The Fix

Raitt pulls a Ronstadt, Matt pulls a Ben, and Cho gets pulled on account of Whoopi. Plus: What's a gay porn star doing in a place like Bohemian Grove?

Published July 22, 2004 9:56AM (EDT)

Turn On:
A bizarre but possibly fascinating hybrid of a game show and reality TV, "Studio 7" (9 p.m. ET; WB), which debuts Thursday night, brings seven people together each week to live in a Manhattan apartment, "Real World"-style, and then has them face off in a winner-take-all quiz show. "Washington Wives" (10 p.m. ET; A&E) takes a behind-the-scenes look at four prominent women all involved in this season's presidential race: Teresa Heinz Kerry, Elizabeth Edwards,Judy Steinberg Dean and Sally Quinn..

-- Scott Lamb

Morning Briefing:
The dropping of "Doonesbury": Continental Features, which produces and distributes comics sections to 38 papers around the country, says it's dropping "Doonesbury" from its roster of comics after polling its newspaper clients to find out if they wanted Garry Trudeau's controversial work retained or booted. Twenty-one papers were in favor of the drop, 15 against and two had no opinion. Continental Features president Van Wilkerson said its move was prompted by "numerous complaints" it had fielded about the comic, but added, "It was not a political statement of any kind ... I personally don't have an opinion about 'Doonesbury' one way or another." "Doonesbury" will continue to appear in more than 1,400 papers via the Universal Press Syndicate. (Editor & Publisher)

Bonnie for Bush? Nope. Appearing before an audience at the Stockholm Jazz Festival on Tuesday night, Bonnie Raitt offered the following dedication to her rendition of "Your Good Thing (Is About to End)": "We're gonna sing this for George Bush because he's out of here, people!" Her remark drew thunderous applause and whistles of appreciation. (Associated Press)

Matt gets Bennified? Dedicated Democrat Ben Affleck is finalizing details to address the Democratic Convention in Boston on Tuesday night. But Matt Damon says he's never voted before. "My reasoning has always been that because I'm from Massachusetts, everyone I would have voted for didn't need my vote," Damon tells Playboy, adding, "That's changing now because of where we're going in this country. I'll vote for John Kerry." And Damon is planning to put his money where his ballot is by donating $20,000 to MoveOn.org's Voter Fund. (Rush and Molloy)

Not appearing in Boston: Margaret Cho. The comedian was just disinvited from appearing at a Human Rights Campaign party in Boston during the Democratic Convention because the group was concerned that her Bush bashing would make trouble for the Kerry campaign. "We want this event to be about the unity of the gay community," the group's spokesman, Mark Shields, said. "Margaret's people made very clear that they had material that was not in that vein and we didn't want to censor her, so we just made other plans." Cho's people, meanwhile, are crying "Whoopi!" "It's the political climate," said her manager, Karen Taussig. "They said they don't want it to be a media firestorm, and in light of the recent Whoopi Goldberg incident ... they're just running scared." (N.Y. Daily News)

Coffee, tea ... or me? Shocking revelation: One of the valets waiting on conservative bigwigs assembled at Bohemian Grove -- an all-male annual gathering that has, the New York Post points out, "been attended by every Republican president since Calvin Coolidge," as well as Dick Cheney, Alan Greenspan, Walter Cronkite, Newt Gingrich, Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and William F. Buckley -- is ... gay porn star "Chad Savage." "To think there's all these powerful conservative guys having their drinks and food served to them by a gay porn star," marvels a fellow Bohemian Grove valet . "He makes their beds and attends to their every need -- and they have no idea who he really is." Or so he assumes. (Page Six)

-- Amy Reiter

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