This past Wednesday night “American Idol” and the Idol Gives Back Foundation hosted it’s second annual TV event to raise money and awareness for people in extreme poverty around the world. Miley Cyrus was one of the performers featured in the show, and while many kids were probably waiting impatiently to see her, their parents may have turned the channel before the song was over. While it was nice to finally see a music artist perform live (even if her singing was a little iffy) rather than lip sync, what really surprised me were the other aspects of her performance. We were all thankful when Cyrus came along because she appeared to be such a good role model for young girls, especially compared to other young female starlets. But did we speak too soon?

After seeing Cyrus’ performance on Wednesday night a lot of people might jump to the conclusion that she is on her way to becoming the next outrageous female in Hollywood. Viewers were surprised when they tuned in to see Cyrus dancing provocatively on stage in a way that would not ordinarily be acceptable for a 15-year-old girl. Cyrus seemed to bounce back and forth on the stage while rubbing her body and attempting to make “sexy” faces to the camera. One minute it looked like she was having convulsions and the next I thought I was watching a miniature version of Britney Spears.

I felt like she definitely went over board with her dancing and that it probably would have been a good idea to have rehearsed better moves to do on the show. Given that almost her entire fan base is made up of children, as her publicist I would have suggested something far more G rated rather than PG-13. Although most kids probably weren’t offended by her performance, I wouldn’t be surprised if their parents start censoring Cyrus’ future music videos before letting their kids watch them. At this point, with Cyrus’ 16th birthday around the corner, everyone is beginning to hold their breath and expecting to see her showing up on the cover of tabloids.

Where were you on the night of March 24 around 9 p.m. eastern time? According to cable ratings you were probably watching “The Hills.” The season premiere is said to have dominated the cable ratings for that time slot. Not bad for what most people consider a fake reality show. It seems that although rumors are constantly going around about how fake the show is, everyone seems to love it. The latest bit of gossip that helps prove that the show is fabricated is that Lauren Conrad seems to be going to classes in every episode. But in every magazine and website she is constantly in photographs shopping in cities far from her home, such as New York. MTV tries to make her look like a serious student, but all around us is evidence of the contrary. However, although Conrad’s actions may not be helpful in proving the show to be real, I don’t think that it really hurts her “career” at all. I think that pretty much everyone knows that the show is fake, even if they don’t want to admit it. WIth all the staged arguments, pretend jobs and ridiculously over dramatic lives, how could anyone truly believe that this is reality? I think that at this point most people think of it as a soap opera, and just want to see what happens next. So as Conrad’s publicist, I would actually not tell her to act any differently. People apparently don’t care about all of the evidence of the show being fake, and will probably continue to prove this by tuning in every Monday night.

(Photo courtesy of CBC)

For the first time in a very long time, Britney Spears seems to be getting back to her old self. Spears guest starred on Monday night’s episode of “How I Met Your Mother,” where she played Abbey, a quirky receptionist who develops a crush on one of the main characters. Although her performance probably won’t win her an Emmy, her character was surprisingly likeable and definitely caused a smirk or two among viewers. According to Perez Hilton, Spears has also been spotted at Alley Cat Recording Studio in Hollywood and working out at Millennium Dance Studio! Looks like she means business this time and is hopefully on her way to getting her life back on track. I feel that her guest appearance on the TV show, in addition to her recent obvious efforts, can only help her and her public image. Although she may not be following a publicists’ recommendations, her father is obviously having some type of positive affect on her and she can only go up from here.

On August 26, 2007 we were all shocked to learn that one of our favorite leading comedians, Owen Wilson, was admitted to the hospital after attempting to commit suicide. Wilson, who is best known for big-screen films such as the 2005 hit movie, “Wedding Crashers,” was taken to St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica after being found in his California home by his brother, Luke Wilson. According to MTV news, Wilson was later moved to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills.

Though Owen has never publicly said what caused him to take such a drastic step, ABC News reports that Owen has been struggling with a drug and depression problem for some time. Rumors of a break-up with “You, Me and Dupree” co-star, Kate Hudson, are also rumored to have contributed to the actor’s attempt to take his life.

Although Wilson’s suicide attempt was quickly circulated among mainstream media, overall coverage on the story seemed to express sympathy for the actor and only briefly went into the details of what had occurred. Most headlines, such as those from People magazine and MTV.com, simply addressed the fact that Wilson had indeed been hospitalized after attempting suicide, and all were accompanied by flattering pictures of the actor. While some journalists did take the angle of Wilson’s supposed drug abuse, this was not the focus among the overall media.

Quotes were typically taken from friends, Wilson’s publicist, and hospital officials.

“I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time,” Wilson’s publicist relayed on his behalf. This quote was almost universally used among all media outlets and gave the stories a sense of authenticity and sympathy.

Maybe it was because Wilson hadn’t been a “media disaster,” such as the Lindsay Lohans and Britney Spears’ of our time, or maybe journalists just get a good laugh at Wilson’s films like the rest of us, because overall it seemed that no one criticized Wilson or showed pleasure in his unfortunate state during this time. Articles were mainly very brief and only emphasized the facts of what had occured, framing the situation in a very serious tone.

I found blog coverage to greatly coincide with the angle that mainstream media had taken. Blogs such as Perez Hilton,  Defamer, Faded Youth Blog, and others all briefly went over the known facts of the situation and expressed their sympathy for the actor. Accompanying photos were also all very flattering and headlines simply got to the point, rather than making “smart” remarks about what had happened as they so often do with celebrity tragedies.

Overall Wilson’s suicide attempt seemed to be being framed in the same way in both mainstream media and blogs. It is very clear that Wilson is well-liked and that everyone wanted to respect him and his privacy during this time. I think the only difference would be that bloggers were able to express their shock and concern more so than mainstream media, but this is typically the case (or should be) with all news stories.

I feel that Wilson’s publicist did a very good job dealing with this unexpected situation. She promptly gave a comment about the situation and didn’t try to cover anything up. Even though it was short, it sounded very genuine and I feel that everyone probably believed and accepted it right away. I feel that if I had been his publicist at the time, that I would have done things in the same way.

Although a couple of Wilson’s films were cancelled due to his unfortunate incident, he is already coming back to our theatres in “Drillbit Taylor,” this weekend and is currently on location in Miami filming “Marley and Me.” Overall it doesn’t seem like this crisis hurt Wilson’s career and everyone is just happy that he made it through such a difficult time.

________

Mainstream media sources:

www.people.com

www.mtv.com

www.usweekly.com

www.foxnews.com

www.abcnews.com

www.time.com

www.nypost.com

Blogs:

www.perezhilton.com

www.fadedyouthblog.com

www.popsugar.com

www.defamer.com

Paris Hilton will be returning to television in a new show set to air on MTV. The reality show will consist of Hilton living in a house with a group of girls who are competing to be the heiress’ new best friend.

“I never got to go to college and this will be my chance to be in a sorority and have that experience,” Hilton told In Touch Weekly magazine. “It’ll be great to meet a girl who’s not too Hollywood, who I can get along with and hang out when the show is done.”

Although I might not be tuning in to the premiere of the show, I do think that it is a good step for Hilton to take. We all got a very ditsy impression of the hotel heiress while watching “The Simple Life.” She has had a bumpy acting and music career, as well as being the topic of tabloid gossip for years. I think that this new show gives her the chance to show everyone who she really is. If she is smart she will use the opportunity to portray herself as personable and mature, rather than the not-so-intelligent party girl that so many people assume her to be. But while it is hard to predict exactly what the show will be like, the fact that it is on MTV and that Hilton has already related the experience to being in a sorority doesn’t leave me with high hopes.

Perez Hilton

Photo courtesy of Fadedyouthblog.com
Finally Britney Spears is planning to do something to promote her recently released album, “Blackout.” MSNBC reports that the pop star has been practicing in private for the past month at Los Angeles’ Millennium Dance Complex and plans to begin her new international tour shortly.

In the midst of all of her recent troubles involving a downward spiralling career, custody battle of her children, and admittance to rehab and psychiatric wards, it is nice to see her finally trying to do something other than just drive around town in her Mercedes. Many believe that Britney’s “Blackout” would have been a success if she had gotten her act together and promoted the album. But instead we saw a disaster of a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards and it seems that everything just went down from there. While getting her children back should probably be her first priority, at least she’s trying to save her career before it has completely disappeared. Teaching little kids to dance won’t hurt her image in the custody battle either.

But the TV shows didn’t air what came after this quote and the follow up entire video was never aired afterwards, in which Ledger said, “and that’s why I got this tattoo [an M for daughter Matilda] to remind me never to smoke weed again.” This last quote obviously portrays Ledger in a very different light than “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Insider” had their audiences believe.

I feel that this was a huge mistake for these television shows to make. Not only are they being disrespectful to Ledger’s family in their time of mourning, but they have undoubtedly lost the trust of many in the Hollywood community. It appeared to suggest that Ledger has done drugs in the past, maybe still does, and that we must conclude that that is the explanation for his death. After showing this video I would expect that many publicists would not give “ET” or “The Insider” access to any of their clients again because their intentions are obviously questionable. I also feel that once audiences learn about how “ET” and “The Insider” only played these portions of the tape and left out other very important clips, that they would lose trust in the shows and ultimately “ET’s” and “The Insider’s” rating and reputation will fall.  Although they did decide to not air the video in its entirety, I feel like the damage has already been done by showing that portion of the tape. All in all I feel that it is disgusting for these TV shows to attempt to portray this loving father as a drug user while his family is trying to deal with his sudden loss.