Seriously? OMG! WTF?

Now here’s a reason for us soap fans to say "Happy Thanksgiving"! It appears that veteran soap star Vincent Irizarry stayed unemployed for all of five seconds after ABC’s All My Children axed him. He is joining CBS’s The Young and the Restless in the role of David Chow, a man from Carmen Mesta’s past. Irizarry’s first tape date on the Y&R set is tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 21. He first airs on TV’s No. 1-rated daytime sudser on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007. See? I told you that rumor of Irizarry returning to Guiding Light was false. BTW, just to refresh your memory: Y&R is currently in the midst of a "Who Killed Carmen?" murder mystery. So how does this David Chow figure into the action? Some are buzzing that he is Carmen’s previously-mentioned brother. I think he may be one of those married lovers Carmen burned in the past.

TV Guide 

That is a good get for the show.

The Hollywood stars seem to be aligned for Jennifer Hudson. Access Hollywood has confirmed that the former "American Idol" contestant signed a record deal with Clive Davis’ J Records. Jennifer revealed her plans to Access this past Saturday at the "A Fine Romance" event in Hollywood. "My album, I’ll be recording my album! I just signed my record deal 2 weeks ago. So I’m starting on that in January." At J Records, Ms. Hudson joins such music giants as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Barry Manilow, but Jennifer will also feel right at home with her former "Idol"-mates as the J/Arista label houses many of her "Idol" counterparts like Carrie Underwood, Fantasia, Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks. The J Records label is part of the Sony BMG music conglomerate. Oprah Winfrey profiled the cast of "Dreamgirls," including Hudson, on her Monday, November 20th, 2006 show. In her show, she included the following bite from "Idol" judge Simon Cowell: "We have our history together, don’t we, Jennifer?" Simon told Jennifer via Oprah. "Now I feel my criticism has probably had a significant part in your career, because the buzz on you is huge. I heard your [version] of ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’ today, and I would like to be the first to eat a massive dose of humble pie. Because there are good performances and occasionally there are extraordinary performances. That was extraordinary, Jennifer, and I feel very proud for you. I feel we had a very small part in what’s happened in your life, and please thank me when you get your Oscar®."

Access Hollywood 

They are a good match.

Sara Evans has invited talk show host Jerry Springer to perform during her Dec. 1 concert in Merrillville, Ind., near Chicago. Evans and Springer were both competitors on this season of Dancing With the Stars. "Jerry loves country music," says Evans. "He is a huge fan and even cut a country record so I invited him to sing at my show in Merrillville where he’ll do a couple of classic songs. … I cannot wait!" Although she bowed out of the series due to her impending divorce, Evans returned to Dancing With the Stars on Wednesday (Nov. 15) to perform on the finale with partner Tony Dovolani.

CMT 

How cool is that?

When Jerry Seinfeld appeared on the "Late Night With David Letterman" Monday night, he took the opportunity to give some airtime to his old pal Michael Richards. Richards, who played Seinfeld’s eccentric neighbor Kramer on the sitcom "Seinfeld," wanted a chance to publicly apologize for racist comments he made during a stand-up routine recently. The actor appeared live via satellite from Television City, Calif., and fielded questions from Letterman, while Seinfeld looked on. "For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this crap…" said Richards. "I’m deeply, deeply sorry."

Showbuzz 

Let’s watch and see if it is sincere.

News Corp., the parent company of book publisher HarperCollins and the FOX network, has canceled publication of the O.J. Simpson book and television special "If I Did It." "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," said Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman. "We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson." In the book, the one-time football superstar tells how he would have killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman if, in fact, he had done it. A dozen FOX affiliates had already said they would not air the two-part sweeps month special, planned for next week before the book’s publication. One station manager who had said he wasn’t airing the special said he was concerned that whether or not Simpson was guilty, he’d still be profiting from murders. "I have my own moral compass and this was easy," said Bill Lamb, general manager of WDRB in Louisville. Relatives of the victims have lashed out at the now scuttled publication and broadcast plans. "He destroyed my son and took from my family Ron’s future and life. And for that I’ll hate him always and find him despicable," Fred Goldman told ABC last week. The industry trade publication Broadcasting & Cable editorialized against the show Monday, saying "FOX should cancel this evil sweeps stunt." One of the nation’s largest superstore chains, Borders Group Inc., said last week it would donate any profits on the book to charity. Also last week, Judith Regan, would-be publisher of Simpson’s book, said she did not pay Simpson for the rights to publish his book. "What I do know is I didn’t pay him," Regan said in an eight-page statement titled "Why I Did It." "I contracted through a third party who owns the rights, and I was told the money would go to his children. That much I could live with." Regan also said in the statement that she wanted Simpson’s "confession" because she herself was once a victim of abuse. "I made the decision to publish this book, and to sit face to face with the killer, because I wanted him, and the men who broke my heart and your hearts, to tell the truth, to confess their sins, to do penance and to amend their lives." Although Regan has acknowledged that Simpson does not directly say that he killed his ex-wife and her friend, she said she considers the book to be his confession. Regan said Simpson approached her with the idea for the book, which reportedly was sold for $3.5 million. "If I Did It," which was to be published by ReganBooks — an imprint to HarperCollins, was scheduled for release Nov. 30. FOX had planned to air a two-part TV interview of Simpson on Nov. 27 and 29. In the television world, the closest precedent for such an about-face came when CBS yanked a miniseries about Ronald Reagan from its schedule in 2003 when complaints were raised about its accuracy. The Reagan series was seen on its sister premium-cable channel, Showtime, instead. For the publishing industry, the cancellation of "If I Did It" was an astonishing end to a story like no other. Numerous books have been withdrawn over the years because of possible plagiarism, most recently Kaavya Viswanathan’s "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life," but a book’s removal simply for objectionable content is virtually unheard of. Pre-order sales had been strong, but not sensational. "If I Did It" cracked the top 20 of Amazon.com last weekend, but by Monday afternoon, at the time its cancellation had been announced, the book had fallen to No. 51.

Fox News (Thanks Alix) 

It is nice to know that Rupert Murdoch had the balls to do what he did during November sweeps

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