Russia's Ice Dancing pair took to the Olympic ice tonight with toned down versions of the Aboriginal costumes that drew criticism at last month's European Championship. The skin-darkening makeup? Gone. Their dance was still offensive, though—and it sucked.
We just finished the last quarter (or whatever it's called) of the USA/Canada hockey game. We won! But all anyone could talk about was how pissed they were that the game was shown on MSNBC and not NBC. So what?
Since Adrian is off tonight, I thought I'd step in and continue his tradition of the last week of providing you all with a place to discuss NBC's primetime coverage of the XXI Winter Olympics—as it airs. Welcome!
Oh, Johnny. Dear, dear Johnny Weir. You just skated the routine of your life at the Olympics. It was fabulous, as always. Flawless, too. And even though the judges screwed you, we won't forget how great you were. Video, inside.
As the world awaited (still does) Johnny Weir's free skate routine at the Olympics, NBC aired a promotional ad for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. And, honestly, the choice of song proves the network never cared about Conan O'Brien.
In your thawing Thursday media column: the PR industry blows a chance to look good, a Nick Kristof documentary, a wedding fight, and NBC declares war on the Lo Lifes.
Americans! So stupid, right? Instant Dutch hero Sven Kramer won speed skating gold (the Dutch love speed skating), and is prompted by an American reporter to give his name and sport. His response: "Are you stupid?" Dutch heroes are awesome.
Alec Baldwin is hot right now. He is an outspoken Hollywood liberal beloved by the media and cultural elite. But in his private life, he's a bit of an asshole. What are we going to do about Alec?
Heyyyyy! Guess who just skated a fabulous, flawless and fierce-as-hell short program at the Olympics? And did so in a deep V-neck/slim black pant outfit with sequins and pink tassels, to boot? Johnny Weir did, honey! Also: Poker Face dancing.
Tonight, Russia's 50-year-long domination of Olympic pairs figure skating ended as China took home gold. The best thing about the evening's coverage, though, was the MASSIVE amount of on-ice failure. Inside, a video montage of the best of the worst.
• NBC's coverage of the Winter games began on somber note today. [LAT]
• Vogue's on a roll! Not only was Tina Fey's scar airbrushed off the cover of the March issue, the mag screwed up the letter sent out to promote it, too.
• Harold Ford has taken a leave of absence as a political analyst for NBC while he decides whether to try and carpetbag his way to a Senate seat. [NYO]
• Ellen DeGeneres is the new Oprah Winfrey, apparently. [NYT]
• Project Runway contestants showed their work at Fashion Week today. [AP]
• Madonna will make a rare TV appearance as a "marriage referee" on Jerry Seinfeld's forthcoming reality show. Here's hoping she won't be asked to dispense advice on how to keep a marriage together. [Reuters]
• On the off chance you're interested in taking part in a reality TV show, you may wish to note that there's now a job board for that very purpose. [Wrap]
• Is 82-year-old Condé Nast boss Si Newhouse a Lady Gaga fan? Indeed! [P6]
• More layoffs at the New York Times may be on the way. Uh oh. [Wrap]
• NBC was planning to lose $250 mil. on the Olympics before the games even started. Now it's worried about low ratings/injured athletes, too. [LAT, NYP]
• More bad news for NBC: A poll finds that 69 percent of the people who used to watch Jay Leno have no plans to follow him back to The Tonight Show. [TVG]
• Two-in-one magazine/catalog Lucky has a new publisher. [WWD]
• Movies: The next Twilight installment will consist of two separate movies (everyone gets to pay twice!); Brittany Murphy's final film will hit theaters this summer; and Valentine's Day is expected to top the weekend box office.
• Related: Julia Roberts makes a six-minute appearance in Valentine's Day. That means she was paid about $500,000/minute for her services. [NYM]
• MySpace has clearly seen better times. (Like 2005.) [NYT, LAT, ATD]
• TV: The Ellen DeGeneres Show is staying on NBC, not going to ABC; evil empire Wal-Mart is planning to produce "family-friendly" television programming; and Sarah Palin's fave show, American Chopper, has been canceled, gosh darnit.
