan O’Brien began paying his staffers on a week to week basis. Jay Leno, in a move that was shocking to some, announced he was laying off his staff, and worse yet, they found that when the strike ended, they might not have jobs to come back to. Everyone cried foul, and Leno agreed to pay everyone out of his own pocket as well after facing the same type of flak DeGeneres had faced early on.

Now comes word they are all making plans to join DeGeneres, back at work, after the holidays. With no end in sight for the writers’ strike, Leno, O’Brien, and Kimmel are planning on returning to their shows. They’ll do the same thing, putting the show on without the benefit of writers, just to have their staff getting paychecks … that aren’t coming out of their pockets. Daly already resumed production on his show last month. Letterman’s production company is in talks with the writers’ guild to perhaps work out a deal to get his writers back as well for the two shows.

This is good news for the most part. Last night I had a choice of watching a rerun of Leno’s show that I had already seen from last Christmas, or watching a repeat of Letterman from 1998. Yes, 1998. It was so old, Cher was on there promoting her new hit song, I Believe. That’s how old it was. It will be refreshing to get some fresh choices to watch late night. Now, if we can only get the rest of our TV schedule back into production, we’ll be in business.

Comments on the writers’ strike and/or late night talk shows? Email me at LauraBelle@sofachip.com

Popularity: 43% [?]

Writers’ Strikes Hits Talk Shows … Hard

When the writers’ strike first hit last month, we knew it was rumored to be a big one, and that it could seriously affect our television viewing habits, but we were looking more at our comedies, dramas, etc. We weren’t even thinking about the writing process in the talk show circuit, but it seems that’s where it’s hitting the worst. Or maybe not the worst, but the most noticeably.

The other shows are all on hiatus, and nothing much is being said about it, but there’s much talk about these talk shows. Ellen DeGeneres was the first to hit the news, as she danced across the picket line to continue her show. Many people had many things to say about it, and this was coming just after she was already being attacked for breaking down on the air over the puppy being taken away from her hairdresser. Now she was crossing a picket line, a person who is a talented writer in her own right.

Popularity: 35% [?]