RYAN SEACREST - SEACREST'S UNINTENTIONAL PRATFALL

This has not been a good week for Ryan Seacrest. TV writers are lampooning his red-carpet interviews during Sunday's Oscars coverage on E! Entertainment Channel. (Favorite exchange for most of them: when Seacrest asked former Vice President Al Gore, "So who would play you in the Al Gore movie?" and Gore replied, "Oh, I don't know. William Hung?") Nevertheless ratings for Live From the Red Carpet were up 47 percent over last year's telecast. On American Idol, Seacrest, the nominal host of the show, also became the object of judge Simon Cowell's vitriol. Philadelphia Inquirer TV columnist David Hiltbrand observed today (Tuesday) that last week, after a performance of contestant Chris Sligh, "Seacrest made the moronic mistake of engaging Simon Cowell in a battle of wits. What a monumental mismatch."

27/02/2007