The Pop Report starts... NOW!

Hello all you pop culture enthusiasts!


I'm Shira Lazar and this is The Pop Report:
your source for all things pop culture.

Keep checking back for daily updates and breaking news in the world of pop the Shira way.

I'm an entertainment reporter and host based in Los Angeles. For more about my background, check out my current website: WWW.SHIRALAZAR.COM



thumbs up of for me!


Also, watch me tonight on FNC's The Lineup chatting about The View debacle and Paris' trip to the bookstore.

I begin this post with a look back at this past week:

Thumbs down Simon? Don't be so negative!

Yes, while soldiers were firing it up in Iraq back her in the US of A, there was big news: American Idol picked a winner and did not fire up their ratings during the season finale on Wednesday night. The ratings saw a slip from 36.4 million to 30.7 million. AI will have to rub their brains together and figure out how to bring back the viewers. Supposedly, from the start this season the judges saw the talent wasn't there, so they had to figure out a way to distract the viewers. They couldn't just have Simon constantly bashing. That just gets old! If you noticed, there was more bickering between the hosts. Industry hint: That was their way of taking attention away from the talentless performers.


On Thursday, I was The O'Reilly Factor chatting about The View catfight between Rosie and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Who showed up in the makeup room? None other than the prior night's loser, Blake Lewis. The beginner celeb came in with his small entourage: his manager and some other folks, one of which tried to find him a hamburger to eat before he went on-air. He said he was tired and had 45 minutes of sleep, but turns it on for the TV!

Finally, the week ended with the announcement that Rosie is leaving The View. Now that's as much a shocker as Howard K. Stern not being Dannielyn's father. Who wouldn't want to take their vacation early and cash out on a few million? Her head writer and close friend, Jannette is also getting in on the chick-action, drawing a mustache on one of Hasselbeck's headshots at ABC. Thankfully the cattiness didn't get as far as the film Heathers! Now, that would have sucked. A video of Wednesday's show featuring Hasselback blowing off guest Alicia Silverstone was the most popular on Youtube this week.



While we were obsessed with Idol and Rosie this week, many other stories broke:

UK

This guy looks kinda scary. That's because he hadn't slept for 11 days in an attempt to get in the Guiness Book of World Records. Too bad he didn't do his research, before wasting 11 days of his life. The record had been set by Toimi Soini, of Hamina, Finland, who stayed awake for a total of 276 hours. At least, Terry got 15 seconds of fame from his failure. Good job!





LOS ANGELES


Star Wars freaks and geeks united for the 30th Anniversary Star Wars Convention at The Los Angeles Convention Center. But, things abruptly came to a halt when a suspicious package was found by police around 50 feet from the event on Friday evening. Fear not, it was only some clothes in a box and the police were too distraced by the Princess Leia's with cleavage roaming around. Check out my friend, Mike Rotman's documentary about these obsessed fans, Star Wait.


CANNES CANNES CANNES



Brangelina made their appearance in Cannes. No, they weren't adopting a French baby. That country is just not underdeveloped enough for them. They were promoting Pitt's film, Ocean's 13. Watch this weird video of the fest premiere.


CULVER CITY, CA






This past year, the latest food craze to hit Hollywood was Pinkberry: low-fat frozen yogurt and your choice of toppings. Pretty simple right? Why didn't I think of that one! Hmmm....
Well, I hadn't been to the joint, but I finally decided to give the much hyped product a try. Just like that little kid on the Today show, I cringed. It was bitter and the only way I could enjoy it was with their sugary cap n' crunch toppings. Yesterday, I got a private tasting of a company that claims to be the original Pinkberry from Korea. Red Mango is the most popular frozen yogurt spot in Korea and is now ready to conquer the Pinkberry territory in L.A. They're opening their first store in Westwood late June/July. They don't have a site up yet, but check them out at myspace.com/redmangousa