OK, promise this is my last "View" related item of the day. It's gotta be because I'm going home to get ready for the 40th Anniversary part for The Advocate at Republic in LA.
So, I tuned in this morning with much anticipation thinking the gals would gab about Barry Manilow's snub of Elsabeth. But nooooooooooooooo. They drifted into a strange and rather dull conversation that veered toward religion and pitted Sherri and Elisabeth against Babs, Whoopi and Joy. Sherri has made cleare that she doesn't believe in evolution and Barbara seems to just be mystified by this. So after discussing this a bit, Whoopi asked Sherri if she thought the world was flat.
Silly question. Should have gotten a silly answer.
Nope.
Sherri said: "I don't know. I never thought about it Whoopi. Is the world flat? I never thought about ...I...I...No....But I'll tell you what I have thought about. How I'm going to feed my child, take care of my family. 'Is the world flat' has not been an important thing to me."
OK. Sherri. All you have to do to see the world is round is to leave it and view it from a distance, like astronauts have been doing for about four decades. Ever seen a globe?
Sherri is funny, she makes me laugh. But I'm wondering if she is really that dumb or just got flustered and defensive by Whoopi's tone.

BTW, the other bit I scribbled down during all this was a line from Hasselbeck who said: "Just because something is your right doesn't necessarily make it right."
This was her reaction to the ACLU supporting Sen. Larry Craig in his airport bathroom arrest mess. Whoopi and Barbara tried to explain to her that the ACLU is a good organization overall because it fights for everyone's rights. But all Elisabeth could focus on was that they fought for the rights of Nazis to march in a Jewish neighborhood in Skoke, Ill. and that they once defended NAMBLA. I think she threw NAMBLA in there three times.
Is it me or is it a pattern of ultra-conversative types to bring up unrelated inflammatory bits of information in a debate rather than just discussing an issue head on? Do they not have the facts on their side? Have they become so defensive that they lack common sense?
Do they think they are so "right" that they can overlook people's "rights"?

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You had to know that with a new book coming out and her blog a must-read, Rosie O'Donnell would remain in the news almost daily even though she is no longer on "The View." The latest brouhaha is over Rosie's decision to decline an offer from Oprah Winfrey to appear on her show to discuss the memoir "Celebrity Detox."
In her blog today, Rosie attempts to explain why...

the book was hard 2 write... things i could barely say aloud alone in a room made their way to the comp thru the key board or tape recorder

writing is 4 me by far the most revealing medium 2 work in... i do not feel ready to discuss or defend the things i shared on those 209 pages... read it urself, take away what u need, leave the rest. it is what it is.

the goal always is peace...self revelation...sharing - learning - teaching balance...wax on wax off.

for now i decided no interviews about celebrity detox...it is too raw..my no has nothing 2 do with anything
but me...my need 2 find my place within...

oprah is a force of nature, her invitation made me cry...her kind words about the book reinforces what we all know
2 b true about her... although fueds seems 2 b all the rage there isnt one regardless of what u read or see on fast food tv...

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A few weeks back, I posted various interviews I had done over the summer with members of the cast of "Dante's Cove" but for some reason, neglected to post my chat with Jon Fleming who plays Adam on the show. Of course he's gorgeous, as you can see, but also a very nice guy.
Here is the interview:
GREG: OK, give it up. What's up with your character this season?
JON: Last season, my character came out at the end of the season and this year, he's trying to kick the last of his [drug] addiction. But he's basically sticking around the cove and fighting for Toby (Charlie David). He's not gonna give up. He's not going home empty-handed. He also loses his trust fund so Adam needs to get a job. My parents told me I have to come back home or I lose it. The fact that he's been spoiled his whole life and that he's willing to get a job to stick around to be with Toby really shows how much he's in it for Toby."
GREG: Was it different for you filming the third season than the second one?
JON: "There are some new actors but a lot of returning ones too so you have the same friendships. Like with Charlie, Charlie and I are really good friends - off screen we hang out and do [10K] races together and stuff like that. And in a sense, it's good for the characters because our characters were buddies in high school before the cove. But in another sense, when it comes to the make-out scenes, it's a little more difficult now that we know each other. We've found each other cracking up some on set."
GREG: It's gotta be kinda fun. I know you're straight but Charlie's pretty hot.
JON: [laughs] "It's good that it's Charlie. I lucked out."

Other Dante's Cove profiles:
- William Gregory Lee- Gregory Michael
- Gabriel Romero
- Jensen Atwood

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is a great clip of Kathy Griffin talk to Larry King last night. She is a hoot and enjoying all the controversy around her since her Emmy speech 10 days ago when she told Jesus to "suck it" and added that her Emmy was "my God now."
The Catholic League, which I would think would have many more things to worry about that what is said at a non-televised award show, has denounced Kathy - much to her delight.
"Of course I planned it all," she tells King. "Bill O'Reilly called me a pinhead. That's a badge of honor!"
Apparently, it's also been a career boost: "I now have my olwn 'E! True Hollywood Story." Before the scandal, it was only going to be a half-hour, now it's gonna be an hour."

On Sally Field's getting bleeped by FOX: "When Gidget is so shocking where you have to cut to black screen - that's ridiculous."

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I had never interviewed "Heroes" star Masi Oka before but we finally got to talk at the Television Academy's party for Emmy nominees last week and I will say this about him: the guy is a CRACK UP! I asked him what it's like to work with George Takei, the "Star Trek" legend who plays his father on the show:
"George Takai is an icon without a doubt. Working with him is great, it's like having a great mentor. He has great stories and things like that."
Oka then launched into this letter-perfect imitation of Takai - who has a famously melodic baratone - that was so, so funny. Sorry I don't have audio of it but I'll share it and hope the hilarity of it comes across:
Oka as Takai: "Well Masi, when we started working on Paramount lot, we had our ooooown set of heroooooes. One daaaay, we were shooting and, my pants caught on fire and Billy Shatner would come in with a hose and strip down my pants and stomp on it. Next thing you know, his pants were on fire. Haaa. Haaa."
Then he adds, still as Takai: "Well, it's quite fun working with a young taaalent such as Masi Oka, he's quite a fascinating kid."
I tell Oka that he is so good at this that he could fill in for Takai on Howard Stern's show as announcer. He said Takai once said to him (now he shifts back to tha Takai voice and says: "If I ever get sick Masi, you could just go on the show foooor me. I need some rest. I'm going to call in sick."

Related post: My chat w/George Takei about Howard Stern, Heroes, and being out...

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If this had happened in Europe, no one would have thought twice. But a Florida Gator football player kisses his teamate (and roomate) on the cheek after a touchdown pass completion and it's caused something of a furor. The kisser, Tony Joiner, didn't freak out when he was asked about giving Tim Tebow a congratulatory smooch: "That's my roommate. I love him. We've grown close," he told the Florida Times-Union.
Said Tebow: "I got teased a lot about it [over the weekend]. "When it happened, I didn't even really think about it. That's Tony."

It's still so silly how homophobic the sports world remains in this day and age. If these guys were gay and they wanted to kiss each other, they'd have plenty of opportunity behind closed doors. That such a sweet gesture - a peck on the cheek - would become such a big deal is just plain stupid.
Grow up football fans.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Barry Manilow, who said he did not want to appear on "The View" with Elisabeth Hasselbeck on the stage because of her conservative views, is explaining his feelings a bit more on his website: "I wanted to let you know that I will no longer be on The View tomorrow as scheduled." he wrote to fans. "I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy, Barbara or Whoopi, but not Elisabeth Hasselback. Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request so I bowed out. It’s really too bad because I've always been a big supporter of the show, but I cannot compromise my beliefs. The good news is that I will be on a whole slew of other shows promoting the new album so I hope you can catch me on those."
This doesn't exactly square with what was said yesterday by Barbara Walters and "View" producer Bill Geddie who said they cancelled the gig rather than letting any guest dictate such things. Geddie said: "You sit with one of us, you sit with all of us."
OK, so is Barry trying to drum up some extra publicity for his new album "Greatest Songs of the Seventies"? Maybe. But his previous albums of 50s and 60s tunes were huge sellers so I'm thinking he really just can't stand the thought of being on the stage with Rosie O'Donnell foe Hasselbeck.

Manilow is friends with Rosie and recorded "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" with her for the album but it did not make the final cut.
"It was the most fun I’ve had in a long time," Manilow told Access Hollywood. "She is just inspiring because you know she’s not a singer. She knows that, but she just got behind the microphone and ripped away. She was great and in tune too. The problem was, as I put the album together, it became a very romantic album. And having this thing come crashing in out of nowhere, the tone just didn’t feel right. It’ll probably wind up being a bonus cut somewhere."

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know what yer thinking. Here goes Greg posting pictures of gorgeous man for no reason other than that he is beautiful. Well, I have a higher purpose with this post. I happen to think this cologne smells good. I went to get my haircut at the Supercuts on Beverly and Crescent Heights on Emmy morning Sunday and as I waited for my turn, flipped through the new issue of Details with Brad Pitt on the cover. The Pitt article took aqbout 30 seconds to read so I started opening all the cologne ads and giving them a sniff.
I think Calvin Klein has a winner...AND a really hot ad!

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Did Barbara Walters slip Barry Manilow a $20 bill or something to get him to create a big stink about not appearing on "The View" if Elisabeth Hasselbeck was in the segment? I ask because ithe controversy made great fodder for her and "The View" producer Bill Geddie for the launch on Monday of "Barbara Live," Walters’ exclusive weekly live call-in show on SIRIUS.
Manilow did not want to appear with the ultra-conservative Hasselbeck because "I strongly disagree with her views. I think she's dangerous and offensive," according to a statement the singer made to TMZ.com

Obviously, Walters and Geddie aren't going to have any guest dictate things like this and they talked about it on the show. Here are some excerpts:

WALTERS: Mr. Manilow…whom I like a lot.
GEDDIE: I like him too, and he’s always been great on the show, and he’s always supported The View for the past 11 years. I wouldn’t even be talking about this except that he called up TMZ. So, now, what are we going to do? Last Friday we got the word that he’s very close to Rosie, and he doesn’t want to appear…I [had] told his representatives that he would be on with all of you.
WALTERS: That’s Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar, Whoopi, Sherri and me.
GEDDIE: Yes. And he’s said he’ll appear with everybody but Elizabeth. Well, we don’t do that. It’s just not the way it works here, we support everybody. He said I’ll do Barbara and Whoopi, or I’ll do Whoopi and Sherri, or somecombination, but I won’t sit with Elisabeth. And I said ‘Well, then you won’t be on the show, it’s that simple.’ And that was the end of it. I would have thought, OK, fine. I don’t know what it is, ten years getting to this stage. He’s been on with us every year for the past ten years…and I figured OK fine, let him go to what he needs to do, it’s not that big a deal, he seems like a nice enough guy, he’s got an issue with Elisabeth but so be it. He’s not going to call the shots. You’re not going to tell me how to produce the show.
WALTERS: And if you disagree with somebody’s political point of view you don’t come on? We’re called The View because we have different points of view.
GEDDIE It got me thinking. You know, I’ve never heard Jane Fonda say ‘I won’t sit with Elisabeth Hasselbeck.’ I’ve never heard Susan Sarandon say that. If someone was conservative and said ‘I won’t sit with Joy Behar’ I’d react the exact same way. I don’t understand this when this became an issue for him, and why would you go off and then call TMZ and make a big column item. Is it all about publicity? Is this all it is?
WALTERS: Well also, Elisabeth Hasselbeck is not an enemy of Rosie’s. None of us are. If Elisabeth disagrees with Rosie, and Rosie disagrees with Elisabeth….nobody is to my knowledge is taking sides. All I can think of is that wonderful song (Walters breaks into rendition of ‘I Write the Songs That Make the Whole Sing’…adding her own lyrics) Provided They Happen to Be Liberals.’
WALTERS: (Laughing) That was awful, he should be mad at me for that.
WALTERS: Too bad it happened. Because we could have sung all of his songs, he’s been on with us for ten years.
GEDDIE: He’s always seemed like a nice guy, but I don’t get him on this. We’re The View, we have people with different opinions.
GEDDIE: You sit with one of us, you sit with all of us.

On having Whoopi and Sherri as new co-hosts on The View:
WALTERS: We adore having Whoopi on and our ratings are higher than they were last year at the same time. Rosie O’Donnell, she was great…
GEDDIE: But this Whoopi/Sherri thing seems to be working out.
WALTERS: We kept hearing that if it weren’t for Rosie this show wouldn’t have made it, and Rosie was terrific. The fact that our ratings are higher now than they were last year, starting with Whoopi, then with Sherri Shepherd…. and its fun, we can disagree and we can have different opinions. It’s just terrific.

Keep reading...there's more after the jump!

BILL GEDDIE: Somebody came up to me the other day and said ‘Why did you hire two black women?”
BARBARA WALTERS: Really?
GEDDIE: Yeah, really. And I said, ‘One, I think it distinguishes this year, and I hope the next many years from the previous years.’
WALTERS: [Joking] See, I didn’t know they were both black. I didn’t know this.
GEDDIE: [Joking] Yeah, they’re both black, who knew?
GEDDIE: And the other thing I thought is that it shows that there’s diversity between two women of color. Because these woman couldn’t be more different. And how often do you see that on a show? Because there’s always this point of view, like if somebody’s Jewish they have a Jewish point of view, and if somebody’s black they have a distinctly black point of view.
WALTERS: Not necessarily.
GEDDIE: That’s what I’m trying to say, they don’t.
WALTERS: Because Whoopi is quite liberal, and I remember one day Sherri, when she was on with us last year, said she didn’t believe in evolution. So we have very different points of view.
GEDDIE: Which I think is going to be very interesting this year.

Posted by Greg Hernandez at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)