Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

Last Night at Dancing with the Stars

I'm not much of a fan of reality television. I never heard of Kate and Jon Gosselin until they became ubiquitous on magazine covers, thanks to the very public dissolution of their marriage. And the only times I've watched an entire episode of "Dancing With the Stars" have been when I've been seated in the studio audience. That's no slam on the show, which is really entertaining -- it's just a personal preference (I like scripted TV comedies and dramas better).

I couldn't help myself: When they showed the clip of Kate and Tony's performance on Monday, I laughed out loud. She looked like an amateur (which of course, she is). But most of the other performers have no background in dance, and Kate - on that particular night with that particular dance - was glaringly bad.

I was not surprised to see her voted off.

I was surprised to feel some real sympathy for her tearful reaction.

On the one hand, I scoffed at the judge who gave her kudos for being a single mom. She's not a single mom like the single moms I hang out with. She has money and help and fame. But she also has eight kids. I don't know her and I won't judge her. I did feel sorry that she seemed to be sorry that her DWTS adventure had ended.

That was the only moment of sadness during last night's show. Most of the time, I thought it was an absolute hoot. It was a better show - and a lot more fun - than the first one I attended a couple of years ago.

For one thing, I was not alone. Wonderful Mary Ellen had arranged for seven of us (moms and daughters) to attend, and this time around, she got us some choice seats. Megan and her friends were in the same section as legendary astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and got to shake his hand. We moms were in the section opposite the judges. We may have even been caught in camera - but I don't know, because I did not think to tell my husband to record the show.

We loved the number recreating movie dances from the past. Jake and Chelsie's "Risky Business" routine proved even riskier than planned, as we witnessed a wardrobe near-malfunction. Better still was the conversation Vienna Giraldi was having with the people sitting behind us... or so I'm told. I didn't even know who she was, since I've never watched "The Bachelor."

We all had to leave our cell phones and cameras in the car - but Mary Ellen had hers handy (it's an essential tool in her job doing wardrobe for the show). After the show, she took us backstage and we got to meet gorgeous Ana Trebunskaya and Cheryl Burke (who posed for a photo with our girls).

On our way upstairs to see the wardrobe rooms, we ran into a crowd from "American Idol," which tapes on the stage next door and finishes at the same time as "Dancing."

"I just saw Ellen!" my daughter exclaimed, as the famous comedian got on the elevator ahead of us. Emerging from the hallway was hero airline pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who must have been in the AI audience last night. He posed for a photo with my friends.

Then upstairs, we ran into Evan Lysacek, who graciously allowed Mary Ellen to take a picture of him with the girls. My daughter seemed less impressed that he's an Olympic gold medalist than the fact that he's dating Nastia Liukin. Once a gymnast, always a gymnast, I suppose.

But the high point of the evening for me was in the wardrobe room, where Mary Ellen pulled out some of the stars' dancing costumes for us to "wear" (really, just tucked around our bodies, as I had a short, fringed number worn by Pamela Anderson and there is NO way one of her dresses would stay up around my barely a B-cup bosom). The big surprise was how HEAVY it was, and no wonder, because the entire garment was studded with large Swarovsky crystals.

And yes, a photo was taken - but it won't be displayed here... because what happens at Dancing with the Stars stays at Dancing With the Stars.

Don't Bother Me - I'm at Dancing With the Stars

You may recall a couple of years ago, when my friend Mary Ellen invited me to go backstage where she works, at "Dancing With the Stars."

Today, I get to go back... only this time, I'm delivering a crowd.

You see, this year, they've lowered the age for audience members from 16 to 10 -- so for the first time, Mary Ellen's own daughter gets to see the action from the audience. And since her daughter is a close friend of my daughter, we're all going.

In fact, my friend was able to pull enough strings to get tickets for Megan, Maggie, two of their other friends AND their moms.

Since the moms both work outside the house, I get to chauffeur the four girls to CBS Television City. I expect to spend that time productively by doing a little reconnaissance on their social lives (i.e., eavesdropping on their conversation).

Unfortunately, the producers do not allow cameras or even cell phones in the audience, so I don't get to tweet... and won't have any new photos to post.

So this time, I'm doing it for fun.

Monday Musings: Better Times and Jamie Oliver's Chicken

Did I mention that last week was crazy?

This week isn't going to be much easier.

When did my life spin so out of control?

As scattered as I am feeling at the moment, I have to state for the record that I would rather be dealing with this kind of problem (which is my own fault) than the ones I had a year ago at this time (which were out of my control). 

My husband and I were chatting about this yesterday morning, as we prepped the house to entertain my friend Cynematic and her family. We agreed that as stressed as we've both been this month, it's NO COMPARISON with 2009, which felt like we were living in a big, black hole.

The weekend was nice. I often say that the best thing about having guests is that it forces us to clean the house. This is not a joke. It's not so much that I hate housework -- it's just that there are other things I need to do during the day, so cleaning usually ends up at the bottom of the list.

But yeah -- housework is not my favorite activity. I like having a clean house, and when I put my mind to it (as in, we are having company and we cannot let them see how we actually live), I have been known to do a thorough job. I think what I object to is its futility... two minutes after you finish vacuuming, the dust starts settling again.

This is not at all like writing a blog post, which leaves me with a satisfied feeling after I hit "publish." Housework is Sisyphean. The satisfaction doesn't last, because it doesn't stay clean long enough to enjoy it.

And I've felt like I've been spinning out of control the last few weeks, dashing from one project to the next, with little time for reflection, let alone putting things away.

Our home was a complete and total disaster by Saturday. It was so bad that once I started vaccuming with a fresh bag, I'd filled it before I'd even finished the living room. This was largely due to the fact that the dog we acquired this year sheds like a hurricane. Why didn't I insist on a less hairy breed?

Of course, that was the last bag I had on hand, and by the time I'd de-cluttered the house to the point where I could begin vacuuming, the nearby store that carried Miele supplies had closed for the evening, and does not open on Sundays. (Why did I buy an expensive vacuum that isn't carried everywhere?) Fortunately, someone was still in the shop when I called, and he told me that the Bed, Bath & Beyond in Santa Clarita carries Miele. I had no idea, because my local outlet in Northridge does not.

Crisis solved; I spent Sunday getting my home in order. And I even had help: My 14-year-old daughter was absolutely amazing. She did some of the vacuuming, dusting and even volunteered to clean windows. Yes, I know that this is something that should be expected of our kids. I just didn't expect that I wouldn't have to nag her. She was terrific.

And so was my husband, who took care of the nasty bathrooms (which look even nastier in comparison now that we have such a beautiful kitchen). He also handled the guest bedroom/office, the exterior, and finished the windows (because Megan can't really reach the top).

With the family pulling together as a team, we worked the miracle of making the house presentable a full hour before our guests arrived. You have no idea how good it made me feel to have so much help.

Cyn and her family are the first guests we've had that aren't family or really close friends, and as I'm a nervous hostess, I needed to serve a menu that was foolproof. So dinner was simple: Jamie Oliver's roast chicken and potatoes and roasted broccoli. For dessert, I spooned sliced strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream over a slice of purchased chocolate pound cake. Easy peasy.

I've been using Oliver's roast chicken recipe for several years now, having purchased his Jamie's Dinners cookbook shortly after I viewed his original newsmaking series in Britain, on the BBC. So of course, we've been following his repeat experiment here in the US. It was riveting television the first time, and resulted in actual changes to government policy regarding school lunches.

And it's riveting television now. I know it's caught the attention of most of my mom blogging friends, so I'm pretty sure those of you who read this are already watching. But what I do want to point out is Jamie's petition to make the same official changes to the school lunch programs over here. I've signed it and urge you to sign it too.

It can't hurt, and may even help us all on the way to becoming healthier people.

Thanks to everyone who entered the Otterbox giveaway on my SoCal Stuff blog - and congratulations to Tricia Honea, who won the case of her choice. You still have another week to enter my Mother's Day giveaway: Tell me your favorite Kodak moment and you could receive an EasyShare M530 camera and Pulse digital photo frame, each worth $129.

Tonight on PBS: Inventing LA

I have always loved entertainment media, so it surprised no one in 1975 when I declared Radio-Television-Film as my major.

I minored in Journalism. This was also unsurprising, as writing was the one skill I acquired in school that came rather easily to me. As a kid, one of my favorite toys was a little rubber stamp "printing press," which I used to publish a "newspaper" circulated among our immediate family and friends.

And don't forget that this was the Watergate era. J-schools were filling up with idealistic young students like me, who looked upon Woodward and Bernstein as heroes.

By this time, my transfer from UCLA to CSUN was permanent (although I did not realize it for another couple of years). We were fortunate that our faculty included a number of working reporters from local station KNBC... and the Los Angeles Times.

We did have a couple of other papers in the area, including the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and the Van Nuys-based Daily News (which at the time was owned by the Chicago Tribune). But for all intents and purposes, L.A. was -- and remains -- a one-newspaper town. And, as you will see on "Inventing LA," tonight's edition of POV on PBS, the fortunes of the city and its newspaper have been intertwined for more than a century.

This is must-viewing for anyone with an interest in the history of our region and how it came to be.

"Inventing LA" was one of the programs showcased at the PBS press tour back in August, and one of the ones I was most looking forward to. It recalls a period in history when newspapers were nothing less than the lifeblood of the community (which may be hard for younger audiences to fathom, now that the Internet has democratized and globalized news gathering).

But the history of the newspaper isn't just a story about media, or even of a city --  and might make for very dry viewing. What sets this documentary apart is its focus on the heirs of founder Harrison Gray Otis and his son-in-law, Harry Chandler... and is a fascinating portrait of a real-life "Dynasty." For all of the 20th Century, the Chandlers were the most powerful family in Los Angeles. The documentary tells the very personal story of the simultaneous rise of the city and the paper -- and the family feud sparked by third generation publisher Otis Chandler's quest to remake their publication into a paper of record. Otis succeeded, but in the end, the family voted to sell the jewel of their corporate crown to the Tribune Company. It has never been the same.

The documentary features interviews with several family members and former Times employees, including Otis' son Harry Brant Chandler and Tom Johnston, who replaced Otis as publisher in 1980. Both were present to answer reporters' questions at the PBS Press tour.

According to Harry, the documentary (which actually premiered earlier this year at the Santa Barbara Film Festival) "caused a few earthquakes in the family, but nothing that wasn’t anticipated." 

Harry spoke about his father's legacy: "He served well for 20 years as publisher but another side of him had a Harley Davidson heart and he wanted to have his own life. He got tired of fighting the family. I think he finally had enough and stopped fighting. He left and surprised a lot of people."

Tom Johnson agreed with that assessment. "I regret very deeply that Otis allowed himself to be pushed aside," he said. "I think he could have kept the paper from being sold." 

One of the final questions concerned the paper's legacy: Would Los Angeles have been better off if there had been no Chandlers?

Johnson: "I think in many ways this would still be a desert without the Chandlers... Without the power of the Chandlers and the Times and all the interconnectedness, Southern California would not be what it is today with its great strengths as well as weaknesses." 

DISCLOSURE: I do not consider myself a journalist. I did not tape record the press conference in August, so quotes above were taken from my fast notes... and while I believe I came home with a pretty accurate impression of the panelists' answers, they are not a word-for-word transcription.

I did not promise PBS I would write a post about this program and did not receive any monetary compensation for it. As someone with an interest in local history (and a rather large collection of books about Los Angeles), I found the subject matter fascinating and having viewed it already on a screener supplied by PBS, I think it lives up to its promise and is worthy of sharing here.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Los Angeles students finally went back to school yesterday, and as I dropped my daughter off, I felt a lot like the guy in this old Staples commercial:

When I was a kid, September was exciting for a lot of reasons. I was one of those annoying children who actually LIKED school. But what really got me excited was the arrival of the annual Fall Preview issue of TV Guide, which I would devour as if it was a new Nancy Drew book. I'd read up on the new programs, memorize who was who in the casts and map out our family's viewing schedule (strangely enough, my parents let me make those decisions -- probably because they didn't care about it as much as I).

I suppose no one was surprised that I finished college as a Radio-Television-Film major, and ended up working in production. I loved TV, and still do -- although with the expanded cable universe (and my advanced age), I am no longer able to familiarize myself with EVERY new show that comes on the air.

That's why I was so excited when I was invited to attend a blogger event at CBS-Radford Studios a few weeks ago, where we were treated to previews of some of the new series debuting this month on CBS and the CW. One of those shows premiered Tuesday night: the 2.0 version of Melrose Place. It was good trashy fun, like my favorite guilty pleasure, Gossip Girl. GG may not remain at the top of my guilty pleasure list next week, when CW debuts another glitzy soap: The Beautiful Life: TBL, produced by Ashton Kutcher, follows the troubled love lives and careers of gorgeous young models. I can't wait.

I know this sounds funny coming from the person who is always complaining about reality television. I'm not really high-brow at all; I just prefer scripted programs to vote-'em-off-the-island fare.

But I do appreciate terrific drama done intelligently -- and feel fortunate that the folks at CBS previewed the pilot of The Good Wife in its entirety. This looked good in the teaser ads the network has been running all summer. Juliana Margulies stars as Alicia, whose life as a stay-at-home mom is turned upside down when her DA husband is forced to step down. Chris Noth is her disgraced spouse, accused of using public funds to pay for prostitutes (I love that they got the guy who was both Mike Logan and Mr. Big.Talk about perfect casting!)

The wonderful cast extends to the other characters as well: Josh Charles ("Sports Night"), Archie Panjabi (from "Bend it Like Beckham" and the UK version of Life on Mars) and Christine Baranski as the formidable legal partner who promises to "mentor" Alicia when she goes back to work.

However, the actors would be nothing without a great script, and show creators Robert and Michelle King have crafted one that transcends expectation. As Alicia takes a job in a law firm, this show is part procedural drama, part political intrigue -- but also a fascinating look at a woman who is trying to make sense of her world. How many of us watched Silda Spitzer stand behind her disgraced ex-governor husband and wonder what was going through her mind? No matter your politics or ideology, who couldn't sympathize with Jenny Sanford when her husband went famously went missing on Father's Day weekend (and confessed to being unfaithful in Argentina)?

The Kings took those public scandals and have extrapolated what might have occurred in private. The series explores how a powerful man's fall from grace affects his entire family. I loved the pilot and when it ended, I was hungry for more. I'm glad I won't have to wait too much longer ("The Good Wife" premieres on September 22).

For several years now, observers have been predicting the end of scripted programming - at least on the networks. Last year, there were a number of truly original dramas I looked forward to watching each week, including "Pushing Daisies," "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Eli Stone." All failed to find an audience large enough to satisfy their network (ABC). Many of the cancelled programs were replaced with cheaper-to-produce reality fare.

This season, Jay Leno's new nightly prime time show on NBC is taking the place of five possible series per week.Where does it end?

Fortunately for viewers, the cable networks have picked up the slack. Over the summer, I enjoyed watching "Royal Pains," and "Drop Dead Diva."  The success of programs like "The Closer," "Saving Grace" and (my favorite !) "Mad Men" proves that there IS still an audience for great drama. So I don't think we are doomed to a steady diet of reality and talk 100% of the time.

But if drama was thought to be a patient in trouble, many critics have concluded that the venerable sitcom is actually dead. Once the building block of a successful prime time evening, the number of situation comedies on the schedule dwindled down to a handful last year. That's why it's heartening to see the networks order some new 30-minute shows for 2009.

I wasn't expecting a lot out of "Accidentally on Purpose," the new Jenna Elfman vehicle about a 30-something woman who finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand with a much younger man... and invites the guy to move in with her.

On the surface, it sounds a lot like "Knocked Up" -- but it turns out that the series is based on a memoir by Time.com film critic Mary F. Pols (adapted by comedy writer - and ex-Knots Landing star - Claudia Lonow). The network's teasers remind me more of "The Big Bang Theory," as the attractive blonde woman has to put up with her baby daddy's slacker friends hanging out in her living room. I suppose it makes sense -- CBS has scheduled the show to run in the slot before "Big Bang" and just after "How I Met Your Mother."

I think it's going to be a great addition to the network's Monday night comedy block, because like those other two shows, "Accidentally" is really funny... and SMART.

Broadcast and cable television networks have been doing blogger outreach for a while, and I think they've had some success utilizing the Internet to create buzz for their new series. But I have a feeling the outreach is about to get even more direct -- that is, if ABC's Labor Day holiday experiment bears fruit.

On Friday, an email went out to users of ABC.com with a link to a preview of their new sitcom, "Modern Family." The pilot was available on the site for the holiday weekend only. I had about 30 minutes to kill, so I pulled it up... and spent the next half hour laughing. This show was so good, I ended up viewing it two more times, as I forced my husband and daughter to check it out.

The series is done in mockumentary style, a la The Office, and follows a day in the life of three very different nuclear families. My favorite moment is where the "cool dad" played by Ty Burrell explains the vagaries of texting and defines "WTF" as "Why the face?"

You'll recognize Married with Children's Ed O'Neill as the guy trying to keep up with a much younger second wife and stepson, and Julie Bowen (last seen on Boston Legal) as a tightly wound suburban mom. You may not remember the names of executive producers Steve Levitan and Christopher Lloyd (the writer, not the actor) -- but you've seen their work before on shows like Frasier and Just Shoot Me.

Modern Family is a winner. Check it out when it debuts on September 23.