Ken and Nigel pull out of Emmy Telecast
Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe will not be producing this year’s Emmy telecast as previously announced.Â
Here’s the official statement, “After we wrapped the enormous effort of ‘Idol Gives Back,’ we looked at our upcoming slate of projects, including the ‘American Idol’ finale and the additional shows we will be involved in this summer, and realized that we could not devote the creative energy and time necessary to make the Emmys outstanding for the academy and Fox,”
Ken Ehrlich, who produced the Emmy’s last year is returning to produce his 4th Emmy telecast.  Says the Academy of Television Arts and Science’s CEO Dick Askin, “He [Ehrlich] did a terrific job with the Emmys last year, and we are glad to have him back.”
Diana DeGarmo’s Stalker Sentenced
An Australian woman who hacked into Diana DeGarmo’s My Space and sent her threatening emails and phone calls has been sentenced.
 Tanya Maree Quattrocchi, 21, of Oak Park, was released on a community-based order and ordered to serve 150 hours of community service after she was convicted of stalking and blackmail. The court heard the defendant had a limited intellectual ability and had scored an ENTER score of just 16 when she graduated from Ave Maria College in Aberfeldie.
 She’s in college, and she’s hacking into MySpace accounts, but she has “limited intellectual ability?” What? If this had been tried in the States, I think the courts would have been a lot tougher.
Constantine Maroulis and Tamyra Gray Begin New Acting Roles
Constantine’s run on the CBS soap “The Bold and The Beautiful” begins on Tuesday May 15 and will run for several months. He’ll play music producer, Constantine Parros, who becomes involved in the life and career of heiress Phoebe Forrester.  OMG, this should be hilarious.  I’m DVRing the first few episodes. If I find anything snarkworthy, I’ll post it. Heh.
Tamyra Gray begins a stint with the Broadway musical “Rent.” She’ll play the role of Mimi Marquez through November 25.
New Dates for the American Idols Live Tour
The American Idols Live Tour starts in Sunrise FL on July 6th. If everything goes as planned, I’ll be at the Tampa FL show on the 7th. YAY. Check out the dates. If your city wasn’t on the list, it may be now.  New dates are being added as we speak.
Simon Fuller discusses Idol Songwriter Contest
In a recent interview American Idol producer, Simon Fuller, talks about the American Idol Songwriter contest. Fuller screened the entries and says the entries include, “a handful of world-class songs.”  That remains to be seen. I plan to check out the songs soon. Really, I do.Â
About this season, Fuller comments, “This has been an intriguing year. It’s been a slow burn in terms of getting to know the talent … It’s more of a journey than ever this year.” Fuller thinks that two or three ”terrific” contestants have emerged out of the contest. He would not say who.
Hey MJ, I just clicked on the link for the updated tour schedule and it sent me to the Tamyra Gray news link. Just thought you might want to know. And, please do post ANYTHING snarkworthy about Constantine’s new gig! I love me some Constantine action, but I also love the dish! (and the pointy pose!)
“She’s in college, and she’s hacking into MySpace accounts, but she has ‘limited intellectual ability?’”
“College” refers to secondary school in the British system, which Australia still follows. It doesn’t mean university, as it does in the U.S. Basically, she’s still in high school.
So maybe the statement should read:
“She’s only in high school and, yet, is able to hack into MySpace accounts, but she has ‘limited intellectual ability?”
;-D
Hacking may just mean she guessed the right password for Diana’s account and logged in as her. If she was an obsessed fan and knew enough about Diana, and Diana didn’t use a strong password, it might not have been hard to guess. Hacking is just gaining access to something that the owner hasn’t given permission to. Doesn’t always involve hi tech software or code breakers. Could have been a lucky guess.
Pretty scary. And I’m sure the fact that she has “limited intellectual ability” is not much comfort to Diana. It wouldn’t be to me. Anyone crazy enough to do that in the first place, and she’s out on community service.
Still no Texas dates.
The woman is 21 so don’t have all that much sympathy for her although I doubt very much she’d have been given much more in any case if it’s her first offence.
I doubt Diana will be doing concerts in Australia any time soon. Seriously, this is scary that they take identity theft (which is basically what purposefully jacking someone’s myspace account is) so lightly.
Oh yeah and a big fat BWAH!!!!!! about the Emmy’s. Don’t think AI is getting the Emmy this year either…unless it’s part of a payback for Nigel and Uncle Ken stepping out “gracefully”…
Can’t wait to see Constantine on Bold and Beautiful. I don’t usually look at the soaps but I am sure going to check Con out since I have been a fan of his from Season 4 on. Who knows, if things work out okay, maybe this will be long-term instead of just a few months.
About the Australian Stalker, didn’t the article say that she attempted to blackmail Diana. To me that is a serious charge and deserves more than a slap on the wrist. Even if the woman IS mentally challenged, someone should have taught her that is a no-no.
The term “college” is also used for post-secondary institutions in Australia. Some of these are vocational schools, some are bridges to universities and some are degree granting institutions.
Since she is 21, she is probably not in highschool anymore (especially since she graduated). She is said to be studying Website administration, so it sounds like she attends a vocational school (and that she knows the odd hacking trick).
She did attempt to blackmail Diana and also stole Diana’s credit card numbers and successfully used them.
Hacking is not really that hard, there are plenty of programs on the internet you can use to get someones password. One example is getting someone to click on a link that sends on the keys they type to your computer and you can pick out the passwords from there.
Jeez, I was hoping Contantine’s success on Idol would lead to something a lot less cheesey than a soap opera. I was thinking maybe a rock or theatrical album or big roles on broadway.
Whatever happened to the sitcom he was creating?
I wonder if the soap opera thing is a bad career move.
Hey mj, your blog is linked in the new msnbc.com story about this year’s AI season–From Antonella to Sanjaya, ‘Idol’s’ crazy year.
SONG SPOILERS! From USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-05-07-idol-final-four_N.htm