Last weekend, a segment of Fox News Watch, in which media gadflies Cal Thomas, Jane Hall, Jim Pinkerton and Neal Gabler diss on fellow media-mouths, featured a brief discussion of the Barbara Cegavske/KVBC Channel 3 consulting mess. Bringing it to a close, host Eric Burns, referring to the ethics of Vegas politicians and media outlets, cracked: "Let's hope what happens in Vegas actually stays in Vegas."
Very witty, Eric. And may we add that what happens at Fox News is a load of crap.
In a story about Broadway increasingly turning to Hollywood for inspiration, Entertainment Weekly reported that a musical version of Honeymoon in Vegas, which starred Caan, Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker, is in the works.
David McKee has a few observations on the evolution of a TV obsession: Friday night marks the last chance to see Stargate: SG-1 in its original configuration, as the two-part "Moebius" (8 p.m. on the SciFi Channel, concluding March 25) wraps up the eighth season, the last with franchise player Richard Dean Anderson. Not only will next season have no Anderson (who is retiring from showbiz to pursue enivronmental advocacy), but less of effervescent co-star—and fanboy-crush icon—Amanda Tapping. Instead, no fewer than five new players are being shipped in, mostly from other defunct SciFi shows.
If most of Season 8 has been—at best—perfunctory, SG-1 has regained some of its old swagger in the concluding, five-episode arc. "Moebius" finds the original foursome hopscotching between past, present and future in approximately their 150th effort to save Life As We Know It. Along with the survival of the galaxy, SG-1 addicts will get one more opportunity to ponder truly weighty questions, such as ...
How many Wizard of Oz references will be made? Who has the sexiest hair? Will Tapping's Dr. Samantha Carter ever be reunited with her beloved Dr. Janet Fraiser? Did Carter and Anderson's Lt. Col. Jack O'Neill really Make It in last week's episode? If so, will Sam's Black Widow Curse come between Jack and tent mate Dr. Daniel Jackson, Stargate fandom's One True Pairing (a.k.a., "the oldest married couple in the universe")? Two thousand-plus fanfic stories can't be wrong.
While homeowners grapple with higher-than-ever property taxes, educators push for millions in funding for causes like all-day kindergarten, mental health advocates beg for $1 million to fund more care, problem gambling specialists pine for $250,000 for an inaugural treatment program ... you get the drift ... the Assembly Ways and Means Committee has decided it's OK to spend $20,000 to paint and frame the portrait of Gov. Kenny Guinn, twice the amount spent on the portrait of Guinn's predecessor, Bob Miller.
Tara Reid, who, reputedly, is famous, once attended Sean Combs' birthday party, posed for a picture at the party, and had a disobedient breast reveal itself in the picture. This had the effect of making Tara Reid still more famous, a fact that an outfit called Sky Las Vegas Condominiums capitalized on last month in an ad that read, "Dear Tara Reid: Come let it all hang out."
Last week Tara Reid let it be known, through a suit that she filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, that she did not appreciate the invitation. She could not, would not, be represented in the ad as a person who was "sexually lewd or immoral." The lawsuit story was quickly picked up by the Associated Press, and then by People.com. Now we are proud to continue this regal literary line by picking it up ourselves.
Incidentally, who is Tara Reid?