Kennedy Center Honors Oprah

Posted on September 7, 2010 by ibwff

The 33rd Annual Kennedy Center Honors will honor talk show queen, actress, and media mogul Oprah Winfrey on December 5, 2010!

Ms. Winfrey will end her talk show in 2011, and is re-focusing her empire building on media and her own television network named (you got it) OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

[picappgallerysingle id="9082218"]According to CNN.com’s Marquee Blog:

“For more than 25 years, Oprah Winfrey has established one of the most innovative careers in the entertainment world, with distinctive accomplishments in television and film,” the Kennedy Center’s Chairman David M. Rubenstein said in a statement.

Oprah has accomplished what many have tried, but many have not achieved. She’s an accomplished actress (remember “The Color Purple,” “Beloved” and “The Women of Brewster Place”?), producer with her own production company, television executive and media magazine (“O Magazine”).

Many have compared her to Martha Stewart, but Martha Stewart can’t act.

Ms. Winfrey will get her due alongside such luminaries as dancer and Tony Award-winning choreographer (“FELA!” and “Spring Awakening”) Bill T. Jones (brother of San Francisco performing artist Rhodessa Jones), and others.

Gala will be broadcast on CBS on December 28, 2010 at 9:00-11:00 p.m., ET/PT

Teen pregnancy! Public drunkeness! Manslaughter! Adultery! Season 11 of Dancing with the Stars…

Posted on August 31, 2010 by ibwff

The new cast lineup for Season 11 of “Dancing with the Stars” is all confirmed and ready to go. This year –as with most– the lineup of “dancers” gets more and more interesting. However, the shows producers must have a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor because this year’s line up closely resembles the cast of any Seth McFarlane cartoon.

With the current mix of reality and real stars (some are just reality blips, not stars) I’m waiting for the first ever on stage brawl or at least “call out”. Or maybe I’d just settle for slight mayhem.

“Dancing with the Stars” has become a creepy mea culpa comeback show for those trying to get out of the dog house, or at least trying to get their careers back on track. Some “stars” are really dancers, or at least make a concerted effort. Others, not so much. (Remember Kate Gosling?)

This year’s lineup includes singer and stunt driver and recently re-anointed reality star, Brandy. For those who remember, she was the bright and sunny, up-and-coming R&B/pop singer from the 90′s whose hit song, “I Wanna Be Down”, shot up the charts. She was a bright spot for a lagging R&B industry and later sang a duet with fellow ingenue Monica, and often gave guest appearances in her videos to her brother, Ray J –now star of his own stupid reality show, “For the Love of Ray J.” (Yeah, I don’t watch that show –can you tell?)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzpLkcfBe-A[/youtube]

Well, Brandy has some stiff competition on DWTS, starting with “Jersey Shore”‘s own Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino’s hair and abs.

You know who else doesn’t have abs of steel? Me and Bristol Palin, but she had a baby at 17 for her abs. She’ll be on the show, too.

Comedian and actress Margaret Cho will also be on the show, alongside Florence “I-Like-’Em-Young” Henderson.

For a complete line-up, visit “Dancing with the Stars“.

Real Housewife of D.C. accuses Whoopi Goldberg of ‘hitting her’

Posted on August 31, 2010 by ibwff

Michaele “Don’t Call Me a Gatecrasher” Salahi and her husband, Tareq Salahi, have accused Whoopi Goldberg of woman-handling the reality show personality on Ms. Goldberg’s daytime talk show, “The View.”

According to a video clip posted by “The View,” Whoopi –who was not a part of the on stage panel– walks on stage and lightly touches Salahi on her back to get her attention before making a comment. Salahi, who is visibly on the end of the couch, turns around and notices Goldberg and continues speaking.

Considering that she didn’t “shriek” or say “ow” shows that the incident isn’t as melodramatic as Ms. Salahi challenges.

The incident supposedly stems from Goldberg wanting Salahi to talk more about the Obama’s state dinner where she and her husband allegedly “gatecrashed” it. She and her husband were supposedly not on the guest list for the Obamas’ high profile event.

Though Salahi insists on minimizing the issue — even going as far as to refuse testimony in a Congressional hearing– Goldberg allegedly wants her to discuss it more. (“Gatecrash”-gate escalated so much that former White House Social Secretary, Desiree Rogers, stepped down amid the firestorm over their alleged party crashing. Desiree Rogers was the first Black to hold the position of Social Secretary.)

Then it got weird…

According to Goldberg, Salahi’s husband Tareq comes swooping in like a rabid bat out of hell (not Goldberg’s words) and starts accusing Goldberg of woman-handling his wife. Just so he’s kosher about the whole incident he starts taking pictures of Goldberg with his Blackberry.

According to iVillage Entertainment, the whole bizarre incident escalated when the Salahis’ –who are as averse to the gatecrashing story as a vampire is to a cross– sent in their lawyer, Lisa Bloom, via the View co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck, to insist that, “her clients did not crash the White House party and that ‘they were, in fact, invited to the party’ and pointing out that they ‘have not been charged with any crime.’”

Goldberg did address the issue, and ABC has issued a response stating: “The accusation was completely unfounded and erroneous. After the show, and after being told she was being accused of hitting Ms. Salahi, Whoopi proceeded to defend herself verbally from this baseless claim in a heated exchange with the Salahi’s.”

Tyra’s Casting for Cycle 16 of America’s Next Top Model – DEADLINE Aug. 18th!

Posted on August 14, 2010 by ibwff

Okay, ladies. Get your photographs and attitudes on because media mogul Tyra Banks is casting for Cycle 16 of “America’s Next Top Model”!

If you ever watch the show, you know that it can be inspirational… or a big hot steaming pile of mess. Either way, it’s always fun and entertaining!

According to Tyra:

“Here’s what I need from you. You need to be:

* 18 – 27 years old

* a U.S. Citizen

* Apply by Midnight on August 18th!”

The “Doll Test” 60 Years Later –Surprising Results on Tonight’s Anderson Cooper

Posted on May 18, 2010 by ibwff

CNN.com

CNN correspondents Anderson Cooper and Soledad O’Brien address the “Doll Test” that was given in the 1940′s to contribute to the studies about how segregation impacts society. Sixty years later, surprising (to some) results show that today’s white children still have an overwhelming white bias: 76% of the white children picked the two darkest skin tones to reflect the “dumb” child; 66% of them chose the two darkest skin tones to reflect the “mean” child; and 66% chose the two darkest skin tones for the color that adults “don’t like.” Hmmm…

Some of the children have parents who obviously know the impact of race in America, and those children were more impartial to their selections. A bright point are many of the responses from Black children, including a young girl who says, “I like the color that I am,” when asked which color she’d like to be.

See parents talk about the different ways they address race with their young children as part of “AC360″ special coverage “Black or White: Kids on race” tonight 10 p.m. ET

FLASHBACK: 1997 Interview with Dorothy Dandridge Biographer Donald Bogle

Posted on May 13, 2010 by ibwff

If you aren’t familiar with Donald Bogle’s work, then you’re missing out on one of the quintessential biographers and researchers of the documented history of African Americans in film and television. His books include Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams: The Story of Black Hollywood, and Brown Sugar; Eighty Years of America’s Black Female Superstars.

In this 1997 interview with PBS’s Charlie Rose, Mr. Bogle is joined by two legendary actresses: Ruby Dee and Cicely Tyson (making a rare appearance… replete with leather gloves).

All three guests are discussing Donald’s 1997 book, Dorothy Dandridge: A Biography, as well as an intense discussion about the actress herself and Black actresses in Hollywood.

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Category Archives: Television