Seriously? OMG! WTF?

In the season premiere, our favorite divafest, America’s Next Top Model (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET on the CW), staged a photo shoot lampooning the stereotypes of bad model behavior. You know, cell-phone flinging, bulimia, drug taking and the juicy unsavory like. Yet they seem to have forgotten dirty-panty smearing. That’s right — for those who missed it, this season’s überbitch, Monique Calhoun, who was eliminated after missing a photo shoot and not cutting it in previous pix, did that deed on arch rival Melrose Bickerstaff’s bed. TV Guide caught up with Monique after her ousting and asked her, “Say what? Why?” First off, the 19-year-old Chicago marketing rep wants us to know that it’s tough in that model mansion. Like, how could they expect her to get out of the shower after only 10 minutes?! "’I’m a lady,’ I said, and I don’t know many ladies who take 10-minute showers!" she tells us with indignation. Secondly, she claims, "The show was edited to show all my actions and doings and no one else’s." For example, Mo yakked on the phone for two and a half hours only after the other girls, especially Melrose, "disrespected me," she confides. What’s more, Melrose started their major-league feud, she insists. "She decided to give me a hard time, so I figured I’ll give [her] one." According to Monique, the fashion designer from San Francisco spit on her when coughing, so in retaliation she splattered water from her dripping bathing suit on her. That led, she says, to Monique running around shouting, "She has cooties!" (Was the Paris-Nicole feud ever this much fun?) "It was horseplay," Monique says. "I was just taking it overboard." We’ll say. We asked Top Model executive producer Ken Mok whether a shrink had vetted Monique before she was signed on to the show. "All the girls go through psychological testing," he confirms. "There was no red flag." In fact, he adds, everyone thought Monique was "going to be the sweet girl in the house." Mok then goes on to say that the producers did sit down with Monique after some girls worried about their physical safety around her. "We said, ‘We’re not here to edit your behavior, but you might consider taking responsibility for your own actions in terms of the other girls.’" Mo’s response: "She kept blaming the other girls," says Mok. "She has no self-awareness of how her behavior affected others." Did Mok ever ponder not sharing with America the truly gross underwear move? "It was disgusting, but it’s what she chose to do. We don’t censor. [Besides] we never had a girl do those things." As for Monique’s cries of selective editing, Mok scoffs, "If I showed all the footage of what Monique did, it would be 15 times as bad," hinting that we’ll see more of her "bizarre behavior" in the upcoming recap show. If Monique’s nasty moves didn’t cause her ousting, what does it take to get kicked off the show? "The rule I give the girls from Day 1 is that you can yell at each other and be upset all you want, but the one thing you cannot do is touch or commit a physical act," says Mok. In fact, he reveals that it was Melrose who was almost ejected for pushing Monique in the get-off-the-phone episode. "We looked at what she did several times and decided it was inadvertent."

TV Guide 

I hate to say it I am going to miss her, she was the show bitch and every reality show needs one!

Talk show host Tyra Banks has consistently said that she wants be the next Oprah Winfrey. And that has the CW Network nervous. MediaTakeOut.com has learned that executives at the new CW Network are worried that Tyra is putting on too much weight. A producer for the CW network told MediaTakeOut.com that Tyra has been instructed to lose weight immediately. According to our source, "Tyra still looks good, but she’s put on close to 50 pounds since starting her talk show … things are really getting out of control." Our source continued, "I mean, she doesn’t have the greatest personality, so if she starts getting too heavy, it could be a real problem for the show." But the bigger problem, tells our source, is with Tyra and America’s Next Top Model. The producer tells MediaTakeOut.com that if Tyra doesn’t lose weight, she may not return next season. Our tipster explains, producers were not happy with the way Tyra looked this season. Adding, "when you see [Tyra] next to the girls on the show, you realize how much weight she’s put on … it’s almost ridiculous." And the pressure by her network bosses has already caused Tyra to back down on a pledge she made to fans. MediaTakeOut.com has discovered that promo photos for ANTM were photoshopped in order to make Tyra look slimmer. This goes directly against the supermodel’s promise not to have photos of her digitally enhanced. When she announced the promise, Tyra told reporters, "Modeling is an unreal business, but I wants to make it more real." Representatives for Tyra were not available for comment.

I doubt that The CW would really do that because this is their highest rated season to date and she is the show.

Dennis Quaid is guest starring on tonight’s episode of America’s Next Top Model. In the new episode, runway expert J. Alexander prepares the models for their rockiest challenge yet. The winner of the challenge and two friends jet off to work a star-studded fashion show with some past seasons’ Top Models. Later, the girls have to rock a catwalk suspended over water, but one girl’s sickness lands her in the hospital. One model is eliminated. Special guests include Dennis Quaid, Bre Scullark from cycle 5, runway trainer J. Alexander, designers Altuna Moreno and guest judge Charlie Altuna.

Starpulse 

Why?

There are reasons why I need to bring my camera with me where ever I go in this city. So as I am driving in, I noticed all this traffic on Beverly Blvd and I was complexed to know why? As I get closer to the enterance of CBS I saw all these people in red shirts chanting, "What do we want?" "Contracts" over and over. And this lightbulb goes off in my head, today is the day that WGA was organizing a protest against CBS and The CW for not granting contracts to the writing staff of America’s Next Top Model. I have to say I was sincerely impressed with the turnout for the protest. They were actually blocking the enterance in to CBS on Beverly, in fact I would say there had to be over 250 people making their message heard to the heads of CBS. What I found ironic is the CW offices are located in Burbank and not on the CBS TV Center lot. But the WGA offices are located across the street from the CBS lot, so I guess it worked in that aspect. It will be interesting to see if their protest worked, but knowing how many people in this town would work on a reality show with or without a contract I doubt they will have much success. Sadly enough.
If you want to read the WGA’s letter to their members about the protest you can do so here. 

The Writers Guild of America West is planning a large demonstration Sept. 20, launch date for the seventh season of "America’s Next Top Model" as the centerpiece of the CW sked. The WGA notified members and supporters Monday that it’s planning a two-hour "unity rally" at Pan Pacific Park to support the striking writers at "Top Model" along with seeking "fair" compensation for Internet downloads and a new contract for CBS news writers. "Tell your boss you are going to a rally," a guild flyer said. "Your attendance at an action in sympathy with striking colleagues is legally protected by the National Labor Relations Act." The ongoing protests outside the "Top Model" production offices are the most active staged by the WGA since it launched its still-unsuccessful drive to organize reality show writers two years ago. It’s signed up more than 1,000 writers who want to be repped by the guild but has yet to sign a contract with a series producer. An email sent out by organizers Monday urged employed writers to take the time off to attend the rally. "If you’re worried about it for workaholic, the-show-must-go-on reasons . . . GET A GRIP!  And I say this will all respect and love – GET A GRIP," it said. " The show WILL go on. We’ll all make sure it does. That’s what we do.  This whole house of cards has been able to survive BECAUSE most of us have an amped-up work ethic that — by default or by design — has been used against us.  It’s about to come crashing down." Despite the strike, the CW has never wavered from its plans to launch the "Top Model" season next week. Weblet has asserted that the writers and the WGA should take the issue to the Natl. Labor Relations Board so that the federal agency can conduct an election — a time-consuming step that would take many months to complete.

Variety 

Sadly for the writers on strike, there will always be several writers who are willing to do the job without the WGA representation. So in other words the cause is in vain for the time being.

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