Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"I stopped watching this show early in season two, because 1. not enough vampires! and 2. I just didn't see where it could go after the crushing season one finale, when plotting bipolar matriarch Sarah Palin lost her chance to run the 'United States of America.' Plots just don't work when they scale down, you know? Then season two got very Twin Peaks: Sarah quit her job, her daughter's baby-daddy Levi tried to become a porn star through appearing in Fleshworld magazine, and I was like, there is nothing here of narrative importance or interest for me! Well, the show has gone uncanceled, because the network has nothing else, and at the top of season three, it was revealed that a pesky evil spy had moved in to the house next door to Sarah. This was a good start, but there wasn't much to look at, because mostly Sarah spent all her time in her house, unemployed, chatting with friends on Facebook and Twitter. (I mean, history will prove most likely that this is going to be an amazing historical representation of America, but it's still not much to look at in the here and now.) So now it's last-ditch ratings gusto! This is like sweeps week, except this channel is way too subpar to register on Nielsen! Bristol and Levi, the parents of the baby that, in season one, everyone thought was secretly Sarah's, have reunited!" (TheAwl)



"Magnolia Pictures has completed an acquisition of I'm Still Here: The Lost Year Of Joaquin Phoenix, the mockumentary that Casey Affleck directed about his brother-in-law's bizarre transformation from acclaimed actor to debauched hip-hop artist. Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles tells me the film is set for a platform release on September 10, with wide release a week later. Bowles acknowledged the possibility of a festival premiere -- I hear Venice or Toronto -- and the Magnolia release will include a VOD component." (Deadline)



(Trigger ..Estimate: $100,000 - $200,000 via NYSD)

"I went to lunch at Michael’s with my old friend Beth DeWoody who had just come from Christie’s where she’d seen the exhibition of the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum Collection, which goes on the auction block today and tomorrow at their Rockefeller Center headquarters. She insisted I go have a look before the day was out, and after our lunch I walked the six blocks down to the auction house to have a look ...He eventually became one of the richest stars in Hollywood, owning among other lucrative properties, the Los Angeles Angels, and acres and acres of real estate. He also had a radio show in the 40s and 50s as well as a TV show after that ... The collection – Just inside the entrance are two stuffed horses – 'Buttermilk' (whom I remembered as Dale Evans’ horse in the movies), and Trigger Jr. which was used entirely as a performing (dancing) show horse." (NYSocialDiary)



"In the deep end, there's 15 East off Union Square, popular with fashion designers and folks from Sotheby's and Christie's, as well as a dinner destination for art critic John Richardson, who lives upstairs. Then there's Omen on Thompson Street, which has been teeming with art-world types since the 1980s and remains a favorite among the species — hello Adam McEwen, Richard Phillips and Rachel Feinstein!— even though the center of the art world has long since shifted from Soho to the warmer waters of Chelsea. 'If I walk in Omen, I'll know half of the crowd, sometimes the whole restaurant,' said Olivier Zahm, the bearded French photographer and art critic, by phone a few weeks ago. 'I went today. I went yesterday. I'm going tonight. Don't write too much about it, because we don't want the place to be invaded by strangers.' Mr. Zahm, who posts pictures on his blog of pals like Chloë Sevigny, Paz de la Huerta and Terry Richardson hanging out in the dimly lit, brick-lined dining room at Omen, said the appeal of the restaurant comes from its understated décor—something he also likes about the monochromatic 15 East, where he goes when he's in the mood for a longer, more sophisticated dinner. '15 East is for more special occasions,' Mr. Zahm said. 'It's an intellectual place. You know that the people around you have been reading more than one book in their life.'" (Observer)



"House Republicans are providing some of their key candidates with valuable assets: friends in high places. National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas) tapped Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (Ga.) and Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) earlier this cycle to lead a new mentoring program designed to match candidates who have little experience in the political arena with battle-tested lawmakers. 'What we try to do is [pair candidates] with a [Member who has] regional knowledge of their district or with knowledge of the issues that are important to their district, [or] sometimes it’s a demographic match,' Price said during a recent interview. 'We are trying to tailor it so that this person becomes a friend and a guide. It’s like having a buddy.' Price said Members are encouraged to talk to their candidates 'at least once a week” depending on their schedules." (CQPolitics)

"Vampires are hot, but what about vampire reruns? HBO will find out soon enough. The pay-cable channel is starting to shop repeats of 'True Blood' to commercial cable networks. The show, which just started its third season, has turned into HBO's biggest hit since the days of 'Sex and the City' and 'The Sopranos.' About 12 million viewers tune in to each episode to watch Sookie Stackhouse and vampire Bill Compton get hot and sweaty down in Bon Temps, La., while battling evil vampires, wolves and the occasional redneck. 'True Blood's' Sunday night average is about 5.5 million viewers. HBO runs the show throughout the week and offers it via its on-demand channel. The popularity of the show should make for an easy sale. But there are some red flags that potential buyers should be aware of, and they don't all have to do with the notoriously high level of sex and violence on 'True Blood.' HBO has done a very good job getting big bucks for reruns of its shows. However, the shows themselves haven't always performed as well as buyers might have hoped. The most recent example of this is Spike, which shelled out $600,000 per episode for reruns of 'Entourage,' only to see it struggle on its network. 'Entourage' premiered on Spike in January and since then the network has tried it on four different nights with less than stellar results." (LATimesBlog)