ABC Inc.

A Recap of The Taste: We Took a Bite. Did You?

Well, kids, The Taste premiered last night on ABC with much fanfare. We sat, we watched, we followed the (trending!) tweets and we're here to recap. Just in case your DVR didn't work, or you just want to relive it all in print. The premise -- as previously mentioned -- is a mash-up of The Voice and ... More >>

2C-I, Drug Known as Smiles, in Spotlight After Johnny Lewis Murder Case

Every so often a drug invented by California psychedelic explorer Sasha Shulgin, the Godfather of Ecstasy, escapes the lab and becomes a headache for law enforcement. This is one of those times. Amid reports that actor Johnny Lewis might have been on 2C-I, or "smiles," when he allegedly flipped out ... More >>

[Updated] Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Recalled for Salmonella

Update, 9/24 1:12 p.m.: The maker of Trader Joe's peanut butter tied to a multi-state salmonella outbreak has pulled 76 additional peanut and almond products because of possible contamination, NBC News reports. California is among the 18 states that have reported infections of the rare and nasty st ... More >>

Good News for O.C.D. Dieters: Study Suggests Cutting Food Into Small Pieces to Lose Weight

Cutting your food into bite-sized pieces might be just as obsessive-compulsive as an Order Muppet counting cookies on a plate before letting anyone eat them, but it turns out that doing exactly that may benefit your waistline, if not your O.C.D. tendencies: A study from Arizona State University rese ... More >>

Disney Bans Junk Food Ads Aimed at Kids

The Walt Disney Co. announced yesterday that it will ban some junk food ads on its television channels, radio stations and websites aimed at children by 2015, Reuters reports. Disney is also starting its own "Mickey Check" label for food it deems to be nutritious, to help promote certain healthier f ... More >>

'Bachelor' Producers Who Met on Set Are Getting Married (and Chris Harrison's Officiating)

This is too perfect. According to Glamour Magazine's wedding blog, two producers who met and courted each other while filming ABC's hit romance series The Bachelor (and The Bachelorette) are getting married in California this summer. And Chris Harrison, career goob behind the tearful interviews and ... More >>

Beverly Hills Casting Call Wants Rich People And Their 'Help' For Reality Show

Bravo​Oh boy. If you think The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is disgusting, have we got a show for you. Well, actually, we don't. All we know is that this proposed Real Housewives poseur will focus on the relationships between the Westside's super rich and their help. Let's just hope they ... More >>

'Modern Family' Taunts FCC by Airing F-Word During Supreme Court Hearing on Censorship

Little treat for First Amendment advocates on next week's episode of "Modern Family": Adopted two-year-old Lily will drop the F bomb all over set, much to the horror of her two dads. (Gay parents! Curse words! The controversies of the '90s are alive on prime time.) Titled "Little Bo Bleep," the epi ... More >>

CSU Long Beach Cheerleading Scandal: Coach Fired After Non-Student Ringer Helps Win National Title

"Bring It On"Boys can be cheerleaders, too! Just... not if they're alumni.​The good news: Everybody now knows that CSU Long Beach cheer came in first at Florida nationals this month! Congrats, guys. And, uh, the bad: No sooner did we find out, than the team was forced into forfeiting its title ... More >>

Tim Hetherington, Director of Oscar-Nominated War Doc 'Restrepo,' Killed in Libya

Tim Hetherington on the set of "Restrepo"​Update: Chris Hondros took these stunning photographs just hours before he died. More after the jump. Tim Hetherington, a wartime photographer and documentary filmmaker -- along with his associate, Chris Hondros, also a war photojournalist -- were kil ... More >>

Legionella Bacteria at the Playboy Mansion: OK. It Totally Festered in the Grotto.

MySpaceBack away slowly​Update: Confirmed, once and for all, by the LA Times: Health officials identified legionella bacteria in a whirlpool spa at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles during an investigation in February that began when people were sickened after attending a fundraiser. We're n ... More >>

L.A. Rainstorm Causes All Hell To Break Loose, Will Wreak More Havoc Christmas Day

Tricia via PBaseCHP: Don't even think about blaming the weather​We were still kind of making fun of the impending Los Angeles "weather" last Friday, when the shower head was set to wimpy sprinkle and L.A. drivers were farting around at their always hilarious (except when we have to get somewhe ... More >>

L.A. Conservative Pundit Andrew Breitbart Dropped As ABC News Election-Night Commentator

He doesn't look too worried about it.​Conservative L.A. blogger Andrew Breitbart was psyched when he found out he'd be an ABC News commenter on election night. He probably should have kept his mouth shut and rolled with the good fortune, however. What he did might have made the gig unravel: H ... More >>

Snacking with the Dancing With The Stars Cast: Turns Out They Actually Eat

ABC/Christie Bishop​ If you're a fan of ABC's reality dancing competition Dancing With The Stars, most likely you're accustomed to its blinding bedazzled outfits, bantering between the judges and contestants' complaints about blisters, sore muscles and bruised egos. But one thing that seeming ... More >>

James Lee, Suspected Discovery Channel Hostage Taker, Was Convicted Of Immigrant Smuggling

​The strange saga of James Lee, the man suspected of taking hostages at the Discovery Channel's Washington, D.C. headquarters this week, keeps getting more bizarre. ABC News reports that in 2003 he was convicted of smuggling a woman into the United States from Tijuana. It's an odd revelation ... More >>

Lindsay Lohan Released Early From Rehab: Reality Show Rumors Abound

​The door had barely shut behind actress Lindsay Lohan as she was released from rehab at UCLA Tuesday and rumors were already flying about the possibility that she would appear on ABC's Dancing With The Stars or VH1's Celebrity Rehab. Lohan got out early after serving 23 days of her 90-day ma ... More >>

Which '80s Hair Metal Video Has Just Surpassed 10 MILLION Views on YouTube?

Which Hair Metal screamer with 10 million YouTube views am I?​Hair Metal was very popular in the '80s. That means a lot of it was made (most of it right here in El Lay) and a lot of it was consumed. Nowadays Hair Metal is not that popular to make but the one made back then is still INSANELY p ... More >>

'Survivor' Producer Took Out Life Insurance On Wife A Week Before Her Death

The Beresford-Redmans.​Former Survivor show producer Bruce Beresford-Redman took out life insurance policies the week before she was found dead in Mexico, ABC News reported this week. The Rancho Palos Verdes man was suspected by Mexican authorities of killing Monica Beresford-Redman as the cou ... More >>

Is Lane Bryant Making Big Deal Out Of Plus-Size Lingerie Ad?

Lane Bryant​Plus-size women's clothing-maker Lane Bryant this week complained that ABC and Fox had rejected its advertisement marketing a new line of lingerie possibly because the model in the spot was showing a bit too much. (See the ad after the jump). Lane Bryant wanted to introduce its "Ca ... More >>

Enjoy Being Ignored By City Hall? There's An App For That

Councilman Paul Krekorian.​Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian is joining the iPhone app craze by rolling out a program for the device that will allow users to report potholes, graffiti and other problems, according to ABC News (spotted at LAObserved). The app will apparently allow iPh ... More >>

Holy Smokes: America Says Legalize Medical Marijuana

Eight in 10 Americans believe medical marijuana should be legal, a jump from just more than half of Americans in 1997, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. The wave of support comes as the East Coast starts to catch up with California and other Western states in approving medical marijuana. ... More >>

Weed Takes Root

Marijuana's steady march toward legalization nationwide

ESPN To Expand In L.A.: New Site To Be Launched Here

​ESPN, and we're not just talking about "The Ocho" here, is expanding its presence in Los Angeles by launching a regionally focused sports-news site Dec. 21, Reuters reports. ESPN/ABC Sports president George Bodenheimer said the sports network will likely roll out similar sites in New York, C ... More >>

Balloon Boy Family 'Weird' Says Former L.A. Landlord

As new doubts have been raised about the veracity of the Balloon Boy saga, the family in question's former L.A. landlord says the Heenes skipped town in 2007 owing $6,000 in rent and damages.Photographer Carrie Cavalier describes the family of 6-year-old Falcon Heene, who was believed to be adrift i ... More >>

Is Leno Ready for Prime Time?

The over-the-hill NBC hack should have shuffled off to ABC

Colored Views

The results of the Multi-Ethnic Media Coalition's eighth annual diversity "report cards" came out last week and they weren't promising. The reports covered progress made in network television  during the 2007-2008 season by writers, actors and producers who were Latinos, Asians and Native Ameri ... More >>

In Treatment's Mind Games

Telling the doctor where it hurts

WGA Strike's Fountain of Youth

How a troubled old guild is being saved by a gutsier, newly radicalized crowd

Pushing Daisies: Dead End Boy

Examining resurrection and life

Andy Richter Controls the Spreadsheet

But can his number-crunching P.I. conquer TV ratings’ top 10?

Phone Sex, Kiss-offs and Showmances

Hollywood starts new year with a bang

Haven't I Seen You Before?

It’s fall replacement time at the networks — send in the clones: 3 Lbs., Prime Suspect, and Day Break

The Replacements

Abele’s reasons why not (and why) to watch the new midseason

The Wild Goat Farmer

Should anyone take Adam Gadahn’s terrorist threat seriously?

Women We Love

The smart, odd and sexy women of Green Wing, Grey’s Anatomy and The L Word

Saving the Laugh Track

Is the sitcom drought coming to an end? The new contenders: Jake in Progress, The Office and Life on a Stick

Not So Young Frankeneisner

Eisner successor Robert Iger is more like Mel Brooks’ Igor

Desperadoes

Going mad inside the debate bubble

When Might Turns Right

Golly GE, why Big Media is pro-Bush

They Can’t Handle the Truth

Lies and the lying moguls who tell them

The Blind Leading the Mauled

White tigers, white men and white mischief

Brat Brawl

Disney and Comcast fortunate sons need therapy more than this takeover

Ask Mr. Gold

Dumb and Dumberer

Why the FCC shouldn’t consolidate without concessions

The Logo-Spangled Banner

Slices of a digital war

The Ticking Stopwatch

LAPD's new terrorism czar ponders al Qaeda

Scene From the Underworld

Ecocide

The Golden Age of Cinema?

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