This week, CHML’s Scott Thompson asks if Sarah Palin really was at the NBC TCA party Tuesday night. You Betcha, Scott. The former Alaskan governor was there in all her high heeled glory.
And a fine looking woman she is too. She’d make a fine real estate agent.
NBC did not post any photos of Palin on their media site apparently because she gave instructions that she didn’t want to steal the spotlight from her husband Todd, who is one of the celebrity contestants on the network’s upcoming combat zone reality series Stars Earn Stripes. Good she dressed down then and stayed (for two hours) in the background.
Word is she did get a private photo session later with the monkey. I’m hoping that isn’t Todd’s code name or anything.
Scott also mentions the passing of Sherman Hemsley, who died yesterday at 74. The actor, who did indignant well, went on to do Amen in the ’80s but was “movin’ on up” in the ’70s with The Jeffersons, part of a wave of smart, socially relevant comedies created by Norman Lear.
It was a bit unsettling to get word of Hemsley’s passing yesterday on press tour while sitting through sessions with bland new comedies featuring monkeys and Guys With Kids (“It’s like NBC couldn’t even bother to name it,” tweeted USA Today’s Robert Bianco).
One new NBC sitcom, The New Normal, has some edge. It’s from Ryan Murphy (Glee) and is about two gay men who find a surrogate mother to have their baby. Ellen Barkin plays a bigoted, Archie Bunker-like grandmother.
Critics wondered what Lear would think about this series. Murphy said he heard from the legendary TV creator when Glee was launched and was cheered to hear he was a fan.
This somehow led to Scott talking about a doll his sister still has that was a merchandising spin-off from Lear’s masterpiece All in the Family. The “Joey” doll was remarkable at the time (and even now) for being anatomically correct. Toy companies and TV networks had balls back then.
Follow this link to the full radio chit chat.
