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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > June > 05
Monday, June 5, 2006
Kathy Griffin knows her place and milks every minute
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Comedian and pop culture observer Kathy Griffin will never be an A-list celebrity, and she knows it. And she’s fine with that.
“I have the best of both worlds,” she told Buzz by phone last week, on the eve of the second season of her “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List” reality show on Bravo, which debuts Tuesday at 9 p.m. “I get to make a living doing something I love, and nobody is going through my garbage. And nobody cares if I’m eating at In-and-Out Burger.”
Among the funniest moments of the first show is Griffin receiving the “key” to the city of Louisville, Ky., before eight city employees and one actual fan. And she tries to auction for charity a weekend with her at her home and finds out that the top bidder, who offered $28,000, wasn’t serious. And neither were the next dozen or so.
The winner ended up paying $5,000, a major ego hit for Griffin. “I could have called a gay guy I already know to pay that,” she cracked. She said the second episode will feature said winner hanging out at her house, bored to tears and oddly obsessed with Geri Halliwell, former Spice Girl.
Griffin, who was fired from the E! network last year partly for making a joke about former Conyers actress Dakota Fanning being in rehab (not true, of course), recently got into a tiff with Dunwoody High grad and her E! replacement Ryan Seacrest on Seacrest’s Los Angeles radio show. She was teasing him about his short romantic fling with Teri Hatcher, and Griffin said he hung up on her.
“His team was calling my publicist saying he was upset I was starting a rumor, [so] he hung up on me,” she said. “He was going to send out a press release saying I was making it up for publicity. That would have been a dream come true!” (Seacrest publicist Meredith O’Sullivan didn’t respond to a request for comment.)
To see Griffin’s stand-up show live, mark your calendar for Friday, Oct.13, at the Ferst Center for the Arts, with a second date to be added, according to www.kathygriffin.net, her official Web site.
Anchors aweigh for anchor
The Philadelphia Daily News last week reported that Atlanta local CBS evening anchorman Rich Noonan’s contract will not be renewed in October. He came to Atlanta’s WGCL-TV in November 2004 from Philly. Noonan, 44, declined to comment to Buzz but was quoted as telling the Daily News, “It’s just shocking. I was doing a great job.” He told the paper that WGCL recently said that its ratings have grown steadily since Noonan came to the fourth-place station. WGCL station manager Andy Alford confirmed Noonan’s impending contract nonrenewal and the ratings improvement but declined to comment further.
‘Law & Order’ update
NBC has decided to move its franchise “Law & Order” from 10 p.m. Wednesdays, the show’s perch for much of its 16-year lifespan, to 10 p.m. Fridays starting this fall. It’s also shifting “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” out of the competitive sights of “Desperate Housewives” and into the 9 p.m. Tuesday time period, before the most popular version, “Law & Order: SVU.”
Also, Dennis Farina, who played Detective Joe Fontana on “Law & Order,” is leaving after two seasons. He had replaced the late, great Jerry Orbach, who died in 2004. Milena Govich, who co-starred in “L&O” creator Dick Wolf’s canceled “Conviction” on NBC, is expected to replace Farina.
‘Battle’ glory
John Gibson and Anthony Morris, the playwrights of the indefatigable Southern family comedy “Peachtree Battle,” were honored last week at the Four Seasons by gay media watchdog group GLAAD for their fair, full-bodied portrayal of a gay character in a way that reaches a mainstream audience. Among the speakers were actress Amanda Bearse (“Married With Children”), Mike Alvear (HBO’s “Sex Inspectors”) and Star 94 radio’s Vikki Locke.
“We were just stunned when they called,” Gibson told Buzz.
“I thought it was actually really funny and engaging,” said Sunil Oommen, a GLAAD rep from New York who saw “Peachtree Battle” earlier this year. (The play has been a consistent sellout for more than four years.)
Random bits
“American Idol” winner Taylor Hicks’ CD single “Do I Make You Proud” with “Takin’ It To the Streets” will be out June 13. It was ranked No. 6 on Amazon.com Sunday. Runner-up Katharine McPhee’s “My Destiny” with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” will be out June 27 and was at No. 34 on Amazon. In the meantime, fourth-place finisher Chris Daughtry has declined an offer to be the lead singer for rock band Fuel… .
Disney’s “High School Musical” DVD sold a whopping 400,000 copies its first day of release, the most of any TV movie ever… .
Jakes Toadhouse (also known as Jakes Roadhouse), the longtime jam band headquarters based in Decatur, has shut down. Its Web site (www.jakesroadhouse.net) has an amusing dancing skeleton and the words “RIP” on its page… .
“Wedding Crashers” won best movie at the “MTV Movie Awards,” taped Saturday and set to air Thursday. (More on D5.) … .
“Atlanta & Company,” WXIA’s local gabfest starring Ryan Cameron and Holly Firfer, drew an average of about 16,000 viewers in May, one of its worst performances since it launched last fall at 11 a.m. weekdays. That’s fifth place, behind the likes of “Maury,” “The Price Is Right,” “The View” and even the TBS movie. But producer Mary Fiorello said the show is coming back next year because businesses that pay a fee to be interviewed by the hosts are happy. “The show,” she told Buzz, “is not about ratings.”
Celebrity birthdays
Singer Laurie Anderson is 59. Saxophonist Kenny G is 50. Singer Brian McKnight is 37. Actor Mark Wahlberg is 35.
Contributing: news services. E-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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