Papi Chulo's BLOG

2008 Television Academy Honors

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has recognized episodes of Law & Order: SVU and Boston Legal, two Lifetime television movies and documentaries from Showtime and CNN to be among its inaugural recipients of its Television Academy Honors ...

The awards bring recognition to programming that deals with current social issues ... such as the Iraq war, teen sex, the environment and religion ... in a "compelling, emotional and insightful way" ...

John Shaffner (TV Academy Chairman and Chief Executive): "We received almost 200 entries following the announcement of the Television Academy Honors and our call for entries this past December. It was very difficult to narrow them down to a final group of honorees. However, we felt the shows and movies we selected best represent what this honor stands for—programming that enlightens, educates, creates awareness and instigates positive change regarding a wide range of social and health issues."

The following television productions will be presented with the first-ever Television Academy Honors at the May 1 ceremony ...

* James Gandolfini's collaboration with HBO on the interview special Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq, in which the Sopranos star sat down with U.S. servicemen and women to hear their stories * Boston Legal, for consistently taking on controversial issues such as euthanasia, immigration, race relations, sex education and other often volatile subjects
* Law & Order: SVU, for the episode "Harm," which involved a case that led back to the government-sanctioned torture of a suspected terrorist
* Girl, Positive, a Lifetime movie starring Jennie Garth as the mother of a teen who finds out the boy she slept with is HIV-positive
* God's Warriors, a three-part CNN documentary examining religious fundamentalism
* Pictures of Hollis Woods, a CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame feature about a troubled girl dealing with her foster mother's Alzheimer's disease
* Planet Earth, the 11-part Discovery series that made a case for having hi-def in all homes with its intricate look at Earth's ecosystems, climate, animal behaviors and other natural systems * Side Order of Life, a Lifetime original series in which one of the main characters learns she has cancer and decides to make the most of her life
* Shame, a Showtime documentary examining human rights violations, particularly crimes against women.

~Papi Chulo~

"Sex" and the Sneak Peek

CNN's Showbiz Today took a sneak peek at the big screen continuation of HBO's Sex and the City series ... The movie will pick up where the series finale left off ...

Here is the sneak peek ... and some new stills from the movie ...

Sex and the City: The Movie hits theaters May 30 ...

19th Annual GLAAD Media Award Nominations

ABC leads the pack at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards ... the network has the most nominations for the awards that are prestented to positive portrayals of gay and lesbian issues on television ... ABC has picked up nominations for Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Boston Legal, Dirty Sexy Money and Greek ...

GLAAD will pay tribute during the ceremony to two of the organization's favorite musical acts ... Janet Jackson and Rufus Wainwright ... They are named special honorees along with late pioneering photographer Herb Ritts ... LOGO president Brian Graden ... actor and activist Wilson Cruz ... The L Word writer/producer Ilene Chaiker ... and political activist/author/blogger David Mixner ...

The ceremony will take place on March 17 in New York's Marriott Marquis ...

Here's a brief rundown of the some of the key nominees for the GLAAD Media Awards ...

Golf Channel Anchor Suspended for Tiger Woods "Lynch" Comment

Last night ... Golf Channel announced that it suspended anchor Kelly Tilghman for two weeks in the wake of comments made last week that the channel deemed "hurtful and grossly inappropriate" ...

Tilghman stated last week that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should "lynch him in a back alley" ...

Tilghman was laughing during the exchange Friday with analyst Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship ...

A Golf Channel spokesman said Tilghman immediately regretted the remark ... and issued an apology to viewers and to Tiger Woods on Sunday ... After news spread ... Tilghman issued another apology and Woods' agent defended the long-time friend of Woods by calling it "a non-issue in our eyes. Case closed."

Initially ... it appeared as if the channel would take no disciplinary action on Tilghman but last night it apologized again to anyone offended and added ...

There is simply no place on our network for offensive language like this. While we believe that Kelly's choice of words was inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate. Consequently, we have decided to suspend Kelly for two weeks, effective immediately.

Last night Reverend Al Sharpton weighted in on the controversy on CNN ... He demanded the channel fire Tilghman ...

Here is a clip of Reverend Al Sharpton on CNN ...

~Papi Chulo~

In the News :: Student Reveals CNN Rigged Soft Question to Clinton

Maria Luisa ... the UNLV student who asked Hillary Clinton whether she preferred "diamonds or pearls" at Thursday's CNN-hosted Democratic debate in Las Vegas ... posted on her MySpace page Friday morning that CNN forced her to ask the soft question instead of a pre-approved question about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository ...

"Every single question asked during the debate by the audience had to be approved by CNN. I was asked to submit questions including 'lighthearted/fun' questions. I submitted more than five questions on issues important to me. I did a policy memo on Yucca Mountain a year ago and was the finalist for the Truman Scholarship. For sure, I thought I would get to ask the Yucca question that was APPROVED by CNN days in advance.

CNN ran out of time and used me to 'close' the debate with the pearls/diamonds question. Seconds later this girl comes up to me and says, 'you gave our school a bad reputation.' Well, I had to explain to her that every question from the audience was pre-planned and censored. That's what the media does. See, the media chose what they wanted, not what the people or audience really wanted. That's politics; that's reality. So, if you want to read about real issues important to America--and the whole world, I suggest you pick up a copy of the Economist or the New York Times or some other independent source. If you want me to explain to you how the media works, I am more than happy to do so. But do not judge me or my integrity based on that question."

FOX News reported last week that the Clinton campaign confirmed that they rigged a question during a town hall meeting at Grinnell University ... and the campaign said it would never happen again ...

So far the blame lies on CNN ...

~Papi Chulo~