Lori Acken, Author at StayTuned Magazine

Lifetime’s hit original film “The Client List” returns as a weekly series

March 30, 2012 Lori Acken

In 2010, actress Jennifer Love Hewitt and Lifetime teamed up to put a timely twist on the network’s oft-lamented “woman in peril” film fodder. Hewitt executive-produced and starred in The Client List, a sobering tale of a housewife who resorts to desperate means to save her house from foreclosure and her family from financial ruin. Though some derided the ripped-from-the-headlines tale as tawdry, the film touched a nerve with viewers, garnering impressive ratings and earning Hewitt a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. This month, The Client List returns as a 10-episode series that reunites Hewitt with venerable actress Cybill […]

Ron Ben-Israel is Food Network’s sincerely “Sweet Genius”

March 30, 2012 Lori Acken

Fans of Food Network’s most fantastical dessert competition Sweet Genius couldn’t help but notice a few intriguing changes when the multi-sensory sensation debuted its second season debuted a few weeks back. Most notably, the show’s “Dr. Evil of Dessert,” celebrated Big Apple-based pastry chef Ron Ben-Israel — AKA the Sweet Genius — finally gets to be … well, sweet. In other words, himself. The Israel-born former professional modern dancer — who shot to fame when Martha Stewart noticed his amazing confections displayed in the window of Fifth Avenue’s Mikimoto store — laughs when I tell him that the show’s discussion […]

“Dance Moms: Miami” pics — meet the moms!

March 29, 2012 Lori Acken

The countdown has begun to Tuesday’s scorching debut of Lifetime’s Dance Moms: Miami, immediately following the tear-soaked “Abbygeddon” season finale of the wildly popular Pittsburgh flagship. • Dance Moms: Miami first pics! And we finally have official pics of the Miami mamas! Ladies and gents, meet Anicia Gutierrez, Debi Epstein, Abby Small, Brigette Bernier Triana and Susan Kennedy! Anicia is the mother of adorable, tiny Kimberly Kopke: Debi is the mother of Hannah Epstein, shown here in the red shorts with instructors Angel Armas and Victor Smalley and her duet partner, Sammy Small: Below is Sammy with her mom, Abby, and her […]

“Dance Moms” recap: There’s Just One Me In Team

March 28, 2012 Lori Acken

Does anyone else besides me remember how we were feeling when we reached the eleventh episode of Season 1? The Maddie-versus-Chloe showdown had reached a fever pitch, with the two duking it out onstage in a stunner of a Black Swan duet, battling for solo supremacy, and about to face off in the competition of their lives. No, not Nationals. Noooo, not for a spot in the Joffrey ballet school. Not even for the top of the all-hallowed pyramid. Nay, they were throwing down for a spot in a music video for a girl named Lux! Turns out we were talking […]

Shonda Rhimes trades stethoscopes for “Scandal”

March 28, 2012 Lori Acken

Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice creator Shonda Rhimes says she wasn’t interested in tackling another show when Grey’s executive producer Betsy Beers approached her with a new idea. “[But Beers] kept telling me, ‘You need to meet a woman named Judy Smith,’” Rhimes told critics assembled for Day 2 of ABC’s TCA Winter Press Tour sessions. Turns out Smith is the founder and president of Impact Strategies, a crisis communications firm. That’s “fixer,” for short — the kind of person that high-profile folks hire to make their missteps and faux pas go away. Smith’s case load spans the Iran-Contra affair […]

Miss Robbie Montgomery talks “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s”

March 27, 2012 Lori Acken

Robbie Montgomery spent two decades as a backup singer for Ike and Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones and other A-list acts — but it’s “Miss Robbie’s” second act as the life force behind a pair of popular St. Louis eateries and star of OWN’s breakout hit Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s that has made her more famous than she could imagine. With Sweetie Pies’ spring season set to debut Saturday and her new restaurant, The Upper Crust, soon to open its doors, Miss Robbie is equal parts dazzled and grateful. “Listen, my plate is full and I can’t eat it all!” […]

“Baggage Battles” dynamic duo Laurence and Sally Martin talk the thrill of the find

March 26, 2012 Lori Acken

If you just returned from a trip but your luggage did not, somebody may be claiming new ownership of your stuff right now. And it’s perfectly legal. Travel Channel’s newest reality extravaganza, Baggage Battles, lets you tag along with four “auction specialists” who’ve made a tidy living purchasing unclaimed baggage at sales and reselling the contents in their thrift and specialty stores. Trash-talking New Yorker Mark Meyer still lives with his folks, but has an eye for a buy that belies his 25 years. Dashing Billy Leroy — owner of the Big Apple’s iconic Billy’s Antiques & Props — talks […]

Parents of Trayvon Martin speak out Sunday night on “Dateline”

March 23, 2012 Lori Acken

NBC News has announced that the parents of slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin — plus eyewitnesses to the crime and neighbors of Martin’s admitted shooter, neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman — will speak to Lester Holt on a special episode of Dateline to air Sunday, March 25 In addition to conducting the interviews, Holt spent time in Sanford, the community where the Feb. 26 shooting took place, and presents a comprehensive look at that fateful night’s events. Excerpts of Holt’s interviews, provided by the network, follow: ###Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother, about her son: LESTER HOLT: Sybrina, what kind of […]

“The Real Housewives of New Jersey” Season 4 to premiere April 22 (video)

March 23, 2012 Lori Acken

Real Housewives fans, have you been missing your Jersey girls? After a 6-month hiatus, Caroline Manzo, Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga, Kathy Wakile — and yes, Jacqueline Laurita — return to Bravo for a fourth season beginning April 20. And if you think all has been forgiven from the fiery Season 3 reunion shows … ah, you don’t really think that, do you? Looks like even wayward Jersey housewife Dina Manzo makes at least one peacemaking cameo appearance, as well (hurray!!!), and Housewife hanger-on Kim DePaola continues to hanger-on whilst sporting some serious Lady Godiva hair extensions. Promising to “break down the […]

“Dance Moms” recap part 2: A Big Baby Wrote Me A Letter

March 22, 2012 Lori Acken

Aaaaaand we’re back. At the halfway mark, we’re finally in Chicago at the Co. Dance competition and convention, and — if Abby is to be believed — unofficial gathering of the Abby Lee Miller fan club, which is everyone. Sadly, she has traded out my dearly beloved lip necklace for a set that looks like slices of a bright blue geode formed themselves a chain gang for committing a crime of fashion. • Missed part one? Read it here. Yep-per, this does appear to be one fancy-pants competition. The stage is beautifully appointed and lit, which will make a nice change […]