This week’s entertainment buzz…

Grammy’s deliver for CBS

GRAMMY winners Gotye and Kimbra backstage at the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

The Music industry celebrated the Grammy’s Sunday making the music industry’s big awards night a very big win for CBS.  According to the L.A. Times 28.4 million people watched the ceremony which was less about awards — though there were some of those– and more about performances. Taylor Swift, LL Cool Jay, Carrie Underwood, and Justin Timberlake all got stage time. Big awards went to Mumford & Sons, Gotye, Fun., The Black Keys and more. There was a tribute to Bob Marley and one to Levon Helm of The Band (who died this past year); and a Jazz tribute to Dave Brubeck (another legend who recently died). And despite some see-through elements on the wardrobes of Kimbra and Rhianna there were no “wardrobe malfunctions.” This was perhaps thanks to a widely viewed memo sent from CBS to performers and presenters last week.

The subject line of that memo read: “5th GRAMMYS: Standard And Practice Wardrobe Advisory.” J-Lo, sporting a sexy black dress with one leg entirely exposed up to her groin,  made a comment that she read the memo and was abiding by it’s instructions some of which are detailed below.

  • “Please be sure that buttocks and female breasts are adequately covered. Thong type costumes are problematic.”
  • “Please avoid exposing bare fleshy under curves of the buttocks and buttock crack.”
  • “Please be sure the genital region is adequately covered so that there is no visible “puffy” bare skin exposure.”
  • And in all caps: “OBSCENITY OR PARTIALLY SEEN OBSCENITY ON WARDROBE IS UNACCEPTABLE FOR BROADCAST.”

And to get a taste of how KCRW in particular influences the music industry, watch this video of Gotye & Kimbra performing the Grammy Winning Song “Somebody That I Used to Know” in our studios in late 2011– well before the world loved (and parodied) thetune.

“Walking Dead” Advertisement In Toronto’s Union Station

The Walking Dead is Very Much Alive

Sunday’s return of the beloved zombie apocalypse show “The Walking Dead” hit a series high in terms of ratings for AMC. The Hollywood Reporter reports that 12.3 million people tuned in which is notable in part because there’s been a bit of controversy behind the scenes since the show took it’s end of year hiatus. Showrunner Glenn Mazzara was asked to leave. In 2011, Mazzara took over for Frank Darabont, the original showrunner and the creator of the series. Firing two showrunners inside of two years on the most popular show on television created more than a few rumblings online. Last month, Kim Masters, host of KCRW’s The Business and Editor-at-large for The Hollywood Reporterreported that perhaps the firings had something to do with the proprietary nature of Robert Kirkman, who created the comic book series on which the series is based.

Whatever the case, until last week Mazzara remained out of the press’s gaze but he’s since done a flurry of Q & A’s leading up to the show’s mid-season return. And AMC has been out hyping it in unconventional ways too. One “living” advertisement included a huge sculpture of zombie hands in Toronto’s Union Station. With each day closer to Sunday night’s mid season premiere another finger fell off of the sculpture.

Bonnie Hammer– NBCUniversal’s Cable Queen

Last week NBCUniversal announced that executive Bonnie Hammer will take the reins of all of that studio’s cable properties. Hammer is credited for turning the USA network from an outpost for reruns into a cable powerhouse with shows like “Monk” and “Psych” and now she has become one of the the most powerful women working in the TV business. Previously she’d shared oversight with Lauren Zalaznik who had revitalized Bravo. Hammer’s new title is Chairman, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group, and in her new role she’ll oversee: USA, Syfy, E! Entertainment, Bravo, Oxygen, Style, G4, Sprout, TV One, Chiller, Cloo and Universal HD, in addition to production entities Universal Cable Productions and Wilshire Studios.