Sideshow
By SHARON FINK, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 14, 2003
THEY CRACKED US UP WITH SCIENCE: Are you upset that today's Sideshow has no mention of Ben Affleck and/or Jennifer Lopez? Have you memorized all the lifestyle tips dispensed by Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Fab Five? Do you eat only Popeyes fried chicken because that's Beyonce's favorite? Are you counting the days until Russell Crowe's wife gives birth? And do you have a shower planned?
Then you most likely are suffering from Celebrity Worship Syndrome.
This catchy name was coined by two researchers who recently concluded that about one-third of nonfamous Americans suffer from some degree of celebrity worship. They based this conclusion on questions asked of more than 600 people, and lest you think their effort is as brainless as Gigli (okay, we have one B.Lo reference), the result is detailed in the latest issue of New Scientist magazine.
Lest you still think this is a brainless exercise, Dr. Lynn McCutcheon of DeVry University in Orlando and Dr. James Houran from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine say those afflicted are more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and social dysfunction than noncelebrity worshippers.
Sideshow's conclusion: That one-third figure is low. Very low.
MUCH ADO ABOUT WALLPAPER: That could be the theme of almost any episode of Trading Spaces, but in this case it refers to the picture of show host Paige Davis that appears on the index page of our edition of this week's TV Guide.
Davis' only covering is big strips of wallpaper wrapped around her strategic areas. After hearing about it, execs at the show's network, TLC, asked TV Guide not to run it, saying it violates the no-nudity clause in Davis' contract.
"The Learning Channel people kind of freaked out," TV Guide editor in chief Mike Lafavore tells the Chicago Sun-Times.
He told the network the photo would run.
"I really never understood what the big deal was," he says.
And in the Good News-More Bad News Department for TLC, Lafavore's plan to run the picture on the magazine's cover was overruled by other editors who didn't think that readers would know who Davis was.
In a compromise, the wallpaper shot is on the cover in the Los Angeles area. The rest of the country gets Davis with a skimpy shirt on.
Entertainment headlines
'One Step Closer' to fame
No heart, less soul
Sideshow
In the newsIllness, dispute delay 'Raymond'
