Television Archives

New York, April 12, 2010 – The Saturday Night Live folks made a rare appearance at a panel discussion at the Pierre Hotel, and we learned a few things about how the inner workings of the iconic sketch comedy show.  Head writer Seth Meyers, who does the “Weekend Update” bit solo since Amy Poehler left, admitted that he prefers writing for others.  “I used to be in sketches, and I feel a lot of relief not being in them,” Meyers said, and added that producer Lorne Michaels still begs him to be in sketches. 

Kristen Wiig, who appears in many of the sketches, said she also writes her characters.  “It helps, I think, if you're part of the writing process,” she told the audience. 

Moderator Jimmy Fallon revealed that Fred Armisen ad-libs quite a bit on the show.  Armisen says that he often improvises Nicholas Fehn, the rambling comedian character who never finishes a sentence.  Meyers said it was unnerving to see Armisen’s cue cards blank during Weekend Update. 

Also on hand were the hilarious Kenan Thompson, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg and Lorne Michaels.

Photos: Caroline Torem Craig

Los Angeles, January 23, 2010 – There wasn’t a tool belt in sight at the SAG Awards, where the entertainment industry’s working stiff union workers pay tribute to their own.  The skies cleared after days of rain, and Hollywood stars trod the red carpet dressed to the nines.  (Although none of the actors from the movie Nine won anything.)

Despite her moving Best Actress acceptance speech, Sandra Bullock displayed her comedic talents in presenting Betty White with a Lifetime Achievement Award: “She starred in four different television shows called The Betty White Show. Four. Most people would stop naming shows after themselves after the third one.”  (Bullock is turning out to be an entertaining presence of this year’s awards circuit, after kissing Meryl Streep at the Critics’ Choice Awards.)  Backstage, Bullock said she was surprised by her SAG win.  “My money was on Meryl,” she said. 

The 88-year-old White was no slouch in the comedy department herself, coming back at Bulock with, “Isn’t it heartening to see how far a girl as plain as she is can go?”  White continued to crack jokes, and working a high-slit dress, told reporters backstage, “You’ve got to use everything you possibly can!”

Other notable union label winners included Drew “Um” Barrymore, Jeff Bridges, Julianna Margulies, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Bacon and Mo’Nique. 

New York, January 5-7, 2010 – While seemingly all of Hollywood fled to ski slopes or beaches during the holidays, a few red carpets unfurled in the first days of January as stars trickled back to work.  New York was the site of three movie premieres, a good number for one week at any time of year.  On Tuesday, Michael Cera, Zach Galifianakis and Fred Willard debuted their Youth in Revolt. The next day Amy Adams and Matthew Goode rolled out their romantic comedy Leap Year, and then Willem Dafoe and Ethan Hawke jumped on the vampire bandwagon with their neck-biter Daybreakers. 

TLC had “Miracle on the Hudson” pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger on hand at the screening of Brace for Impact, a documentary about how the hero safely landed US Air flight 1549 in the Hudson River after a flock of geese knocked out the plane’s engines. 

Tween girls had their knickers in knots when Nick Jonas, the youngest Jonas brother, turned up at David Letterman’s studio for his solo appearance with his new, sibling-free band, The Administration. 

And hunky Brits Hugh Dancy and Ben Whishaw (Bright Star) introduced themselves to the press during rehearsals for the off-Broadway play The Pride, opening January 27 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre downtown. 

Atlantic City, NJ, August 17, 1009 – Dancing with the Stars duo Karina Smirnoff and Maks Chmerovskiy are spending their summer dancing up a storm for a live audience in Broadway’s Burn the Floor.  On Mondays the Great White Way is dark, so the couple headed to Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa for some R&R.  The engaged lovebirds nibbled sushi at the hotel’s Izakaya, and then, of course, headed to club mur.mur for some (what else?) dancing!  As you can imagine, intimidated fellow clubgoers stood aside and watched in amazement as Maks and Karina tore up the dance floor.

Alas, Broadway is a demanding mistress with eight shows per week, so the two headed back to NYC in the wee hours as they had to perform the next day.

Los Angeles, August 9, 2009 – Let’s face it, the 2009 Teen Choice Awards was all about the guys.  While the Gibson Amphitheatre stage was swarming with gorgeous gals, the evening’s hottest, Transformers star Megan Fox, summed up the mood of the ceremony when accepting her Choice award for Female Hottie:  “I love you guys. And I'm gonna shut up now so you can all look at Robert Pattinson," Fox told the crowd.  And look they did: Pattinson’s Male Hottie award was one of 11 for Twilight. 

With hosts the Jonas Brothers receiving several awards along with Zac Efron, Chace Crawford and Ed Westwick, screaming female fans were everywhere.

The Teen Choice Awards airs on Monday, August 10, at 8 PM E.T. on Fox

Atlantic City, NJ, Aug. 1, 2009 – After winning twice on Dancing with the Stars, Julianne Hough released a top-selling country music album.  Along the way, she was nominated for a Creative Arts Primetime Emmy Award for choreography.  So, boy, did we feel like failures when we learned that Hough accomplished all this before the age of 21!

She celebrated her 21st birthday with her close-knit family this weekend at Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa.  Julianne and her sisters Maribeth and Katherine shopped, dined at Bobby Flay Steak, and danced late into the night at club mur.mur, where they surprised the birthday girl with a cowboy boot-shaped cake. 

Photo: courtesy Borgata Hotel

New York, July 7, 2009 – We were surprised to see that Sacha Baron Cohen was, for once, not in character as Brüno when he appeared on the David Letterman show to promote the movie.  Cohen arrived at the taping dressed in a suit, and to the disappointment of fans waiting outside, dashed inside without fanfare. 

After the taping concluded, fans waited…and waited…and waited for Sacha Baron Cohen to come back outside.  What could be taking him so long, they wondered.

Finally, after quite a long time, the comedian emerged from the studio and it was clear what had taken so much time – he had changed into full Brüno regalia.  And then, Cohen proceeded to camp it up to the maximum, posing suggestively, signing autographs up and down the street, and basically putting on a show.  “I was laughing so hard, I nearly dropped my camera,” one photographer told us.