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Celebrific

Tracking Celebrities in Their Native Habitat

jonsonroth

Generous Ellen DeGeneres Takes a Chance on Greyson Chance

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So Ellen DeGeneres likes this 12 year-old kid Greyson Chance so much that she started her own record label and signed him on. Greyson is the young lad who covered Lady Gaga’s song Paparazzi — doing both piano and vocals. He even got a call from Ms Gaga herself while he was on Ellen’s show recently.

This kid is really talented, both as a singer and a pianist, and the young girls are already swooning over him. But what’s going to happen when his voice finally breaks in a couple of years (I think it’s already starting)? Still, if he maintains the vocal strength he already has and sticks to his vocal range, he’s going to have a long career ahead of him. Just watch a couple of his other videos and you can see his talent at work.

So kudos to Ellen for giving Grayson a leg up, and for already giving him a $10K check. What a generous gesture, putting your money where your mouth is to promote young talent. Bravo. Not sure if any other talk show host has ever done that. I guess it also doesn’t hurt that Madonna’s manager is one of the people representing him, and that Grayson’s video on YouTube has received nearly 21M views, so it’s already viral and Ellen has a marketing engine already in place.

Here’s the original video of Grayson performing at a 6th grade festival

Are You Tired of Dancing With the Stars Yet?

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Looks as if the Hough family has some sort of magic touch for dancing. Derek and Julianne Hough have both been on ‘Dancing With the Stars’ since 2007, and both have been winners (she twice, in the 4th and 5th seasons). While Julianne wasn’t on this season, Derek was, and he and his partner, Pussycat Dolls founder Nicole Scherzinger, took the title. I usually watch the last few episodes of each season, but only caught the 2nd last episode — both of which aired together. I guess they really were at the top of their game, and while I didn’t see many of the other couples perform, these two just had it together. Of course it helps that Nicole is also a dancer. (Isn’t that kind of cheating?) Though second runner up, Olympic athlete Evan Lysacek was only two points behind, so it was pretty close.

Of course, having not watched a single episode until the 2nd last one, I missed the entire DWTS Spring 2010 lineup, realizing after the fact that I missed out on seeing Pam Anderson, Shannon Doherty, and even astronaut Buzz Aldrin, but despite having a love of dance, and having watched nearly every season of DWTS, I just didn’t care about it this year. Could be because I have a crush on Julianne Hough and she wasn’t on. Even slinky Edyta Sliwinski and Anna Trebunskaya weren’t enough to get me interested. It could be just me losing interest in DWTS after 3+ years, but if it’s not, I’m wondering how the new ‘Got to Dance’ show premiering in fall 2010 will do. Sure, Paula Abdul will be a judge, but it’s a different format and won’t have the glitz of DWTS. Not sure if I’ll be watching ‘Got to Dance,’ but if Betty White gets on DWTS next season, I’ll definitely watch.

SCRAM Bracelet Allows Lindsay Lohan to Still Take Drugs

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Lindsay Lohan might have to wear a SCRAM bracelet and avoid drugs, but apparently she can still take prescription drugs if she proves if with a doctor’s scripts. According to TMZ sources, she currently has prescriptions for Ambien and Adderall, the latter being for ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).

Does anyone care that ADHD can sometimes be treated with a change in diet, especially by cutting out refined sugars and carbs that are often found in fast foods and other prepared foods? It’s no wonder Lindsay’s looking so pale these days. (Or possibly that’s because she’s rumored to be in such bad financial straits that she can’t pay rent, nor possibly afford a good meal.) But it’s often easier to just get a prescription than to find the cause (diet) or even the root cause (image disorder).

Of course, Lindsay’s issues are hardly anything like Heidi Montag’s image disorder, but her behavior the past few years suggest she does have a disorder. I can’t say I’ve followed her life all that much. She seems to have some recent facial changes (aside from her constant constipated look), suggesting plastic surgery. Jail isn’t the answer for Lindsay, so she’s lucky she didn’t get any time. Her problems have to be more deep rooted. Only therapy and excising both parents out of her life seem are likely to help her progress.

TV Tidbits – May 25, 2010

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Jack Bauer and 24 might have been extremely popular in the first few seasons, but the two hour series finale yesterday had mild ratings thanks only to die-hard fans, putting CBS in third place for that time slot. ABC took first place, CBS second, and NBC fourth. Hollywood Insider has the numbers, as well as reflections from Kiefer Sutherland. Here’s a hint to networks: not everyone wants reality shows or drama, especially in the 8-10 time slot. I love me my Monday nights on CBS: 2 hours of laughing my ass off with How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men, and Big Bang Theory, followed by CSI: Miami, which I usually record on my DVR for later viewing. Let me put the lie to the statistics: I’ve recorded the 2 hr series finale of 24; I just didn’t feel like watching it at 8 pm. I’m sure I’m not the only person who does that.

Apparently ABC whored themselves out during the 2.5 hour series finale of Lost, with over 100 ads in 45 minutes of commercial and promotional time. If ever there was one show whose trailers were so boring that I changed the channel, it’d have to be for Lost. Usually if I miss a series first few seasons, I watch it in reruns, but nothing about Lost made me want to watch it — not even finding out it was science fiction (duh, J.J. Abrams). Hate me if you like, but I’m so glad that slot is opened up for something else. Unfortunately, it’d probably be some boring reality show.

The Miss America pageant will be back on TV. A three year deal was signed with ABC. The next pageant will air Jan 15, 2011, after what will then be a 7-year hiatus. The pageant started in 1921 in Atlantic City, NJ.

Teri Hatcher has launched a new talk show, but it’s on the Web, not on TV. Called GetHatched.com, it offers lifestyle tips and has interviews with her celebrity friends. Now were this on TV, you probably wouldn’t be surprised if the audience were predominantly female. But even though the site has only been up a week or so, it has male fans. It’ll be interesting to see how the TV demographic changes as more content goes online.

Celebrific Screen Scene — May 24, 2010

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It took Shrek Forever After (aka Shrek 4) to bump Iron Man 2 out of the top box office spot, and it was a big bump. Shrek took in $71.2M for it’s opening weekend. Iron Man 2, which has been out for weeks, only took in $26.6M. Robin Hood dropped to second spot with $18.7M. Letters to Juliet took 4th, and Just Wright was 4th. MacGruber, which just opened, bombed, with only $4.1M in receipts, to take 6th place. Well, when you base a whole movie on a lame SNL skit that has an annoying soundtrack, it’s not surprising. Will Forte appearing naked was enough to bring people in, I guess.  [Data from IMDB]

Prince of Persia with Jake Gyllenhaal opened in foreign markets, ahead of its N. American debut, and while hitting #1 in 18 of 19 markets (just not in the U.K.), it still only took in $18M in receipts. The downturn in box office is apparently partially affected by the warm weather there over the weekend.

Hollywood is trying to find a way to reach consumers home screens (aka TV) with new movies sooner than usual. Apparently the big studios are in talks with the big cable operators, and if things work out, you could see a new theatrical release on your TV set within four weeks instead of the typical four months. However, there’s a fairly hefty price for that privilege, and it might run $20-30 per movie. Something like this could be implemented as soon as late 2010 or early 2011. Oh great. I’m sure theater owners will be happy with this plan. Of course, they could just jack up the popcorn and soda for all those of us that are old-school and like to watch some new movies on a giant screen.

Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who have produced some of Hollywood’s biggest films, have been trying to work out a deal to reclaim Miramax Films from Walt Disney Co., but the deal fell apart after weeks of negotations — mainly due to issues about how Miramax would fit in with The Weinstein Co. According to the LA Times, new negotiations might bring back two other brothers, investors Alec and Tom Gores. Miramax, which the Weinstein brothers were forced out of, was named for their parents, Miriam and Max.