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A Reality Check for Hugh Hefner

Posted on: Wednesday, 27 July 2005, 09:00 CDT

BY Larry Bonko

THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. This just in from the Television Critics Association schmoozefest, where Hugh Hefner, 79, announced that hell take part in a reality TV show with his three girlfriends who are 31, 25 and 20

On a serious note, Court TV said it will do a series about a subject thats a hot topic here in the land of wealthy celebrities who crave privacy: Stalking by obsessed fans and the relentless paparazzi.

The famous have always been stalked. But of late, with celebrities more in front of the public because of television, the stalking has increased. There are more nut cases than ever before out there, said Rhonda Saunders, a former prosecutor who will host Stalkers in the Shadows.

Stalkers recently intruded in the lives of Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Mel Gibson and David Letterman.

Actors Tori Spelling, Lisa Rinna, Ali Landry and Rachel Hunter appeared before the TV press to tell stories of being stalked, harassed, pursued and, in some cases, put in danger.

Spelling: There was a time when I was followed for four hours by photographers who eventually surrounded me and my pregnant friend when we got out of our car. I worried about us and her unborn baby.

Rinna: I had an actor boyfriend who had been stalked by a woman for years. She followed him almost every day. Everywhere he went, she went. Because of my association with him, she eventually began stalking me. It was terrifying.

Landry: I was receiving scary letters from a prisoner who said hed be getting out soon, and when he did, hell kill someone in his family, and then come to tell me about it.

Stalking isnt just the curse of the famous, said Saunders.

Statistics tell us that one in every 12 women in the U.S. will be stalked some time in their lives.

Heres more from the press tour in bite-sized portions:

The vanishing viewers Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, said it darn near broke her heart to cancel Joan of Arcadia. She had no other choice.

After the first year, the show lost 24 percent of its audience. We tried massive marketing campaigns but we never got the viewers back. That was disappointing, she said.

As for Judging Amy, Tassler called it a classy show that served the network well, but the time had come to put it to rest.

Local connection Jenna Lewis, who was a castaway on the first Survivor with Rudy Boesch of Virginia Beach, and Sarah Kozer, who was the second choice of Beach native Evan Marriott on Joe Millionaire, live on in the overpopulated universe of unscripted TV.

Theyll appear on E! at 10 tonight in Kill Reality, a series about former reality show contestants making a horror film called The Scorned. Said Stacie J. Upchurch of The Apprentice 2, Actors hate us for taking jobs away from them.

The genre that will not die Producers of reality shows are as thick as the traffic on Interstate 10 here, referred to as The 10 by locals. A sampling of new real-people TV:

* Situation: Comedy on Bravo beginning Tuesday at 8 p.m. Sean Hayes of Will and Grace and his partners search for the next hit sitcom from 10,000 scripts submitted to the producers. Its down to 80 when the series starts. Were out to prove theres still life in the sitcom, said Hayes.

* Made in the USA, USA, with no start date. Entrepreneurs will see their product sold on the Home Shopping Network if they impress a panel of judges. In the six-part series, the viewers decide whose idea is best.

* Rock School, VH-1, Aug. 19 at 11 p.m. Gene Simmons of KISS goes to a Horsham, England, boarding school to find students to whip into a rock band in three weeks. I had a big job to do, said Simmons.

n Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive, E! to premiere Aug. 7. The sons and daughters of the privileged of Beverly Hills volunteer for a cattle drive in Colorado. Delivering a baby cow was the most amazing experience of my life, said Courtenay Semel.

* Venus & Serena: For Real, ABC Family Channel, premiering in August. Cameras trail after the tennis-playing Williams sisters as they travel, do their daily practice routines, shop, meet their fans and dine. I eat everything. I dont believe in diets, said Venus.

* The Girls Next Door, E!, premiering on Aug. 7 at 10 p.m. Hugh Hefner opens his Tudor mansion and his harem to the public. Holly Madison, 25, is Hefs No. 1 girlfriend but Bridget Marquardt, 31, and Kendra Wilkinson, 20, also share his bed.

No need to ask, said Hefner. Of course I use Viagra.

Unpack and stay awhile - Aisha Tyler, who made headlines when she became the first black to be featured on Seinfeld, joins the cast of the new CBS sitcom, The Ghost Whisperer, after appearing on Nip/ Tuck, 24 and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Curb Your Enthusiasm and CSI: Miami.

Tyra all the time - Tyra Banks, who stars in and produces Americas Next Top Model for UPN, found the time to do a daily syndicated talk show for Warner Brothers. The shows about pop culture. Therell be music, famous guests and Tyra with advice for young women.

Of taking on The Tyra Banks Show five days a week starting in September, she said, Im a workaholic and a control freak.

Bad timing BBC America carried TV critics to a screening at the Museum of Television and Radio on a double-decker red bus. It was a week after terrorists blew up a similar bus in London. BBC America in Bodies has a dandy new show about surgeons.

Shes back PBS announced that Helen Mirren will appear as Det. Chief Inspector Jane Tennison in a seventh Prime Suspect starting in spring 2007. She says shell do no more, and then decides to keep going, said public TV spokesman Coby Atlas.

From the mouths of televisions movers and shakers

* Pat Mitchell, PBS president, to those who say cable has supplanted public television: Monster Garage is no substitute for Masterpiece Theater.

* Kirk Douglas, 88, wholl appear with his son, Michael, on HBOs A Father, a Son, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: Ive had a new knee put in so I can audition next season for Dancing With the Stars.

* Kyra Sedgwick, a native New Yorker who plays a cop from the South on TNTs The Closer: I stayed in Georgia quite a bit to research the accent. I also work with a dialect coach.

n Sid Caesar, wholl be seen in Pioneers of Primetime on PBS: The TV remote control has speeded up the world. Nobodys patient. Its click, click, click. People want immediate gratification.

n D.L. Hughley, who begins a talk show on Comedy Central (Weekends at the D.L.) starting on July 29 at 11 p.m.: Late-night television has become boring and predictable. I plan on changing that.

And finally, there is the news from HBO president Chris Albrecht that his network will spend $300 million to produce two big projects: the 11-part John Adams in Virginia and The Pacific, a miniseries about the Allies war against Japan.

* Reach Larry Bonko at (757) 446-2486 or larry.bonko@pilotonline. com.

Source: Virginian - Pilot

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