Seacrest: A name you can type with only your left hand
It is our wish to do nothing more than make a passing note of this, but Fox made Ryan Seacrest available for about a half hour on Wednesday to promote the fact that he'll be hosting a red-carpet segment of the Super Bowl XLII pregame show, interviewing celebrities as they come into the stadium interspersed between game yammering between Terry, Howie, Jimmy, etc., a week from Sunday in Arizona.
A brief recap of the Q-and-A that took place with the media on the call and Seacreast:
But first, let Fox chief David Hill explain, short story long, how he came up with this brainstorm:
"It all started in Miami prior to the Super Bowl ... I was in a car on my way to a cocktail party hosted by (name is incidental), who represents Howie Long and Cris Collinsworth, and I wanted to go and say hi to them. In the car on the way, the driver had a talk radio show on. They were broadcasting from the Versace mansion, talking about all the glitterati. One of them was Michael Strahan from the New York Giants ... The next morning, I'm sitting at breakfast across from Strahan and ask him how it was ... chat, chat, chat ... that's cool ...
(At this point, our ears are starting to bleed... we'll praphrase: Blah, blah, blah... Baldwin Brothers ... He decides it would be a good idea to tie in a celebrity-at-the-game element with the telecast because he thinks Seacrist "nailed it" as host of his network's "American Idol" and calls him "the later day Dick Clark" where "America views pop culture" through him).
"And now it's taken a life of its own," Hill summarized, meaning the reaction to Seacrest rather than his story.
Now, the vapid Q-and-A, again edited a bit to cut to the chase:
Q: How are you going to treat this differently from a red carpet show that you've done at the Academy Awards or the MTV Music Awards?
Seacrest: There are very simililar dynamics to it. This has become a really big national and world-wide holiday. We'll show the glitz and glamour. We'll be there to cover it as it unfolds.
Q: What's your reaction to Paula Abdul performing? (Apparently a new video that Abdul has created will be part of the show).
Seacrest: I am excited. She is not nervous. She's elated. She brought the single to me and we premiered it on the radio show and had 200 callers in a row supporting it. More than that, I'm looking forward to Randy Jackson's dance. I'm serious. He's been training, taking pilates. So I'll look forward to that.
Q: I'm wondering how you get all this energy to do all these things and how much preparation it takes. Are you cloned?
Seacrest: I'm not cloned but considering it. It's the only think I can do that I'm comfortable doing. ....
Blah, blah, blah, blah... is Paula appearing live or on video ... blah, blah, blah...
Q: How much of a football fan are you?
Seacrest: I grew up playing Pop Warner football in Atlanta and played every year of junior high and senior high. More shocking is I started playing a pulling guard. I was short and stocky. I transitioned to safety. ...
Blah, blah...
OK, we can't go on with this.
Oh, wait, one more thing from a fashion reporter:
Q: What will you be wearing, and what are other people going to be wearing?
Seacrest: A mesh shirt from old scrimmages. Either a jeans jacket or mesh. I expect those attending to be wearing typical weekend wear.
Us, out.