Grammy Whammy
The 46th Annual Grammy Awards, dubbed “the biggest night in music,” were held last Sunday in a predictably tame telecast on FCC’s most-wanted network, CBS. All hail Beyonce, the Destiny’s Child diva who rounded up five awards for her first solo disc Dangerously In Love. Behind her, a recovering Luther Vandross followed by Outkast with Album of the Year and Coldplay with Record of the Year for “Clocks.”
Highlights included a powerhouse opening performance by a resurfacing Prince accompanied by Beyonce with a rendition of the classic “Purple Rain” and an amazing soulful performance of “Beautiful” by pop minx Christina Aguilera.
Justin Timberlake took best Male Pop Vocal Performance adding yet another apology to his acceptance speech for the Janet Jackson Nipplegate Scandal. Aguilera also made a crack when collecting her Grammy for best Female Pop Vocal Performance, rearranging her Atelier Versace gown several times to avoid popping out (pun intended).
Tour de Paris
Bunim/Murray productions is rounding up bumpkins ‘cross the nation in a casting call for families wanting to host socialites Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie on the second season of the FOX reality hit The Simple Life.
Hilton and Richie will take their pampered-princess routine on the road in the coming season, as opposed to the thirty days they spent stuck on a farm in Arkansas during the first season.
No specifics have been released but expect the girls to dress up and get down across the Bible-belt. During its first run, The Simple Life averaged 10.6 million viewers per episode, basically carrying FOX across the drab fall schedule until the advent of current ratings champ “American Idol.”
Midseason Shuffle
I’ll take a pilot with a side of six episodes and two extra scripts…on wheat! The WB has just purchased a script from The O.C. exec producer and Charlie’s Angels director McG. The Mountain, a drama Access Hollywood said revolves around a young man who inherits a mountain resort from his father, will premiere later this season.
ABC, not to be outdone, is returning to cop-show king Steven Bochco for Blind Justice, about a police officer who loses his sight on the job.
NBC is eyeing up a comedy from former network execs Jamie Tarses and Karey Burke about a 33-year-old that goes back to college after his wife leaves him for his best friend.
Is it me or do all the mid-season replacement synopses read like country music singles?
Talk About…
Pudding. No one really talks about pudding. They acknowledge it, eat it even. They find proof and Bill Cosby in it. A more celebrated pudding is Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the oldest undergraduate acting troupe in the country housed at Harvard University. Every year the group awards two entertainers, male and female, for a “lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.”
This year’s honor goes to Sandra Bullock and Robert Downey Jr.
Downey most recently starred with Halle Berry in Gothika. Sandy, who frequents both sides of the camera as producer and star, was last seen in Two Weeks Notice with Hugh Grant.
Matt Donnelly can be reached at mattdonn@temple.edu
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