saturday, july 31, 2010
THE STYLE INVITATIONAL Life of the parody
Yes, even the gulf oil spill is grist for our would-be songwriters’ mill. Plus, we roll out another neologism contest. C2
Style ABCDE C S GOING OUT GUIDE
Happy hour, redefined The Gurus offer advice on bars for cutting loose, chilling out. C4
CAROLYN HAX
‘Replacement daughter’? Brother’s fiancee is bulling her way into family. C2
CELEBRITOLOGY
‘Angelina’: An early arrival Andrew Morton’s unauthorized biography of Angelina Jolie hits bookstores Saturday — three days ahead of schedule. The reason: Unauthorized leaks were threatening to steal its thunder. C3
THE TV COLUMN Lisa de Moraes
Eyeing J-Lo, ‘Idol’ banks on judges’ rejuvenation
magine if, when Jerry Seinfeld decided he’d made enough money on “Seinfeld” and pulled the plug on the show, NBC had kept it going and replaced not only Jerry but Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards and Jason Alexander, leaving only — Newman! (Wayne Knight.) That’s what we’re seeing at
I
Fox’s “American Idol.” The implosion of a TV-ratings supernova has begun. Singer-dancer-actress
Jennifer Lopez is nailing down a deal to replace comedian-judge Ellen DeGeneres. “Idol’s” acerbic British judge and show star Simon Cowell is long gone and shriveled rocker Steven Tyler is the current front-runner to take his place. The singing competition’s tightly wound songwriter-judge Kara DioGuardi’s contract has not been renewed and, hopefully, she’s not holding her breath. Reporters Who Cover
Television gnawed on their fingernails Friday at Summer TV Press Tour 2010, waiting for word that Fox had wrapped the deal to replace Ellen with J-Lo,
beverly hills, calif.
who trade papers suddenly discovered is considered to have been one of the best mentors ever to appear on the show.
So far, no one by any name but “unnamed source” is saying the deal is done. But for J-Lo, a move to “Idol” would mark a return to the Fox network. Like ex-“Idol” judge Paula Abdul, J-Lo was a dancer first; she got her big TV break as a backup dancer on the network’s “In Living Color” sketch comedy show in the ’90s. Most recently, Lopez appeared in the flick “The Back-up Plan,” which was a far cry from her 1997 starring role in “Selena.” The network is also
reportedly in talks with Tyler to replace Cowell, who announced in January that he was decamping to produce and star in “Idol’s” rival “The X Factor” — also for Fox. Tyler’s the front man of Aerosmith — the one who looks like a Beverly Hills matron just coming from Pilates class. As for sophomore judge DioGuardi, there is much chatter that she’s out and the
tv column continued on C8
TV PREVIEW Code Dread
‘Rubicon’ crosses into delectably dangerous territory where brains trump brawn, and clues invite contemplation
by Hank Stuever
American Policy Institute”), has a quiet and almost sublime way of laying out its intricate premise. It takes its chances against all of the other television espionage dramas that are too loud and explosive. Instead of bombs, “Rubicon” has brooding. Instead of car chases and karate ballets executed in form- fitting leather, it has . . . crossword puzzles. This is not entirely surprising. In a way, “Rubicon”
“R
fits nicely alongside AMC’s two other deliberate forays into slow-cooked dramas that have a cinematic excel- lence to them: “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.” Most engagingly, “Rubicon” has James Badge Dale (recently seen in HBO’s “The Pacific” as Pfc. Robert Leckie), with the saddest blue eyes in the world, as
ubicon,” AMC’s morose new drama about a team of code crackers that works in a blandly clandestine Manhattan wonk outfit (“the
Will Travers, one of the institute’s top analysts. Dale’s performance is as puzzling and delightfully deceptive as “Rubicon” itself, one of those rare times when a role and an actor find instant tonal sync. Will works on a team of four disheveled nerds who spend their days analyzing the un-analyzable. In a con- ference room each morning they are handed a new stack of mysteries (“the intake” — intercepted messag- es, encrypted data, photos of known assassins having coffee) that various federal intelligence branches need solved or illuminated. It’s weird work done by pale, unhappy people — of whom Will is the glummest. “He walks around every day looking like his favorite
cat just died,” remarks the team’s newest hire. “Try wife and child. Try 9/11,” replies another col-
league. Oh.
tv preview continued on C2 JACK OF ANOTHER TRADE:James Badge Dale as Will Travers. RAY MICKSHAW/AMERICAN IDOL VIA GETTY IMAGES
J-LO’S AUDITION? In April 2007, Jennifer Lopez (left, with Melinda Doolittle) was a mentor on “American Idol.”
BOOK WORLD
Chasing the dark side of a sparkling city
by Peter Earnest V
ienna, Berlin, Moscow: cities steeped in intrigue. But surely not Dubai, not
that glittering jewel on the Per- sian Gulf where ATMs dispense gold, skyscrapers sprout overnight and snow blankets the ski slope in the Emirates Mall. Yes, now Dubai, too, joins the list. The city’s glossy
travel-magazine im- age was shattered in January by news of the assassination of a major Hamas opera- tive in Dubai’s Al Bus- tan Rotana Hotel. Vid- eo cameras tracked the casually dressed 11-man hit squad as it stalked Mahmoud al- Mabhouh to his hotel room. Surely, some Hollywood director must be drawing up a compelling pitch for a movie based on the police flow chart of the team’s credit cards and vid- eo clips of the killing. With “Layover,” Dan Fesper- man conducts a fast-paced tour
AMC; PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SUSANA SANCHEZ-YOUNG/THE WASHINGTON POST
LAYOVER IN DUBAI By Dan Fesperman Knopf. 288 pp. $25.95
of the seamier side of this “eerie insta-city,” bringing to mind the exotic locales in his previous novel, “The Prisoner of Guanta- namo.” We follow in the foot- steps of Sam Keller, an auditor with the giant pharmaceutical firm of Pfluger Klaxon, based in Manhattan. On a two- day stopover in Dubai, Keller is accompanied by Charlie Hatcher, an older colleague with a taste for the sauce and the ladies. Although he’s been asked by cor- porate security to keep an eye on Hatcher, within hours of their arrival in Dubai, Keller loses him and has to search through the city’s sleazier night spots, the so-called brothel bars. He finally finds him in the York International Hotel just in time to witness Hatcher’s murder at the hands of the Rus-
sian mafia. Police investigators soon ar- rive, and while they’re sympa- thetic at first, Keller is arrested
books continued on C3
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