Austin360 blogs > TV Blog > Archives > 2007 > January > 25 > Entry
Stalking Gladys, ‘Idol’-ing nicer
For the past couple of days, I’ve transformed myself from TV critic/writer to investigative journalist. My beat? Gladys. Just call me the Bob Woodward of Weird Austin.
This has been one bizarre story, but apparently the mysterious 88-year-old “Gladys Hardy” is a talker in our fair city. She’s the woman who talked with Ellen De Generes not once but twice and sparked national interest with her homespun humor.
Turns out Gladys has been a regular caller at KLBJ for nearly a year and “contributes” to other radio stations around Texas, too. She is, as far as we can tell, actually a funny guy impersonating a funny old woman. Which is why we hear but never see her.
For the time being, I’m finished stalking this poor fictitious character. It’s a whole different job crawling through neighborhoods and banging on the doors of unsuspecting (and more than a little grumpy) people. I’m gonna watch a little TV now.
Is ‘Idol’ toning down the mean?
Back to the real news in TV Land …
Is it my imagination, or has Simon Cowell toned down his personal criticisms since his season debut “American Idol” episodes last week were blasted by TV writers and viewers alike?
He’s not exactly nice these days, but his remarks in the Memphis and New York auditions were relatively tame. He certainly didn’t tell anyone they looked like a “bush baby.”
And whatever was causing Paula Abdul to slump over, giggle and continuously sip from that enormous glass seems to be subsiding, too. She actually tried to make sense last night in defending her sympathetic view of one contestant. She’s never going to be articulate, so we shouldn’t have unrealistic expectations.
But what’s the deal with last night’s guest judge Carol Bayer Sager? Has she had a Joan Collins makeover or what? Her face didn’t budge, her lips were puffed up and, really, that hairdo went out of style while “Dynasty” was still on.
This show gets stranger and stranger, doesn’t it?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Local people on TV
Comments
By David
January 25, 2007 01:38 PM | Link to this
The auditions that are being shown happened in the fall, so I doubt Simon is changing based on media coverage.
I guess it might be possible that the shows have been re-edited during the week.
Who cares whether Gladys is real or not. She's entertaining. She's not appearing on news shows or claiming to be providing factual information. Whether she's Gladys or Dale Dudley or Jaston Williams is highly irrelevant.
By johno
January 25, 2007 12:31 PM | Link to this
Hey Diane, I got some news for you. No one cares if Gladys is "real" or not. She/he isn't applying to be your kid's nanny. It's entertainment. It doesn't take an investigative reporter to figure that out. Here's some more news flashes for you. Larry the Cable Guy isn't really a cable guy (gasp) and Simon Cowell is just acts like a pompous jerk to boost ratings (for shame). It's show business, you of all people should know that. Maybe you should change your column name from "TV Blog" to "Spoiler Alert"
By austinights
January 25, 2007 11:00 AM | Link to this
I just can't watch American Idol until the near finals, because its painful. However, I was over to my sister's and she watches, so I had to watch. Some of those people who even think they have a shot and aren't even good at karoeke need to take a chill pill after they get their dreams blasted by Simon. Season 1 really took it all out of context when Hung (I think was his name) made the headlines for being so bad...but people wanted to see him perform...and he even got paid at times. Only in America....hence, American Idol. I'm going back to Jack/24.