News

Anita Bryant, a Grammy nominated singer, TV personality and orange juice pitchwoman whose show business career was submerged in the public eye by her anti-gay crusades of the late 1970s, died December 16 at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma. She was 84.

Her death was announced in an obituary in The Oklahoman. A cause of death was not revealed.

Born on March 25, 1940, in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, Bryant grew up in a devoutly Christian family, with her love of music and singing leading to her own TV show at the age of 12, according to the obituary. At 18 she was crowned Miss Oklahoma, and would soon appear on the CBS variety show hosted by Arthur Godfrey and the Dick Clark-hosted American Bandstand.

Her chart hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s included “Till There Was You,” “Wonderland by Night,” “Paper Roses” and “In My Little Corner of the World,” the latter two made...

Anita Bryant, the pop singer and Oklahoma beauty queen who gained fame by convincing America that a “breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine” before seeing her popularity plummet as she railed against gay rights, has died. She was 84.

Bryant died Dec. 16 at her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, her family announced.

A brunette who personified wholesomeness, Bryant was crowned Miss Oklahoma in 1958 and finished second runner-up in the 1959 Miss America pageant. She landed on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Till There Was You” from Broadway’s The Music Man in 1959 and with “In My Little Corner of the World” and “Paper Roses,” which made it to No. 5, a year later.

After marrying disc jockey Bob Green in 1960 and settling down in Miami Beach, Bryant released a string of albums; earned Grammy nominations in 1968, ’71 and ’73; was a frequent guest on variety and talk shows; and traveled for seven years...

With the announcement for the 76th Primetime Emmys set for July 17th, let’s travel back 70 years and revisit the winners of the 6th Emmy Awards held Feb. 11, 1954 at the venerable Hollywood Palladium and telecast on Khj. New categories introduced that year included best new program and supporting actor and actress in a TV series. Prior to 1954, performers were nominated as individuals, but this year the program for which they were nominated was also included. NBC was nominated for 36 Emmys, while CBS placed second with 30 and ABC trailing far behind with just three.

CBS’s cherished “I Love Lucy’ won its second Emmy for best comedy series, while Vivian Vance took home her only Emmy for the show for her supporting role as Ethel Mertz. The other nominees for comedy series were CBS’ “The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show,” NBC’s “Mr. Peepers,” CBS’ “Our Miss Brooks,” and CBS “Topper.

Steve Lawrence, the singer who teamed with his wife Eydie Gormé to form one of the most popular nightclub and concert duos of their generation, died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease today. He was 88.

His son, the composer and performer David Lawrence, said in a press statement, “My Dad was an inspiration to so many people. But, to me, he was just this charming, handsome, hysterically funny guy who sang a lot. Sometimes alone and sometimes with his insanely talented wife. I am so lucky to have had him as a father and so proud to be his son. My hope is that his contributions to the entertainment industry will be remembered for many years to come.”

Popularly know as Steve and Eydie, the couple achieved nationwide recognition in the mid-1950s after appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Steve Allen. They continued performing together until Gormé’s retirement...

Steve Lawrence, the charismatic Grammy- and Emmy-winning crooner who delighted audiences for decades in nightclubs, on concert stages and in film and television appearances, died Thursday. He was 88.

Lawrence, who partnered in a popular act with his wife of 55 years, the late Eydie Gormé, died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease, a publicidst announced.

With his boyish good looks, silky voice and breezy personality, Lawrence broke into show business when he won a talent competition on Arthur Godfrey’s CBS show and signed with King Records as a teenager. The singer chose to stay old school and resist the allure of rock ‘n’ roll.

“It didn’t attract me as much,” Lawrence once said. “I grew up in a time period when music was written by Irving Berlin and Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and Sammy Cahn and Julie Stein.

Bob Barker was a pillar of television’s greatest generation.

Barker, the enduring host of “The Price Is Right” who died Aug. 26 at the age of 99, was a World War II veteran who trained as a Navy fighter pilot. But his destiny was not to fly missions in the Pacific theater. Barker’s service to his country came in the years after the war, when he and an elite corps of seasoned radio announcers laid a large part of the foundation for commercial television as we know it today.

Barker was a born broadcaster. He had a resonant voice, and his 6-foot-1 frame didn’t hurt in making an impression on viewers in the early days of grainy TV pictures. But his biggest asset was the gift of being to speak extemporaneously on live television – and make it look and feel natural while doing so.

Bob Barker, Longtime Host of ‘The Price Is Right,...

Ed Ames, the deep-toned baritone pop singer and actor who portrayed the faithful Cherokee sidekick Mingo on the 1960s NBC series Daniel Boone, has died. He was 95.

Ames died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles after a battle with Alzheimer’s, his wife Jeanne told The Hollywood Reporter.

A native of Massachusetts and a son of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, Ames starred as the Oxford-educated Mingo opposite Fess Parker as Daniel Boone on the first four seasons (1964-68) of the TV Western.

His most memorable night on television, however, came in April 1965 during an appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show. Demonstrating to host Johnny Carson how Mingo would expertly handle a tomahawk, he hurled the weapon at an outline of a cowboy drawn on a wooden board — and it stuck right in the crotch.

As the audience howled, Carson left his desk and said to Ames in now-classic ad-libbed lines,...

Peter Kelley, an actor and singer on Broadway who spent nearly two decades as an agent at William Morris, where he repped the likes of Denzel Washington, Gregory Peck, Farrah Fawcett, Joan Crawford and Héctor Elizondo, has died. He was 97.

Kelley died Feb. 28 of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Suffolk, Virginia, his daughter Sara Blessington told The Hollywood Reporter.

Kelley began in show business as a singer at the Boston Latin Quarter, then acted in regional theaters throughout New England. His first New York performance was as a singing Seabee and Lt. Cable in the original Broadway production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific, which starred Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza and opened in 1949.

He returned to Broadway in 1952 to play Chick Miller in Joshua Logan’s Wish You Were Here and to appear alongside Bette Davis in Two’s Company, then managed theater companies in and around...

You might feel like you’ve already seen Mr. Saturday Night the musical even if you’ve never seen Mr. Saturday Night the movie, and whether you find that comforting – Billy Crystal certainly is one of the most likable presences in all of show business – or disappointing might depend entirely on your taste for well-delivered Borsht Belt comedy.

That’s not damning with faint praise: Mr. Saturday Night, the Broadway musical opening tonight at the Nederlander Theatre based on the 1992 comedy, is, at its best, a charming showcase for the undeniable talents of both Crystal and the showbiz icons he adores. There are shout-outs galore here to the likes of Milton Berle, Harry Ritz, Jack Carter, Phil Silvers, Myron Cohen, Moms Mabley, Shecky Green and more, and a lovely visual tribute (Scott Pask designed the attractive sets) to comedy and TV pioneers from Betty White and Phyllis Diller to Richard Pryor and George Carlin.

The 73rd Directors Guild of America Awards nominees are historic. Two female helmers number among the five nominees for Best Director: Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) and Chloe Zhao (“Nomadland”), the Chinese filmmaker who is the first female Asian director to be cited. Zhao isn’t the only Asian director who earned a nomination. Korean-American Lee Isaac Chung also reaped a bid for his semi-autobiographical “Minari. Rounding out the list of nominees are David Fincher for “Mank” and Aaron Sorkin for “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”).

How well do you know your Directors Guild of America Awards trivia? Keep reading for 25 fun facts and figures about the DGA Awards.

Prior to Zhao and Fennell, the last woman to earn a DGA nomination was Greta Gerwig for 2017’s “Lady Bird.” Lina Wertmuller was the first female nominee for 1976’s “Seven Beauties” (the Italian filmmaker was also the first woman to be...

TV commercial casting director Merrill Jonas died Thursday at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, Calif. after a long illness. She was 96.

Starting out as an actress, Jonas rose to head of the casting department at Ogilvy and Mather in New York, where she led a six-person team that cast more than 100 commercials. The celebrity talent included Patricia Neal, Karl Malden, Anna-Maria Alberghetti, Arthur Ashe, Sonny & Cher and Ravi Shankar.

While working as director of the commercial department at talent agency CMA in New York, she cast talent including Jackie Gleason, Rod Serling, Florence Henderson and Mel Brooks.

Her agency Celebrity Casting Associates made deals for NBC’s Frank Blair, Phyllis Newman, Peter Duchin, Pete Rose and Dan Pastorini.

As an actress and on-camera spokeswoman, Jonas appeared in commercials during the 1950s and 1960s for products including Anacin, M&Ms, Tide, Lipton Tea and many others.

She also appeared...

Bruce Kirby, the longtime character actor whose many TV roles included regular turns on Columbo and L.A. Law, died Sunday in Los Angeles. Kirby, the father of late actor Bruno Kirby, was 95.

His son, acting coach John Kirby, announced the death in a Facebook post. A cause of death was not specified, but John Kirby noted that his father “passed away peacefully” at Cedars in Los Angeles.

Beginning his acting career in the 1950s with appearances in Golden Age anthology programs such as Omnibus and Goodyear Playhouse, Kirby became a familiar presence on episodic TV in the 1960s, with roles on Car 54, Where Are You?, The Patty Duke Show, I Dream of Jeannie and The Defenders.

His TV career continued through the 1970s and ’80s with roles on sitcoms and dramas, specializing in playing cops and detectives on such series as Medical Center, Toma, Kojak, Shannon, Lou Grant, Hunter and In The Heat Of The Night.

Kirby played several roles in the long-running Peter Falk series Columbo, most notably his run as the show’s Sgt. Kramer. From 1986 to 1991, Kirby recurred on L.A. Law as D.A. Bruce Rogoff, and in the early 1980s he was cast as Officer Schmidt in the San Francisco-based crime drama Shannon.

Other TV credits include The Rockford Files, Matlock, Hill Street Blues, The Golden Girls, Chicago Hope and, in the 2000s, The Sopranos, The West Wing and, in two of his final appearances, Numb3rs and Scrubs.

Though TV roles dominated his career, Kirby also made appearances in such feature films as the 1971 Don Knotts vehicle How To Frame A Figg, the 1985 Patsy Cline biopic Sweet Dreams (in which he played TV personality Arthur Godfrey), 1986’s Stand By Me and, in 1993, the Matt Dillon comedy Mr. Wonderful.

In 2004, Kirby reteamed with Dillon for one of his most memorable big-screen roles, playing the father of Dillon’s shady cop in the Oscar-winning Crash.

On Broadway, Kirby was featured in the replacement cast of 1984’s Death of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman. Kirby played the role of Uncle Ben.

Bruno Kirby, who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 57, followed his father into acting, with roles in The Godfather: Part II, When Harry Me Sally…, City Slickers, The Larry Sanders Show, This Is Spinal Tap, Good Morning Vietnam and many others. Like his father, he made appearances on Mash, Columbo, Kojak, Room 222 and Hill St. Blues.

On his Facebook tribute, John Kirby wrote, “My father loved acting and aside from his extraordinary professional career in television, film & theater, he never stopped working on it from his early years in New York on scholarship with Lee Strasberg for 9 years, LA’s Theatre East & The Actors Studio. It was very painful for him when he no longer could perform. I am so glad his wonderful work will live on…

“He was a great father who loved Bruno and me and as a family he made it his business for us to tour in these professional Summer Stock packages, something we would all look forward to every summer…I’m glad you’re up there with Bruno and so many of our loved ones.”

In addition to son John, Kirby is survived by wife Rosalyn.

Phyllis McGuire, the youngest of the harmonizing, chart-topping trio The McGuire Sisters, died Tuesday at her estate in Las Vegas. She was 89.

McGuire lived a storied life. Discovered when she and her sisters tried out for Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts in 1952, Phyllis and the older Christine and Dorothy McGuire epitomized a certain sweet image of America in the 1950s. Through multiple appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show as well as the variety shows of Milton Berle, Perry Como, Andy Williams and Red Skelton, the sisters offered a sugary counterpoint to the burgeoning wave of rock ‘n’ roll acts.

The trio, who matched their hairstyles and dresses, sold millions of records. They toured extensively throughout the ’50s and ’60s, released chart-topping renditions of “Sincerely” and “Sugartime” and sang for five U.S. presidents. The group broke up in 1968.

Phyllis, who sang lead, launched a successful solo career and often played in Vegas,...

Johnny Nash, the angel-voiced reggae-pop singer-songwriter who had U.S. hits with “I Can See Clearly Now,” “Stir It Up” and “Hold Me Tight,” died Tuesday at his home in Houston. He was 80. No cause of death was revealed.

Nash scored a pop smash in 1972 with his self-penned “I Can See Clearly Now,” which spent a month at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. He followed up that success with a cover of reggae legend Bob Marley’s “Stir It Up” that just missed the top 10. Nash’s first big pop hit was “Hold Me Tight,” which reached No. 5 in 1968.

But he remains best known for “I Can See Clearly Now,” the islands-tinged soft-rock classic that has been featured in dozens of films anf TV shows and famously was covered by reggae icon Jimmy Cliff for the 1993 John Candy movie Cool Runnings (watch the video of Cliff’s cover below). That...

Don Imus, a foul-mouthed pioneer of the shock-jock radio format, died Friday at the age of 79. His family said his wife and one of his sons were by his side at the Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in College Station, Texas, according to ABC News, but neither they nor his publicist revealed a cause of death. He had been hospitalized on Tuesday.

As the cowboy-hat-wearing, pistol-toting host of the popular Imus in the Morning syndicated radio show for nearly five decades, Imus found ways to offend all walks of life.

Chicago – In Ken Burns recent PBS documentary “Country Music,” there was a considerable segment of Episode Four dedicated to singer Patsy Cline. The voice that made the song “Crazy” one of the most played jukebox hits in history is the subject of a current musical revival by Chicago’s Firebrand Theatre. “Always… Patsy Cline” is a tune filled tribute to the country chanteuse, through the eyes of her biggest true life fan. Christina Hall and Harmony France alternate the two roles of Patsy and fan Louise in a run at the Den Theatre in Chicago through January 4th, 2020. Click here for more details and tickets.

Play Rating: 4.5/5.0

The “jukebox musical” was first presented in 1990, and had an Off-Broadway run in 1997. The simple and at times achingly poignant craft of Firebrand’s interpretation is beautifully staged in a cafe setting, with the two principal performers recreating moments in their relationship through Patsy’s song performances.

Tony Sokol Oct 4, 2019

Richard Rodgers wrote a musical for Diahann Carroll to star in after hearing her sing on The Tonight Show.

Pioneering TV, film and stage actor Diahann Carroll, who broke barriers as the star of the 60s series Julia, died of Friday in Los Angeles at 84 due to cancer, according to the Associated Press.

Carroll performed on stages in Las Vegas nightclubs, Broadway theaters, and feature film adaptations like Carmen Jones and Porgy & Bess before she was cast in the title role on the comedy Julia. Her character was the first time an African-American was cast as the star of a show in a non-servant role. Julia Baker was a nurse raising a young son as a single mother following the death of her husband in the Vietnam War. The series ran for 86 episodes on NBC between 1968 and 1971.

Carol Diahann Johnson was born in the Bronx, but grew up in Harlem,...

Emmy- and Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe and Tony Award-winning actress and singer Diahann Carroll has died at the age of 84.

Susan Kay, Carroll’s daughter, told The Associated Press her mother passed away from cancer on Friday. Originally diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer in 1997, Carroll frequently spoke out about the importance of early cancer detection, free screening for those who couldn’t afford mammograms, and the need for more money to be invested in research.

Born “Carol Diahann Johnson” in the Bronx, at 10 years old the musically-gifted Carroll received a scholarship from the Metropolitan Opera to study at New York’s High School of Music and Art. She went with the stage name “Diahann Carroll” at a friend’s suggestion to sound more exotic during auditioning for a spot on the “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” TV show. A spot she won—which also allowed her to perform on the daily radio show.

Doris Day may have died with a reputation of being Hollywood’s most scrubbed-clean and wholesome girl-next-door type. But she made it to the big screen courtesy her warmly simmering and easily quavering vocal tones. Before films beckoned, she was a featured vocalist with big band-era kings such as Bob Crosby (Bing’s brother) and Les Brown and His Band of Renown, the latter of which recorded Day sunnily crooning “Sentimental Journey” and “My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time.”

While both ballads made her the toast of radio fans and World War II vets coming home from the battlefront in 1945, Day had so much more to offer during her sadly abbreviated singing career — which included one album released in the 21st century, “My Heart,” and a host of previously unreleased songs she recorded with her composer-producer son, the late Terry Melcher.

Here are some signature smashes and cool surprises from Doris Day.

Jo Sullivan Loesser, a Broadway actress who scored a Tony nomination for her performance in 1956’s The Most Happy Fella, married the show’s composer Frank Loesser in 1959 and after his death 10 years later devoted herself to the promotion of his acclaimed and popular canon, died Sunday of heart failure at her New York City home. She was 91.

Her death was announced by her family through publicist David Gersten.

Born and raised in Mounds City, Il, Sullivan began her professional career as a contestant on the early TV competition Arthur Godfrey Talent Scout Show (her rendition of “Italian Street Song” from Naughty Marietta lost out to a harmonica duo called The Polka Dots).

Soon, though, she was singing in a small Manhattan nightclub when she was chosen to understudy the lead role of Laurey in the original Broadway production of Oklahoma!, which by then was winding down its run.

She...

Great news for fans of Doris Day! The Glass Bottom Boat is currently available on Blu-ray from Warner Archives. Ordering information can be found Here

Doris Day entered her eighth consecutive year as a top-10 box-office star when she boarded The Glass Bottom Boat, a hilarious blending of romantic comedy and the era’s burgeoning spy-movie genre. Day plays Jennifer, a girl Friday at a hush-hush aeronautics think tank. When colleagues suspect she’s an espionage agent, Jennifer chaotically sets out to clear her name. Looney Tunes alumnus Frank Tashlin directs with a cartoonist’s sensibility – or zany insensibility – embracing everything from spy guises to push-button chaos in a futuristic kitchen. With top comedians Arthur Godfrey, Paul Lynde, Edward Andrews, John McGiver, Dom DeLuise and Dick Martin in tow, The Glass Bottom Boat is loaded top to bottom with see-through fun.

Frank Tashlin directs Doris Day as “the drip-dry spy...

It’s wacky, daffy and incredibly square, yet Frank Tashlin’s late career Doris Day romp has a certain gotta-watch interest factor: the male cast of clowns performs the sexist comedy well, and Ms. Day’s fantastic screen personality brightens everything. Space-age executive lothario Rod Taylor hires Doris just for romantic purposes, while Arthur Godfrey, John McGiver, Dom DeLuise, Edward Andrews, Paul Lynde and Dick Martin execute dated slapstick amid ‘futuristic’ gadgets from the days of Buck Rogers.

The Glass Bottom Boat

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1966 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date March 26, 2019 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Doris Day, Rod Taylor, Arthur Godfrey, John McGiver, Dom DeLuise,

Ellen Corby, Edward Andrews, Eric Fleming, Paul Lynde, Dick Martin.

Cinematography: Leon Shamroy

Film Editor: John McSweeney

Original Music: Frank DeVol

Written by Everett Freeman

Produced by Everett Freeman and Martin Melcher

Directed by Frank Tashlin

The great director Frank Tashlin is...

Christine McGuire, whose pop hits propelled her and her singing sisters to many radio and television appearances, died Dec. 28 in Las Vegas, where she lived. She was 92 and her family confirmed the death, but did not provide a cause.

Christine was the oldest of her singing sisters, Dorothy and Phyllis. They began singing in church in their hometown of Miamisburg, Ohio, but avoided secular music until their late teens, finally adding some pop tunes to their repertoire. They were discovered by local bandleaders and radio stations in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, and became well-known for their three-part harmony.

In 1952, the sisters traveled to New York in hopes of auditioning for Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, a TV show that was akin to the American Idol of its time. Godfrey wasn’t around, but singer Kate Smith was, and she booked them for a two-month engagement on her national radio broadcast.

Legendary crooner Vic Damone, whose hits included “You’re Breaking My Heart” and “On the Street Where You Live” and who had roles in film and TV, died Sunday at a Miami Beach hospital from complications of a respiratory illness, his daughter Victoria told The Associated Press. He was 89. Inspired by his favorite singer Frank Sinatra, Damone began his more than half-century career as winner of Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Search in 1947, leading to his becoming a regular on the…...

Legendary crooner Vic Damone, whose hits included “You’re Breaking My Heart” and “On the Street Where You Live” and who had roles in film and TV, died Sunday at a Miami Beach hospital from complications of a respiratory illness, his daughter Victoria told The Associated Press. He was 89. Inspired by his favorite singer Frank Sinatra, Damone began his more than half-century career as winner of Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Search in 1947, leading to his becoming a regular on the…...

Vic Damone, whose mellow baritone once earned praise from Frank Sinatra as having "the best pipes in the business," has died in Florida, his daughter said. He was 89.

Victoria Damone told the Associated Press in a phone interview that her father died Sunday at a Miami Beach hospital from complications of a respiratory illness.

Damone's easy-listening romantic ballads brought him million-selling records and sustained a half-century career in recordings, movies and nightclub, concert and television appearances.

His career began climbing in the 1940s after he won a tie on the radio show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Hunt. His hit singles included "Again," ''You're Breaking My Heart,"...

(Ed. note - Cc writer Ian Alterman writes about two of his favorite film classics.)

The Naked City

Two years after making The Naked City, director Jules Dassin would find himself on the Hollywood Blacklist, and move to Europe, never to return to the U.S. His first film made in Europe, Rififi (1955), would become his most influential, beloved and, arguably, greatest film. And there are already signs of the naturalist style used in Rififi in The Naked City, though the former is a classic (maybe the classic) heist film, while the latter is a film noir police procedural, complete with narration (which ends the movie with the famous line: “There are eight million stories in the naked city. This is one of them.”)

Centered around the murder of a young model, and the police investigation that ensues, the film’s visual style was famously influenced by the work of the photographer,...

Bill Cosby's reassuring and familiar voice pauses. They're deliberate pauses, perfectly timed breaks he has down to a science, evident in his first televised comedy special in 30 years, "Bill Cosby: Far From Finished" Saturday, Nov. 23, on Comedy Central.

Taped at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts near Los Angeles, it's more of a sit-down than a stand-up show. Cosby mines subjects he knows well: long-term marriages (he and Camille have been wed for 49 years) and kids (they had five). He tells stories about the differences between pals and wives. Pals are fine when you call at 3 a.m. because your car broke down. Wives, when they have been telling you to get the car fixed for ages, are less so.

From 1965 through 1972, Cosby won a Grammy annually for best comedy performance or for best recording for children, then won another in 1987. In "I Spy" (1965-68), he became the...

Doris Day movies: TCM’s ‘Summer Under the Stars 2013′ lineup continues (photo: Doris Day in ‘Calamity Jane’ publicity shot) Doris Day, who turned 89 last April 3, is Turner Classic Movies’ 2013 “Summer Under the Stars” star on Friday, August 2. (Doris Day, by the way, still looks great. Check out "Doris Day Today.") Doris Day movies, of course, are frequently shown on TCM. Why? Well, TCM is owned by the megaconglomerate Time Warner, which also happens to own (among myriad other things) the Warner Bros. film library, which includes not only the Doris Day movies made at Warners from 1948 to 1955, but also Day’s MGM films as well (and the overwhelming majority of MGM releases up to 1986). My point: Don’t expect any Doris Day movie rarity on Friday — in fact, I don’t think such a thing exists. Doris Day is ‘Calamity Jane’ If you haven’t watched David Butler’s musical...

The Wasteland:

Television is a gold goose that lays scrambled eggs;

and it is futile and probably fatal to beat it for not laying caviar.

Lee Loevinger

When people argue over the quality of television programming, both sides — it’s addictive crap v. underappreciated populist art — seem to forget one of the essentials about commercial TV. By definition, it is not a public service. It is not commercial TV’s job to enlighten, inform, educate, elevate, inspire, or offer insight. Frankly, it’s not even commercial TV’s job to entertain. Bottom line: its purpose is simply to deliver as many sets of eyes to advertisers as possible. As it happens, it tends to do this by offering various forms of entertainment, and occasionally by offering content that does enlighten, inform, etc., but a cynic would make the point that if TV could do the same job televising fish aimlessly swimming around an aquarium,...

Universal City, Calif. — Cher is no stranger to tabloid fodder.

The 67-year-old singer who has spent most of her life in the spotlight offered this advice to young artists on navigating the world of paparazzi attention: "You're screwed. That's my advice."

"You don't deal with it. You just try to get a place where no one can find you and that's your little sanctuary," continued the "Believe" singer in an interview Tuesday. "I have a fabulous house that I love and it's my sanctuary."

Looking ever the rock star in leather and studs, Cher took the stage Tuesday for the season finale of NBC's "The Voice." She performed "Woman's World," the first single off her upcoming album of the same name – her 26th album since she began recording in the 1960s.

Cher said reality singing competitions are simply a modern incarnation of classic star-makers like "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.

Jonathan Winters - an improvisational genius and the comedic spiritual godfather to a generation of younger comics, including Robin Williams, Jim Carrey and the late Andy Kaufman - died of natural causes Thursday night. He was surrounded by family and friends at his home in Montecito, Calif., the Associated Press reports. He was 87. Known for the wild array of characters he could create in a flash - his naughty old lady Maude Frickert was a Tonight Show headliner who routinely broke up hosts Jack Paar and then Johnny Carson - Winters, playing doltish truck driver Lennie Pike, stole the all-star 1963 movie It's a Mad,...

Before I talk about the new drama Zero Hour (ABC, Thursdays, 8 p.m.), I should get two confessions out of the way. One, I've watched the pilot one and a half times now, and I'm still not sure, on a nuts-and-bolts level, just what in the Rosicrucian-obsessed hell is going on in it, aside from people rushing from one country to another and having nonsensical yet seemingly very important clues just sort of fall into their laps, then declare that it all makes sense. "Of course, the two doves are a symbol for the Doves of St. Whatever in Port Arthur, which means we should be talking to Arthur Godfrey's widow!" Two, this sort of storytelling is characteristic of a genre I never much cared for — the quasi-religious, apocalyptic conspiracy adventure, typified by The Da Vinci Code and the National Treasure series — so I'm pretty sure there's nothing...

Phoenix -- Dorothy McGuire Williamson, who teamed with sisters Christine and Phyllis for a string of hits in the 50s and 60s as the popular McGuire Sisters singing group, has died. She was 84.

Williamson died Friday at her son's home in the Phoenix suburb of Paradise Valley, daughter-in-law Karen Williamson said. She had Parkinson's disease and age-related dementia.

The McGuire Sisters earned six gold records for hits including 1954's "Sincerely" and 1957's "Sugartime." The sisters were known for their sweet harmonies and identical outfits and hairdos.

They began singing together as children at their mother's Ohio church and then performed at weddings and church revivals. They got their big break on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show in 1952 where they continued to perform for seven years.

The group made numerous appearances on television and toured into the late 1960s, making a last performance together on The Ed Sullivan Show in...

A Face In The Crowd (1957) Director: Elia Kazan Cast: Patricia Neal, Andy Griffith, Anthony Franciosa, Walter Matthau, Lee Remick, Percy Waram, Paul McGrath, Marshall Neilan, Alexander Kirkland, Kay Medford Screenplay: Budd Schulberg; from his short story "Your Arkansas Traveler" Patricia Neal, Andy Griffith, A Face in the Crowd Elia Kazan’s 1957 drama A Face in the Crowd, written by Kazan's On the Waterfront collaborator Budd Schulberg, is neither the forgotten masterpiece its champions claim it to be nor a minor work to be disregarded as it was for several decades. In fact, A Face in the Crowd is a good though clearly flawed effort, whose chief weaknesses are a screenplay that gets bogged down in soap-operatic didacticism and Andy Griffith's over-the-top film debut as Larry ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes, a Will Rogers-like homespun philosopher who rises from drunken jailbird to national kingmaker. On the positive side, A Face in the Crowd...

Chicago – The television journalism world lost a titan on Nov. 4, 2011 when Andy Rooney – the irascible pundit on the long-running TV news magazine “60 Minutes” – died at the age of 92.

Andy Rooney was born in Albany, N.Y. and attended nearby Colgate University. He was drafted into the U.S. Army four months before the Pearl Harbor attack, and spent World War II getting his feet wet as a journalist, working for the army’s Stars and Stripes newspaper. After the war, he worked as a writer in radio and early television for entertainer Arthur Godfrey, which led to a gig with CBS News on their public affairs programming like “The Twentieth Century.”

In the 1960s, he began penning on-air essays for CBS News correspondent Harry Reasoner, a precursor to his future “60 Minutes” monologues. At the same time, he became an award winning producer of light hearted new specials like “Mr. Rooney goes to Washington.

From 1978 until last month, Andy Rooney, who has died aged 92, regularly occupied the last minutes of the CBS Sunday evening show 60 Minutes. Wry, often tart, sometimes combative and always beguiling, he presented a miniature essay on a topic of his choice. The programme's phenomenal audience figures in the Us and around the world made him one of the best known news commentators, even though his segment was only – to borrow its name – A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney.

Staring out from under a wiry thicket of eyebrows, he would rummage in his desk drawer and comment caustically on its contents, compare the shrinking quantities of coffee tins, ruminate on the existence of God – he was an agnostic – or mock the absurdities of the politically correct. His liberal tendencies brought enmity from the right, but his stalwart, old-fashioned values sometimes...

Longtime CBS newsman Andy Rooney, who contributed more than 1,000 essays to "60 Minutes," died on Saturday as a result of complications following surgery. He was 92. Rooney's career at CBS spanned six decades, beginning in 1949 when he was hired by Arthur Godfrey after telling the radio star he could use some better writing (the encounter took place in an elevator), and ending in October of this year, when he announced that his 1,067th "60 Minutes" essay would be his last. "Underneath that gruff exterior was a prickly interior," said longtime colleague Morley Safer. "And deeper down was a sweet and gentle man, a patriot with a love of all things American, like good bourbon, and a delicious hatred for prejudice and hypocrisy."...

After retiring from his 33 years on "60 Minutes" just last month, TV writer Andy Rooney died Friday night in a New York City hospital. He was 92.

Rooney was hospitalized after developing serious complications after minor surgery. Two weeks before his hospitalization, Rooney taped his final show on October 2, delivering his 1,097th televised commentary. He appeared on the CBS show from 1978 to 2011.

"Andy always said he wanted to work until the day he died, and he managed to do it,...

AP Andy Rooney during his last regular appearance on “60 Minutes” earlier this year.

Andy Rooney, who entertained and informed millions as an essayist on “60 Minutes,” has died. He was 92 years old.

The veteran TV newsman signed off “60 Minutes” in early October by stating he would never stop writing. Three weeks after his final on-air essay on “60 Minutes,” he was hospitalized following what CBS News called “serious complications” from minor surgery.

Rooney began his run on “60 Minutes” in July of 1978, and...

Andy Rooney, the wry observer of current events for 33 years on 60 Minutes, died Friday night in a New York City hospital, CBS News reports. The TV journalist was 92 and had undergone minor surgery during the third week of October, only to suffer what were termed "serious complications." Rooney, a widower since 2004, is survived by his four children. A mere two weeks before his hospitalization, on Oct. 2, Rooney signed off a final time from the CBS Sunday-night weekly newsmagazine that made him a household name - thanks to 1,097 essays on topics ranging from religion to his messy office. Speaking to People...

After 1,097 essays, and 33 years at CBS, Andy has stepped down from his '60 Minutes' throne -- it won't be the same without him! Tears streamed down my face as Andy Rooney said 'goodbye' during his final Sunday night sign off. The 92-year-old has made a living out of complaining over every day annoyances, but he dropped his curmudgeon act and tugged at my heartstrings during his final essay. "I wish I could do this forever," he said. "I can't, though." I've grown up watching Andy deliberate over things like: Why is there cotton in our pill bottles? Why do we need watches? What's a Lady Gaga? To more serious thoughts on war, religion, and now his life. The New York native started out as a writer for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts radio show in 1949 and was years later was hired as a summer replacement for 60 Minutes' debate segment Point/Counterpoint.

AP File photo of Andy Rooney

Veteran commentator Andy Rooney is stepping down from his role at “60 Minutes.”

Rooney, 92, began his run on the show in July of 1978, and became a fixture on the program that fall.

Rooney has become known for his folksy, often curmudgeonly, TV essays on life, culture and news events.

In Rooney’s book “Andy Rooney: 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit,” he wrote “The process by which each of us acquires a reputation isn’t independent of our character.

One hails from London and another from the south, but these "Real Housewives of D.C." all love living life large in our nation's capital. Here are some fun facts on these fab five!

Facts About 'The Real Housewives of D.C.'Mary Schmidt Amons

Age: 43 Home state/city: Washington, D.C. Occupation: Socialite and philanthropist. Founder of "Labels for Love" and Co-Founder of "The District Sample Sale" Husband's Name: Richard Amons Husband's Occupation: Managing director of Capital WirelessKids?...

The Real Housewives of D.C. has already been on America’s radars since November of 2009, when one of the housewives, Michaele Sahali, breached White House security along with her husband and went from Bravo reality stars to headline news. Now, the show is upon us. Let’s meet the cast: Stacie Scott Turner: A lovely African-American real estate agent with a hot husband and adorable children. Stacie is what we would call the “normal” one of the group. Lynda Erkiletian: The local Milf. Lynda is a divorced mother of grown children, whose boyfriend is an 8 foot tall suit model named Ebong who is definitely giving her her groove back. Catherine Ommanney: Catherine Ommanney’s last name is hilarious because she has an extremely deep voice. She is British, married to the most connected man on the show, and may or may not hate black people. Time will tell.

The latest installment of the Real Housewives franchise brings us to the nation.s capital. We meet the five very different ladies of the cast. First up is Mary, born and raised in D.C. She is the granddaughter of Arthur Godfrey, a legendary TV personality and daughter of a political lobbyist. Mary and her husband, Rich, have been married for 24 years and have five children. We follow her family of seven as they take their annual family portrait. She brings a bottle of wine to .help relax the adults in the group.. Next we meet Stacie. She.s a graduate of Harvard business school and is a real estate agent with Sotheby's. Stacie has been married to her husband...

The newest city to be humiliated by the bottom feeders known as "Real Housewives" is Washington, DC. But, as low on the social scale as they already are, this latest crop of knuckleheads has nowhere to go but further down -- if possible. Why? Because "The Real Houswives of DC" is as racially-insensitive a group as I've ever seen on TV. Yes, despite all the hoopla about White House party-crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi, their actual idiocy pales next to some of the other "Housewives." Read More: Whoopi Goldberg And Michaele Salahi Clash Backstage At '...

The actress/singer who voiced Cinderella in Disney's animated classic has died, aged 81. Ilene Woods died on Thursday, July 1 from causes related to Alzheimer's disease at a nursing home in Canoga Park, Los Angeles.

Woods was an 18-year-old radio singer when she recorded a demo for the then-upcoming Disney feature in 1948. Days later, she was auditioned by Walt Disney himself, and went on to voice the title character's speaking and singing parts for the 1950 film based on the popular fairytale.

In 2003, she was awarded a Disney Legends award for her voicework on the classic. She also sang on Perry Como and Arthur Godfrey's U.S. TV shows in the 1950s before retiring from showbusiness in the early 1970s.

She is survived by her husband, Ed Shaughnessy, their son, a daughter from her first marriage, and three grandchildren.

The actress/singer who voiced Cinderella in Disney's animated classic has died, aged 81.

Ilene Woods died on Thursday from causes related to Alzheimer's disease at a nursing home in Canoga Park, Los Angeles.

Woods was an 18-year-old radio singer when she recorded a demo for the then-upcoming Disney feature in 1948.

Days later, she was auditioned by Walt Disney himself, and went on to voice the title character's speaking and singing parts for the 1950 film based on the popular fairytale.

In 2003, she was awarded a Disney Legends award for her voicework on the classic.

She also sang on Perry Como and Arthur Godfrey's U.S. TV shows in the 1950s before retiring from showbusiness in the early 1970s.

She is survived by her husband, Ed Shaughnessy, their son, a daughter from her first marriage, and three grandchildren.

Bravo confirmed last week that The Real Housewives of DC will air this summer and star Michaele Salahi, who with her husband Tareq Salahi became immediately famous when they crashed a White House state dinner late last November. The full cast of housewives, according to Bravo's press release, consists of "Mary Schmidt Amons, the true Washingtonian and granddaughter of radio and TV personality Arthur Godfrey; the mother hen and owner of D.C.'s top modeling agency,...