Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles reunited ahead of ITV debut

By Mail Online Reporter

Reunited: Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley meet up in London ahead of their debut on ITV later this year


They stunned fans when they announced they would both be making the move from the BBC to ITV.

Both Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley revealed earlier this year they would be leaving The One Show to front the new-look GMTV, and it seems the pair are keen to talk about ideas for their new venture.

The pair looked happy and excited as they were reunited for the first time in months at a business meeting in London.

Bleakley, who carried a huge turquoise Marks & Spencer bag to brighten up her outfit of a floral top and grey skinny jeans, grinned broadly as she met up with her former co-host.

But the meeting wasn't without drama, as Bleakley and Chiles were forced to cut their meeting short when a fire alarm went off in the building where they were chatting.

Chiles then explored his Easy Rider side when he said goodbye to Bleakley and hopped on his motorbike and made his escape.


Easy rider: Chiles escaped on a motorbike after a fire alarm caused their meeting to be cut short


Into the sunset: Chiles whizzed through the streets of London, leaving onlookers stunned


Bleakley and Chiles, who had a huge fanbase during their time on The One Show, will be fronting ITV1's new breakfast show Daybreak from September.

After announcing plans for the future of ITV's morning programming, Director of Factual, Daytime and GMTV, Alison Sharman said: 'Christine and Adrian will be the lynchpins of Daybreak with their unique and brilliant partnership.'

Bleakley caused a stir last month when it was announced she would be leaving The One Show earlier than previously agreed.






Colourful: Christine accessorised her outfit with a turquoise M&S bag


Sturdy vehicle: Christine chose to go home in a car, rather than on the back of Chiles's motorbike


She had been expected to continue presenting the show until September before moving to ITV, but the BBC announced they would be letting her go from her contract two months early because she couldn't decide whether or not to stay at the corporation.

A statement issued by the BBC read: 'Following the BBC's decision to withdraw its offer of an extended contract to Christine Bleakley, we have agreed she will not be returning to The One Show


Co-hosts: The pair, who previously fronted The One Show together, will host new ITV show Daybreak


'Jason Manford will begin presenting duties next month alongside a still-to-be-announced co-presenter

'The BBC would like to take this opportunity to thank Christine for her contribution to the show and to wish her well.'

Bleakley, who recently returned from a luxurious holiday with boyfriend Frank Lampard, said of her move recently: 'I have had the most wonderful three years at the BBC and The One Show.

'It has consumed my life in that time and I would not have had it any other way; I have made great friends and met some incredible people.

'It is with regret that this experience is coming to an end. I have been torn between working with Adrian Chiles and remaining at the BBC.'



source: dailymail

SPOILER ALERT: Gossip Girl's Dan revealed to be a father as Penn Badgley films in New York

By Antonia Blyth

It's true: Penn Badgley's Dan plays father with girlfriend Vanessa, played by Jessica Szohr, as they film Gossip Girl in New York today


Actor Penn Badgley filmed scenes with a baby today in New York, revealing to Gossip Girl fans that his character Dan has become a dad.

At the end of last season, he was confronted by his villainous ex, Georgina, played by Michelle Trachtenberg. The 24-year-old appeared with a large baby bump.

'You're the father,' she told a flabbergasted Dan.

The pair had enjoyed a brief fling before he got together with longtime friend Vanessa, played by Jessica Szohr, 25.

Although viewers may have assumed Georgina was being her usual dishonest self, It appears Dan has accepted his new responsible role this season.

He was spotted wheeling a baby in a buggy alongside a grim-faced Vanessa.

Off-screen, the story is almost as complex, with Penn, 23, dating Blake Lively, 22.

The pair play exes on the show.


Dolled up: Penn practices his fathering skills on a plastic baby first


To make matters even harder to follow, Jessica Szohr is dating Ed Westwick, 23, off-screen while on-screen he is notorious lothario Chuck Bass.

Despite his apparent dedication to fatherhood, Penn rehearsed first with a doll, before switching to the real thing.

Season four of Gossip Girl, which also stars Chace Crawford, 24, Taylor Momsen, 16, and Leighton Meester, 24, will air on in the U.S. on the CW in September.


Sad state of an affair: Jessica Szohr looks unhappy as her character's relationship is strained by the surprise new baby


source: dailymail

Catfight breaks out as Gossip Girl stars film in Paris

By Daily Mail Reporter

Getting heated: Leighton Meester's character Blair rows with Serena (Blake Lively) while filming a scene for Gossip Girl in Paris yesterday night


They are best pals and occasionally rivals on hit TV show Gossip Girl.

But there was nothing friendly about Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf in these Parisian scenes.

During a heated argument, mean girl Blair, played by Leighton Meester, ended up pushing Blake Lively’s Serena into the fountain, soaking her designer outfit


Making a splash: Meester pushes her co-star into the fountain

The actresses were filming the scenes last night for the forthcoming series of the U.S. drama series.

However, on closer inspection, it would appear that a body double may have been used during water scene, as the girl pictured looks a little different from 22-year-old Lively.

During the French shoot, both Meester and Lively have been seen in a variety of designer outfits


Soaked: Serena is wet through, but is it Blake Lively or a body double?


Yesterday, Meester, 24, wore a black and silver short-sleeved dress while Lively sported the pair of black shorts and spiky high heels.

In the past, Lively has had to refute claims that she and her co-sataer Meester are not friendly off set.

'It’s absurd. We get along so well,' she told Cosmopolitan.


Lady in orange: Meester looks stunning in her flamboyant orange gown, unusually teamed with a pair of black flip flops


Which is just as well seeing as the actresses have to work so closely together.

After last night's shoot they were up again, filming the last Paris scenes in daylight, with Meester looking striking in a stunning floor length orange gown.
And the stars certainly had an audience.

French fans flooded the streets to try to catch a glimpse of the filming.

The new series will air in the U.S. this autumn.




Popular: Fans flood the French street to try to catch a glimpse of the last day's filming


source: dailymail

Oh Dad! Kristen Stewart's proud father gushes over the 'beautiful' Twilight star on chat show

By Daily Mail Reporter

Two thumbs up: Kristen was uncharacteristically smiley as she introduced her dad on the Lopez Tonight show last night


Kristen Stewart's appearance on U.S. chat show Lopez Tonight turned into a real family affair.

The Twilight star's father John Stewart is a stage manager on the programme and took the opportunity to act the proud dad.

Mr Stewart stood up during her interview and said: 'Kristen, you look beautiful!'


So proud: John Stewart, who is a stage manager on show, waves to his daughter


The 20-year-old, who was wearing a tight little black dress, blushed and responded: 'Yeah right. He's the one when I come home like this and says, '"You might want to be a little more normal'."

This is the first time Kristen has introduced her long-haired father to the world.
It comes a week after Robert Pattinson introduced his parents to fans on the Jay Leno show.


Secret talent: Kristen put her juggling skills on show with host George Lopez


When host George Lopez later asked to show a hidden talent, Kristen displayed some juggling before being presented with 'Edward' and 'Jacob' pillows and a set of golf clubs.

Kristen also confessed on the show that she has pet wolves in her backyard at home, something that will no doubt excite the Twilight 'Team Jacob' Taylor Lautner fans.

Kristen is starring with Lautner and Robert Pattinson in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which has broken the midnight screening box office record in the U.S. by taking over $30 million since Wednesday night.

This breaks the previous record held by the second Twilight film New Moon



source: dailymail

SPOILER ALERT: Emmerdale bride-to-be Nicola De Souza makes a mad dash to the church on time

By Georgina Littlejohn

Taxi! Nicola De Souza, played by Nicola Wheeler, makes a mad dash to her wedding, in scenes to be shown tonight


Will she or won't she make it to the church on time?

This is what all Emmerdale fans will be asking tonight as bride Nicola De Souza races against the clock to be on time for her wedding.

Nicola, played by actress Nicola Wheeler, is seen dashing through cobbled streets as she desperately tries to get to the church.

The soap's resident vixen is due to marry fiance Jimmy King, played by Nick Miles, in scenes that are to be shown on ITV this evening.


But the blushing - or should that be out-of-breath - bride is left running against the clock after she is summoned to court.

She is hauled before a judge for biting toddler Cathy Hope hours before her nuptials.


Wait for me! Nicola looks panic-stricken as she dashes towards the church


In tonight's hour-long episode, viewers will breathe a sigh of relief as Nicola is spared punishment at the very last-minute when Cathy's mother Viv Hope, played by Deena Payne, has a change of heart.

Viv accused Nicola of attacking her child after Nicola protected her baby daughter Angelica from the three-year-old girl.

In scenes shown last month, she sees Angelica being bitten by little Cathy, so tries to teach the child a lesson by gently biting her back, but Viv finds out and calls cops.


Popping the question: Jimmy King, played by Nick Miles, proposes to Nicola in scenes shown on Emmerdale last month


Nicola then has to make a quick change into her wedding dress in the toilets at the court, before she makes a frantic dash back to Emmerdale before her guests are kicked out of the venue to make way for a funeral.

But with the wedding car clamped and time running out, the chances of the couple making it down the aisle look slim.

Actress Nicola said: 'It's a mad dash to the church. Otherwise they'll be sharing the aisle with a coffin.'


source: dailymail

Girl, 5, dies two days after fulfilling final wish to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Simon Cowell

By Daily Mail Reporter

Desperately missed: Bethany Fenton's 'audition' of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for Simon Cowell was described by her family as the 'highlight of her short little life'


A five-year-old girl has died just two days after she achieved her Britain's Got Talent dream of singing for Simon Cowell.

Bethany Fenton, who had an inoperable brain tumour, was granted her wish to visit the BGT studios in north London ahead of Saturday's final.

The youngster performed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Simon and met some of the finalists in the competition, including singing great-grandmother Janey Cutler, drumming prodigy Kieran Gaffney and street dancers Twist And Pulse.

But today the tragic youngster passed away at the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford after a sudden deterioration in her condition at home.

Her parents Jemma and Sean were said to be 'devastated' at their home in Fairford, near Cirenceste.

Family friend and spokesman Robin Thompson, who organised the trip to see Simon Cowell, said. 'Saturday night at Britain's Got Talent was the highlight of her short life.


'So nice': Bethany said after singing to Simon Cowell, pictured with his Bafta, that he she loved him


She became very poorly on Monday and in the early hours of Tuesday morning she was taken to the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital.

'Bethany died in hospital at approximately breakfast time.'

Last year Bethany was diagnosed with a grade three to four anaplastic astrocytoma brain tumour but surgeons said it was impossible to remove as it was inside the brain, growing outwards.

A second MRI scan in September last year revealed the tumour had grown and began seriously affecting her.

The family, which includes daughter Gracie, two, and stepson Louis, ten, had emptied its savings into a fund to search for possible treatments but recently became more concerned with helping Bethany enjoy the time she had remaining.

Speaking after her dream trip to Britain's Got Talent on Saturday, Bethany said: 'I loved them all, especially Kieran, who asked for my wristband to give us both luck.

'Simon let me sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to him. He's so nice and I love him.


Bethany, sits on the lap of 80-year-old singer Janey Cutler who performed in Saturday's final


'The hotel was awesome and all the people so friendly; they made me and my brother Louis so happy. And the food was yummy.'

Bethany's dad, a former soldier who served in Afghanistan, said at the weekend: 'Meeting the acts was great - but the highlight of the day was meeting Simon Cowell, who was a true gentleman, joking with Bethany and listening intently as she sang to him.


Pop idol: Bethany gets a cuddle from drumming star Kieran Gaffney (left) and (right) shares a joke with her parents, Jemma and Sean


'Janey Cutler and Kieran Gaffney really made a fuss of Beth and when all the acts were on the stage at the end of the show you could see Kieran was holding Bethany's hospital tag for luck.

'Amanda Holden completed a great day by giving the family a cake each and telling jokes to Bethany. She was such a nice lady.'

Bethany sang her nursery rhyme to Simon in his dressing room after afternoon rehearsals and met fellow judges and cast over tea.


source: dailymail

Over the moon! Danielle Hope has won the dream role of the new Dorothy... but it's been a rocky road to Oz

By Spencer Bright

Rainbow's end: Winner Danielle Hope with judge Charlotte Church


Danielle Hope says she felt a bit like a wallflower during the early stages of BBC1's search for a Dorothy to star in the new West end production of The Wizard Of Oz.

She admits she didn't have the big personality or the quirkiness of some of the other girls and, to add to her shyness, she was inwardly terrified.

But with Andrew Lloyd Webber and the other judges urging more acting and emotion - on top of the essential singing and dancing skills - Danielle, 18, suddenly summoned up tremendous depth and feeling to win her the role.

Where does the pain and vulnerability in her performance come from? It turns out she was drawing on her own life.

'I think it comes back to my mum and dad getting divorced when i was 11. At that age, the transition from primary to high school is traumatic enough. I just took it in, dealt with it and grew up.'

That period wasn't without its tears. 'My parents were happier apart, much better as people. it's quite a strange thing to accept at that age because instantly you think life as you know it is over. Then you realise that it happens, life is life, and people are people.


Star overnight: Hope at last night's premiere of Sex and the City 2 at the Odeon in London's Leicester Square

'I think that might have been the making of me, because all of a sudden this security at home vanished and I had to stand on my own two feet.'

She remains close to both parents - her mother Tracy is a bar manager, and her father Brian is a builder. Danielle and her brother David, 16, have spent time living with both.

When we meet, she is understandably ebullient. Barefoot, in a slinky sleeveless floor length black jersey dress and devoid of the Dorothy corset and panstick, she has translucent skin - like the porcelain doll her mother compared her to when she was younger.

Only her mother was alluding to her lack of assertiveness rather than her complexion. 'My defence mechanism has always been to put my fences up,' she says.

'I wanted this so much, but i thought: "If I admit that, it's going to hurt ten times harder if I don't get it." I think sometimes it might have appeared that i didn't want it.

'But, finally, on the last show i put my heart on my sleeve and thought "There it is. Please, please, please don't break it." i just finally had to open up.'

Her worst moment was just prior to the live finals. She was standing in line as judge Charlotte Church walked up and down, placing her hand on the shoulder of the girls who wouldn't make it to the final live shows.

'She stopped in front of me and I thought: "Oh my God!" My heart was racing. She smiled like she was going to tap me, then she carried on and rejected the next person.'

Danielle says the Dorothys' relationship with the judges - Charlotte Church, Sheila Hancock and John Partridge - was detached.

'They didn't know us well. That way they could form a professional opinion. But they always had a reason for what they said.

'It was good because you could walk away with something to work on. Sheila's incredible.

'I wanted her advice on acting and she was straight to the point. If she didn't think it was right she would say so.

'I was afraid of John because I'd never been confident in my dance ability. When we danced, he twirled me round and I felt like a Disney princess. He was fabulous.'

Danielle insists there was no real rivalry in the Dorothy house in London's Chiswick.

'I was expecting hell. But we genuinely gelled. I was so close to different people for different reasons at different times. We were so supportive of each other.


Close contest: Hope went head-to-head with Welsh redhead Evans in the final


They've found their Dorothy... and their Toto: Hope and Dave join the judging panel Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sheila Hancock, Charlotte Church, John Partridge and Graham Norton


'We just felt we were in it together. if each person had thought it was their show and wanted to dominate, it wouldn't have worked.

'There were times when it would have been easy to fall apart and be on our own, but if you're going through a stressful time you need others. 'The other girls were the only people who could understand.'

One of the most uncomfortable parts for the girls was having to say who they thought should be voted off that week.


'I said to Steph once: "You were in the bottom two last week, can i say you and you say me?" and she said I could.

'We hated it because we felt the programme makers wanted to create some sort of atmosphere and it always came out differently to the way it was intended.

That was really difficult, but none of us took it personally.' In the final Andrew Lloyd Webber saved his highest praise for Danielle, telling her: 'You are a worthy follower for the greats like Liza Minnelli and, of course, the wonderful Judy Garland.'

Danielle says: 'I'm flattered, but i didn't know who Andrew wanted. I think this is why he was so professional about it. He would have been happy to work with any of us.'

Before she heads off over the rainbow there are a few situations to deal with.

She takes her A-level theatre studies exam on June 9 before beginning rehearsals for the show at the London Palladium.

Back home in Urmston, south Manchester, she has a boyfriend of nine months,

Taylor Danson, 18. 'He's been so supportive,' she says. 'At this age you don't know, do you? You can only live life day by day. Who knows what will happen in the future, but I'm happy with where i am now.'

The charity single Over The Rainbow is out now on download and CD on Monday. Tickets for The Wizard Of Oz are on sale now. Visit wizardof ozthemusical.com

source: dailymail

Glee goes Gaga! Cast dress up in singer's crazy costumes for tribute episode

By Daily Mail Reporter

Paying tribute: Glee dedicated last night's episode to eccentric Lady Gaga, who is as famous for her bizarre costumes as she is for her hit songs

First it was Madonna, now the cast of Glee have paid homage to another pop icon - Lady Gaga.

In the show, which aired last night in the U.S., the cast performed renditions of the star's biggest hits while wearing her most memorable costumes.

Flamyboyant Kurt, who is played by Chris Colfer, took centre stage for Bad Romance while wearing her famous bold-shouldered silver number - complete with pair of towering armadillo shoes.


Putting on a Poker Face: Tina and Kurt, played by Jenna Ushkowitz and Chris Colfer, faced the wrath of McKinley High School's bullies


Glee star Lea Michele, who plays Rachel, revealed how her one of her outfits was inspired by Gaga's Kermit The Frog number.

'We establish that Rachel doesn't have that many Kermits, so she uses her stuffed animals,' she said.

'She can't put it together very well, so later gets a lovely Poker Face makeover.'


Kicking up his heels: The flamboyant performer wore Lady Gaga's famous silver dress - and towering armadillo shoes


Toying around: Rachel's outfit was inspired by Gaga's Kermit The Frog number


Lady Gaga gave the episode her seal of approval before it aired, telling Entertainment Weekly: 'I love Glee. I love the cast and the creativity of the writers.

'I went to a musical theatre school, and used to dream that someday the students would be singing my songs. Can't wait for Bad Romance and Poker Face in Glee fashion!

Amber Riley, who plays Mercedes, was impressed with her ensemble.


Fancy dress: Amber Riley, who plays Mercedes (centre), revelled in parading around in the star's outfit


High note: The cast performed a version of the singer's huge hit Bad Romance


'[It] was actually one of the easier ones and not that painful,' she said.


Big fan: Lady Gaga, pictured here in her famous bubble dress, loved the episode

'It just involves [Gaga's] famous bow and a very hot wig. I'm not foreign to wigs. I've worn them before.'

But Heather Morris, who plays Britney, said of wearing the infamous lobster hat: 'It was such a chore to wear because I had to dance in it and it wasn't made for dancing.

'It took us 45 minutes to get it on and off every day. All I could see was what was directly in front of me.'

Series creator Ryan Murphy decided on a Gaga-themed episode following the success of the Madonna Glee tribute show earlier this year.

He is also considering dedicating show to chart topper Britney Spears, saying earlier this month: 'We're talking to Britney.

'I think you have to be very careful on the show not to do too many tribute episodes. But she certainly has a huge body of work to pull from and the kids grew up with her so that is a consideration.'


Watch a sneak peek behind the scenes of Glee's Lady Gaga episode...




source :dailymail

How Sex And The City sold its soul: Since Carrie & Co hit the big screen they've turned into man-obsessed morons

By Hadley Freeman

Man-obsessed: (Left to right) Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon in Sex And The City 2


Surely I'm not asking for much. I just don't want to leave the cinema feeling like I've paid £7.50 to be mocked, patronised and kicked in the face.

I don't want to be filled with despair at Hollywood's increasing inability to conceive of women in comedic films as anything other than self-obsessed babies with breasts.

And I don't, most of all, want to spend two hours watching dreams and memories from my youth being trampled into humiliating self-parody. Is that too much to ask?


Judging from the hideous trailer and even more hideous scenes that have been leaked on the web, yes, all this is just beyond the capabilities of the pink-fringed, cliche-ridden, materialistic, misogynistic, borderline racist Sex And The City 2.

And depressingly, it's no surprise. After all, my God, did you see the first film? As Carrie herself would have once said - before she became the demented harpy she was in it, one whose response to having been jilted at the altar was: 'How am I going to get my clothes?' - could a cinematic experience be any worse than that SATC film (part 1) was?

The answer from this Friday, when SATC 2 opens, looks set to being in the affirmative (and I warn you now, this article will be full of spoilers - spoilers of both the film and your memories of the show).


Has Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, lost her edge?

There's been a lot of nonsense written about SATC the TV series in recent weeks, often by journalists who never watched it (in fact, one writer of a recent piece cited that achievement as a point of pride before then listing his reasons for hating the show, though he neglected to explain how he could know if he'd never seen it).

But the truth is, the show was fantastic: smart, funny, warm and wise, a far cry from the 'middle-aged women having embarrassing sex with various unsuitable partners' cliche that the above writer used. It was about four smart women, three of whom had no interest in getting married.

Candace Bushnell's original book on which the show was based was good, but the show was great.

Yes, there were stupid puns (although I maintain that Carrie's response to Big when he said he was moving to California because he was tired - 'If you're tired you take a napa, you don't move to Napa' - is pretty funny).

And, yes, there was sex and shopping. But unlike in the films, that's not all there was, and that wasn't all the characters cared about. What elevated the show way above the normal chickflick tat, and way above the films, was that it had genuine emotional truth.

It sang with lines that you knew had come from real life ('How can I have this baby? I barely had time to schedule this abortion' as said by Miranda being quite possibly my all-time favourite) and plots that went beyond the limiting convention of cliche.
Samantha's breast cancer, for example, showed not only how scary and sad cancer (obviously) is, but how boring, sweaty and plain inconvenient it is, too.

But now, treacherously, the films confirm all the worst (and wrong) assumptions (men, mainly) made about the show and its (largely female) audience.

The most humiliating example of this was the review of the first film in the New Yorker by Anthony Lane, one of my most revered journalists.

He wrote: 'I walked into the theatre hoping for a nice evening and came out as a hardline Marxist, my head a whirl of closets, delusions, and blunt-clawed cattiness... There is a deep sadness in the sight of Carrie and her friends defining themselves by... their ability to snare and keep a man.'

Oh, Anthony! You're right but it wasn't always thus!

After I saw the first film and emerged from the cinema making a Munch-esque scream, I thought maybe Sarah Jessica Parker and Michael Patrick King (the show and film's writer and director) had been paralysed with fear by their foray into the cinema.

But from recent interviews they have given, and how bad the second film looks, I'm really beginning to wonder. Did they just never get it? Was the show's genius a fluke that somehow slipped through their conventional, patronising net?


Sex And The City 2 promotes the message that all women want a wedding ring. In the first film, Carrie and Big (played by Chris Noth) got married after years of teasing viewers with their on-off relationship


Or have both been so blinded by the success of the show that they have lost sight of its original appeal? Simple comparisons between the films and the show give a hint of the answer.

In the TV show, the women (I refuse to refer to them as girls as they did a little in the TV series and a lot in the films) reprimanded Samantha for her occasional crackpot attempts to maintain her youth, and she always came round and loudly loved her looks.

In the second film, she knocks back 44 pills every morning to 'trick my body into thinking it's younger', she says triumphantly, and Carrie and Miranda look impressed.

Miranda! Surely the woman who once said while buying her wedding dress on the TV show, 'No white, no ivory, no nothing that says virgin. I have a child. The jig is up,' will inject a little reality-establishing sarcasm here? No. She says, 'I've tricked my body into thinking it's thinner - Spanx!' Again, Carrie nods approvingly.

It's like being lobotomised with a pink teaspoon. (If this point about youth obsession now being de rigueur is not made clearly enough, behold the film poster, on which the four leads are so airbrushed not only do they not look like themselves, they don't even look human.)

Then there's the issue of race. The TV series was, quite rightly, criticised for rarely featuring non-Caucasian characters. The first film's nervy response to this was to include a black character, but as Carrie's assistant, played by Jennifer Hudson, who is cravenly grateful for Carrie's designer cast-offs, and then returns in the end to the south, where black people belong.

The second film goes even further, because the characters go to Abu Dhabi. Not since 1942's Arabian Nights has orientalism been portrayed so unironically. All Middle Eastern men are shot in a sparkly light with jingly jangly music just in case you didn't get that these dusky people are exotic and different.


The girls go to Abu Dhabi in the new film, but the image portrayed of the Middle Eastern country is solely based on stereotypes


Even leaving aside the question of why anyone would go on holiday to Abu Dhabi, everyone who has ever watched a TV show knows that the first rule is: don't take characters out of their usual environment.

The term 'jump the shark' was even coined about the series-destroying episode of Happy Days in which the characters go on holiday and Fonzie water-skis over a shark.

This rule was repeatedly proven in the TV series of Sex And The City as the weakest episodes always involved the women leaving New York (two forays to California, one to Atlantic City) and it is roundly proven here because the film-makers' knowledge of the Middle East begins and ends with Lawrence of Arabia, whereas part of the fun of the show was the in-the-know details about Manhattan.

And speaking of Manhattan, the only ethnic minorities you see there are waiting behind counters to sell the women expensive handbags.

In the films the message is women want a wedding ring at all self-abasing costs. In the show, Carrie rejected Aidan, who was perfect on so many levels, because she couldn't, no matter how hard she tried, bring herself to marry him.

The show didn't judge her or him for that, nor did it get at her for being 'old', the way the film does - it just showed how sad it was for both of them and how marriage takes more than just the seemingly perfect ingredients.


Guest appearances: Miley Cyrus and Liza Minnelli both feature in the new film


This was a plotline that seemed so true and heartfelt, two words that one would be hard pressed to employ about the big romantic twist to the second film. You may have heard there's a wedding. There is. And it's for . . . Stanford and Antony. That's right, two gay characters who always hated each other in the show but now get married because, well, they're both gay. What else do you need to be married?

The difference between how the women's jobs are portrayed in the TV show and the films is perhaps the best example of how low the latter have sunk. In the show, we repeatedly see Miranda working in her office as a partner in a law firm and, yes, the job is hard and time-consuming but she loves it and her success is a badge of pride.

Ditto Samantha as a PR. Even Carrie, who works as a newspaper columnist, a job I can personally assure you is not physically taxing, derives real satisfaction from her work, to the point that her willingness to quit it for her Russian boyfriend in the last series is an ominous sign.

There was a whole episode about the women's difficulty in accepting Charlotte's decision to quit her job when she marries, and boyfriends who don't take work seriously are seen as immature freeloaders.


Carrie, wearing clothes from her favourite designer Dior, faces a dilemma when she bumps into ex-boyfriend Aidan in Abu Dhabi. But is it really what viewers want to see?


Cut to the films. In the first one, not only do we never see Miranda working (because that's obviously less relevant to women's lives than watching Carrie have an orgasm over her new walk-in closet), but her job is the reason for Steve's infidelity, because he wasn't getting enough attention from his wife, who was working to support him.

In the second film, guess what? She leaves the law firm! How could she resist after Steve suggested she could 'be at home [more] and help out around the house'? Sorry, I think I just burned my fingers while retrieving my bra from the fire.

Then there's the fashion. The women always wore designer clothes in the series, but the movies are little more than two-hour adverts, a point underlined by the fact that Parker is now the chief creative officer of Halston Heritage, a label that features heavily in the second film.

A woman can love fashion without looking and behaving like an international call girl. In fact, the show made this very point in an episode involving an international call girl. Both movies have forgotten this and instead, we are left with Carrie squealing about Dior and Samantha wearing clothes that she seems to have stolen from Joan Collins and the whole thing adds up to Absolutely Fabulous without the fun.

If the movies have killed the Sex and the City dream, then, in retrospect, its death throes could be seen in the last series with its insistence that Carrie had to get together with Mr Big in the end, never mind if it was totally out of character for both of them, never mind if it went against everything the show once said about women not needing to put up with men who make them feel like rubbish.


As they were: The girls in one of the first episodes of Sex And The City


Weirdly, as the show became more successful, it became more conventional, thereby losing its USP. Bridget Jones - arguably the UK equivalent of SATC - suffered from this problem.

The moment in Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason when Bridget is in jail having a singalong is like the moment in the first SATC film when Carrie agrees to marry Big if he'll build her 'a really big closet' for her clothes.

Ultimately, both Helen Fielding and Sarah Jessica Parker killed their own franchises, and what's really depressing about this is that it suggests the default position for movies and books about women, for women, is to show them as marriage-obsessed morons.

There are still hours of re-runs of the TV series every night on the Comedy Central channel, and I used to watch them.

But the films have ruined them for me. I can hardly make out the smarts and emotions that I used to love because all I can see is the impending conventionalism.

Apparently, that's all Parker and King could see, too.

The death of Sex And The City is not just a shame for fans, but for all women with higher expectations of movies about women.

Carrie, you may have bought a lot of shoes in these movies, but ultimately, you sold out.


source :dailymail

Lost: It's finally over... but the fans are still confused

By Lizzie Smith

It's finally over: Matthew Fox who plays Dr. Jack Shephard seen in the series finale of cult show Lost


After six years, 114 episodes, and months of frenzied speculation, the TV drama Lost concluded this morning.

Hardcore British fans woke at 5am to watch the final episode, fittingly titled The End, which was broadcast simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic.

But despite being an extended two-and-a-half hours long, it left more questions than it answered.

Much-debated questions about the origin of the island and its strange light, why women can't give birth and what 'the numbers' mean were not resolved.


Sad: The final scenes of TV drama Lost were broadcast at 5am in the UK this morning


But new facts - such as Juliet being Jack's ex-wife in the alternate timeline - were revealed, while fans were treated to the reappearance of forgotten characters from the past six seasons like Boone and Shannon.

Some fans were thrilled with the ending. U.S. comedian Sarah Silverman tweeted: 'I can't tell if I'm crying because it was beautiful or because I'm sad it's over.
'Thank you LOST for 6 amazing years.'

The Hills star Lauren Conrad tweeted: 'Who's watching the LOST finale? It's like X-mas. You can't wait for it to finally be here, but u don't want it to be over!'


Questions remain: A plane flies overhead... but what does it all mean?


Twitter user michstjame wrote: Still digesting the Lost Finale but I did love it. Emotionally draining and uplifting at same time. I'll miss you.'

And thewellspring wrote: 'An emotionally satisfying finale, though I still have no idea what that whole island was about.'

Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune agreed: 'The emotional part of the finale worked so well that I don't care much about the analytical/structural stuff.'

But the lack of explanations infuriated others.


At the end: But some fans were infuriated not to have their questions answered


The LA Times critic Mary McNamara called it a 'riveting series' finale', but said it 'fails to top the six seasons that preceded it.'

But she added: 'It could have been worse, it could all have been a dream.'

And an NBC review entitled 'That was the end of Lost?! Are you kidding us?' called it a 'partially satisfying, partially infuriating end to the twisting mystery.'

On Twitter ChrisBHeath wrote: 'Well...not too sure what to say about it, loved bits, disliked others... seemed a little anti-climactic...ask me again later!


End of the road: One fan called it 'emotionally satisfying' but another said it was a 'partially satisfying, partially infuriating end'


Was it a dream: It seems it wasn't, but fans were treated to the reappearance of forgotten characters from the past six seasons like Boone and Shannon


Lost evolved from the story of 48 survivors of Oceanic flight 815 who found themselves stranded on a mysterious island into a complicated, mythological tale with an expansive cast.

The series-ending season six began in the post hydrogen-bomb haze of the 1977 Swan construction site explosion, and progressed at a break-neck pace shifting through time periods.

But although it's all over, fans have one more chance to finally understand the mystery.

The final episode's storyline will continue on a season six DVD with more than 20 minutes of additional material.

And if you weren't awake at 5am, the final Lost episode will be repeated on Sky1 tomorrow, Tuesday, at 9pm.


Reunited: From left, Naveen Andrews (Sayid), Maggie Grace (Shannon), Yunjin Kim (Sun), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) and Emilie De Ravin (Claire) were reunited for the finale


source: dailymail