Results tagged “oprah”

Remember how last week a reporter told Levi Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin's grandson, that Palin had declined to "trash" him during her interview taping with Oprah Winfrey? And Johnston remarked, "She's being smart. She knows what I got on her."? Well, that interview finally aired today, and it turns out Palin totally did trash him! So can we please get what he has on her now?

On tomorrow's episode of Oprah, the woman who was severely mauled by a 200-pound chimp will appear and discuss "how she's adjusting, how she maintains her spirit, and what the future holds." Charlas Nash has been recovering at the Cleveland Clinic ever since the March incident where she "lost her nose, lips, eyelids, hands and bone structure in her mid-face and suffered significant brain, eye and tissue injuries in the attack." Back in June, her brothers said she was staying strong; more recently, her family has sued the chimp's owner and is planning on suing the state of Connecticut.

     

Oprah filmed her show in Central Park today (it's not her first time going live from New York), getting visits from Mayor Bloomberg, Mariah Carey, Hugh Jackman, Regis & Kelly, and more. Plus, she was all decked out in her Mad Men-era clothing (side effect of having Don Draper and his missus appear on your show, we suppose). The episode from uptown airs today at 4 p.m. (but you're at work, right? So you'll have to catch the re-run at 1 a.m.); the Mad Men episode airs Monday. And for all you subway readers, she picked Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan as her next book club book, though it sounds a little too intense for a commute.

Newsweek's cover story this week is about Oprah Winfrey and "Why Health Advice on Oprah Could Make You Sick." Ouch! The first example mentions how actress Suzanne Somers was on the show, explaining her hormone therapy regime ("She smears progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month. And once a day, she uses a syringe to inject estrogen directly into her vagina"), prompting Oprah to say, "Many people write Suzanne off as a quackadoo. But she just might be a pioneer." While Oprah did have critics present, they weren't given the prominence Somers had; Albert Einstein College of Medicine director of endocrinology tells Newsweek that Somers "simply repackag[ed] the old, discredited idea that menopause is some kind of hormone-deficiency disease, and that restoring them will bring back youth." While many of Oprah's medical endorsements are taken to task, Newsweek does give props for Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Columbia Presbyterian cardiac surgeon: "On one show, 'Everybody Poops,' Oz conducted a genuinely fascinating seminar on what comes out the other end. (It should be shaped like an S and 'hit the water like a diver from Acapulco.' Who knew?)"

If the demand for the free grilled chicken combo meal continues at its current pace, KFC could run out of chicken by Saturday. An anonymous source explains why to Business Insider: "The stores cannot cook the product fast enough, sales were up 25-35% BEFORE this. A franchisee today told me KFC is projected to strip their entire supply chain of bird by Saturday. I am not making that up. They are scrambling to source more chicken before Sunday. By Sunday, because it's Mothers Day, one of their busiest days of the year. It's possible they could be out of chicken on Mothers Day."

[UPDATE BELOW] Yesterday Oprah Winfrey thought she'd be nice and arrange for free KFC grilled chicken for everybody. Big mistake. The demand for free fowl has been so overwhelming that many people are having a dickens of a time getting their chickens because the website can't handle all the coupon downloads. This morning Grub Street compiled some of the more "heart wrenching" comments from thwarted KFC consumers on Oprah's site, such as "I'M MELTING CAN'T GET THE COUPONS PLEASE IS THERE ANOTHER WAY OF GETTING THEM ???? HUNGRY FOR THE CHIICKEN" and "Nice gesture since I am unemployed and a free dinner would have been nice. I could not download the coupon."

Tina Fey has been making her 30 Rock promo rounds (the season premiere airs tomorrow) and appeared on Conan last night, where the first segment was all about that other show: SNL. (She says her recent stints at her old gig have been akin to "moving back in with your parents.")

30 Rock is pulling in the big names for their upcoming season (which begins October 30th). Jennifer Aniston was just shooting an episode (pictured), Will Arnett is also reprising his Devin Banks role, and now word is coming in that Oprah Winfrey herself will even be making an appearance. E! reports that the episode "is tentatively set to air Nov. 6. According to reliable insiders, the initial plan (subject to change) is that she will be playing herself, with all of her scenes opposite Tina Fey's fabulous Liz Lemon." Earlier this year Fey said, "I still want Oprah to play my best friend. I want to spend time with Oprah. And I don't know what I need to do to make that happen." She also said, "We would love to work with Britney. I worked with her twice on 'SNL' and she was very professional and nice."

Long Island Lolita Amy Fisher has been happy to talk about her sex tape, her DJ-ing career, and her current life to pretty much any and all press. But throw in a question from the daughter of Joey and Mary Jo Buttafuoco, you don't get Amy.

continues to embarrass the book publishing industry. Writer Margaret Jones, who told her publisher she was a half-white, half-Native American raised by a black foster family in South Central L.A. and former Bloods gang member, was exposed as Margaret Seltzer, white private school graduate from Sherman Oaks, California.

Quest for the Lost Ark (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., History Channel) Tudor Parfitt looks more like Jeremy Clarkson than Harrison Ford, but he is a real life Indiana Jones. This History Channel documentary special traces his search for the Ark of the Covenant – the same thing the fictional Indy searched for in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an injured police officer at Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn, a gas leak on South 8th St. and Wythe Ave. in Brooklyn, and a bank robbery at the North Fork branch on 87th St. and Broadway in Manhattan.
  
• The FDNY will be stationing a battalion chief at the Deutsche Bank building until it is fully dismantled.
  
• Someone in the Clinton campaign said that there's a 5% chance that in the event of a deadlock between Obama and Clinton at the Democrats' national convention, Al Gore may arise as a compromise candidate.
  
• Plans for a Veselka on the Bowery may be on the rocks, as a liquor license for the Avalon building location looks unlikely.
  
• The 69-year-old man, who was killed after being sideswiped by a cab and then run over by a bus on West 57th St. yesterday, was on his way to deliver candy to Oprah's best pal Gayle King.
  
• A 500 lb. man is suing the FDNY for $5 million after ten firefighters, who were trying to take him to the hospital using a pulley-and-platform rig to get the man out the building, dropped him down a flight of stairs.
  
• Patty Hearst's French bulldog won Best of Opposite Sex in the breed's category (a male won Best of Breed) at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
  
• City Council Speaker Christine Quinn proposed a citywide network of water-borne mass transit, where boats could ferry New Yorkers from stop to stop all over the city's five boroughs.
  

Okay people, time for your morning update on The Ledge – come on, you know you want it. Even Daniel Day Lewis says there’s nothing else to talk about. (Scroll down.)

Missy Chase Lapine, the children’s cookbook author who claims Jessica Seinfeld – the comedian’s wife (pictured) – “brazenly plagiarized” her work is now taking it up a notch by slapping both Jessica and Jerry with lawsuits. She’s accusing Jerry of defamation because when the scandal made headlines back in October, Jerry went on TV and talked some trash that was as arrogant as it was stupid.

A week and a half ago, former NJ Governor James McGreevey and his ex-wife Dina Matos McGreevey were fighting over a birthday party McGreevey and his partner were planning for 6-year-old daughter Jacqueline, another public spat in their contentious divorce. In spite of a judge's repeated requests for the McGreeveys to settle their differences for the sake of their daughter, we know a lot about their squabbling. The Post runs down the greatest hits. Matos...

Oprah Winfrey introduced one of her favorite things people at what the NY Times called "the largest spectacle of the campaign cycle" - the Oprah for Barack Obama rally in Des Moines, Iowa. Winfrey said, "For the very first time in my life, I feel compelled to stand up and to speak out for the man who I believe has a new vision for America," and told the audience of 15,000 said, "I am...

Barack may have Oprah, but the stagehands' and writers' union have John Edwards! The former senator, currently in third place after Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the hunt for the Democratic presidential nomination, voiced his support of Local One, the Broadway stagehands union that has been on strike since November 9 over a new contract. Democratic political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said, "To interfere with the power of the Broadway community is not...

Robberies are down a little more than 8% from a year ago, but the New York Post reports that some spots around town have seen stunning jumps in the incidence rate of muggings. In 18 of 76 precincts in NYC, robberies are heading up rather than down, like in the rest of the city. Assaults, however, are static citywide--increasing from 15,025 to 15,097 which is statistically insignificant. The increase in robberies is anomalous mostly because...

Trisha Meili, the woman who was brutally attacked and raped while jogging in Central Park in 1989, is no fan of Oprah Winfrey's line of questioning. Five years after she gave her first interview to Winfrey's magazine O, Meili spoke to NY1. First, here is an excerpt of the 2002 interview Meili (who did not disclose her name at that time) gave to Oprah:Oprah: When I first heard about you, I thought, why were you...

– about getting kids to eat healthy by slipping veggies into treats – is startlingly similar to Deceptively Delicious, a recent cookbook by Jerry Seinfeld’s wife Jessica (pictured).

OMG OPRAH! After weeks of anticipation - and insane craigslist listings - a few thousand lucky fans got to watch the season premiere of Oprah from the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. The show featured David Letterman and a performance from Lisa Marie Presley. And, yes, Oprah Winfrey did start off the show with "Hellloooo, New York."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a two alarm fire at 80 Washington St in Lower Manhattan; an aircraft emergency at JFK this morning; two pedestrians struck on E. 53rd St.; and a "possible A.I. job" (whatever that is) in Woodhaven.
• The NYCLU objected yesterday to the number of cases the Civilian Complaint Review Board substantiated. The board, which investigates police misconduct, only substantiated 5% of the cases, but that's actually higher than that of Washington D.C. and San Francisco.
• A 64-year-old Gambino capo was given a 15 year sentence for orchestrating the murders of a couple that robbed his social club. No news on whether Dominick "Skinny Dom" Pizzonia, who has 6 grandchildren, lectured the judge on how they did things in his day.
• Mom and pop may have it a little easier if the City Council gets its way. They are examining the idea of giving tax breaks to small businesses hoping to "preserve neighborhood character," something that Mayor Bloomberg may not sign if it gets to him.
• Judith Zuk, the former president of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, passed away over the weekend due to breast cancer. She served as president from 1990 until her retirement in 2005.
• Red Hook vendors and area eaters have lucked out. The Dept. of Parks and Recreation are letting the food vendors remain through October 21st when they traditionally end their season. New rules are expected to be laid out in the Fall that may prevent the vendors from returning next year.
• The hottest ticket in town? Not Oprah, not the US Open, but J.K. Rowling. She's coming to New York to read at Carnegie Hall for 1,600 lucky kids from NYC's public schools. She'll also be signing books and answering questions about the series to the lucky students. No tickets are available to the public.
• And coming to your computer - MTV is building "music world" a virtual Brooklyn and Lower East Side that replicates "hip" clubs. Bonus: no need to dress up while sitting at home late at night in front of the computer.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A hostage situation at Rockaway Boulevard and 147th Street in Queens, a train job at East 180 St in the Bronx and a pedestrian was struck at West 66th and Amsterdam in Manhattan
• The disgruntled former employee who shot and killed a former supervisors and injured two others at Co-op City is claiming self-defense.
• The Politicker finds out that Lieutenant Governor David Paterson supports non-citizen voting (but Paterson is quick to point out he didn't speak to the Spitzer administration about his views)
• The city sold less Snapple, the official drink of the city, than projected because of too much vandalism at vending machines, which perhaps proves it really is a NYC drink.
• The driver of a Volvo died during an accident on the Staten Island Expressway this morning; a drunk driver who was driving on the wrong side of the road hit the Volvo and a Cadillac Escalade.
• The Bouwerie Lane Theatre will house a residence, a retailer on the bottom floor and perhaps a hotel, according to Lost City.
• How one Hollywood couple with child likes to personalize their hotel room whenever they vist NYC (last item).
• In addition to Oprah's Book Club, Jonathan Franzen also hates the Broadway adaptation of Spring Awakening.

Even Oprah is bringing out the creepy Craigslist posters. This one is offering his NYC tickets to "ladies only," as long as the lady is willing to send a photo, a trade offer and an email showing what she's got. Oh, and no "rude haters or idiots" please.

As mentioned last week, Oprah is gearing up for her New York invasion in September..the first in ten years! Some new info has come out about what she has planned for her big shows -- though there are no shocking details.

Leona Helmsley sure loves Trouble. Trouble, her dog, that is. How much did Helmsley, the hotelier who was known by some as the "Queen of Mean" and passed away last week, love her pooch? Enough to leave the white Maltese $12 million in her will, more than she left four of her grandchildren. In addition to the $12 million trust, when Trouble dies, she'll be buried next to her former owner in the family mausoleum. The dog appeared in ads for the Helmsley Hotels and was usually seen by Helmsley's side in her later years.

Yesterday tickets went on sale for the two Oprah Winfrey show tapings next month (September 10th and 11th) at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden. The internet went into overload immediately, shutting down the ticket websites.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an armed carjacking at the intersection of 164th St. and the Union Turnpike in Queens, an unconscious firefighter at 51st St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan, and a slashing on Myrtle and Wyckoff Aves. in Brooklyn.
• Mia Farrow is speaking out against the atrocities in Darfur.
• This is the summer of our discontent. The beach season is winding down with below-average-temperature weather and rain and clouds.
• An eight-month-old boy is doing well after receiving a quintuple organ transplant of a liver, small bowel, pancreas, colon and stomach at the Childrens Hospital of Morgan Stanley New York-Presbyterian.
• Experts begin testifying on causes of steampipe explosion. Any conclusions are likely to be a couple of months away.
• A new law signed by Gov. Spitzer can force rape suspects to undergo HIV testing.
• Oprah Winfrey will leave Chicago behind to tape a show in NYC this September. We predict Dave Letterman as a guest.
• A slideshow of NYC in the apocalyptic future without humans to scoop poop.

Interesting, fluffy political article in the NY Times about the diverging political allegiances of two high-profile friends. Oprah Winfrey has made no secret of her support for Senator Barack Obama - she's throwing him a fund-raiser at her California home. Maya Angelou, however, has endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton (and even appears in a video on HillaryClinton.com). Neither woman had comment for the Times.

Forbes has put out their list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities, something to bicker about at the water cooler, no doubt. Here are some of the top-ranked New Yorker's and their earnings: