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Donna J. Plesh

  News=Promos at

 

 

 On the day of our
survey, "E.T." was
hosted by veteran
anchor Mary Hart
and substitute host
Mark Steines.

 


A day's worth of 'news'(?)
on 'Entertainment Tonight'

By DONNA J. PLESH
of TheColumnists.com

It dawned on me recently that I had not paid much attention lately to news from the world of entertainment, what with being caught up in the continuing saga of the war on terrorism, Enron and the sex scandals involving priests in the Catholic church.

So, I figured now that summer was here and the major TV networks were in reruns (but not, thankfully, much of cable), I had time to catch up on entertainment news. And what better way to do that than by watching "Entertainment Tonight?" After all, this is the show that bills itself The Most Watched Entertainment Program in The World.

After watching a recent episode of the half-hour syndicated program, I found myself wondering where the News was amid the slick graphics, pulsing music and big smiles of the hosts. (This night they were veteran co-host Mary Hart and Mark Steines, who was subbing for regular co-host Bob Goen).

Because I had taped the show, it was easy to take a look back and see what I missed.
It turns out I hadn¹t missed much.

And if there was really any News, I got it all in the Promos and more Promos and more Promos.

But, let me break down this particular episode so you can judge for yourself if/where there was any real News on this ET.


The show opens with quick hit headlines promoting the News to be covered on this night¹s show:

* Hollywood reacts to the discovery of Chandra Levy¹s body--and "America¹s Most Wanted" host John Walsh scrambles to update his show for this weekend.

* David Blaine¹s fall on live TV.

* Celebrity Boxing update.

* Sharon Stone and Elizabeth Tayor at the Cannes Film Festival and Ben Affleck in Washington, D.C.

* Robin Williams trades fashion tips with Roshumba (Roshumba Williams is an ET correspondent and presumably all show loyalists know her by her first name).

* Inside a mystery star¹s $3.5 million mansion.

* Cher¹s daughter, Chastity Bono, and her thoughts of suicide after death of her lesbian lover, and what her mom (Cher) thinks of Chastity¹s new tell-all book.

* A Michael J. Fox Exclusive as he works on his new movie.

* "Jackass--The Movie."\

Phew! I am out of breath and those were just the Promos for the show! Now to the show:

First up is a report from the Washington, D.C. , park where Chandra Levy¹s body was found. Next are comments on the discovery of Levy¹s body from newsies Anne Curry of "The Today Show" and Paula Zahn of CNN, and country music stars Reba McEntire and Travis Tritt at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Next is ET¹s Exclusive 100-degree camera footage of street musician David Blaine's live TV plunge from a small perch atop a 100-foot pole. Blaine falls and lands in a huge pile of cardboard boxes and blankets, from which he bounces out unharmed. One of the onlookers is paralyzed actor Christopher Reeve.

"Celebrity Boxing II" takes us to the ring for a bout featuring Joey Buttafucco and the former pro wrestler Chynna, also known as Joanie Laurer. Joey wins. There¹s also a look at other Celebrity Boxing contestants Darva Conger and Olga Korbut.

ET¹s Roshumba chats with Robin Williams and Hilary Swank at the premiere of their movie "Insomnia." Then there¹s a clip of Ben Affleck at the Washington, D.C., premiere of his film, "The Sum of All Fears," and ET co-host Hart interviews Jennifer Lopez about her new movie, "Enough."

That whilrwind of News items is followed by Promos for Chastity Bono, the $3.5 million mystery estate and then, ET¹s Exclusive from Tom Cruise¹s Minority Report, Michael J. Fox in the studio and the new Jackass movie.

Still with me? By my reckoning, all of the above took only nine MINUTES!!! But that¹s OK, I was more than ready for a commercial so that I could catch my breath.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
Several commercials later the show returns with something called the ET Newslink which informs us that Sharon Stone and Elizabeth Taylor partied together at Cannes. Then there is a Promo for the ET website, followed by Tom Cruise Week continuing with an Exclusive look at "Minority Report," the new Cruise film. (This Exclusive looked just like a movie trailer).

Now it¹s time for the ET Insider, which turns out to be a Promo for more News still to come, including MTV¹s Jackass the movie; Michael J. Fox in the studio; Chastity Bono talking about her dark days and the $3.5 million house owned by a mystery celebrity.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
And we¹re back from a commercials and right into a Promo for the weekend version of "ET." Yippee!

But now it¹s time to get down to the real News: a visit to the mystery celebrity¹s $3.5 million mansion. Turns out the celeb is singer Michael Bolton who takes viewers on a brief tour of the house.

That¹s followed by the hot announcement that the Kelly Ripa Book Club (Ripa, for those unaware, is co-host with of the syndicated weekday show "Live with Regis and Kelly" and is also an actress on the daytime soap "All My Children"). Well, it seems the book Kelly promoted on Regis and Kelly has climbed to #1 on Amazon.com's best-seller list.

More News. It¹s the Chastity Bono story. At last. Chastity talks about some of her hard times, depression, thoughts of suicide after her lover¹s death, all of which she says she details in her new tell-all book (as "ET" refers to it). The segment ends with a comment from Chastity¹s mom, singer/actress Cher.

Enough with the News. It¹s time for another Promo about stories for tomorrow¹s ET: celebrity contract perks and the ultimate toys of the rich and famous.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
We¹re back with some celebrity birthdays; a quickie stop at the set of "Jackass the Movie" and Michael J. Fox in a studio doing voiceovers for the animated movie "Stuart Little 2."

Has the half hour flown by or what? I guess so since the credits are rolling...but there¹s still time for more voiceover Promos by Hart: "Tomorrow what the 'Friends' are doing this summer and our Steve Harvey interview."

Well, after this breathless half hour chock full of, er, Promos, I decided I didn¹t need to catch up on any entertainment News after all.

© 2002 by Donna J. Plesh. The "Entertainment Tonight" logo and photos of Mary Hart and Mark Steines are from the show's press kit. They're the property of Paramount Domestic Television.

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