Turn On:
If you're feeling serious about politics and the state of the world on Monday night, you can take in "Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War" at 8 p.m. EST on the Sundance Channel. Or if you're feeling whimsical or in need of a laugh, you can learn how the donkey and the elephant came to represent the Democratic and Republican parties thanks to "Animal Icons: Political Animals" at 8 p.m. EST on Animal Planet and then tune in to "Saturday Night Live Presidential Bash 2004: The Great Debates," which will poke at politicians past and present, at 10 p.m. EST on NBC.
Morning Briefing:
Former first daughter for Kerry: Chelsea Clinton stepped out over the weekend to join Caroline Kennedy, Karenna Gore Schiff, Cate Edwards and Vanessa Kerry to stump for John Kerry in Florida. In her first campaign speech ever, Clinton said, "To be honest, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else today. I couldn't imagine not being in Florida because the stakes are too high and the choice is too clear." (The Guardian)
Fuller of fury: Whatever Star magazine editorial director Bonnie Fuller can count as career accomplishments, inspiring loyalty from her employees doesn't seem to be among them. One unnamed employee has apparently felt compelled to send a six-page letter to the New York Post's Page Six sharing that Fuller's staffers call her "Leona" -- as in "Queen of Mean" Helmsley -- and sneer at her fashion sense behind her back. "She wears the same old black leather jacket and last season's pointy-toed shoes on a daily basis," the employee tattles. Just as long as said employee doesn't smush snot into Fuller's takeout food, as a group of her former assistants claimed earlier this year to have done. (Page Six)
Finished business: It's all over between Jay-Z and R. Kelly. The two musicians, who have been touring and have just released a new album together, are going their separate ways after an incident at Madison Square Garden over the weekend in which Kelly dropped his microphone in the middle of a duet with Jay-Z and walked off the stage -- only to be spritzed with pepper spray backstage by one of Jay-Z's people. Kelly, who was subsequently taken to the hospital for treatment, says that he left the stage mid-performance because he thought he saw a couple of audience members brandishing guns at him and had been spooked by a threatening phone call he'd received shortly before the show. A subsequent search by security turned up no weapons in the crowd. (N.Y. Daily News, USA Today)
Also: Mel Gibson is speaking out against stem-cell research funding, telling WABC radio's Laura Ingraham that the measure in favor of it proposed in California is "a raping of the California taxpayers" (Page Six) ... Bill and Hillary Clinton sent back a get-well gift from "The Tonight Show" because accepting the $14,000 custom-made tandem bike would have violated U.S. Senate rules banning gifts valued at more than $50 (Page Six) ... And speaking of "The Tonight Show," Andy Richter, former sidekick to future "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien, admits to having some regret about leaving O'Brien's side back in 2000: "There was a moment where I thought, 'Gee, if I'd have just stuck around another nine years I would've been Ed McMahon' " (The Starr Report) ... Conrad N. Hilton 3rd, a cousin of Paris Hilton's father, reportedly behaved so badly toward staff at the New York Hilton -- in what appeared to be a drunken rampage -- that the hotel workers' union felt compelled to step in and insist that management give him the boot and tell him not to come back (Lloyd Grove's Lowdown) ... "Fahrenheit 9/11" will be available for download and via satellite TV tonight at 8 p.m. EST for a fee of $9.95 (Hollywood Reporter) ... And the University of North Carolina is offering a course called "Examining 'American Idol' Through Musical Critique," in which students use the hit Fox show as a window into music theory (CBC News)
-- Amy Reiter
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