My Publicist Note Book

The late Michael Jackson has made a stunning "appearance"  at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas The Michael Jackson performance on the  Billboard Music Awards  was the result of nearly half a year of planning, choreography and filming, not to mention the development of new technology. Producers of the Billboard Music Awards did not see even a portion of the film until eight days before the broadcast. "We've been talking about it for the last five months and while we were talking about it they were still inventing the process," says BBMA director and producer Larry Klein. "It was really strange talking about something that did not exist. " Jackson, in hologram form, performed "Slave to the Rhythm" midway The hologram danced to the new Jackson single  ''Slave to the Rhythm''. through Sunday night's show with a five-piece band and 16 dancers live onstage. Jackson appeared in gold jacket, white T-...

Tracee Ellis Ross works a sexy yellow dress as she and co-star Laurence Fishburne promote their new Black-ish sitcom in NYC It's expected to be one of the breakout hits of the US Fall TV season, so stars of the new Black-ish sitcom, Tracee Ellis Ross and Laurence Fishburne , were doing their best to promote the series. 41-year-old Tracee and 52-year-old Laurence attended the Entertainment Weekly & ABC Upfronts Party at Toro on Tuesday in New York City, after stepping out earlier from Trump International Hotel in the city. Tracee's mother is legendary singer Diana 'The Boss' Ross Laurence wasn't left in the shade either by his dazzling co-star, as he sported a cool purple suit and kept his sunglasses firmly in place. Clashing co-stars: Tracee and Laurence certainly knew how to get attention in their bright outfits Black-ish , a single-camera comedy centres on a middle-class African-American family, is due to premiere on ABC...

'Hannibal' Season 3 Renewed: NBC Officially Picks Up Its Best Drama With A Third Season Renewal "Hannibal" renewed !   Trumpet  it to the masses:  "Hannibal" season 3 is officially a go . After leaving us in suspense for  a little longer than any would have liked , NBC has  finally picked up "Hannibal"  for a third season, not too long before the upcoming, inevitably  dramatic ending of season 2 .  It's fantastic news: the show is one of the best dramas on network television, and came compete with high drama for cable. Drama With A Third Season Renewal The "Hannibal" season 3 renewal just came through on Friday, and actually comes as a bit of a surprise to some. Although the demographics of the viewership are quite young and favorable, the overall ratings numbers have been pretty low, slightly below NBC's average. But those good, if small, demographics clearly helped the show out. But not as much as its producti...

Viola Davis is headlining Shonda Rhimes’ newest drama for ABC, ‘How to Get Away With Murder.’ Peter Nowalk penned the ABC Studios pilot and exec produces with  Betsy Beers  and  Shonda Rhimes , who created two of the network's biggest hits with "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal," has been greenlighted for a third drama, "How To Get Away With Murder. "  There was no word Friday on when it could appear on the air. Like the other major networks, ABC is announcing its fall schedule next week. "How to Get Away With Murder" revolves around elite law school students who get caught up in a real-life murder case and is a sexy, suspense-driven legal thriller about a group of ambitious law students and their brilliant, mysterious criminal defense professor (Viola Davis) who become entangled in a murder plot that will rock their entire university and change the course of their lives.  Grey's Anatomy producer Peter Nowalk will write and e...

"The Minority Report" host becomes the latest black lead on the small screen, joining a rapidly growing roster of talent on newly ordered  prime time  series. Comedy Central's Friday announcement that  Larry Wilmore  would take over the time slot previously occupied by  Stephen Colbert  with his new  Minority Report  caps a major week for black leads on the small screen. STORY: Early Trends Emerge as Broadcasters Bet on Black Leads, Politics, Terror  The Daily Show  correspondent, who will launch his new series in the 11:30 p.m. slot starting in January, joins a rapidly growing roster of black leads on newly ordered prime-time broadcast scripted series. The emergence of black leads was one of the earliest trends to emerge from the wave of broadcast network pickups this week.  ABC on Thursday ordered  Anthony Anderson  comedy   Black-ish   to series.  That ...

Even the iconic McDonald's french fry, a linchpin to the fast-food giant's multibillion-dollar success, is getting a second look as the company seeks new product hits. On Thursday, the same day McDonald's announced that domestic sales were flat in April, the company confirmed that it will begin testing seasoned fries -- dubbed Shakin' Flavor Fries -- on Friday in the Northern California and St. Louis markets. The seasonings: Garlic Parmesan, Zesty Ranch and Spicy Buffalo. But here's the rub: You don't buy the fries pre-seasoned. Instead, they come with special packets of seasoning that consumers are advised to open, pour and shake into a specially made mixing bag. Imprinted on the bags: "Seasoned fries. Shake your taste buds." The concept, which debuted in some of its Hong Kong restaurants nearly a decade ago, where it's known as "Shake Shake," has since spread to many McDonald's locations in China, India and Australia, says ...

Reality show star and singer Clay Aiken has won the Democratic primary for North Carolina's second congressional district. The former "American Idol" star received just 372 more votes than his opponent in the Democratic Primary in North Carolina In a squeaker, singer and  reality show contestant  Clay Aiken  appears to have won the Democratic primary for the U.S. House of Representatives from his native North Carolina and will face off against the two-term Republican incumbent  Rep. Renee Ellmers  in November. Aiken, who grew up in Raleigh, rose to fame on "American Idol," and landed on the cover of People magazine when he came out as gay in 2008, fended off two opponents, a former state Commerce secretary considered the Establishment candidate (he only trailed Aiken by less than 400 votes) and a licensed family counselor who had previously run for the nomination.  Campaigning on a platform of job creation and a...

a Here’s Why Nigeria Hasn’t Yet Found Its 300 Missing Girls " Here’s Why Nigeria Hasn’t Yet Found Its 300 Missing Girls "       Share on email The world isn’t just aware of the plight of three hundred girls kidnapped from their boarding school in Nigeria now. It has become, finally, invested. Globally, people are demanding that the Nigerian government do more to find the 276 girls still missing, while a hashtag,  #BringBackOurGirls , unites the web behind their cause. The world is eager to see the girls, stolen away in the night three weeks ago, returned. But part of the reason why the girls remain abducted lies in just how the government has waged its war against the terrorists who carried out the kidnapping over the last half a decade. And the terrorists who hold them captive remain an unpredictable factor, leaving even experts unsure just how to bring about their freedom from the men determined to prevent them from gaining an education....