Our brush with "SNL" greatness — Laraine Newman

As kids growing up, we would wait until our parents went to bed on Saturday nights and sneak to the stop of the staircase. We'd try to stifle our giggles as our older brother and sisters would laugh uproariously below. Little did we know at the time that Saturday Night Live  would last for 40 years and that we would have the great fortune of sitting down with both Garrett Morris and Laraine Newman on separate occasions for the Archive of American Television.

Those childhood memories came rushing back as Morris delivered his most famous late night line — "Baseball's been berry, berry good to me." And Newman regaled us with behind-the-scenes tales of her early days on SNL. As NBC gets ready to celebrate the show’s 40th anniversary this Sunday, we took a look back at our sit down with Newman.

Just 23 when the late night juggernaut debuted in 1975, Newman didn’t have a lot of experience under her belt. As a teenager, she had been a member of a Los Angeles improv troupe. At the age of 15 she saw a performance by iconic mime Marcel Marceau. She was so taken by his craft that she worked her way backstage and introduced herself to the French master. Three years later she found herself in Paris studying the art form with Marceau himself.

After returning to L.A. and doing a brief stint in secretarial school, she became a founding member of The Groundlings along with her sister Tracey, who would go on to produce TV series like Ellen and According to Jim. Her stint with the iconic improve group led to an appearance on The Lily Tomlin Special and her introduction to a young producer named Lorne Michaels. The results landed Newman on the SNL cast without so much as an audition.

But joining the Not Ready for Primetime Players on Saturday Night Live wasn’t without its challenges for the actress. She admits that when she first heard the show described as a Monty Python meets 60 Minutes, she had no idea who the British comedy stars were. Plus, she had to uproot herself from her Los Angeles home and move to New York City.

Working for just $750 a week, Newman quickly became a household name along with Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtain and Garrett Morris. And she quickly became so recognizable that even John Lennon and Yoko Ono would stop her on the street to introduce themselves to a member of the hottest cast in the world.

With five years and characters like Sherry the Valley Girl and Lina Wertmüller under her built, Newman left SNL. She has gone on to have a flourishing voice over career on shows like Histeria!, As Told By Ginger and The Oblongs. But she will always be known to fans for her hilarious turn on TV’s greatest sketch comedy series.

When we sat down with her in March of 2013, she reflects on that very first episode of Saturday Night Live all those years ago. Watch what she has to say in this clip from our interview with her for EmmyTVLegends.com.

Check out the full interview at http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/laraine-newman

Roseanne Barr Discusses Last Comic Standing

Photo by Ben Cohen/NBC

We’ve watched Last Comic Standing since the early seasons with Dat Phan, Ralphie May, Alonzo Bodden and John Heffron and are so happy to hear that after a four-year hiatus, it’s back and better than ever. The new season features Roseanne Barr, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Russell Peters as judges and JB Smoove as host. And with Executive Producers Wanda Sykes and Page Hurwitz at the helm, it’s sure to deliver.

In a recent conference call Roseanne talked about what drew her to be a judge on the show. “I just thought it would be really fun. And when I heard that Keenen Ivory Wayans was one of the judges, I really love him. I like Wanda a lot, too, so I thought it would be fun to work with some really great comics and get right in the middle of stuff that has to do with standup comedy.”

And working with these heavy hitters did not disappoint the four-time Emmy winner. She said of Keenen, “I’m blown away, every week. I’m sitting next to a bodhisattva. I’m sitting next to Keenen Ivory Wayans. That guy, his commentary and the way he sees… He discovered a lot of great performers and comics on his shows and movies… I’m always like, ‘Let Keenen go first.’ And then I go, ‘I agree with Keenen.’ He’s just a brilliant… It’s just amazing.”

Roseanne also lavished praise on her other co-panelist Russell Peters. “I never even heard of the guy, to be honest. And they’re like, ‘This guy is like the Beatles.’ And so I went on YouTube… he’s playing on like 70,000 seat arenas. And is right now kind of in a Russell Brand thing. He’s real new to the United States. And that guy is so funny. It’s like non-stop. He gives feedback like a standup comic — joke, joke, joke. And I mean there’s nothing on earth that he doesn’t have a joke for. It’s amazing. And it made me go, ‘Oh this is so cool to be back in this arena.’”

And Roseanne was not just enlightened to the comedy of Russell Peters during this experience, she also rediscovered the world of standup. She noted, “I was thinking that it was pretty static and kind of boring, actually, over these last few years. But becoming a judge on this show and seeing people who are actually writing jokes that I’ve never heard before, it’s exciting. I’ve never heard these premises in so many of my favorite comics who are competing. It’s very brave. And it’s cool. So that brought me back into comedy.”

She continued, “Keenen and I were talking about it, this is like comedy coming back. It’s like a re-birth of comedy. Not just on this show — but certainly including this show — but all over the place. Yes, there’s a whole different everything. It’s exciting. It’s kind of like punk-rock.”

So what is Roseanne like as a judge? She sums it up in one word, “Intelligent!” She said she doesn’t fit into any other reality judge mold of the nice judge or the mean judge. “I’m just me. I didn’t try to copy somebody else. I’m just me… I just give my honest opinion, as I have done for all these many years when it comes to writing and comedy.”

There are several changes to the format of the show in Season 8. The 100 comedians are handpicked by Sykes and Hurwitz and they are bringing back the challenges. But perhaps the biggest adjustment is that there are no more viewer votes. The three judges alone will select the winner. But Roseanne was quick to point out that the audience still plays a part. “They win because they kill the audience. So the audience is part of it. It’s the laughs they’re getting from the audience, that’s how we judge. But no non-expert opinions are needed. You want people who’ve never acted to vote on the Academy Awards? It’s people who know the craft who should be voting on it. But it is about if they’re getting over and making that audience come out of their seats. Then they’re going to win.”

So if Roseanne Barr back in the 1980s did her Domestic Goddess bit on Last Comic Standing how would she fair?  She modestly stated, “I would’ve won. I did, in fact, win the Denver Laugh Off. And that is what propelled my career. I did a number of other untelevised comedy contests. But I think I would’ve really worked really hard. That’s what I like about these comics because they’re prepared. I wouldn’t become part of any contest unless I was really prepared and thought I could win. And that’s what I think we have here. We’re seeing who’s prepared and who isn’t prepared. And that’s like the most exciting part to me.”

She added, “But, of course, I have to say I would’ve won. Because you have to have that kind of self-confidence being a standup comic. You have to really believe in what you do and that you’re the best at doing what you do. And so we’ve seen a lot of people on this show come in like that and falter. But the ones who want it the most, are the ones who make it.”

Tune into Last Comic Standing tonight at 9 p.m. on NBC.

Oliver Platt Relishes the Role of the Supermarket King on Fargo

Photo by Chris Large/FX

Oliver Platt has made a career out of playing bold and brash characters who don’t seem to shy away from the hard job or the caustic remark. But the Golden Globe nominated actor admitted during a recent conference call interview that he had a bit of trepidation before signing on to play the Supermarket King Stavros Milos on the small screen adaptation of Fargo. But after getting a look at Noah Hawley’s interpretation of the Cohen Brothers’ classic, he gladly signed on to the show. 

As he recounted, “The stuff that I was shown, the story that I was told, the fact that Joel and Ethan [Coen] had blessed it was not insignificant. I have to say, I think that Noah’s done a pretty remarkable job of sort of threading that needle of writing in their tone. But he had his own voice, if you will. And, to me, it’s pretty impressive stuff.”

David Bromstad — From Design Star to Shoe Mogul

Photo by Andrew Aronsohn

We've been big fans of David Bromstad's ever since he won HGTV Design Star back in 2006. From the moment he used items purchased at a pet store to decorate a room any human would be proud to live in, he stole our hearts. He's gone on to become an HGTV darling, as well as a successful interior designer and fine artist. This month his career took another twist when he launched a brand of women's shoes for Naturalizer.

We had a chance to meet David at a recent press event to promote the new line. And he did not disappoint. He was charming, funny and confidant with just the right amount of humble to make him blush whenever he got a compliment.

He told us he had never considered expanding into the fashion world but, "When Naturalizer came to me they wanted to revitalize their brand. Everyone loves comfort and they obviously have that down… But they wanted to make it a little more fresh and I was like, 'Hell, yeah! Let's do this.' I love a challenge and working with this team has been the best experience I've ever had with a collaboration."

David, whose original paintings are always a feature in his HGTV show Color Splash, created a work of art called North Meets South featuring peonies and hibiscus. The image is used as the print for an entire collection of wedges, sandals, ballet flats and even handbags.

Matthew Rhys Dons Many Disguises on The Americans

Photo by Frank Ockenfels/FX

Don’t get us wrong, we’re happy that Matthew Rhys took one of the starring roles in the FX series The Americans last year. We loved him so much as Kevin Walker on the tear-jerking drama Brothers and Sisters, that we were happy to see him again. But we wondered before the show aired, if we’d believe the lovable lawyer as a KGB sleeper agent. Needless to say, Rhys did not disappoint as Philip Jennings.
 

But in a recent conference call interview the Welsh actor discussed his own initial trepidations about signing on to the show. While he acknowledged that he appreciated what he called FX being “bold in their casting” of both himself and co-star Keri Russell who plays his wife Elizabeth, the 39-year-old conceded, “I’m not the big, macho, butt kicking person. But I think as a cover we work well in that we blend into Americana suburbia, and therefore there’s a sort of twist to it. So that element I was nervous about as to sort of being credible in that role with someone who does all those things.”

A Conversation with Eric McCormack from Perception

Photo courtesy of ABC/TNT

Tomorrow night Perception returns for the second half of Season 2 on TNT. At the heart of the series is Eric McCormack, who has left Will Truman from Will & Grace in the dust to create a very complex, character in Daniel Pierce, a neuroscientist and professor who is also battling schizophrenia.

We had the chance to talk one-on-one with Eric last week about the challenges of playing such a complicated role. “Getting it right from the beginning was crucial to me. And setting the templates for his symptoms, his passions, his behaviors, his fears. It’s keeping true to that.”

Since they often shoot two episodes concurrently, it is sometimes difficult for the actor to keep track of which crime and which hallucination he is preparing for. He stated, “In the midst of all the basic keeping up with the plots, I have to remind myself to keep true to who he is. Remind myself that he’s not comfortable anywhere and not fall into the trap of just solving crimes.”

A Bachelorette and Her Dog

Photo by ABC/Rick Rowell

Throughout all the years of The Bachelor franchise, there have been many contestants that have claimed to be close to their pets and their clip packages often include footage of them romping with their furry friends. But this season, with Juan Pablo as The Bachelor, one woman got out of the limo that first night with her dog. And the appearance wasn't just a one-time gimmick, like a wedding dress or a cheesy limerick. The dog is living in the house this year.

The pooch, Molly, belongs to Kelly Travis, the outgoing red head who has survived three weeks in the mansion so far. Under her name where it typically states the woman's occupation, it reads "Dog Lover" although in a recent conference call interview she did set the record straight. She has a job, in fact, one she loves and is good at. She does business development for a construction company in Georgia. However she is passionate about animal rescue and thought it would be funny if she said she was a "Dog Lover" by trade.

So, then, why is it that Kelly was allowed to bring her dog on the show when so many before her have not? Simple. She just asked.

This Week's Inspiring Pop Culture Moment: Newlyweds the First Year

Photo by Sam Holland/Bravo

Each week we take a look around our pop culture world and try to find one moment that stood out as the most inspiring. It might be a celebrity who is doing charitable things, a TV shows that inspires us to be better or a philosophy that we should all strive to live by. Here is this week's most inspiring pop culture moment.

Anyone who’s ever been married knows that those first twelve months are both exciting and trying times. So it’s not surprising that the reality gurus at Bravo decided to follow a few sets of recently married folks for a new show called “Newlyweds the First Year.” In a recent exclusive interview one of the pairs, pop singer Tina Sugandh and Pandoodle founder Tarz Ludwigsen, talked about being on the series.

Long before she became Mrs. Ludwigsen, Tina had a successful singing career. As she recounted, “I have been performing with my family, The Sugandh Family, (my mom, dad, sister Seema and I) every weekend since I was five years old. We would all travel every weekend to some massive Bollywood event. It was amazing. I went on from there to graduate with an honors degree in Biology as well as being offered a record deal simultaneously. I chose the record deal, and that led me to having incredible experiences such as everything from opening for Ludacris to teaching Ringo Starr to play the Indian drums and singing on his latest album. The Ringo moment was definitely a highlight and there is actually some really funny footage of Ringo and I jamming on my YouTube site. He’s hysterical.” 

Rola Bauer and Ed Bernero Talk About Creating ‘Crossing Lines’

Dusan Martincek/Tandem

NBC’s new global crime drama Crossing Lines premieres this Sunday. Set in Europe the show follows an elite team of international cops trying to solve cross-border crimes and bring these global criminals to justice. It was created by Edward Allen Bernero, mastermind behind Third Watch and Criminal Minds along with Rola Bauer, Jonas Bauer and Tim Halkin, Emmy-nominated producers of The Pillars of the Earth. Rola, Jonas and Tim run a production company set in Munich and set out to make an international crime drama with the help of show runner Ed. The whole series is filmed in Europe. In a recent conference call interview Ed and Rola talked about the seed of the idea for the show, filming in Prague and what viewers can expect to see in the upcoming season.

On How the Project Came To Be
Rola: ”We have been working predominantly in the limited eight-hour miniseries —The Pillars of the Earth. And we wanted to get into the one-hour series. We looked around at all the different show runners who were available or interested in working in a different independent way and were introduced to Ed Bernero. I'm sure you're aware of Ed's pedigree and his many, many years of experience. So we're considered ourselves very luck to be able to have a chance to brainstorm with him and talked about this idea. And he just immediately broke the story. I mean he said, ‘Oh my God. I have been wanting to do something in this direction.’ At first I thought, ‘Oh, this is Hollywood speak.’ But he truly did have it in his head because he broke the story in literally a matter of weeks. And we have met and we're starting to work together in February. And we went straight to an order of ten episodes on the middle of July. And we started shooting in the beginning of October. And we shot ten episodes and had them all wrapped in the can in the third week of February. So it happened in literally one year from meeting and getting to know to developing, producing it and delivering it.”

On The Seed of the Idea and Casting William Fichtner as Carl Hickman
Rola: “We were concerned about what was happening in Europe, how similar it was to what has happened in the U.S. and how could one create a new team, a team European FBI that could transcend the boundaries and help people. And that's how it started in that… We sat with the broadcasters and we told them our wish list as filmmakers, as producers and the people we would like to have for each of the roles. And Bill was number one for us in the role of Hickman. We had to give them three names and he was number one. I have been hounding, tracking, stalking Bill for many years on working [together]. And when I gave his name to Ed, he was like, ‘Oh I love him. That'd be great. That would be fabulous.’ And so once we had a script we sent it to his agent.’

Paige Davis on Home Made Simple, Emmys and Gifts for Dad

Photo Courtesy of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network

Most DIY-ers know Paige Davis as the host of TLC's Trading Spaces back in the early 2000s. The show popularized the DIY genre and made Paige a household name. But Paige had been a working actress for quite some time before hitting the Trading Spaces jackpot. A trained singer and dancer, Paige was on the road for two and half years playing the Babette the feather duster in the National Touring Company of Beauty and the Beast. She has also appeared on Broadway in Chicago and has toured in The Vagina Monologues and Sweet Charity.

On TV Paige went from Trading Spaces to Home and Family before settling into her current post as host of Home Made Simple. She joined the cast in 2011 when the show moved from TLC to OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. Paige, along with the experts, Jesse Brune, Ceci Carmichael, Kristan Cunningham, Tracy Metro, Brooks Utley and Kenneth Wingard offer tips and advice for creating a home that's clean, fresh and completely you.

This year Paige has been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Host in a Lifestyle/Travel program. The Awards will be handed out on Sunday, June 16. We caught up with her to find out how she feels about the nomination and to get some simple Father's Day gift ideas.

How does it feel to be nominated for an Emmy for Home Made Simple?
"I feel really validated for the work I've done as a host for the past 10 years. It's a nice nod. It means a lot to me."

Why do you think Home Made Simple appeals to viewers and critics alike?
"Because it has useful, creative information distributed in a fun, touching and entertaining manner. The show is really enjoyable. Plus, you can get detailed instructions for anything you see on the show by going to www.HomeMadeSimple.com, so the follow-up is accessible and easy."

What set's it apart from other DIY shows?
"Its heart."

This Week's Inspiring Pop Culture Moment: Paul Fisher

Photo Courtesy of Paul Fisher

Each week we take a look around our pop culture world and try to find one moment that stood out as the most inspiring. It might be a celebrity who is doing charitable things, a TV shows that inspires us to be better or a philosophy that we should all strive to live by. Here is this week's most inspiring pop culture moment.

Recently we had the good fortune to speak one-on-one with supermodel agent Paul Fisher. He used to have a show on CW called Remodeled, which followed him as he put together The Network, a coalition of modeling agencies worldwide that have banded together under one umbrella to create a new voice in the fashion industry. Paul and The Network are tired of the way models have been treated all these years and are trying to do something about it.

He told us, "At The Network I have this dream of creating a safe environment for young people around the world. I wanted agencies in secondary markets, to take care of these incredible faces that they're mining, that haven't been [taken care of] for so many years. That have been disrespected by the bigger agencies for so many years. And so I'm trying to do something different. I'm trying to change the industry. I'm trying to create a shift in paradigm of how the kids are treated in the industry."

Paul said that having had Remodeled on the air was a double-edged sword. "On one hand the show has really helped me because kids all over the world now know me. It's easier for me to get into certain doors, it opens certain doors to speak with certain people… and agencies from all over the world want to join the Network. But the stronger we become, the more challenges that we face."

William Fichtner Talks About Crossing Lines

Photo by Etienne Chognard/Tandem

NBC’s new global crime drama Crossing Lines premieres on Sunday, May 23. It stars one of our favorite Prison Break alums, William Fichtner. On that show he played the FBI Agent Alexander Mahone, who was searching for the escaped prisoners. This time around William plays Carl Hickman, a wounded ex-U.S. cop who moves to Europe to help solve cross-border crimes and bring these global criminals to justice.

He is part of an elite team of international cops played by Donald Sutherland (The Hunger Games), Marc Lavoine (The Good Thief), Gabriella Pession (Wilfred), Moon Dailly (Black Heaven), Richard Flood (Titanic-Blood and Steel) and Tom Wlaschiha (Game of Thrones). It was created by Edward Allen Bernero (Criminal Minds) and Rola Bauer (The Pillars of the Earth).

Production is set in Prague and filming took place all over Europe from Ireland to Paris. In a recent conference call interview William talked about filming in Prague, getting involved with the show and playing Carl Hickman.

On Deciding to Take the Part
“I read it and I liked it but it's a challenge. It was big thing. This is not like, ‘I'm going to commute to California and see the family.’ This was a big commitment to go because I wasn't going to do this without traveling with my wife and my entire family, which I did. But I did speak to Ed and you can talk about anything and imagine anything but if it's not on the page, it's not on the stage. The first two episodes were exceptionally well written. And if I didn't have that right off the bat, I don't think I would have entertained it any further. And then I spoke to Ed, had a few questions and I wondered about characters and where it was going. And every time I had a conversation with him, it was better than the one before. So it didn't take long. Just a mater of a couple few shorts weeks and a lot of deep conversations with my wife and onboard we were and away we went. Glad it all went that way.”

This Week's Inspiring Pop Culture Moment: Anne Heche

 Photo by Colleen Hayes/NBC 

Each week we take a look around our pop culture world and try to find one moment that stood out as the most inspiring. It might be a celebrity who is doing charitable things, a TV shows that inspires us to be better or a philosophy that we should all strive to live by. Here is this week's most inspiring pop culture moment.

Over the years Anne Heche has come to be known for her small screen successes like Men in Trees and Hung. And she’s also had her share of high profile missteps in the press. But she’s back in primetime with a brand new series about a mid-Western woman who can talk to God.

Anne’s professional journey started when she was just 17 years old and was cast as Vicky Hudson on Another World. In a recent conference call interview she admitted that her career in television almost had an abrupt ending. “I tried to quit acting after I stopped that job. I wanted to go to Parsons School of Design. I never thought in a million years that anybody would continue to hire me as an actress.”

Paul Fisher Is Trying to Revolutionize the Fashion Industry

Photo Courtesy of Paul Fisher

We're big fans of model agent extraordinaire Paul Fisher. Sadly his old show Remodeled is no longer on the air. But he is currently in negotiations to bring his new show I Can Make You a Supermodel to the U.S. next spring. In the meantime Paul is still battling a seemingly impossible task of revolutionizing the fashion industry one role model at a time. In a recent exclusive interview, he talked to us about his mission to have models represent real women, his plans for Social Media domination and his latest campaign with Romeo & Juliet Couture to find the next R&J model.

Paul is currently shooting a TV series in the Netherlands that takes the concept of Remodeled one step further. The European production company wanted Paul to create a version of his old CW show in the Netherlands, but he told them, "I've been to Holland and they're the nicest people on the planet. If you think I'm going to yell and scream at a bunch of people from Holland, you're crazy. It's not going to happen."

Instead in I Can Make you a Supermodel he sets off in "a James Bond bitchin' motorhome" looking for undiscovered to talent to represent some of the biggest brands in the world. Each episode finds Paul and his team seeking out a specific girl or boy for a specific brand that might include the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Guess, Massimo or Louis Vuitton. Paul stated, "Me and my team are scouring the streets of Holland to find this one kid, this one special face for a very, very special designer…. In the season premiere, I take a pig farmer, a 17-year-old pig farmer, and watch what I do with her. I put her on the f'ing map."

He continued, "The kids that I found in the first episode, I sign them to worldwide contracts… You literally see these little 15-, 16-year-old kids right on the streets. And they walk up to me nervous and then you see them walking down the runway for the biggest, most famous designers in the world."

ToddleWood Takes a Pint-Sized Look at Hollywood Glamour

Anyway who reads our blog knows we’re far more likely to write about adorable monkeys or pug dogs than we are about kids. But we were struck recently by a rug rat-centric project that really struck a chord with our love of pop culture.

ToddleWood is the brainchild of photographer and former advertising executive Tricia Messeroux. She goes to great lengths to recreate tot-sized versions of some of Hollywood’s most glamorous red carpet moments. 

The whole idea started back in 2008, after Tricia had been told that her three-year-old daughter looked like Diana Ross. She soon turned to friends who knew about styling, make-up and hair to help her make the perfect mini-homages to some of the world’s biggest stars.

Meet the Latest Bravolebrities — The Newlyweds

  Photo by Sam Holland/Bravo 

Over the years, Bravo has peeked into the private lives of every day people better than any network on television. From Real Housewives of various city to real estate moguls on Million Dollar Listing, the cable channel has given a glimpse of how non-celebrities react in their given situations. Now they’ve recruited a few couples who are willing to share the early stages of their married lives in a new show called Newlyweds The First Year. In a recent exclusive interview one of the duos, Tarz Ludwigsen and Tina Sugandh, talked about the experience of becoming reality TV stars.

Tina Sugandh in an international pop star who has worked with a wide range of artists from Timbaland to Ringo Starr. Her new husband, Tarz Ludwigsen, is a former model who left the spotlight behind to found the tech start-up Pandoodle. They talked about why they decided to sign on for the show. Tina recounted, “Tarz and I are always up for an adventure, and we were already given a couples name, ‘Tarzina,’ so why not? Seriously though, we initially figured this would be a show filled with nothing but blissful newlywed moments, but we ended up unfortunately having a year filled with some tragedy, which you will most likely see on the show.”

Anne Heche Returns to Primetime in Save Me

  Photo by Neil Jacobs/NBC

It’s been a couple of years since Anne Heche’s last TV series, Hung, went off the air. But she obviously had faith that she’d return to the small screen and now that’s come to pass with her new comedy about a mid-Western woman who starts to talk to God when she hits rock bottom. In a recent conference call interview the Emmy-nominated actress talked about what drew her to the role in Save Me and striking the right tone on the new show.

Anne explained what attracted her to the script in the first place, “I believe that we get second chances in life. And Beth, my character, is in a situation; she's an Ohio housewife, I'm from Ohio. That's the first of many things that Beth and I have in common. She’s a housewife and she hasn't done it very well. She's not a great mom, she's not a great wife, she drinks too much, she plays too hard and she hasn't really been responsible. And by the time we come in to meet her and she's choking on a hoagie, her life isn't great. And she gets a second chance to do it again.”

No stranger to suffering from the lows of living a public life, Anne seemed to be able to rate to the need to start with a clean slate. As she confessed, “I've been so blessed with many chances in my life that I get really excited by being able to play women that get to do it all again.”

CELEBRITY SIBLINGS: The Golden Sisters

Photo courtesy of OWN

You know we always jump at the chance to interview celebrity siblings. But this particular interview was very near and dear to us. OWN is premiering a new show this Saturday, June 1, Golden Sisters. It stars three sisters Mary Bartniki, 82, and the twins Jose and Terry, 74. The three offer their opinions and insight on pop culture, celebrities, sex and even the apocalypse. Something tells us this is going to be us in a few decades.

NOTE: We did our best to keep them straight over the phone, but they sound identical and overlap answers a bit, so at times it was hard to identify the speaker. So we hope you, and they, can bare with us and forgive the instances when we could not determine who was talking. We know it's worth reading even under those circumstances. Enjoy!

The sisters grew up with two other siblings in the Bronx, New York. Mary told the story of the day her sisters were born. "I was eight years old when they were born… My grandmother came and said, 'We have one girl.' And we were so excited — me, my sister and my brother. And then about a half hour later grandma came out and said, 'We got another one!' In those days twins were rare. We were so excited we went downstairs after she was born. Mama was in the bed and we saw these two beautiful, beautiful little girls. And they have been a joy to me from the day they were born to today. Would you believe it? 'Til today! And they are the loves of my life. I love them. I can't help it."

The sisters all migrated to California. Mary sated, "We all moved out because Angelo, my older brother, was my mother's favorite." When their mom wanted to come out to be with Angelo, all the others followed. They lived just a few blocks from each other.

These days all three sisters work in Josie's hair salon, but they had a hankering to do a reality series. Terry explained, "I pitched a show to a production company and they liked it but they didn't do too much about it. We thought, "Well let's do a video." So we thought we have lunch every Wednesday together, so let's get someone to film us. Well we happened to look at the Kim Kardashian tape accidentally and "Oh my God!' They got us on film and that's what went viral. Josie got us to watch the Kim Kardashian tape. Josie tell them why, tell them how. Because we're not porno lookers."

Josie continued, "I own a salon, Michelangelo's, in Woodland Hills, and I was reading a magazine and I commented to one of the girls, 'Gee that Kim Kardashian is beautiful.' And she commented, 'She's a slut. Did you see her video?' And I said, 'No.' She said, "Come to the front desk. I have a computer at the front desk." And I watched it for two minutes and I thought this was horrible. And I never mentioned it until we were at lunch and they said, 'What do you think of Kim Kardashian?' And that's when I said, 'Do you want to look at it?'"

Mary interjected, "What a shock. Let me tell ya."

But Terry chimed in, "We're very excited because it made us famous."

Mary added, "But my sons are upset about their mother watching the Kardashian porno."

Patricia Steffy Spotlights the City Where Dating Goes to Die

Courtesy of Patricia Steffy

No matter where you live it isn’t easy being a single girl on the dating scene. But Los Angeles based writer-producer-actress Patricia Steffy has discovered that her city is particularly rich with trials and tribulation in the area of romance as she recounts in her blog, Dating in LA and Other Urban Myths. 

In a recent exclusive interview, Patricia explained that she originally started the blog in reaction to an ex boyfriend’s engagement, “Even though we had broken up years before, it was still somehow a surprise that we were quite clearly not going to end up together. I hadn’t been in Los Angeles long, but even I knew the social structure here was particularly challenging outside of a really narrow demographic of young, beautiful and/or famous.”

The blog began as a chronicle of her experiences on the dating scene. Soon it grew into what Patricia calls, “a more general account of finding my place in the world at this new stage of my life.”

Now, thanks to Patricia’s producing partner, Danielle Turchiano, the written word is being spun into a web series. As Patricia recounted, “Danielle had seen a tote bag I had with the tag “L.A. — where dating comes to die” on it, thought it was funny and began reading the blog on her own.  At some point, I told her that I was actually writing it and she’s really the person who said, ‘This is a story that needs to be on screen.’”
 

Marion Ross Gets Down to the Nitty-Gritty on The Middle

ABC/Michael Ansell

Every once in a while pop culture icons converge. Such will the case tonight when Marion Ross, who played Happy Days iconic mother Mrs. Cunningham, appears on the modern family sitcom The Middle. Although she won’t be going head-to-head with the Heck matriarch, Frankie, she will be lording her Vice Principal powers over Brick.

Fans of Mrs. C shouldn’t expect the same, sweet character they’ve come to expect. In a recent exclusive interview, Marion explained laughed that she’ll be portraying “this lovely, wonderful woman who turns out to be just as mad as a hatter.”

But it seems her angst isn’t completely unwarranted. As Marion remarked, “I’m so disappointed in Brick Heck, played by Atticus Shaffer. He’s supposed to have put together this wonderful film of all his classmates, taking these pictures for the last four years. Of course, he hasn’t taken any pictures at all and it is a tremendous crisis. I can’t believe that he hasn’t done all this wonderful stuff and he’s going to get into a lot of trouble. And it’s fun for me to be so fierce and mean.”