Cybergavel falls on Actors’ Fund auction
I’m not sure just what “an experience with the cast of ‘Queer As Folk’ ” means, but it’s part-and-parcel of The Actors’ Fund of America’s “Auction of 1000 Stars,” a two-week online auction that begins today (auctionof1000stars.org). It’s co-sponsored by Yahoo! and Oxygen.
Several items have just been added to the auction, including a “meet and greet” with the cast of “Will & Grace” plus VIP tickets to a taping of the NBC sitcom. There’s also the chance to bid on a day on the set of “Sesame Street”; spending a day at the spa with ex-“SNL”er Ana Gasteyer; and spending some time with soap stars on “Young & The Restless” and “Days of Our Lives.”
Proceeds from the auction benefit The Actors’ Fund, which supports “entertainment professionals in crisis.”
Screen genes: The scion also rises at TCM
Ben Mankiewicz, grandson of legendary writer Herman Mankiewicz and great-nephew of director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, has been named weekend daytime host of TCM’s movie slate. He starts his new gig Saturday, Sept. 6 (12-8 p.m.) and will host Sundays from noon to 6 p.m. Mankiewicz joins TCM from WAMI- TV in Miami and will continue hosting his satellite radio show, “The Young Turks,” on Sirius Satellite Radio. Longtime TCM host Robert Osborne will continue to host the network’s prime- time screenings.
Take your ‘PIX at 10 p.m.
Ch. 11’s Peter Thorne takes a look tonight (10 p.m.) at an unbelievably annoying new trend: Commercials tacked on to movie trailers that are being shown in theaters nationwide. There’s even a class-action lawsuit against the Loews Cineplex chain maintaining that showing commercials on the big screen, to paying patrons, constitutes “fraud against a captive audience.”
Tomorrow at 10 p.m., Ch. 11’s Alyssa Coleman reports on how her habit of eating sushi – and washing it down with green tea – spurred her to do a story on the benefits of tea-drinking, and how the anti-oxidants in tea may help reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, improve circulation and help prevent osteoporosis.
Last, but not least . . .
* Coincidence? MSNBC has hired Sumi Das as a correspondent. Her name, spelled backwards, is “Sad Imus.” She’ll cover the Laci Peterson case. MSNBC has also hired ex-ABC News anchor Alison Stewart as a political commentator, while Dana Priest joins NBC News as intelligence/nat’l security analyst.
* Chris Wallace takes a look at the puzzling murder of British TV news reporter Jill Dando on tonight’s special edition of “Primetime” (10 p.m./Ch. 7). Did police arrest the wrong man?
* Court TV’s Karen Duffy (“Hollywood At Large”) shares a May 23 birthday with Court TV publicist Sy Presten.
* “Ambush Makeover” (11 a.m./Ch. 5) will be here July 23 as “style agent” William Whatley drives through Times Square on a double- decker bus, searching for makeover “targets.”
* “The Dead Zone” star Anthony Michael Hall huddling with “Searching For Bobby DeNiro” director Paul Borghese over at Markt (401 W. 14th).
* I pulled a wrongo: “Fairly OddParents” creator Butch Hartman is not the brother of the late Phil Hartman. My apologies.