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Monday, February 23, 2009
2/23: Academy Awards ratings bounce back from low in 2008
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Academy Awards saw ratings rise more than 13 percent year over to about 36.3 million compared to 32 million a year ago.
While that is an improvement, most Awards shows in recent years have drawn 40 million plus. But I guess an improvement is an improvement. Charming non-comedian host Hugh Jackman is getting good reviews for his hosting abilities (plus his singing and dancing abilities.)
Getting five past winners to say admirable bon mots to the nominees of the four major acting awards was a decent effort to change things up but did drag on a bit long. The tradeoff: an elimination of those painfully long and pointless montages of past films.
Ben Stiller’s gum-chewing, indifferent, Hasidic Jew beard-length imitation of Joaquin Phoenix was incredibly funny:
It would help if you knew about Phoenix’s oddball “Was he for real?” original Letterman appearance a couple weeks ago:
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And bravo to James Franco and Sean Regan for their funny skit about comedy films:
Having Queen Latifah sing a song while the gallery of dead people showed up on screen was also a change of pace, but it obscured our ability to discern who was more “popular” based on applause. Naturally, Paul Newman got the “pimp” spot at the end.
Good news, as Jackman joked: the head of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences didn’t do a speech! And Jerry Lewis thankfully kept his speech short (and he didn’t look half bad. Good job, makeup people!)
Still, the show went about 23 minutes long. That’s typical. And the results were not shocking with “Slumdog” winning eight awards and Kate Winslet bagging her first Oscar. Sean Penn beating Mickey Rourke was a close call (and that was my biggest miss in my Oscar pool.)
Locally, the show wasn’t quite as popular as it was nationally. It drew about 750,000 metro Atlanta viewers, comparable to an “American Idol” episode.
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2/23: Lisa Wu Hartwell sues Keith Sweat for full custody of her kids
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Real Housewives of Atlanta” housewife Lisa Wu Hartwell last Thursday filed for primary custody of her two sons with ex-husband and R&B singer Keith Sweat.
“The best interest of the minor children will be served by modifying the current custody and visitation provisions to make Mother the primary physical condition of the minor children,” according to the court papers filed with the Superior Court of Fulton County. “Since the time of the Divorce Decree, Mother has remarried, owns a successful business and will provide a stable, loving, and nurturing environment in which she can raise the minor children.”
She is seeking “primary physical custody and joint legal custody with final decision-making on all issues regarding the minor children.” She will “reasonably engage Father in good faith discussions before any final decisions are made concerning the children’s welfare.” The two children are Jordan Sweat, age 14 and Justin Sweat, age 11.
If she does get custody, she requests child support as well.
In 2003, Sweat received primary custody of the children. According to the final divorce decree at the time written by Fulton Superior Court judge Cynthia D. Wright, Sweat and Wu Hartwell married in 1992 and had the judge termed at the time an “extremely tumultuous relationship.” Wright wrote that “there is evidence that Father has been violent towards Mother, but no evidence he has ever been violent with any of his children.”
The judge felt the children at the time “lacked structure in their lives, due in substantial part to Mother’s numerous business ventures and frequent trips out of town… Mother has a history of spending money on herself excessively rather than providing for the children… There was some evidence at trial that Mother implicitly participated in robbing Father in the presence of the children. She also took money from Father prior to the initiation of this matter. This behavior causes the Court to question Mother’s maturity and judgment.”
Although Sweat, too, travels frequently, the decree said Sweat’s mom helped care for the children. “Father is capable of providing a stable, secure home environment for the boys where their care is not delegated to random third parties,” the judge wrote.
Wu Hartwell has had visitation rights and has said in past interviews she sees her sons frequently. Neither boy was shown on camera or even talked about on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” because Sweat would not give her legal permission to do so. Sweat is never mentioned by name on the show.
Wu Hartwell is currently married to former NFL player Ed Hartwell. They have a child, who we saw on the TV show, which begins taping its second season today.
Carlos Scott, her publicist, said Wu Hartwell cannot speak on the subject while it’s in the court system. Wu Hartwell said nothing about the custody case oSaturday at her South Dekalb Mall appearance though she did note that her ex-husband didn’t clear her sons to be on the show.
We are currently seeking comment from Sweat, who happens to be promoting his new Peachtree TV special airing this week reuniting the group Dru Hill. Sweat made no mention of the custody case this morning in an interview with Frank & Wanda on V-103.
The complaint does not state how the children are doing currently or provide any overt evidence of problems while the boys are under Sweat’s custody.
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