Out in Daytime TV: August 2007 Archives

That Ellen DeGeneres is just a kick. Love her. During a year that Ellen won a Daytime Emmy for outstanding talk show for the fourth consecutive year and hosted the Oscars, she is keeping up her high-profile accomplishments by snagging Sen. Hillary Clinton to be the first guest when her talk show has its fifth season premiere next month. Ellen is in NYC for that interview and other segments of the show. "People keep asking me, 'Why Hillary Clinton and why New York?" Ellen said to In Touch magazine. "Because New York has the best nightlife and she promised we could go clubbing!"
On a more serious note, she said of Clinton's presidential ambitions: "It's always nice to see a woman running."

That Ellen DeGeneres is just a kick. Love her. During a year that Ellen won a Daytime Emmy for outstanding talk show for the fourth consecutive year and hosted the Oscars, she is keeping up her high-profile accomplishments by snagging Sen. Hillary Clinton to be the first guest when her talk show has its fifth season premiere next month. Ellen is in NYC for that interview and other segments of the show. "People keep asking me, 'Why Hillary Clinton and why New York?" Ellen said to In Touch magazine. "Because New York has the best nightlife and she promised we could go clubbing!"
On a more serious note, she said of Clinton's presidential ambitions: "It's always nice to see a woman running."

Here are some post-kiss clips...

The producers of "As The World Turns" are a shoo-in, I think, to win a GLAAD award next fall for the Luke and Noah storyline going on right now. Their hot kiss took place last Friday and been shown in flashback two other times and guess what? The world has not come to an end. The clip below, which I found via AfterElton.com, is from today's episode and eerily reminded me of a real-life drama I had going on in my 20s. I thought it was true love then I heard the words: "I just want to be straight." I'm not naming names, of course, but I'm glad both sides of the story are being handled with sensitivity - Noah's determination to be straight despite his feelings and Luke trying to be true to himself. They are in for a rough road but one many of us have traveled...

Oh Star, I'm all for second chances and think you've come off well in your recent appearances on Good Morning America" and "Larry King Live." You seem more honest and humble since you were fired from "The View." So I ask you, why are you starting your new Court TV talk show off today with fired "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington?
Does this man have anything left to say that he hasn't already said? Maybe he will say that Sandra Oh should have been fired instead of him. Or Chandra Wilson! He's aleady dumped on T.R. Knight in some really classless interviews earlier this summer. He referred to Knight as a "fa***t" last fall during an on-set squirmish, publicly apologized, then publicly denied having said the gay slur by repeating the word at the Golden Globe Awards then apologized and got sent to some kind of treatment center to deal with his demons.
But once ABC fired him, Washington took the gloves off and began saying disparaging things about Knight showing, I think, how low he can go. Still, NBC execs acted oblivious to the controversy and hired Washington to appear on their new show "Bionic Woman."
I'm hoping that Star will ask him the tough questions and not alllow Isaiah to prattle on with his tall tails the way Larry King did. Then I might have some respect for her new ventures. But if she throws him softballs, she's gonna shoot herself in the foot.
UPDATE: Here is what Jones tells Entertainment Weekly about booking the controversial Washington:
'[Washington is] clearly in the middle of a story that involves law and ethics and values and judgment,' Jones said. 'But also, he has a brand-new show that brings up ethical considerations. We're excited about The Bionic Woman, but there are ethical considerations [there] because we in our technology right now are moving to replacing limbs, and we're moving in the whole area of stem cell research, we're moving in the area of cloning and whether or not it can actually be done with a human. And in reality, that's what you're doing with The Bionic Woman, you're playing God. And so I get an opportunity to talk about those kinds of issues.'"

Greg's two cents: Yawn.

Poor Dustin. Thought he had made some friends in the Big Brother house after his screaming ex-boyfriend Joe was evicted. But no. Supposedly put up as a pawn against the awful Dick, Dustin thought he'd just be a "courtesy flush" as the gang gave that piece of "crap" Dick his walking papers. But in a 4-2 vote, with Eric and Jessica breaking rank with their alliance, Dustin was dusted.
Then, assuring that we will get at least two more weeks of evil Dick, his daughter Daniele wins head of household. That means Amber and Jameka go up next. Amber is a disgusting person so I want her to be voted off but frankly, I do not care. I have no emotional attatchments left to any of the contestants. But I'll keep tracking the show because I'm this far in already! I'd like to see Jameka win the whole darn thing but she is so hindered by not being able to compete in HOH competions for at least three more weeks I think!). Dustin (pictured below with Zach) really only has himself to blame. He offered to be put up and he also lost the veto competition by just one strokme against Dick. Gotta work on your croquet dude! Now he heads to sequester house...it woulda been so much more fun if Nick or Mike had been there waiting for him...

Hereis a YouTube of the Luke and Noah kiss from today's episode of "As the World Turns." It is sweet and romantic. Also on this clip are quick Entertainment Tonight interviews with the two actors who it seems represent a younger generation completely comfortable with taking on gay roles and not feeling the need to assert their heterosexuality:
Jake Silberman (Noah): "It's a real story, it's an every day story. It's one that millions of people are going through."
Van Hansis (Luke): "If you're gonna show a gay relationship, you should show it as it is...don't dumb it down."

Well, today is the day of THE KISS on the CBS sudser "As the World Turns" between Luke (Van Hansis) and Noah (Jake Silbermann), two very fine young actors who are really doing this breakthrough storyline of gay teen romance justice. They have not hit any false notes yet.
AfterElton.com has a terrific Q&A posted today with Silbermann that is a must-read. I'll give you a few nibbles:

AfterElton.com: As the World Turns is one of TV's oldest daytime dramas. You're making history as the first gay male teen couple on the show and, in fact, on daytime TV. How does that feel?
Jake Silbermann: I'm really proud to be a part of that kind of storyline, that kind of history. It is kind of a milestone for daytime television. As an actor, you hope you can play a role with meaning, but I never even hoped it would have this kind of significance, so I'm thrilled.

AE: I assume you knew you were auditioning for a gay role? How did you feel about the prospect of playing a gay character?
JS: I was excited. It sounded like a really different role for daytime, which it is. I was really excited about that.

AE: Did you read with Van to see what your chemistry was like with him?
JS: Yeah, we did. Van was present at one of our final auditions. We read together, and it was very natural.

AE: Gay fans have worried that the relationship between Luke and Noah would be treated differently than the relationship between the show's straight characters. Was there a lot of discussion about that on set?
JS: Definitely not. No one ever said to me we're going to treat this differently than a straight relationship. Nobody ever came to me. I knew the story we're trying to tell, and it has to be told the same as it would be with anybody. I mean, maybe it's a little more careful just in the sense that it is the first gay [teen male] couple on daytime television.

Click HERE to read the entire interview!

I should do a big SPOLER ALERT thing right here but you KNOW you want a heads-up on when those two teen hotties, Luke and Noah, have their first kiss on "As The World Turns." AfterElton.com reports that it is happening on Friday! Set your TiVo or DVR or call in sick from work and watch it live. Me? I'll just grab a YouTube clip and post it for you all asap.
Here are some nice clips that sort of set it all up and, from personal experience, does a pretty good job of dramatizing both sides of the story: the gay guy who wants his "straight" friend and feels the chemistry and the "straight" friend who also feels the chemistry and it terrifies him.
My guess is that after the kiss, Noah freaks out. But he'll certainly come back for more.
They always do...

I just love it when two of my favorite girls get together. Ellen DeGeneres will kick off the fifth season of her wildly successful daytime talk show on Sept. 4 with a pretty impressive guest: Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president and a smash hit at The Abbey in West Hollywood last week, will join Ellen in New York where DeGeneres will broadcast from on Sept. 5 as well. It must be so great for Clinton to be able to book high-profile gigs like this while candidates like Bill Richardson try and keep their foots out of their mouths and hope that someone, somewhere, still cares what they have to say.

So Star Jones begins her new daily talk show next week on Court TV. That means she's back in the news - well, even more than usual - and doing an assortment of interviews promoting the new project. I wish her well. I liked her until she turned into bridezilla on "The View" and got so full of herself. Still, they have never really been able to replace her which I think says a lot. She was a smart, strong woman then and I think what will help her now is that she might come across as more authentic. I say this because she has FINALLY admitted the obvious: she had gastric bypass surgery and lost 160 pounds. Her lack of candor about this, even as she wrote a self-helf book and talked about her marriage ad-nauseum, are what turned off viewers and let to her getting the boot.
I'm going to share with you some quotes from her interview in the new issue of TV Guide then after the jump is part of her Q&A with Newsweek.
Enjoy!
On why she wouldn't admit to having surgery: "I was angry with myself and embarrassed. Emotionally, it was a long road to forgive myself for not being perfect. And I was worried it wouldn't be successful."

On why she had the surgery: "I didn't lose weight for the public eye. I did it because I didn't want to die. I couldn't walk a block without using an inhaler. I weighed almost as much as my friend Shaquille O'Neal!"

On if she's heard from former co-workers at "The View": "Elisabeth [Hasselbeck] and I are friends. I'm happy for them and I hope they're happy for me, because I got exactly what I wanted [with my new show]."

On sending flowers to new co-host Whoopi Goldberg: "I was encouraging her to do what's good for Whoopi - she's my friend. The View was my home for nine years. Why would I do anything to try and destroy it? I've not made a nasty comment since I left over a year ago."

Whoopi Goldberg, seen walking along Greene Street in Soho, doesn't plan to be the kind of moderator on "The View" who picks fights because that's not the kind of person she is. Good luck with that Whoopi, just wait until Hasselbeck REALLY gets your goat!
According to JustJared.com, here is what Miss. Goldberg told Ryan Seacrest in an interview: “I disagree with a lot of stuff a lot of people say, but there is a dialogue to have with people that I was taught by my mom – how to be respectful and listen. You can get loud and move on after you are finished with it, that is how I work.”

It seems that Rosie O'Donnell may have had a real impact on Elisabeth Hasselbeck's conservative views, at least when it comes to same-sex marriage. On today's edition of "The View," she described marriage as "on the verge of extinction" and noted that "there are people who don't have the legal right to get married, it;s not there for them. They're fighting to get married and the people who are allowed to get married are opting out. What is wrong with this world?"
Here is the complete clip:

Well, I'm not sure what's going on here but I like the looks of it. Gee, it seems like yesterday I was wondering what was happening with Luke and Laura ("General Hospital") never imagining that one day we'd have a Luke and Noah ("As the World Turns").
Sure is great, isn't it?
Michael Jensen over at AfterElton.com has the scoop on this image and a clip so check it out!

Here is a clip of Noah confessing his true feelings:

Was flipping through my copy of Daily Variety a few days late and noticed a little article the paper had where Rosie O'Donnell had answered some questions about her professional future via e-mail. So, I'm sharing the highlights...
On the controversy she stirred up during her tenure on "The View" Rosie says: "I grew up watching "Donahue" where all kinds of opinions were allowed and encouragted. It feels like the 1950s - in many ways we have gone backwards as a society."
Ultimately, she didn't want to gig hosting "The Price Is Right" badly enough to uproot her family from the East Coast to California. So, she is weighing her future saying that "Carol Burnett meets Ed Sullivan once a week has always been a dream." ..."I'm getting a clearer sense of what I don't want to do. I feel too old and busy as a mom to do a daily show."
Variety notes that O'Donnell is "TV's most sought-after, if volatile free agents, and one of the few personalities with a track record of ratings success in daytime television."
Whatever Rosie decides next, I know a lot of us will be watching!

Since Whoopi Goldberg has been a big star for about 25 years, it must be a bit strange to suddenly be a big paparazzi target. But here she is, making her way around NYC and the focus of everyone's attention as the new moderator on ABC's daytime soap...I mean talkfest, "The View." She is replacing Rosie O'Donnell.
Rosie, who hasn't yet decided on her next regular TV gig, said Wednesday of Goldberg: "Whoopi is fantastic in every way and perfect for the job. She's amazing and one of my favorites."
And Star "Yes, I had gastric bypass surgery" Jones also weighed in on the selection of Goldberg, just the second African-American co-host on the show in its 10 year history.
"Whoopi is a smart women with an opinion, and an excellent choice," Jones said.
I can't wait until Whoopi starts pissing people off! This is not a woman without opinions...

I don't watch this soap but AfterElton.com reports that gay teen Luke finally confesses his true feelings for his friend Noah. Here is the exchange:
Noah: (to Luke's back) "Why are you treating me like I've got the plague? I mean, do you just not like me?"
Luke: "No, I like you Noah."
Noah: "Then why do you keep pushing me away?"
(Luke pauses, laughs to himself, and turns to face him)
Luke: "Because. i like you, Noah." (Noah looks hard at Luke) "Yeah ... like that."

The preview then shows Noah saying to Luke "I'm not gay." Luke replies: "Yeah, I know, but there's nothing I can do to help it."

I suggest you go over to AfterElton for some context to all of this! All I wanna know is this: when are they gonna kiss???

This is absolutely no surprise and yet, it's kinda cool now that it's official: Barbara Walters has announced that Whoopi Goldberg will be joining "The View" beginning Sept. 4. She will replace Rosie O'Donnell as moderator.
Walters teased the audience by not announcing the new host until well into what was a fairly routine episode of the show with Jon Voight guesting. Then...the announcement finally happened and Goldberg jogged down the aisle of the studio, slapping hands with members of the audience.
"I love this show," said Goldberg, an Oscar winning actress who hosted her own talk show in the the 90s. "I love coming out here and hanging out with you guys."
Goldberg, 51, may not reach O'Donnell's level of controversy, but she is no stranger to political controversy. She was dumped from a Slim-Fast advertising campaign in 2004 after making a speech mocking the Bush administration at a political rally, at one point using the president's surname as a sexual reference.
"This is a big old thrill for me," Whoopi said. "The thing I'm looking forward to the most are the hot topics and everyone trying to get in at the same time."
Said Walters: "We are thrilled. She is creative, she is funny, she is an enormous talent."
That, is very true.
No "official" word yet on Sherri Shepherd replacing the long-vacant seat once occupied by Star Jones but it seems likely that will come soon.