Thursday, April 22, 2004
C'mon, admit it. You love to loathe these celebrities and characters from the TV world.
U Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth of "The Apprentice": You don't make statements such as "I'm going to crush my competition and I'm going to enjoy doing it" without raising people's eyebrows. Youngstown's own Omarosa had attitude and opinions to spare during her time on NBC the reality series "The Apprentice." Now she is being blamed for sabotaging Harvard alum Kwame Jackson's final attempt to be hired by Donald Trump on last Thursday's finale. The one-year job and $250,000 salary went instead to Bill Rancic, a Chicagoan.
Kwame tells Associated Press that despite how Omarosa let him down -- she didn't take responsibility for messing up transportation for singer Jessica Simpson, whose concert was Kwame's responsibility -- he's moving ahead. Apparently, Omarosa won't be forgotten anytime soon. Besides talk of a book deal and a recent appearance on "Oprah," the Lycos internet search engine reports receiving four times as many requests for Omarosa as Rancic, the winner. Sometimes, it really is good to be bad, especially when you make a TV show more interesting. Otherwise, "The Apprentice" without Omarosa (and that brief appearance by intense Sam Solovey) would have been as tame as "The Brady Bunch."
USimon Cowell of "American Idol": Everybody's a critic, but few have hurt so many feelings in so little time as this British bombardier of the pop music world. Cowell never seems to lack verbal ammunition when he deems a wannabe singer's performance to be "dreadful," "abominable," "pathetic," etc. It's cruelly amusing to watch average or less-than-average vocalists react to his assessments (hey, they asked for it as contestants). The bottom line is -- at least this season -- Simon has been bluntly correct more often than he has been overly critical. That's why it means so much to performers to hear him say he enjoyed their efforts. Having kindly Paula Abdul's laudatory remarks on your resum & eacute; isn't nearly as valuable.
UDoris Roberts as Marie Barone on "Everybody Loves Raymond": God has blessed me with a mother-in-law who's the anti-Marie, but I've heard enough horror stories to know that there are too many real-life Maries running around out there. If there's anything to love about Ray Romano's CBS sitcom, it's knowing that somewhere, someone's evil mother-in-law and her wily, mean-spirited ways are being exposed to a national viewing audience.
UTony Sirico as Paulie Walnuts, "The Sopranos": OK, so we're not supposed to exactly warm up to any of the mob types in David Chase's HBO series. But Paulie -- he of the jet-black hair that makes the gray of his temples look like a pigeon's wings -- is the one who makes us the most uncomfortable. We can't take our eyes off him, either. Maybe it's because we don't trust him. After all, this was a guy who sought revenge against a frail old woman who wasn't getting along with his mother. This was a guy who threatened to withhold further contributions to his church because God wasn't sparing him from nightmares that were invoked by his guilty killer's conscience. Mob boss Tony hears enough whining from his nephew, Christopher, and gets enough support from his sidekick Silvio. Paulie is the one who keeps stoking the fires of tension within that inner circle and driving that never-a-dull-moment success of "The Sopranos."
Who else do you love to loathe? Tell me about it.
XDebora Shaulis is The Vindicator's entertainment editor. Write her at shaulis@vindy.com.