Crazy Days and Nights

Sorry about not having photos but it is tough when there are not really specific themes or people.


JACKASS v KINDNESS

For those of you who did not read the first of these, it basically is something where I tell you about a jackass thing a celebrity did and then an act of kindness a celebrity did.

So I called my friend because I knew he had the phone number I needed and we started talking about what is going to be the kindness part of the post. We then got into a big discussion about sports which led somehow to publicists and bad behavior by celebrities and then he reminded me of something that had happened on his show which I had forgotten about.

For the most part, television actors are much less divaesque and are much more down to earth than an actor who only does films. This is caused by a number of factors such as the life of a television show which may be brief to the fact that television actors are paid much less than their film counterparts, to the fact that they work generally half the year with the same group of actors and crew and often commute to and from work just like any other person. What is odd about this, is that television actors are generally much more known by the general public than film stars. If a movie grosses $100M and the average ticket costs $8.00, then approximately 12 million tickets were sold. Contrast that with say Grey’s Anatomy which last week had 24 million viewers and does every week and you can see how television actors are generally more recognized and well known. What makes film stars more divaesque is the fact they are paid an incredible sum of money and that studios may have $100M invested in that star’s ability to bring in an audience to recoup their money. Because there are few stars that are capable of doing that, their demands become greater and also more outrageous and they become divas.

That is the background -

JACKASS -

In this show there was an actor who was about fourth billed at most, but had a very big head about his role on the show and how he thought viewers were tuning into the show to see him and that he was the star. If he felt he was not getting enough lines in a particular episode, he would act is if everything was fine and then right before taping would "lose his voice" or have some other ailment which would cause producers, writers and the director to scramble around and try and save the show. Other times he would improvise new lines as the taping was going on and refuse to do the lines that were written because he felt he was a better writer than the show’s writers and knew what the audience wanted. If the writers just had him being in one scene with no dialogue which happens sometimes, he would just not show up for the taping. He trashed his dressing room more than once because he was not satisfied with its appearance. He would park sideways in the lot taking up three spaces, and even tried the "you cannot talk to him directly thing."

Now you have to remember this guy is way down the list of people on the show. His other problem was his agent who did not really have many clients and so was devoting a great deal of time to this particular client and making the head even more swollen. The agent did not want to lose this money ticket and so kept telling our misguided actor how wonderful he was and how he would get his own show soon, and movies, etc..This actor just did not realize that nature of his appeal which was limited and his acting skills which were even more limited. He really had no range except in his mind. He just could not get over himself and when his contract was running out, he thought he was going to get a big raise, and instead he got written out of the last ten or so episodes of the year and his contract was not renewed. Thought he was bigger than the show. The reality is in television, you are rarely bigger than the show.

KINDNESS -

Why is it that it is the women who are always the subject of the kindness part? A list model/actress more model than actress has been in and out of the office lately because she is coming out with a new product and there are some details to be worked out. Because she has been in so frequently, she learned that one of the people in the office had both of her parents die in a car accident during the summer and had really been devastated by this. She had been in the car with her parents and did not even get a scratch and so was feeling really guilty and really depressed.

Our model overheard the secretary discussing Dancing With The Stars and how it was the one bright spot of the week for her where she really just could let her troubles go. Without letting anyone know, model arranged for Secretary to attend the final episode of the season and to go backstage and meet the finalists. She also arranged for a makeover and new clothes and a limo to the show. There were no cameras there to record this and no publicity. This was just one person who overheard someone who was in pain and used their celebrity for good with nothing in return. Model called in a bunch of favors just because she is that kind of person. No one asked her to do it, and no one knew she was doing it until she sprung the surprise. You should have seen the look on Secretary’s face when Model told her what she had done and the excitement the day after the final show when Secretary could not stop talking and sharing and you could see the sparkle back in her eyes. It has been a few weeks now, and she is just 1,000% percent better from what she was and you can see she is starting to live again.