Morning Briefing:
Wolcott reviews O.J.: Last week, Newsweek had a sample chapter of O.J. Simpson's withdrawn book, "If I Did It," but now James Wolcott at Vanity Fair has gotten ahold of the whole book. Perhaps not surprisingly, there's not a lot left to say about the theoretical tell-all, and Wolcott's review -- he calls it "a shameless yet ingeniously opaque cockteaser of a cash-in confessional" -- doesn't say much we haven't heard before: In the chapter on "the night in question," Simpson doesn't really reveal anything at all. Wolcott writes: "The banal horror of this book -- apart from the ghoulish sanctimony of Judith Regan's entrepreneurial gusto that attended it -- is that O.J. Simpson professes to open up and, once open, there's nobody home, nobody there, nothing inside." (Vanity Fair)
No Colbert this year: The New Yorker has more on this year's pale choice to host the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, veteran comic Rich Little. Coming on the heels of last year's scathing appearance by Stephen Colbert, Little is a risk-free choice. (Sample joke: "Bill Clinton and his pal George Bush senior were sitting around, and Clinton says, 'George, have you ever tried Viagra?' 'I can't say,' says Bush, 'I don't even know what the hell it is.' 'Mr. President,' Clinton says, 'it gives you great staying power.' 'Really?' Bush says. 'Can I get it over the counter?' Clinton answers, 'I suppose you can, if you take two or three of them.'") Little seems perfectly aware of his dependable inoffensiveness: "Believe me, you won't hear the word 'Iraq' out of my mouth the whole evening. They know I'm a safe bet over there at the White House." You can see some of Little's material on Video Dog, or bask in the glory that was Colbert's performance last year. (New Yorker)
Porn's HDTV problem: Stories about news anchors fearing the arrival of wrinkle-showing high-definition TV have been around for years, but today the New York Times reports on another industry that may be affected by too much detail: pornography. The new technology reveals everything from "a little extra cellulite on a leg to wrinkles around the eyes," and much more: "The biggest problem is razor burn," actress/writer/director Stormy Daniels told the paper. "I'm not 100 percent sure why anyone would want to see their porn in HD." (N.Y. Times)
The Globes bump: A week after the winners of the Golden Globes were announced, it's clear the show's spotlight on smaller films has helped increase their draw at the theaters, with huge box office boosts for "The Last King of Scotland," "Babel," "The Queen" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" -- even "Pan's Labyrinth," which was nominated but didn't win for best foreign film at the Globes, made $4.5 million over the weekend, doubling its take from the previous weekend. All five films also massively expanded their available screenings: "The Last King of Scotland" went from showing in four theaters to 495, and "The Queen" jumped from 344 to 1,586. And the films may all get another boost this weekend, after the Oscar nominations are announced Tuesday. (Associated Press, Rotten Tomatoes)
Also:
The other big effect the Golden Globes had, according to the New York Times anyway, was to cement the demise of Angelina Jolie's public image: "By the time she reached the end of a haughty, humorless walk down that red carpet on Brad Pitt's arm, the Good Angelina image had crumbled to dust." (N.Y. Times) ... Keira Knightley is suing British paper the Daily Mail after the publication ran these photos of her at the beach in a story about a teenager who died of anorexia, claiming the article implies Knightley suffers from an eating disorder. (BBC News) ... A huge awards season surprise at the Producers Guild of America awards on Saturday: "Little Miss Sunshine" took the evening's top film prize, beating out "Babel," "The Departed," "Dreamgirls" and "The Queen." (Variety) ... "Stomp the Yard" held the No. 1 spot at the box office for the second week in a row, making $13.3 million, just a slight edge over the No. 2 film, "Night at the Museum," which pulled in $13 million. (Hollywood Reporter)
Money Quote:
Leonardo DiCaprio on trying to overcome the hardship of being a teen idol: "I had a brief run at that on television, being thrown on the cover of teen magazines, and I was trying to work away from that. I wanted to establish myself as an actor who put a lot of thought into his characters and did good work. And then I did a movie called 'Titanic,' and there I was, right back into that position of being looked at as another piece of cute meat ... It was pretty disheartening to be objectified like that." (Newsweek)
Turn On:
On Monday night, it's the series premiere of a new reality show, "Engaged & Underage" (MTV, 9:30 p.m. EST), plus three shows return from winter hiatus: "Prison Break" (Fox, 8 p.m. EST), "Heroes" (NBC, 9 p.m. EST) and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (NBC, 10 p.m. EST).
On the Talk Shows:
Charlie Rose (PBS, check local listings): Robert Rubin, Henry Louis Gates Jr.
David Letterman (CBS, 11:30 p.m. EST): Kevin Spacey, Alicia Keys, Nellie McKay and the Brooklyn Philharmonic
Jay Leno (NBC, 11:35 p.m. EST): Jennifer Garner, Ty Pennington, Bow Wow
Conan O'Brien (NBC, 12:35 a.m. EST): Kate Beckinsale, Tyrese Gibson, Will Gadd (repeat)
Craig Ferguson (CBS, 12:35 a.m. EST): Emily Blunt, Louis CK, Lady Sovereign (repeat)
Jimmy Kimmel (ABC, 12:05 a.m. EST): Howard Stern, Forest Whitaker, Nas (repeat)
Jon Stewart (Comedy Central, 11 p.m. EST): Gen. Rupert Smith
Stephen Colbert (Comedy Central, 11:30 p.m. EST): Tom Schaller
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