Archives
TV Takes the Town -- 'ET' Celebrates a Journo Jubilee
THIS JUST IN: Ratings results for the Vegas debut of Miss America were reported this morning (click here and here for our weekend coverage), and they couldn't be better! Cable network Country Music Television racked up a record number of viewers, with a total of 3.1 million people, outscoring the network's previous best of 2.9 million viewers for last April's Country Music Awards. Results were announced overnight by Nielsen Media Research, and preliminarily indicate that CMT should renew the pageant. Which also means that Vegas becomes #1 front runner to host Ms. America again next January! After all, as they say, don't mess with success...
Now, Vegas is the country's top convention city, and this week we're playing host at Mandalay Bay to 10,000 delegates for the National Association of Television Program Executives. As you can see from our exclusive photos, everybody from my friends 'Family Feud' host Richard Khan (below left) to 'The Insider's Pat O'Brien 
'
Interesting to remember that we got that daily show off the ground before the fax machine or internet were out of their infancies, before modern cell phones, even before Fed Ex did positively overnight deliveries -- so it was a bit of a miracle back in those dark ages of communication. We even had to give away $20 million's worth of satellite dishes to local stations to receive the signal on the first ever "day-and-date" non-network syndicated show! One of our earlier producers Gary Grossman has become a warm friend over the years, and he was here at NATPE celebrating publication of his 2nd political thriller 'Executive Treason,' in which a talk-radio hate host attempts to bring down the Presidency. It's a follow-up to his blockbuster 'Executive Actions,' which I found riveting. Buy it. Read it. You won't be able to put it down...
Over champagne, I talked exclusively with Mary about the ET quarter-century milestone: "It's such an exhilarating thrill to be here in Vegas talking about the whole history of the show," she told me. "None of us in those first few years said the show would go on in perpetuity -- except for Al Masini. The reason we are talking about a 25 year success story is something I would never have anticipated -- the public's appetite for celebrity news has not waned. In fact, when you look at the proliferation of entertainment news shows, you know that if anything, they want more. But over the years, we have been able to give more in-depth behind the scenes. We've got more into the lifestyles -- to quote your word -- of the rich and famous," she added with a laugh and a kiss. "You, Robin, were very much a part of that culture...
"It's an undescribable thrill, because when I started doing the show, I had no intention of being with the show for very long," Mary continued. "It wasn't what I set out to come to Hollywood and do. So I'm as amazed and surprised as anyone that we are still all here today. Ironically, my first appearance on 'ET,' four months after you launched it, was because of a cancellation of a show I'd done with Regis Philbin -- the NBC program president just axed us and 'ET' wanted me to talk about what it felt like to be terminated -- thanks a whole lot! The day after I did the interview though, they called, offered me the job, and the rest is history. I think I'm going to fall into a dead faint right now if I think of another 25 years! I know every time I've renewed my contract, I have said that will be it in five year increments: 15 years will be plenty, 20 years will be plenty, 25 will be plenty, so I can't tell. I haven't said 30 will be plenty yet!"
Its $1 million posted reward to unconditionally prove psychic phenomena still remains unclaimed after 10 years. Count me in, because it proves once again Vegas isn't all about fake believe, and hucksters hidden 'neath the glitter of the gulch! LuxeLife has an exclusive invitation to a magicians private lunch at Teller's home and a front row seat for Jamy's performance tomorrow night. I actually assisted Jamy when he first performed this mind-blowing show at NY's Rockefeller Center. Don't take my word for his extraordinary skills. Listen to Penn & Teller: "He is James Bond with a deck of cards for a pistol. He makes sleight of hand a terrifying art form." And fellow magician Lance Burton adds simply: "Jamy is absolutely brilliant." If you have ever been slightly interested in magic don't miss this out of control convention of conjuring. We'll have the full insiders report only here at LuxeLife next week...
You neednt be skeptical about us -- we really do love hearing from you, so email your organic observations or inspired insights to robinsvegas@aol.com. And remember, click here or on 'Alert Me' above so we can ping your post as soon as we publish daily.
robinsvegas at 4:39:00 PM PST Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
