{alltv} Photos: Bette Midler, Galdys Knight

 

 

{alltv} Bravo's 'Kell on Earth' takes devilish look at fashion PR

 

NEW YORK — "Where is the publicist for Chris Brown?"

Kelly Cutrone, fashion publicist and self-described warrior, is yelling into her laptop. Sitting in her Soho apartment two floors above her bustling offices, she ignores her male assistant frantically asking when she'll be free.

She is flabbergasted.

"The theme is boxing," she says, pointing to an online photo of the fallen singer mugging at Paris Fashion Week with designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, whose eye is a mess of fake blood and bruising. Speaking to Brown's photo, her tone incredulous: "You're a woman-beater. You go to Paris Fashion Week to change your image (and) this is how God pays you back. What an idiot."

Cutrone, 44, is infamous to the MTV generation for her untimely eruptions and cutting commentaries. Her hellish take on the fashion world is her ticket to stardom, and she takes her place on Bravo's roster tonight with reality show Kell on Earth (10 ET/PT), which explores the underbelly of her industry. And her recent memoir, If You Have to Cry, Go Outside (HarperOne), reads as a gritty guide for young women entering the fashion world.

"All the seven deadly sins come compliments of this job," says Cutrone, who spends her days keeping such clients as Ben & Jerry's, Agent Provocateur and Donna Karan cool. She is makeup-free and wearing her uniform of all-black, face framed by a mussed ponytail. "I've stood next to Gisele Bündchen in a flesh thong and it's not fun. Her body is like, ridiculous."

Ridiculous could also describe Cutrone's back story. She moved to New York at 23; by 24 she was leading Michael Jackson through nightclubs and starting her own firm. Two years later she had a breakdown from A-list excesses, drugs and divorce.

"I was done. I was baked," she says. "I was ready to die. I had already had a whole life."

In the next two decades, Cutrone would marry and divorce again, experience a spiritual awakening, have a child and launch the fashion PR firm People's Revolution.

In 2008 she took her caustic manner as a modern-day Cruella to MTV's glossy reality hits The Hillsand The City, mentoring stars Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port. "I've spent my whole life making people famous," she says. "Now I want to figure out my own brand."

Friends such as Nicky Hilton warned against backlash for her TV appearances.

"A lot of the haters came out and said, 'Kelly Cutrone is a shameless self-promoter,' " Cutrone says. "I told everyone in my office, 'We're either going to be out of business or we're going to blow up.' "

They blew up. Girls in malls began to recognize her. Hollywood came calling. But some brash choices have come back to haunt her. Last year Cutrone was fired, publicly, for placing former call girl Ashley Dupré in the front row at designer Yigal Azrouël's New York show. "We're all hookers in one way or another," she fired back in the press at the time.

Today her 26-person staff puts in 11-hour days, creating buzzwords out of brands across blogs, retail stores and, of course, TV. Here, it's a wolf pack. The senior staff eats before the junior staff. Assistants don't leave before the boss. Out of dozens of interns each season, one may get hired.

Her career advice? "Be prepared for very low pay and a lot of work, and be willing to do whatever it takes — that is legal. Follow your intuition. Tell the truth." And, she says, "If you do not love work, do not come to New York."

 

 

{alltv} Colbert hosts Grammys, wins 1

 

Comic Stephen Colbert didn't just host the Grammys. He won one, too.

The Comedy Central host won his first Grammy for the soundtrack to his surrealistic holiday special, "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All." He'd been nominated for a spoken word Grammy once before.

"This is a Christmas album, so obviously I should thank Jesus Christ for having such a great birthday," Colbert said in accepting the prize Sunday at the ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Throughout his opening monologue, he kept asking his daughter Madeline, sitting in the audience, whether he was cool. She kept shaking her head no. But upon his Grammy win, she nodded, her eyes wet with tears.

{alltv} India-themed comedies emerge as new TV trend

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – They are the two comeback stories of this pilot season, projects developed years ago that have been resurrected and have landed orders at the broadcast networks.

The two comedies -- "Nirvana" at Fox and "Outsourced" at NBC -- have something else in common: They both are ensemble shows about Indians and Indian-Americans.

A third project, a U.S. version of popular British comedy "The Kumars at No. 42," about an immigrant Indian family, also is poised for revival. Eight years after NBC took a stab at the format, the show's British producers are shopping it to U.S. networks, including FX.

Is it a coincidence or a delayed "Slumdog Millionaire" effect?

"I do think that 'Slumdog' had a lot to do with it," a TV studio executive said of India's rapid emergence on the U.S. pop culture scene. "It was boiling, hovering there, with the increasing popularity of Indian clothing, food and Bollywood movies, but with its mainstream acceptance and critical success, 'Slumdog' pushed it over the tipping point."

In Hollywood, consciousness grew exponentially last year with Danny Boyle's runaway hit and Oscar winner as well as the $1.2 billion deal between Indian conglomerate Reliance and DreamWorks.

Reliance also is bidding for the MGM studio and has signed production pacts with eight A-list Hollywood actors, including George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

On the small screen, India's growing impact has been dramatic as well, albeit more slowly developing.

LARGER CASTING POOL

When producer Gavin Polone brought "Kumars" to the U.S. in 2002, its Indian roots were stripped away and it was remade as "The Ortegas," a show about a Mexican-American family.

In 2004, when NBC shot two pilots of "Nirvana," one starring then up-and-comer Kal Penn, and one starring creator Ajay Sahgal, there were only two Indian actors in primetime, Sahgal recalls: Ravi Kapoor on NBC's "Crossing Jordan" and Parminder Nagra, who had just joined "ER."

That is not the case anymore. Most successful shows launched in the past five years feature a prominent Indian actor: "The Office," "The Big Bang Theory," "30 Rock," "Parks and Recreation" and three hot freshmen: "Community," "Glee" and "The Good Wife."

"24" also has regularly featured Indian actors, including one of Bollywood's biggest stars, "Slumdog's" Anil Kapoor, who has a major role this season. Additionally, Penn co-starred on Fox's "House" until he left to pursue a career in Washington.

"There are far more Indian actors today that can do this kind of thing than there were six or seven years ago," Sahgal said.

To find them, he is launching an international talent search for "Nirvana," an ensemble comedy about grown-up Indian-American brothers and their Indian immigrant parents, with casting taking place in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, London and Mumbai.

"Outsourced" -- an office comedy about an American shipped off to India to manage a ragtag group of customer service reps -- has hired casting consultants in Toronto and India.

That the film and TV industry are seizing on the growing popularity of Indian culture isn't surprising, according to TV historian Tim Brooks.

"Hollywood, and TV in particular, always tries to jump on a trend," he said.

Another ethnic comedy making a comeback is ABC's "Funny in Farsi," about a family of Iranian immigrants living in Newport Beach. The single-camera project directed by Barry Sonnenfeld earned a green light this season after failing to secure a production order last year.

HURDLES AHEAD

Cultural momentum notwithstanding, "Nirvana, " "Outsourced" and "Farsi" all face long odds.

There have been only a couple of successful ethnic comedies on American television, mostly with Mexican-American characters, including the 1970s "Chico and the Man" and ABC's "George Lopez." Even with the phenomenal box-office success of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," the film's Greek-American-themed series offshoot on CBS lasted only seven episodes.

"The American audience is very American-centered and not interested in other cultures for their own sakes," Brooks said. "For a show such as these to succeed, it can't be just about an (exotic) culture. Americans want things that they can relate to."

"Nirvana" has what it takes to do it, said Polone, who attended the taping of the project's second pilot in 2004.

"That show is the one that would work; it transcends the India-centered idea and is very accessible," he said.

Director Ken Kwapis, who was the driver behind "Outsourced" in its first incarnation during the 2007-08 season and its new production, believes the series will have no problem connecting with American audiences either.

"This is really a show about America as seen outside of America," he said. "It is unique and, at the same time, relatable. Unique, because how often do you get to see a comedy set in another country? And relatable because we all have experience talking with a call center worker. It's an important aspect of our lives, but we don't see what is on the other side of the phone."

 

{alltv} Spike TV gives go-ahead to 2 docu series

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Spike TV has green-lit two documentary series, one examining the world of little-person wrestling and another focused on Brooklyn scrap-metal workers.

In "Scrappers," a crew of competitors and friends hunt for the best scrap in Brooklyn, recycling everything from old cars to building materials. Spike has ordered 10 episodes of the series .

The second show, "Half Pint Brawlers," is a six-episode series following a chaotic troupe of little-person wrestlers on its travels around the United States, led by gregarious owner Puppet "The Psycho Dwarf."

The series is billed as a cross between "Jackass" and "Little People, Big World."

"The driving forces behind these new shows are the tremendous personalities of these very distinctive characters," said Sharon Levy, Spike TV's senior vice president of original series. "We believe their authenticity and honesty will resonate with our young male audience."

"Half Pint" is currently shooting; "Scrappers" begins shooting in March.

On Friday, Spike TV also announced that the network is teaming with Thom Beers ("Deadliest Catch") to develop the network's first entry in the late-night genre.

The program will be a weekly half-hour series that will combine talk and comedy, with a focus on "manformation for the true guys' guy." It will have two hosts.

The network also ordered a third season of its series "1000 Ways to Die," which explores the science behind unusual deaths.

 

 

{alltv} Syfy movie series to update fairy tales

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Syfy is reinventing fairy tales and pop-culture characters as part of its Saturday night TV movie franchise.

The network will air five titles that each put a contemporary twist on a classic story, from Hansel & Gretel (years after escaping the witch in the haunted forest, Hansel returns seeking revenge) to Little Red Riding Hood (a descendant of Little Red discovers that her family secretly hunts werewolves).

The series is partly inspired by the network's mandate to find projects with broader appeal that began in earnest last year with the network's rebranding from Sci Fi to Syfy.

Syfy's Saturday movies continue to be one of the last bastions of regularly produced made-for-TV movies. Each film is typically an international co-production made with a budget of about $2 million and shot on 35mm film. Syfy works with about 10 independent studios, which also distribute the titles on DVD. Each movie tends to average about 1.8 million viewers on Saturdays during the network's twice-monthly original airings.

Syfy's series of fairy-tale titles kicks off with "Beauty and the Beast" on February 27.

 

 

{alltv} Snooki Is Katy Perry's New Grammy BFF!

Sure, her fiancé Russell Brand was on her arm at the Grammy Awards – but Katy Perry found a new BFF at Sunday's award show. And the pop star was eager to show her off with a Twitpic!

Yep, that's Jersey Shore star Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi hanging out with Perry as she pulled up to the Staples Center. (Look closely, and you'll see Brand chilling in the backseat of the SUV!) Wrote Perry on her Twitter account, quoting the Black Eyed Peas lyric: "Tonights gonna be a good good night!"

The only way it could get better? If Perry won best female pop vocal performance for her hit "Hit N Cold."

 

 

{alltv} Kell on Earth: Kelly Cutrone Shows Softer Side

Kelly Cutrone has made a name for herself on TV ripping fashionistas apart on reality hits The Hills and The City. Cutrone, however, has an important message for viewers expecting more of the same on her new Bravo series, Kell on Earth.

"I'm not infallible!" says the 44-year-old fashion publicist. "People are going to be really surprised when they see me on the show get fired by a client because I think they think I'm infallible."

Kell on Earth, premiering Monday at 10/9c, dives much deeper in the world of Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port's former boss. Viewers will not only see Cutrone lose a client but the behind-the-scenes success and struggles of her fashion publicity firm, People's Revolution. Filming captures the firm's work at New York Fashion Week, London Fashion Week as well as the staff behind it.

Kell on Earth's other cast members include her new assistant Andrew, the recently promoted Stephanie and Cutrone's high-powered partners, Emily and Robyn. "The pacing on Kell on Earth is very, very, very fast, it's very hand-held and it's very documentary," she says. "It's an hour so we have a lot to do."

In comparison to her MTV stomping grounds, the cameras also show — dare we say — Cutrone's softer side, as her personal life, including her 7-year-old daughter, Ava, play an equally large role. "It's a completely different thing," she says of the difference between the shows. "It's kind of like what's the difference between Coldplay and Christina Aguilera? They're both great artists, it's just different kinds of music."

For Cutrone, the change is a welcome one. "I'm a communicator and a storyteller so when I got the opportunity to tell more than one story, I was excited to do that," she says.

Cutrone may get canned on camera and show her motherly instinct for the first time, but that isn't to say she's completely changed. In the first episode, she loudly informs her staff of her no-crying-in-the-office policy: "If you need to cry, go outside." Still, fans will also see Cutrone among her close friends and even, yes, trying to set up her single assistant, Andrew.

Kell on Earth may mark a bigger personal investment for the bare-knuckled boss but, unlike her no-nonsense work habits, Cutrone is happy to live in the moment of her success. "Anybody that's on a TV show knows: the worst part about it is that you know can't go on forever," Cutrone says. "It's like a great love affair. You just have to enjoy it until it's over."

{alltv} Life Unexpected's Shiri Appleby Previews the Fallout of Cate and Baze Sleeping Together

Although she may not look like your average on-screen mom, Life Unexpected's Shiri Appleby says the role of Cate is exactly what she had been looking for. Mostly known as Liz from the WB series Roswell, Appleby told TVGuide.com she's glad to be back on the network where she got her start, and on a show that's "about people being there for one another."

TVGuide.com: What was your reaction when you got called in for a role as a mother?
Shiri Appleby: I couldn't imagine that I was what they'd be looking for. This character is going through so many of the same issues that I and my friends are going through [that] the idea of it being a mother was a non-issue. I've been wanting to tell a story about people being there for each other and caring about one another, learning to grow up.

TVGuide.com: How will Cate and Baze sleeping together in the premiere episode play out?
Appleby: It definitely has to come out at some point and she tries really hard to figure out the right time and what it means exactly. She's got such an interesting triangle on her hands. Does she choose the guy that's calm and stable and sort of the voice of reason? And with the other one, the question is, is it possible to find your soul mate and do you really find him at winter formal having sex in the back of a minivan? I think the whole season she struggles.

TVGuide.com: In real life, are you more drawn to the Baze or Ryan type?
Appleby: I like a combination of both. Nice guy with some edge.

TVGuide.com: Tell me about Monday's episode and the big family gathering.
Appleby: We meet Cate's mom and sister and they are definitely opposites to Baze's family. I would say that for the most part the parents are not too thrilled with this new situation and what that means. It takes a lot of adjusting on everyone's behalf.

TVGuide.com: In meeting her family, will we learn more about why Cate is the way she is?
Appleby: Absolutely. You realize that she comes from a broken home times five. Later in the season we meet my father (Peter Horton), my mom's (Cynthia Stevenson) been married five times, my sister and I have this weird competitive thing, and as the season goes on you realize that Cate just totally shut down the day that she had to give Lux up for adoption.

TVGuide.com: In this episode, Lux also encounters some "mean girls." What clique were you in?
Appleby: I was not part of the mean girls, but we had a lot of friends. I was a cheerleader one year, I was on leadership, I was on yearbook — I loved high school.

TVGuide.com: Can you relate to Cate at all?
Appleby: Totally. I think the idea of deciding to trust someone and make yourself open is a very scary, nerve-racking decision and who do you choose to spend your life with? Those are big questions.

TVGuide.com: What can we expect as the season progresses?
Appleby: Lux has a lot of anger toward Cate that she led the life that she did, and Cate feels a lot of guilt and remorse about that, so they go through a whole roller coaster of emotions about that together.

TVGuide.com: And if you return for a second season, what would you like to see?
Appleby: I hope that she and Ryan can really build a life together and I'm not necessarily sure how that will all work out. I think Cate has to resolve or deal with the fact that she does have feelings for Baze as well and you hope that Lux and Cate can work through a lot of the issues that they have. We don't wrap up all of the issues between the two of them in one season so hopefully have a chance to work through more of that.

TVGuide.com: Do you think the fact that you and Kerr Smith starred in old-school WB hit shows gives your show a nostalgic quality?
Appleby: I think so. It seems to be something people bring up a lot. I loved watching Felicity, I loved watching Dawson's Creek. I still love those actors, so if I see them in anything I'm prone to wanting to watch it because I grew up watching them. Hopefully we're having the same sort of reaction for other people. 

TVGuide.com: Both Dawson's and Roswell had long opening titles with songs that became hits. Do you miss that about most shows today?
Appleby: Ours started last week. We were all like, "We want opening titles!" so they made a great opening title sequence for us with a great song, so it feels very much in the vein of those old shows.

TVGuide.com: So far all of the episode titles have rhymed with "unexpected." Won't they run out of words that end in "ted?"
Appleby: I know, I'm like, how are they going to keep up with it? All season long it's stuck with that. If we get lucky enough to get a second season we'll see what they do.

{alltv} 13 Questions with the Producers of Lost: Polar Bears, the Smoke Monster, and the Man in Black

 Before we go any further, let's make one thing clear: the polar bears maybe aren't that big a deal. That's just one of the hints Lost executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof dropped about the sixth and final season of the show when we interviewed them at the show's Hawaii premiere party. They also told us a bit about the Man in Black, promised to explain the Smoke Monster, and told us who's really dead.

TVGuide.com: The show raises a lot of questions, but is there anything that fans have focused on that you never intended to be a big deal?
Cuse: The polar bears. We sort of felt like we explained the polar bears. We saw polar bear cages. We saw Sawyer locked in a polar bear cage. But people were still like, "What's up with those polar bears?" That seems to be kind of an obsession. Libby has also been an obsession.
Lindelof: The new obsession is basically, "How many questions are you guys going to answer?" And people are asking us that like Carlton and I are gonna go, "87. We're just not going to tell you which ones." Or, "What percentage of the mysteries are you going to answer?" But that doesn't take into account the fact that some people consider some things mysteries that other people don't consider mysteries at all or don't care about. So we basically say, every mystery that is relevant to the characters on [Flight] 815, if they don't care about it, then it's probably not going to be answered. So if it's relevant to them or they're asking a question, then it's something that we're going to deal with.  But that's the story that we're telling.

TVGuide.com: Is the reset going to be a theme of this season or are you playing with the audience?
Cuse: I think it wouldn't be Lost if we weren't playing with the audience a little bit, but by the end of the premiere, you'll have a sense of what we're doing. We're still doing the same thing we've always done on the show, which is island storytelling and off-island storytelling. It just now starts to take on a different form in the final season. Like every season, each season is a distinct entity, so by the end of the premiere, you should have a sense of what Season 6 is shaping up to be like.

TVGuide.com: Michael Emerson said instead of storylines coming together, the threads keep spreading out. Do you feel like everything will come together at the end or will it keep spreading?
Cuse: I'm not sure I agree with Michael. He might have been toying with you, because we do feel like there's a certain circularity to the show. In the same way that the show started, we're going to come back around to some of the main characters from the first season of the show. To us, the most important thing is, what are these character's destinies? What are their fates? What's going to happen to them? Those are the questions we're really interested in answering. Along the way, we're going to tackle some of the mythological biggies, like what's the smoke monster? You'll learn more about the nature of the island. You'll learn more about Jacob and the Man in Black. Those are the things we feel are important as opposed to what kind of research was the Dharma Initiative doing on polar bears.

TVGuide.com: Will there be more on the numbers or will that never really be answered?
Cuse: There is definitely more about the numbers in Season 6. I think it will be an individual decision as to whether you'll walk away satisfied by the answer because there's a fundamental conundrum where any question begets another question. It's the Big Bang conundrum. The universe started with the Big Bang, but once you accept that you ask what came before the Big Bang. So at a certain point you can't definitively answer a question in a way that doesn't lead to other questions. Everyone is going to have to find their comfort level with the show.

TVGuide.com: Will the final season be no holds barred? Can anyone die?
Cuse: The mantra of the final season in a certain way is, "Anything can happen, be prepared." We are nearing the end, so if there are any constraints that govern a series, they really go away in the final season. We always felt like Lost was at its best when it was really surprising. We did things that were unexpected. We do have a few surprises up our sleeves for this season, which we think are really exciting.

TVGuide.com: You already know who is going to die in the end?
Cuse: Yes, we have our game plan for how the season will end. Significant discisions like that have definitely been resolved by now. We're still writing the scripts, but we, ourselves, know the fates of the characters.

TVGuide.com: What can you say of the Man in Black?
Cuse: People who are curious about the Man in Black will get more answers this season for sure. We recognize that that character is mysterious and cryptic and we promise that we will give you more details about who he is.

TVGuide.com: Is Jacob really dead?
Cuse: Is Jacob really dead? Yeah, I mean we've always said that when characters die on Lost they die. He was stabbed, he was dead. Of course, dead characters show up in other incarnations. We have a narrative structure of our show which allows us to have our cake and eat it too. Just because you're dead doesn't mean we don't see you on the show, but was Jacob killed by Ben? The answer is yes.

TVGuide.com: Yes, and Harold Perrineau is among those who's back despite being dead.
Cuse: Yeah, and he's back on the show this year, so you'll see Harold on the show and that's really exciting for us, but he did die on the freighter.

TVGuide.com: Is Kate going to end up with Jack or Sawyer or end up alone?
Cuse: Well, we know what's going to happen to her, but we're not going to tip what's happening to her. But we definitely know what the resolutions of the characters are and we know that people care a lot about the Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Juliet quadrangle and that will be something that you'll definitely get some resolution on this season.
Lindelof: And I think it's great that you actually present that Kate might end up alone as an option, because a lot of people say, "Is it going to be Jack or is it going to be Sawyer?" But that presupposes way too many things that they're not fully aware of in the final season. So there may be a couple of other options that are in play that people aren't considering yet.

TVGuide.com: Are we going to learn more about why Richard doesn't age?
Cuse: Yes you will. You will definitely learn more about Richard Alpert this season. Now, whether it's enough for you to be satisfied, that'll be up to you. But we're definitely going to explain more about him.
Lindelof: We've been coming up against what we call the chicken and the egg conundrum, which is every time we answer a question, there's two questions left in its wake. So we have to decide where we draw the line. So if the question is, "Are we going to learn more about Richard? Are we going to see his origin story?", the answer is, we would be remiss if we were not to present that. But if we were to say, "Are we going to definitively answer all these mysteries regarding Richard?", it's literally impossible to do.

TVGuide.com: Are there teams supporting Jacob and the Man in Black? And what should we call that guy?
Cuse: The Man in Black.

TVGuide.com: Are there teams? Are there people that are going to take sides this season?
Cuse: People are going to take sides, but that doesn't mean they're not going to switch sides later on. It's a little bit like baseball pre-season. You're on a team, but there's a lot of trading going on.
Lindelof: I think one thing to keep in mind though is that just because one guy wears white and the other guy wears black, don't make immediate judgments over who's good and who's evil. Jacob has kind of put our guys through the wringer in a lot of ways, so it might be interesting to see what the Man in Black has to say for himself.
Cuse: He might have a good perspective.

{alltv} Madsen facing more money woes

Actor Michael Madsen is facing more money problems - he's been hit with a lawsuit from a California company which alleges he failed to pay for the upkeep of his swimming pool.

Papers filed at a small claims court accuse the Reservoir Dogs star of owing $6,809.88 to a Malibu, California pool company for work carried out between November 2008 and January 2010, according to TMZ.com.

It's the latest in a long line of financial woes for Madsen, who filed for bankruptcy last June. He is said to owe thousands of dollars in personal loans to Hollywood pals Pierce Brosnan and Quentin Tarantino, and was recently sued by the landlord of his Malibu, California home after allegedly failing to pay his rent.

 

{alltv} Champions League final tops Super Bowl in TV survey

MIAMI (Reuters) – UEFA's Champions League final has for the first time replaced the NFL's Super Bowl as the most-watched annual sports event, according to a survey.

The yearly report from London-based Initiative Futures Sports and Entertainment, found that both events continue to grow but the European soccer final is growing faster.

With 2009 not including a 'mega event' -- a Summer Olympic Games or a soccer World Cup or European championship -- it offered a chance to measure the two biggest annual sporting events.

The Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United, on May 27, drew an average audience of 109 million while the Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals on February 1, attracted three million less.

In terms of 'total audience', the amount of people who watched part of the event, the difference was larger with the Champions League pulling in 206 million throughout the game while the Super Bowl managed 162 million.

While the Super Bowl's audience was overwhelmingly domestic, UEFA's product appeared to be doing better in the battle for viewers globally -- in non-World Cup and non-Olympic Games year.

"The Champions League has been better able to exploit the large burgeoning populations of the Asia-Pacific region," said Kevin Alavay, the report's director, who noted the presence of global brands such as Barcelona and Manchester United helped UEFA.

However, the good news for the NFL was that the 2009 figures were the most-watched Super Bowl.

The report also showed the Super Bowl had the lowest ratio between average and total audience figures among top events -- in other words, a much larger percentage of fans watched all of the Super Bowl than all of the Champions League programing -- a key factor behind the American event's huge appeal to advertisers.

But European soccer was clearly outpacing the NFL in the key growth markets.

"While the Super Bowl has secured free-to-air broadcasting deals in a number of important European markets such as the UK, France and Germany, it's distribution and popularity in the key Asia-Pacific region lags far behind the UEFA Champions League," said the report.

The report, in its seventh year, is based on official data from national bodies and measures 'at-home viewing'.

Alavay said the continued growth of the Super Bowl and the Champions League final was particularly impressive in a time of fragmentation in television audiences caused by digitalization.

"The value of these properties is actually growing disproportionately and in an area of digitalization they are more than bucking the trend," he said.

Formula One's Bahrain Grand Prix was in third place with an average of 54 million, while the men's 100 meters final from the Athletics world championships was fourth with 33 million.

 

{alltv} Cuthbert lands TV chat show pass

24 star Elisha Cuthbert has been handed the first season pass to her favourite late-night TV show after revealing she's a big fan.

The Canadian actress shoots new show The Forgotten just yards away from where comedian George Lopez tapes his show - and on her first appearance on Thursday night she confessed she has often attempted to sneak past security to join the audience.

Cuthbert, who plays Kiefer Sutherland's daughter on 24, told Lopez she was particularly upset when she failed to get access to his show when her idol Mariah Carey and crush David Beckham were guests.

She told the host, "If I can get a free pass to come here and sit in the audience any time I want I will love your show forever."

Cuthbert then screamed when Lopez produced a season pass.

He revealed, "This is the only one in existence. We had it made. They told me you were a huge fan... You are welcome 24/7."

{alltv} Brown would like daughter back on 'American Idol'

 

WASHINGTON – Sen.-elect Scott Brown says he'd like daughter Ayla to have another crack at "American Idol," where judge Simon Cowell once described her performance as robotic and empty.

The fledgling recording artist, a 21-year-old student at Boston College, made it to the show's final 16 singers in 2006.

Her father told ABC's "This Week" that Ayla was so new to it all back then that she had never put on makeup until she did "American Idol." He also says that Cowell's critique, while harsh, was on target.

The Republican lawmaker says having his daughter back as a contestant would be great for the program and would show people there's life after "American Idol."

Ayla Brown has sung the national anthem with the Boston Pops and released three albums — including one called "Circles" that just came out.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen.-elect Scott Brown says he'd like daughter Ayla to have another crack at "American Idol," where judge Simon Cowell once described her performance as robotic and empty.

The fledgling recording artist, a 21-year-old student at Boston College, made it to the show's final 16 singers in 2006.

Her father told ABC's "This Week" that Ayla was so new to it all back then that she had never put on makeup until she did "American Idol." He also says that Cowell's critique, while harsh, was on target.

The Republican lawmaker says having his daughter back as a contestant would be great for the program and would show people there's life after "American Idol."

Ayla Brown has sung the national anthem with the Boston Pops and released three albums — including one called "Circles" that just came out.

{alltv} CNN's Candy Crowley to lead network's Sunday show

 

NEW YORK – Veteran CNN correspondent Candy Crowley will be host of the network's Sunday morning political talk show.

Crowley replaces John King, who is leaving the show he started after one year. King has a new weekday evening show that's expected to debut on CNN soon. Her appointment was announced on the air Sunday.

The hour-long show airs at 9 a.m. ET, and is repeated with updates three hours later. Crowley has been with CNN since 1987. She has covered all but one of the national political conventions since the nomination of Jimmy Carter in 1976.

She'll be the only woman among the Sunday morning public affairs hosts, joining NBC's David Gregory, CBS' Bob Schieffer and Fox's Chris Wallace. ABC is in the process of finding a replacement for George Stephanopoulos (stehf-uh-NAHP'-uh-luhs ), who has taken over at "Good Morning America."