We’ve been told to run more pictures of Zac Efron, Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers to attract that hard-to-lure ‘tweener audience, so here goes nothing. When High School Musical 2 debuted in August on the Disney Channel, it shattered all kinds of cable-TV ratings records: Some 17.2 million people…
Nice to see KTVT-Channel 11 back in the news business: After being first to send word that the federal indictments were on the way in the City Hall corruption case, Channel 11 breaks the news that the FBI has warned area law enforcement officials to watch their backs, as the…
Hate to be the continual bearer of bad news regarding horse racing, a sport I truly do love and grew up around, so consider this a public service announcement to all you degenerate gamblers out there: Jockey Roman Chapa, who has been one of the top 10 riders at Lone…
What a racket. Two years ago, my son tossed a ping pong ball in a glass bowl at his school carnival, and he was awarded — ha ha, awarded — a tiny goldfish in a plastic bag. A brown goldfish, no less. Evidently a certain pet store was cleaning out…
Back in February, Texas Syndicate member Ernesto Medrano and some 20 of his fellow gang members were in a Dallas federal courtroom receiving multi-year prison sentences for importing hundreds of kilos of cocaine into the U.S. — using military transport flights from Columbia to Ft. Bliss, Texas. But the convictions…
I’d just finished my chai latte — Black Forest, never Starbucks — when the inimitable Robert Wilonsky appeared at my office door, his bone-toned striped shirt just the right kind of rumpled (it could only be Ralph Lauren). Wilonsky needed something. That gruff, sulky bear of a journalist, long an…
If you were too exhausted and/or exhilarated and/or inebriated after last night’s Cowboys comeback to stay up for ESPN’s on-field post-game analysis, shame on you. Because, in his own incredibly awkward way, expert Emmitt Smith was almost as entertaining as the game. As usual, there were a million hiccups and…
As the 35th anniversary of The Grape approaches October 26, new chef-owner Brian Luscher — fresh from his successful shift as chef at TPC Craig Ranch golf club — is team-building. His newest acquisition is sous chef Jennifer Schaertl. Graduate of El Centro Culinary School. Current of Suze (for one…
Just 11 months ago, Arizona’s Nick Folk was named Pac-10 Football Player of the Week. Now, he’s a burgeoning NFL legend. Five interceptions. Three freak touchdowns. Two Terrell Owens drops. And, finally, after a crazy Cowboys game that will rank alongside the Hail Mary on the list of cliffhanger climaxes,…
The Metro brief in today’s Dallas Morning News doesn’t do justice to Hooters’ media release yesterday, in which the chain announced that after a two-and-a-half-year legal battle, it can now sell beer at its South Arlington location. (It claims it gave away some $1.2 million in beer while fighting for…
Little more than a year ago, a federal judge in Dallas gave the U.S. Secret Service the go-ahead to seize religious pamphlets from the Denton-based Great News Network ministry. Mind you, the Secret Service had nothing against the content of the tracts, just the cover — a mock million-dollar bill,…
Especially this morning. Tony Romo’s QB rating might have been a woeful 49.9 against the Buffalo Bills, what with his throwing the ball away five times and fumbling it away once, but his Q rating’s clearly much, much higher. But, c’mon — Rowdy? –Robert Wilonsky…
The NFL Network is now Jerry Jones’ problem. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has tapped the Dallas Cowboys owner and GM to head up the league’s NFL Network committee, which is trying to get the net into more and more homes — as well as on your cell phone, iPod, satellite…
Maybe tonight’s Dallas Cowboys win and first 5-0 start in almost 25 years will ease the sting, but there’s a local sports celeb absolutely making a fool of himself on TV these days. No, not Mark Cuban. It’s another Dancing With the Stars contestant, third-season winner Emmitt Smith. If you…
We just got a press release about Mark Cuban’s new book — which, says here, isn’t so new, but it’s new to us, so there. And at 24 pages, we’re not sure it’s much of a book — here’s a sample page, so you can judge for yourselves. Says the…
I’m currently assembling a package of madd props to send over to Startlgram writer Alex Branch, because his/her story about the Fort Worth deaf guy who got hit in the head with a crowbar for not talking to a cashier made the Fark news feed today under the “Dumbass” banner…
I’d never heard of the Austin-based Music + Entertainment Television network till this morning. Looks like it’s a 2-year-old, 24/7 all-Texas music-film-arts-etc. network, funded by the likes of real-estate mogul Gary Keller. The network started in 2005 with a million bucks of investor funding — it’s HQ’d on South Congress,…
Every day, at least one person posts a comment to our first item about Chantix, the smoking-cessation drug that is being blamed, at least partially, for Carter Albrecht’s violent behavior on the morning of September 3. Since Albrecht’s band mate and house mate Danny Balis first mentioned the drug, the…
Bob Wade’s 1980 commission Dallas Skyline will be sold at auction this weekend. As we’ve said many times before, Heritage Auction Galleries does a good job making big coin for folks looking to ditch their high-priced pop-culture collectibles. In most cases, though, the items up for auction have little connection…
We hear the Leppert family ain’t too thrilled with former rival Sam Coats for throwing in with Angela Hunt. “Tom Leppert is going to be a great mayor.” Pause. “Once we get past this referendum.” Big laugh. “And he beat me like a drum in the past election.” More chuckles…
By now, you probably know that all hell is breaking loose in Irving. And not only is the Mexican Consulate in Dallas taking action, begging Mexicans to stay out of the suburb, but so are a host of local activists, including two-time mayoral candidate and former state Rep. Domingo Garcia…
People do crazy things for which they’ll never be rewarded. It happens all the time — childbearing comes to mind. But at least then you get to do the funny business for three or four minutes beforehand. Far as I know, there was neither hanky nor panky involved in the…
