Scary News of the Day

The Buzz Log - Search Spikes and Trends

A Swift Axe
Friday January 20, 2006 3:00AM PT

Heather Graham
We believe in second chances. Alas, many in show business do not. As evidence, we submit Emily's Reasons Why Not. The heavily hyped sitcom was pulled from ABC's schedule after one measly episode. One episode, people! Even the horrendous Girls Club (remember that one?) made it on the air twice before it was put down.

Lousy ratings were the reason for Emily's prime-time exit, and the show's performance in Search was none too impressive either. Even at its peak, it barely cracked the top 15,000 queries. Strangely, even as Emily went into a tailspin, its star, Heather Graham, surged 80% to land in the top 800 searches. So why the interest in Heather, but not her show? Well, 86% of the searches on Graham came from the fellas, but Emily's Reasons Why Not was advertised as a "relationship show." Let's hear it for the geniuses in marketing!

Poor Emily wasn't the only series axed in infancy. The increasingly annoying ESPN announced it was pulling the plug on its ill-conceived ESPN Hollywood. The show aimed to bridge the gap between entertainment and sports (whatever that means), and was co-hosted by Saved by the Bell alum and muscle-shirt aficionado Mario Lopez. Searches on ESPN Hollywood were non-existent following the news, an indication that sports freaks are managing to move on with their lives.

So what's next for Lopez and Graham? Will the pair join forces and star in a UPN dramedy about two mismatched lawyers that everyone knows are perfect for each other but have yet to figure it out themselves? It could be called Second Chances (pending focus-group approval).




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Chocolate City Controversy
Thursday January 19, 2006 5:00PM PT


Ray Nagin
And on the eighth day, God created the clueless politician.

In a speech on Monday that aspired to the Pat Robertson school of rhetoric, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin made two stunning declarations. The recent hurricanes, he intoned, must be God's payback for the U.S. "being in Iraq under false pretenses" and for the behavior of some black Americans. He went on to reassure the crowd that New Orleans "will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be. ... This city will be chocolate at the end of the day."