I'm just sayin... Thoughts on TMZ's new show

By Joy A. Kennelly

Just caught TMZ's new show out of idle curiosity because it's so snarky online I'm curious to see how much of an appetite the general public will have for it on TV.

Anyone else find it as curious as I do that there are SO MANY Papa John commercials? Is that the only advertiser they've found to pay for time?

I'm just sayin...

Also, anyone else think the cute, long-haired blonde guy is really an aspiring actor thrown in the mix for eye candy purposes only? What's with the hair toss? I can only imagine him digging up dirt on anything - maybe he's the one who saw Jesse emptying his trash shirtless. What a scoop!

Who'd you rather ladies - Harry Levin (pushing 60) or the cute blonde guy (just turned 19)?

I'm just sayin... I thought so. I bet Harry is the one who chose the story about older men with younger women living longer too.

Also, now that TMZ has a whole 1/2 hour to fill isn't it funny that Britany's antics only go so far? The rest of the show is so much filler! Fashion?  Little boy singing? Oh, but now OJ is hot. Or let's tear down the Carter guy by tricking him into thinking we really like his music - ha ha jokes on him. We're TMZ! We hate everybody successful!

I'm just sayin...

Perez Hilton has more Hollywood gossip going on than this show.  Speaking of Hilton's, where's the gossip on Paris and all the rest of the gang? Perhaps since it's on regular TV they can't air all the juicy stuff for fear of being sued, or maybe PMK or any of the major PR firms controlling the star's careers gave an ultimatum? Or maybe they're paying Harry off privately and that's why Papa John's got all the cheap advertising?

No, I get it. Now they're competing against "real" journalists like Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollwyood, EXTRA! etc and since the other entertainment shows actually have news, this one shows its true colors for what it really is. Yellow journalism.

I'm just sayin...

EXCLUSIVE
Anyone else find it funny that Harry Levin aspires to be the next Ryan Seacrest? I remember the court show years ago (wasn't it People's Court or something like that?) when Harry used to stand outside the courtroom door when people would come out and ask for their opinion on their verdict.

I thought he was annoying then, I think he's annoying now. Probably really nice, but anyone who makes a living doing yellow journalism like he does deserves critique too.

I'm just sayin...

After watching that show I'm glad I'm not repping any actors right now. Did have a nice chat with my constantly working former client though. You go boy.

Oh, here's a funny note. I was commenting on a friend's pic he has on facebook and we got to discussing publicity. Because I have a tendency to tell it like it is he felt inclined to tell me what he thought of my publicity fees.

He thought I was more expensive than Rogers & Cowan! When I heard that I almost fell off my chair because my rates are really fair and relatively reasonable. If Rogers & Cowan was only charging what I'm charging then I'm glad I'm not in that line of work right now. They're a MAJOR PR firm with a huge overhead and huge staff. I'm not.

However, when he then told me that for me to charge $6,000 a month for my services was outrageous I had to laugh out loud. Yes, he's right, but he had me confused with some other publicist because I never quoted that rate! That is outrageous.

Glad to hear that he's mistaken. Glad to hear I'm not that out of line. What people always forget when they're looking for publicists to work with is that if you go with a large firm you may meet the most senior person on the team to represent you. However, the actual person doing the work on your account will be the most junior person on the team.

The senior person oversees the junior one, but you have still someone who's relatively green behind the ears making decisions for your career. I wouldn't want that. The people who've worked with me over the years understand that the person they met with (me) is the person who takes their calls, strategizes their campaign, contacts the media and others on their behalf, writes the press releases and makes sure everything runs smoothly. Not someone just out of college with no experience learning on your dime.

I know it's a difficult concept to comprehend, but imagine going to a gym meeting a "master" trainer and then being trained by a student. Same concept. You may not know it's happening. You may think you're getting good results, but when you work with a "master" then all of a sudden the light bulb comes on and you get results faster.

Plus, bigger agencies have so many accounts they're juggling if you're one of their smaller clients you're just not going to get the same amount of attention as a client who's paying more. Bottom line. A smaller agency realizes you're important to their bottom line and you receive more attention as a result. So there you have it.

I know interesting segue, but just felt like defending all the independent publicists out there who deal with this attitude all the time. It's the age old question - Is bigger better?

And with that, I'll close. Have a good one.