andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Ryan Seacrest was granted a temporary restraining order against an alleged stalker, reports TMZ. Chidi Uzomah, who was arrested Friday at the E! building, must remain 100 yards from Seacrest and may not contact the American Idol host or go near his home, work or vehicle.

Uzomah, who was convicted of three misdemeanors last month after attacking Seacrest’s bodyguard at an Orange County hospital, is being held in jail on charges of felony stalking.

He showed up at the E! building in Los Angeles with a knife in his pocket – not the first time he has gone to Seacrest’s place of work with a weapon. Earlier this month, he was looking for him at a Burbank, CA radio station. He also had a knife in his pocket when the incident with the bodyguard occurred.

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So You Think You Can Dance host Cat Deeley will be presenting an award at Sunday’s 61st annual Emmy Awards, but many say she should be among American Idol’s Ryan Seacrest, Survivor host Jeff Probst, and Heidi Klum of Project Runway as a nominee for best reality show host.

At the G-Star Raw fashion show, Deeley told E! News two people had already told her she deserved a nomination in the 20 minutes since she’d arrived at the show.

“I’m a little bit nervous about it though,” said the Brit about presenting. “I’ve done it back in England, and I’ve hosted award shows back in England, but I’ve never actually done it before here. But I’m excited, you know? It’s a really exciting thing to do. I’m having a whole plethora of dresses coming in. I know I’ve got Matthew Williamson and [Burberry's] Christopher Bailey sending me over things so far, but I’m sure there’ll be more.”

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Apparently Ben Stiller is trying to get huge with Twitter and is trying to Mooch Ryan Seacrest. See below for proof:

President of ABC Entertainment Stephen McPherson said he would absolutely love to have Paula Abdul as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, reports Perez Hilton.

“We would love to have her on Dancing whether it’s as a contestant, or a participant, judge, etc.,” McPherson said of the former American Idol judge. “I was a little stunned by the decision,” he said about her recent departure from the Fox reality show where she worked for eight seasons. “I think she’s a huge talent. There’s a sensitivity and emotion in her that balances out Idol and we’d love to get a piece of that.”

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Paula Abdul is threatening to quit her job as a judge on American Idol, reports TMZ.

“Very sadly, it does not appear that she’s going to be back on Idol,” her manager, David Sonnenberg, told the L.A. Times.

Auditions for the show’s ninth season begin August 6, but Abdul has not yet heard from the show regarding her contract.

“I find it under these circumstances particularly unusual; I think unnecessarily hurtful,” continued Sonnenberg, who has managed Abdul since the end of June. “I find it kind of unconscionable and certainly rude and disrespectful that they haven’t stepped up and said what they want to do.”

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No joke: Ryan Seacrest was attacked by a shark over the weekend.

Luckily for him, it was just a baby. As Seacrest explained on his radio show Monday that he was wading in the water at the beach when he felt something swim past him.

“I thought it was a stick,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what had happened. Then I saw it swim! He took a bite, and he left.”

He later found one of the shark’s teeth lodged in his foot.

Seacrest was incredulous about the incident. When asked if anyone else was hurt, he replied, “No, just me, of course! There were like 1,000 people in the ocean, and I get bit by the shark!”

He was still in minor pain at the time of his radio show.

How many jobs can one man possibly hold down?

Ryan Seacrest has just added on to his already impressively long CV. He has teamed up with NBC to create the reality show “Momma’s Boy.” Seacrest will act as executive producer.

According to a casting notice on NBC.com, the show will feature the mothers of eligible bachelors “help their sons pick the right woman.”

The site also said that “Producers are looking for moms and their sons who are willing to work together as a team to find the perfect mate. These mothers should have strong opinions about whom their sons should date and be willing to separate the good from the bad.”

When I think cool and contemporary, I think Neil Diamond. Except not at all. (Unless we’re talking about Will Farrell as Neil Diamond which is kind of hilarious). So Neil seems like kind of an odd choice for a show that is desperately trying to recapture the attention of the crucial under-25 demographic. But obviously someone important at Idol headquarters disagrees as Diamond plays musical mentor this week to the top 5 contestants.

In a cruel twist of fate, Ryan Seacrest reveals that the “American Idol” contestants are each to sing 2 songs tonight from Neil Diamond’s musical catalogue. Two Neil Diamond songs?! That’s rough. I feel your pain, kids.

Jason Castro starts things off singing “Forever in Blue Jeans” and later, “September Morn”. He sings the former with his guitar and the latter without and it seems like he always does a lot worse sans guitar. “Michelle” in Beatles week? Brutal. The judges think it was all bad though as Randy Jackson calls both songs “just ok, whatever”, Paula Abdul advises him to get out of his comfort zone, and Simon Cowell says he doesn’t even recognize him anymore.

David Cook chose the songs “I’m Alive” and “All I Really Need is You”, neither of which I have ever heard, but both of which he makes sound kind of cool. And how can you not respect a guy that makes random Neil Diamond songs sound cool? Neil himself says Cook gave him goosebumps but he’s so monotone that it sounds like he’s lying. Randy calls his performances “blazin”, Paula says she’s already looking at the american idol, and all the judges agree that it’s Cook’s ability to make songs contemporary that makes him appealing.

Brooke White is wearing what looks like an old costume from my low-budget youth theatre company (sparkly super-wide bell-bottoms and a frilly shirt. Belted of course), and she’s singing “I’m a Believer” (which Diamond apparently wrote for The Monkees) and a song called “I Am I Said”. “I’m a Believer” comes off super corny and karaoke-esque, but she plays piano for “I Am I Said” and the singer-songwriter at the piano thing usually works for her. None of the judges praised her first performance (Simon called it a nightmare), but they all agree that the second one brought out the Brooke White that they like.

Next up is David Archuleta, who Neil Diamond calls “kind of a prodigy.” Only kind of? I wonder what it takes to be considered a full-blown prodigy. I’ll have to ask Neil the next time I see him. Archuleta is back to dressing like a kid this week and he does fine with his first song, “Sweet Caroline”, but his second song, “Coming to America”, is more his style. The gigantic American flag waving on the screen behind him doesn’t hurt. Randy thinks he is “the bomb”, Paula tells him, “I love you, you were brilliant, have fun” (umm what?), and Simon says that his performance “ticked all the boxes”, whatever that means.

Closing the show is Syesha Mercado singing “Hello Again” and “Thank the Lord for the Nighttime”. More songs I have never heard of. Awesome. She clearly agrees with Dane Cook’s perspective on shoes as she is not wearing any. For the entire show. Her first song is fairly boring (Simon calls it old-fashioned), but the jazzy vibe of her second song works with her performance style. Neil monotone-ly says she’s infectious and makes me really miss Andrew Lloyd Webber. Randy believes she’s finally realizing who she is, Paula compares her to Corinne Bailey Rae and another singer from the 60s whose name I have never heard, and Simon believes she might be in trouble vote-wise.

It seems that only the Davids are safe for results night, while Neil Diamond is set to perform. Get ready with your fast forward button as Mr. Diamond may be a classic but it turns out he is super dull.

Ryan Seacrest’s fauxhawk is sitting at about a 4.5 on the pointiness scale tonight as he declares it the “toughest test yet” on American Idol.He eventually informs us that it’s Andrew Lloyd Webber week and we get the obligatory video clip summing up his career in 4 minutes, during which my mom exclaims that “he looks like the grinch!” And he kind of does.

The top 6 are introduced and Syesha Mercado starts off the show singing a song called One Rock and Roll Too Many. Wikipedia tells me it’s from a play called Starlight Express which was apparently performed on roller skates. No wonder I’ve never heard of it. Syesha looks really elevated and I can’t figure out why until I realize she is standing on the piano. Um, risky much? She doesn’t sound as good as she usually does but Randy Jackson thinks it’s her best yet, Paula Abdul tells her she’s in her “happy place” and makes me want to watch Happy Gilmore, and Simon Cowell says theatre is her thing.

Jason Castro is next and he’s singing Memory from Cats. He admits he’s never seen an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which is not even remotely shocking coming from this guy. Andrew Lloyd Webber never thought Memory would be sung by a person with dreadlocks and Jason Castro was apparently unaware that the song was sung by a cat. Nonetheless, he goes ahead with it. It’s clearly too much for him as Randy calls it a “train wreck”, Paula falls back on the “you made it your own” thing, and Simon gets to use his favourite wedding analogy when he says it seems like Castro’s parents forced him to sing it at one.

Brooke White chose You Must Love Me from Evita and has to re-start her song for the second time this season. While the first time was kind of endearing, this time it’s just plain awkward since she has to stop the whole band. Once she gets into it she looks like she’s in pain throughout the entire song and I’m not sure if it’s because she’s trying to look like she’s dying (because Webber told her that’s what’s happening to the character in the play) or if she’s actually literally dying of embarrassment. All the judges agree that the mistake at the beginning really threw her and ruined the remainder of the song.

David Archuleta is dressed like a waiter in some new, hip restaurant and before he sings Ryan invites a handful of random girls up on stage to hug him. He laughs awkwardly, because what else does one do whilst being hugged by strange children on national TV? He’s singing Think of Me from Phantom of the Opera and actually makes it into kind of a cool pop-soul song. Sir Andrew and my mom love it (”Wasn’t that beautiful?! It was beautiful!”). As for the judges, Randy says he’s the one to beat and Paula says it was perfect, but Simon plays the bitter British dude role and says it was one of his weakest performances.

Carly Smithson is up next and Webber advises her to choose Jesus Christ Superstar, reasoning that “you’ve got to find a song that suits your voice, a song that you can live in, you can inhabit,” and the English accent makes it sound like the sagest advice anyone has given in the history of ever. She takes his suggestion (obviously, he’s British…and Andrew Lloyd Webber) and comes out rocking, although I’m pretty sure she’s wearing a beaded rug that was previously displayed on my living room wall as a dress. Randy likes the outfit (this from a guy who was seen in public wearing this) and says the performance was “good”, Paula is basically incoherent, and Simon claims it was one of the best of the night.

David Cook closes out the show, choosing yet another song from Phantom of the Opera: Music of the Night. The stylists have slicked his hair down to his head a bit more for this performance, possibly to make him look less rocker-ish and more musical theatre-ish, and he proves that he actually can pull off the musical theatre thing because he does have a good voice. Randy calls the performance a “hot, molten hot, lava bomb” (genius), Paula repeats what she’s said to everyone else on the show, and Simon says he prefers David unslicked but that he did well with what he was given.

Jason Castro and Brooke White are probably at risk on results night and Andrew Lloyd Webber is set to perform. Here’s hoping he comes out wearing those stylish red corduroy pants he was sporting throughout Tuesday’s episode. What a stand-up guy.

Don’t be surprised if Christina Aguilera cancels her appearance on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2007″ at the last minute. Ryan Seacrest (hosting the broadcast with Clark) plans to plant a wet one on the singer.

“Last year I got lucky with Mariah (Carey), so hopefully at that moment she’s right there,” Seacrest said of stealing a midnight kiss from the blonde bombshell.

The annual ABC tradition, broadcast from Times Square in New York City on New Year’s Eve, will once again be a big show this year. The three-and-a-half hour program will feature performances from Aguilera as well as Rascall Flatts, Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas, Natasha Bedingfield, and Meat Loaf, to name a few.

The 77-year-old Clark has hosted the show since 1972 but since suffering a stroke two years ago, he’s gotten some help from American Idol’s Seacrest.

Clark is “obviously still recovering but I think you’ll see improvement on the New Year’s Eve show,” said Seacrest.