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Assorted Topics--- Sometimes there are lots of small articles to write on any given day instead of one big article, which leads us to the newest feature on Ivan's Blog--- The "Assorted Topics" posts, which will be recurring whenever it's warranted. These posts aren't about any single topic and are instead a collection of smaller articles about whatever is relevant or newsworthy at the time.

Television: Chappelle Checks Into Mental Hospital
As a follow-up to my previous post about the status of Dave Chappelle, Entertainment Weekly and the Associated Press are now reporting that Chappelle has checked himself into a psychiatric hospital in South Africa. Entertainment Weekly went so far as to say that it was "unlikely" that Chappelle's Show would ever return for a third season on Comedy Central. Following the publication of the Entertainment Weekly and AP stories, other news outlets have picked up the story and added details along the way.

After months of problems on the set, Chappelle reportedly flew from Florida to South Africa on Thursday, April 28 to check himself into a mental hospital in the city of Cape Cod, and he has not been seen or heard from since then. Comedy Central spokesperson Tony Fox told the Associated Press, "We don't know where he is. We've heard about South Africa. We don't know... we haven't talked to Dave." At this point, about four episodes' worth of sketches for the third season have been filmed, but none of the "introducing the sketches to a live audience" segments with Chappelle have been filmed.

Also, one of Chappelle's friends was quoted in Newsweek saying, "Everyone knows Dave likes to have fun. I wouldn't say it's out of control... but at some point that has to affect you if you've got a regular gig." It should be noted that there's a big difference between going to drug rehab and going to a mental hospital. Sad as it is, Hollywood stars go in and out of drug rehab all the time, but it's not every day that you see someone checking themselves into a mental hospital.

Television: Suspicions about American Idol's Carrie and Anthony Semi-Confirmed
First of all, I am fully aware that writing about American Idol has the affect of instantly making one considerably less cool, but I can't help myself in this case. I didn't want to say anything before now because I thought I was just imagining things, but it has appeared to me for several weeks that American Idol's country-singing beauty Carrie Underwood was more "friendly" with fellow contestant Anthony Federov than the normal level of "friendliness" between Idol contestants. There were lots of little things on the show that would indicate anything from a mutual crush to a full-blown fling between the two of them, such as the way Carrie would embrace Anthony with tears of joy running down her face when he would barely escape elimination as part of the bottom two on multiple occasions. I wouldn't think anything of it if their relationwhip were out in the open, but it seemed like I was the only person in America to notice, as I didn't see it written anywhere else.

However, last night's results show (which drew a whopping 14.9 rating) stands as pretty strong evidence of something going on between the two of them. The two held hands briefly while sitting on the couch, they glanced at each other uncomfortably when it was announced that the final three would be returning to their hometown for the next week (meaning they would be separated for the next week), and Carrie was flat-out sobbing when Anthony got eliminated. She has never reacted so strongly to any other contestant being eliminated, and at one point she actually mouthed the words "I love you" to Anthony as he was singing his horribly over-done farewell song. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to come to the conclusion that there is something going on between the two of them. Still, maybe I'm just paranoid and making too much of things... you know, like the Ivan's Blog "How Drunk and/or High is Paula Abdul Meter"...

Mixed Martial Arts: First Word on Coaches for Ultimate Fighter Season Two
MMAWeekly has broken the news that Matt Hughes is being strongly considered as one of the two coaches on the second season of The Ultimate Figther on Spike TV. According to UFC president Dana White on today's edition of MMAWeekly Radio, the only thing potentially stopping Hughes from being one of the coaches is family commitments, as being on the show would require being away from home for about two months straight. As for the other team's coach, MMAWeekly is reporting that it is likely to be either Frank Trigg, Evan Tanner, or Rich Franklin.

It's possible that Matt Hughes is planning to move up to middleweight to fight the winner of the June 4th Tanner vs. Franklin bout, but that's not necessarily the case. I think a lot of people have had the mindset that you have to be building up to a UFC fight between the two coaches on pay-per-view shortly after the season finale (as with Couture vs. Liddell in season one), but that's simply not true. You don't necessarily have to promote, "Coach A and Coach B are going to be fighting each other in the UFC after this season is over." You could just as easily promote, "Coach A is going to be fighting someone in the UFC after this season, and Coach B is going to be fighting someone in the UFC after this season."

For example, let's say the two coaches are Matt Hughes, and the winner of the upcoming Tanner-Franklin fight. You could run commercials throughout the entire season hyping the Tanner-Franklin winner going against number one contender Matt Lindland, and don't tell me that the words "Olympic Silver Medalist" constantly running in commercials wouldn't give the UFC a big boost in mainstream credibility. In the same commercials, you could hype Hughes' next title defense against whoever his next opponent would be. Logic would dictate that it could be Karo Parisyan if he wins his bout at UFC 53, or Nick Diaz if he wins his bout at UFC 53. This scenario makes just as much sense from a marketing standpoint, without having to artificially make sure that the coaches on every season of The Ultimate Fighter have a fight scheduled between the two of them.

Labels: Television (Non-MMA)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 3:56 PM

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