The faces are familiar, but the names? Well, let's just say that many of this year's 387 Emmy nominees announced July 22 have a ways to go before reaching the recognition level of Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson or other stars of television's golden age. "We seem to be going through a period where there's no huge show built around one individual," says Mitchell Stephens, a journalism professor at New York University. Hence multiple nominations for ensemble programs like HBO's The Sopranos, ABC's The Practice and NBC's Frasier. The awards will be given Sept. 12.
So what does it take to make a television star truly memorable these days? "There are four qualities," says Dennis Franz, a best-actor nominee for ABC's NYPD Blue. "The writing of the character, the performance of the actor, the high visibility of a show and the timing of a show." And in comedies, he says, it helps to have "a quirkiness that's inherent to the actor's personality." Lara Flynn Boyle, up for best supporting actress for The Practice, thinks the bottom line is "good work and good scene partners" and not taking oneself seriously. And Patricia Heaton, a best-actress nominee for Everybody Loves Raymond, says it is important to show a soft side to which everyone can relate. "We all have weaknesses, and we like to see a person struggle."
It's a Blonde, Blonde, Blonde, Blonde World
Has Rod Stewart told you lately that he loves you? If so, you might have company
Focus
He bears it well, that Rod Stewart. While a lesser man might sit and mope after he and his supermodel wife called it quits, Stewart, 54, has chosen to date a seemingly endless parade of young, attractive women following a January split from Rachel Hunter, 29, his wife of eight years. "I think he's having a bit of fun," says Rod's older brother Don, 68, a retired accountant. "I don't know whether he's gone back to his 20s or what. But he's out to enjoy himself."
And what do the women see in him? "The money goes a hell of a way to sort these things out," Don says, laughing. He also mentions "a certain magic."
After casting his spell, Stewart likes to make sure his soulmate du jour is properly identified in the press. "I know it's confusing, but I've moved on from Tracy. This is Robbie, and we're having fun," Rod recently told The Sun, a British tabloid. Tracy and Robbie, according to the paper, are model Tracy Tweed, 34, and underwater photographer Robbie Lauren, 29. "She might look like Tracy, but you haven't seen them as close up as I have."
Lauren and Stewart are currently cruising the south of France. Is this relationship serious? "I guess you could say he is dating her exclusively, while they are on the boat," says his manager Arnold Stiefel. Meanwhile, Stewart still cares for Hunter, mother of two of his five children, telling The Sun, "You can't be in love with someone for 10 years and suddenly not love them anymore." The divorce is still on, though, and Hunter is seeing actor Michael Weatherly, 30. As for Stewart, says Stiefel, it's like the song in Finian's Rainbow: "When I'm not near the girl I love, I love the girl I'm near."
The Wedding Party
Here comes the bride, all dressed in—black, with a pink wrap? It was only a movie, so Runaway Bride's Julia Roberts wore whatever color her heart desired to the film's L.A. premiere July 25. Roberts cuddled conspicuously with beau Benjamin Bratt but had nothing to say about the possibility of real-life nuptials. Costar Richard Gere, attending with his pregnant girlfriend Carey Lowell, was similarly mum about marriage. Not so their director, Garry Marshall, who happily talked about his wedding—36 years ago, in a small Las Vegas chapel. His wife, Barbara "Wells, wanted something bigger, but Marshall says he eventually made it up to her with this film: "Five of the weddings my wife wanted we put on the screen in Runaway Bride."
Deeply, Deeply into Darkness Dips Depp
What Johnny Depp is doing with his movie career is a scary thing indeed. He opens this month in The Astronaut's Wife, a horror flick. Come November, he stars in Sleepy Hollow, a horror flick. December finds Depp searching for demonic texts in The Ninth Gate, a...aw, you know what it is. And didn't he launch his career in that frightening Nightmare on Elm Street? So what's the deal with Depp and the dark side? "Total coincidence," says his agent Tracey Jacobs. "There was no divine plan." No reflection of his personal interests, either? Jacobs says no; Depp, a new dad living in France with 2-month-old daughter Lily-Rose and her mom, Vanessa Paradis, is "extremely happy in his life."
Call of the Road: Socket to Me
There are many politically correct reasons to drive an electric vehicle. And then there is the one offered by Michael T. Weiss, star of NBC's The Pretender: "It's a great date magnet," Weiss, 37, says of his Toyota RAV4 EV, not publicly available. "There's something about it that's diggable." Others who dig: Danny DeVito, Woody Harrelson and Leslie Nielsen, electric-car owners all. But the plugged-in wave is still embryonic. In California, officials hoped to see 20,000 EVs sold in 1998. So far, only 2,465 are registered.
A Capitol Idea?
Jerry Springer's producers promised a cooler, calmer Jerry after critics complained that his TV talkfest offered nothing but sex and violence. But isn't running for the U.S. Senate going a little too far? "I don't know whether it's practical or possible," says Springer, a former Cincinnati mayor once outed for consorting with a prostitute (curiously, he paid her with a personal check). Still, he is considering offers to run for Ohio's Democratic Senate nomination next year. The Republican incumbent, Mike DeWine, looks unbeatable, but Hamilton County Democratic cochair Tim Burke says Springer should run anyway: "People may come out just to vote against him, but at least it will bring them back into the process." Ohio GOP leader Bob Bennett dismisses the idea as "laughable," but should probably keep in mind two key words: Jesse Ventura.
ON THE BLOCK
SIX DEGREES OF HABITATION
Looking for a little celebrity lineage in a new home? Then check out the Encino, Calif., house that Rick Davies, lead singer of Supertramp ("The Logical Song," "Take the Long Way Home"), has put on the market for just less than $3 million. Past residents include former Los Angeles Dodger Wally Moon, famous for his towering "Moon Shot" home runs some 40 years ago; teen heartthrob David Cassidy; British Invasion singing duo Chad & Jeremy ("A Summer Song"); and actor Jerry Van Dyke. The 5,000-square-foot, three-bedroom, five-bathroom home, located in a gated community, is lavish by almost anyone's standards. And if the pool, tennis court, Jacuzzi and full-service gazebo bar aren't enough to persuade you to buy, consider the professional recording studio in the 1,000-square-foot guest house. Who knows? A catchy tune could make you the next celebrity-in-residence.
They Called It Home
1950s Wally Moon
1960s David Cassidy
1960s Chad & Jeremy
1970s Jerry Van Dyke
1990s Supertramp's Rick Davies
- Contributors:
- Larry Sutton,
- Liza Hamm,
- Ron Arias,
- Karen Brailsford,
- Kelly Carter,
- Susan Christian-Goulding,
- Liz Corcoran,
- Johnny Dodd,
- Natasha Stoynoff,
- Kelly Williams,
- Ting Yu.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
