Jenny McCarthy and her boyfriend-manager Ray Manzella
are squirming more than a buck naked blonde in a Playmate of The Year
video these days. (Oh yeah, that was Jenny.) Now that Jenny's sitcom
is breaking the wrong kind of ratings records, they are setting their
sights on feature films, which has set off my Hot Button. Running out
of media tricks (two weeks ago it was Manzella fighting for Jenny's
equal opportunity to pass wind on network TV. Last week it was Jenny
on every magazine cover proclaiming her new sophisticated self. Make
up your mind, Ray!), they've dragged poor Dick Zanuck into their
circus. "We are crazy about Jenny," Zanuck was quoted as shouting to
Variety. "She's smart, funny, unaffected -- and, needless to
say, good-looking!" The only problem with this move is that Dick's nose
for talent is broken, as evidenced by a string of six straight flops,
from Rush to Chain Reaction, since his Miss Daisy drove
him to the Oscars in 1989. In actuality, I do think that Jenny has the
star stuff, but she has to take a year or two off, find a boyfriend
who doesn't take a percentage of anything but her body, and then come
back calmly. Calmly.
In other crossover news, "The Drew Carey Show" is going The Full
Monty with male cast members stripping to "Free Ride" for an upcoming
episode. With this homage and take-offs of The Rocky Horror Picture
Show and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert under its belt (so
to speak), plus a new dance number seemingly every fourth episode, Carey's
show is becoming the biggest purveyor of gag gimmicks since Ellen
DeGeneres faked that whole lesbian thing. Oh? That was real? Ah.
Then it's just her new breasts.
Elisabeth Shue is in talks to play Molly, an autistic girl who
becomes a genius after receiving radical medical treatment, much to
the surprise of her caretaking brother. Sounds like Rain Man
with breasts and a happy ending. (This is becoming a theme column!)
In real life, of course, Shue is a radical who's surprised people don't
think she's a genius, taking care to let us know that medical treatment
won't help her acting-autistic brother, Andrew.
If anything hits your Hot Button, Email
me and let me know.
