RHONY star Countess LuAnn de Lesseps works for free to prove worth to BravoTV

Countess LuAnn de Lesseps and her beau Jacques Azoulay

(photo credit:  Countess LuAnn de Lesseps via Facebook)

All of the employment and finance blogs advise that if you are out of work, one of the best things to do is to volunteer in the industry you would like to work in.  Apparently that goes for show business veterans also.  According to a story in Radar Online today, Real Housewives of New York City (RHONY) star Countess LuAnn de Lesseps is not getting paid for being on the show this season.

The height of de Lesseps’ popularity on the show peaked around 2010.  She was the toast of the town with her book on etiquette “Class with the Countess”.  And at almost every high society party she attended the guests would beg her to sing her hit single “Money Can’t Buy You Class”.  But over the last few years things began to change.  (Continue reading full story here.)

Yaya DaCosta to portray icon Whitney Houston in Lifetime's biopic

Yaya DaCosta has been tapped to portray the legendary Whitney Houston.

(Photo Credit:  Rommel Demano/Getty Images)

The wait is finally over.  The Huffington Post reports today that model and actress YaYa DaCosta, 31, has been selected to play the role of the late singer Whitney Houston on Lifetime Network’s upcoming biopic.  The movie, as yet untitled, is scheduled to air sometime in 2015 and will be actress Angela Bassett’s first turn at directing.

The choice of DaCosta to star as the beloved Houston is already causing negative backlash and critical questions.  Many on social media are fearful that she won’t be able to do the role justice because she is known more for modeling, rather than acting.  (Continue reading full story here.)

'Keeping Up With The Kardashians' star Kourtney pregnant again; still unwed

Scott Disick and Kourtney Kardashian are

expecting their third child, but have made no move to get married.

(Photo Credit:  John Parra/Getty Images)

Kourtney Kardashian, 35, and her children’s father Scott Disick, 31, are officially statistics.  US Weekly is reporting today that the eldest Kardashian sibling is pregnant with her third child.  Kourtney and Disick are not married, although maybe her sister Kim Kardashian West’s recent nuptials with Kanye West will start her to thinking along those lines.

This was no teenaged “oops”.  Kardashian has always made it known that she wants a lot of children.  She knows what it takes to get them and this pregnancy was planned.  Where she differs from many is that she is showing no interest in making it a priority to bring her children into the world under the covering a covenant marriage household.  Not every marriage lasts till death does the couple part.  Some shatter in divorce long before the silver anniversary.

But Kardashian is travelling down a parental path that is seemingly widening day by day.  (Continue reading the full story here.)

'Real Housewives of Atlanta' reunion part 3, episode 25; recap and review

The ladies of RHOA, minus Porsha on the far right, had a 

fiery reunion part III last night.

(photo credit:  Craig Barritt/Getty Images)

Last night was the explosive reunion part three of BravoTV’s hit show ‘The Real Housewives of Atlanta’ (RHOA).  Fortunately, this time no actual physical violence erupted.  Here are some of the highlights.  Andy Cohen spent a huge chunk of time going back and forth between NeNe and Kenya regarding the tainted three-way friendship that went left when Margo entered the pictured.  At one point Cohen had both of his fingers in his ears (a la toddlers) when NeNe and Kenya were screeching over his head. 

About the only thing these two women have in common is, as Andy said, (Read full story)

Real life 'Scandal'; actor charged with threats to murder wife and kill himself

Columbus Short at NAACP Image Awards, February 2014

(photo credit:  Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for NAACP)

Roughing up his wife, fighting in bars, and now threatening murder-suicide; these are not scenes from another thrilling Shonda Rhimes script, but the actual life of actor Columbus Short, a cast member on her hit ABC series ‘Scandal’.  Just yesterday Short’s wife, Turee Tanee, filed for divorce from him for the third time and has also been granted a restraining order.  There is a laundry list of accusations, but the shocker is that Tanee alleges that Short held a knife to her throat and threated to kill both of them.

Fans had already stirred up a social media frenzy about the highly-anticipated ‘Scandal’ finale tonight, but now many are riveted to see what the outcome will be for Short in real life.  Rhimes reportedly ordered Short to straighten up his act after he was involved in a bloody fisticuffs in a bar on March 15^th.  She made it clear that the show “will not tolerate negative press”.

Short and Tanee have been married since 2005 and are the parents of a 2-year-old daughter.  This isn’t the first time Short has been in the news.  There was a huge controversy when Short, a former much-in-demand backup dancer, admitted to having had a fling with his then boss Brittany Spears in 2004.  He was a dancer and choreographer for her Hotel Onyx Tour when tales of them kissing on tour fueled the breakup of his first marriage to Brandi, pregnant at the time with their now 9-year-old son.

Tanee alleges that this latest incident occurred on April 7^th, with Short coming home drunk and ended with her barely managing to escape.  She was only able to flee a short distance because she says Short had flattened her tire.  The judge immediately ordered Short to leave the home.  There is a hearing scheduled on May 8^th to determine if the restraining order will become permanent.

Move over NCAA; Steve Harvey just made the Hall of Fame

Steve Harvey, pictured with wife Marjorie, was inducted today into the NAB Hall of Fame

(photo credit:  Mark Davis/Getty Images)

Next to the late, great James Brown, Steve Harvey may be the hardest working man in show business.  Harvey, who started as a stand-up comedian in the late 1980’s, has gone from playing small-town juke joints where there were more hecklers than audience, to obtaining one of the most coveted honors a broadcaster can achieve.  Congratulations are in order because just a few hours ago today Steve Harvey was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Hall of Fame.

Harvey proved he had that special something when he served as one of the longest running hosts of “Show Time at the Apollo”.  Currently, he is host of one of the most-loved game shows “The Family Feud," has a popular daytime talk show “The Steve Harvey Show," and eases the morning commute for millions with “The Steve Harvey Morning Show”.  In May 2013 Harvey was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Harvey joins some illustrious company with his induction into the NAB Hall of Fame.  Past inductees include Jack Benny, Paul Harvey, Orson Welles, Ronald Regan, Wolfman Jack, Tom Joyner, and Betty White, among many others.  A complete list of past inductees can be found on the NAB website.

And Harvey has no plans to slow down.  Be on the lookout for part II of his hilarious book-turned-move “Think Like a Man II”, scheduled for release June 20, 2014.  You can get a sneak peek at the trailer here.

"Scandal" recap: Mellie said knock you out!

Mellie and Fitz come to blows

(photo credit:  abc.go.com)

Aired Thursday, April 3^rd, on ABC, Episode - “The Fluffer”

Well to get the medical miracle out of the way, Harrison seems to have recovered rather quickly from his sleep-inducing injection last week and is back in tip-top Gladiator suit form.

Liv, still hurt from President Fitz’s harsh “I’m talking to my wife,” rebuttal last week, tries to play the icy dead-eyed stare game and calmly asks Fitz “what service am I billing you for today?’’  Wow!

Fitz shows his hypocritical side with a fierceness when he orders Liv to “make it stop!”  He brazenly asks his own mistress to make sure the vice presidential candidate stops sleeping with Fitz’s wife, Mellie.  The nerve.

Of course Liv, the strongest woman in D.C., but weak for Fitz, goes straight to Andrew and tells him he has 24 hours to decide whether he wants to be vice president for the next four years, or does he want to pleasure Mellie for the next three months which, according to Liv, is about how long it will be before Mellie gets bored with him.

Andrew protests that this is about love, not politics.  However as he watches Liv and Fitz interact for the cameras and how smoothly she lays on the role of the loving, touchy-feely wife, he begins to doubt if what Mellie feels for him is any realer than the act she puts on for the press.

Later that evening, Mellie sidles up to Andrew and gives him the come hither smile.  Andrew says he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for them to continue sleeping with each other.  Without another word Mellie spins on her heel, marches into Fitz’s office and reaches back from Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico with a roundhouse slap heard around the world!

Fitz almost goes down, the people he was meeting with are speechless, and the secret service agents (Fitz’s supposed protectors) don’t make a move.  She accuses Fitz of not letting her have anything.  Taking Andrew was apparently the last straw.

Then there was the Hallmark family dinner moment…not.  For the first time ever viewers were treated to Momma and Daddy Pope at dinner with their beloved Livvie.  Momma Pope wasn’t invited, but that’s never stopped her before.  Where most families reach for each other’s hands to grace the food, these folk were grabbing for knives and making threats.  Momma Pope stayed just long enough for Liv to get the phone call that Claire (one of Momma Pope’s operatives that was sneaking info to Liv) was dead, and then sashayed off.   Notice how everyone ends up dead in the streets on this show?  Poor Claire sprawled in the street with her throat sliced open.  Always outside.

Just when we thought Liv was going to give in once again, she grew a backbone and stood up to Jake’s begging, refusing to let him into her apartment.  Then she showed up at his apartment and went way above and beyond the call of duty.  Let’s just say she worked him out, put him to sleep and snuck the data off of his phone.  What that woman won’t do for her country.

Super Quinn and Charlie and Team Gladiators all find out around the same time that Momma Pope has a bomb.  Liv tells Huck to shut down the communication system, and he does, but in the process Momma Pope gets away and no one knows where she is going.

Out of the blue Jake bursts into the office and (horror of horrors) grabs Liv around the throat and slams her against the glass-paned door…hard!  Before crazy Huck and the other Gladiators can make a move, Jake whips a gun in their faces and waves it back and forth, keeping them at bay.  Believe it or not, that’s the kind of stress Shonda Rhimes (creator of Scandal) left us under.  She’s a great writer, but her episodes are not at all blood-pressure friendly.  But we love it.

Oh and the previews next week left us with a glimpse of President Fitz speaking and a bomb underneath the stage.  Not necessarily saying that the bomb was ticking under the same stage Fitz was on, but that’s all we were given.

Be sure to catch the next episode, Thursday, April 10^th at 10:00pm on ABC.

TV shows likely getting the ax; was one of these your favorite?

Is your favorite show getting axed?

(photo credit:  ramblingbeachcat.com)

You know the routine.  You try to resist as hard as you can.  But finally all of the coming-this-date or starting-that-date advertisements get the best of you and you fall in love with and can’t miss yet another “favorite” television show.  Well brace yourselves because the “Wall St. CheatSheet” has leaked the names of the 14 shows that will most likely not be back next season.  You can click there and read all about the intricate details and numbers these things are based on, but in the meantime here’s the skinny on the shows likely to be cancelled:

• 1.     Betrayal, ABC
• 2.     Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, ABC
• 3.     The Neighbors, ABC
• 4.     Trophy Wife, ABC
• 5.     Enlisted, Fox
• 6.     Rake, Fox
• 7.     Dads, Fox
• 8.     Almost Human, Fox
• 9.     Hostages, CBS
• 10.  Intelligence, CBS
• 11.  The Mentalist, CBS
• 12.  Dracula, NBC
• 13.  The Carrie Diaries, The CW
• 14.  Beauty and the Beast, The CW

Fans of The Blacklist, Scandal, Revenge, and Nashville (cue big music) you are safe.

Grieving hip-hop star shot multiple times; nephew charged with attempted murder

Benzino, 48, is recovering after being shot multiple times by his own nephew.

(photo credit:  TMZ.com)

So much for naysayers who believe all reality TV drama is scripted phoniness.  Too much of the madness is real.  Sadly, the unbelievable happened Saturday in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta” star Benzino (real name Raymond Scott) was shot multiple times as he was on the way to his mother’s funeral.

Benzino, 48, is one of the former owners of Source Magazine, a colorful hip-hop monthly that prides itself on dishing the latest rap, music, celebrity and political news.  Since 2012 he has been, and is currently, one of the stars of Mona Scott’s breakout southern reality show Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, which chronicles the lives, loves, ups and downs of a group of newcomers (as well as trying-to-make-a-comeback rap stars) whose lives heavily revolve around the rap/hip-hop music industry.

The grieving Benzino, who had recently posted a message on Instagram saying he didn’t know how he would go on after losing his mom, was driving in his mother’s funeral procession when his very own nephew, 36-year-old Gai Scott, pulled up alongside the vehicle  Benzino was in and brutally fired shots, hitting his uncle Benzino.  Benzino managed to get out of the car and a passerby rushed him to the hospital where he is recovering.

The rest of the family proceeded to the church and laid Mary Scott to rest without further incident.  Benzino later said that he had a bad feeling about going to the funeral due to growing family tensions.  He paid his respects to his mother at a wake the night before and believes that she stepped in and saved him, and he is just glad to be alive.

Gai Scott has been taken into custody and charged with attempted murder.