Posts Tagged ‘Oprah Winfrey’

The Hub has been abuzz with celebrity sightings lately, with stars of stage, screen, and radio making appearances all around town.

Just this past weekend, singing sensation Gloria Estefan stopped by the Max Brenner in Boston. Word has it that the hot Grammy winner cooled off with a couple of chocolate milkshakes. Apparently she’s quite the chocoholic!

On Tuesday, Tobey Maguire, who is currently in town filming Labor Day with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, stopped by FoMu in Boston for a frosty treat. The Allston-based “alternative ice cream” joint has hosted the vegan actor before. This time he ordered a salted caramel, peanut butter, cinnamon sticky bun ice cream with mochi, gummy bears, and salty peanuts.

Former talk show goddess and current cable network maven, Oprah Winfrey, made a surprise appearance on August 2nd at Boston College in Chestnut Hill. While there, she met with members of the first graduating class of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.

Country music star Carrie Underwood stopped by the Tufts Medical Center’s Floating Hospital for Children on July 31^st. Her visit included visits with young patients and their families in both the medical/surgical unit and the pediatric bone marrow transplant unit of the children’s hospital. Underwood helped cheer up the children dealing with serious illnesses by passing out an autographed compact disc to each child. The sweet singer even performed a rendition of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” upon the request of a 2-year-old patient.

Have you spotted a celeb this summer somewhere in Hollywood East? Comment below or post pictures to our Facebook page!

Reality stars have been invading the Hub this month, with shows filming in almost every neighborhood around town. Further solidifying Boston’s status as a major player in the television industry, earlier this week, the Boston Cable Show was held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The expo kicked off on Sunday, May 20^th and is concluding later today.

The event featured exhibitors from all the major cable networks and channels, including the Oprah Winfrey Network, offering previews of new shows and technologies, informative talks, and plenty of free samples and swag. Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews”

Erin Burnett, chief business and economics correspondent for CNN, Julia Boorstin, media and entertainment reporter for CNBC, John King, chief national correspondent for CNN, Piers Morgan, host of “Piers Morgan Tonight.” and Maria Elena Salinas, co-anchor of “Noticiero Univision,” are just a few of the famous faces that made appearances, signed autographs, and held talks.

Even a number of high profile reality stars attended the 5 day event, including Kris and Bruce Jenner and Khloe Kardashian Odom, from “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” Mark Cuban from ABC’s “Shark Tank,” ESPN anchor Terry Francona, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and members of the cast of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”

The Kardashian clan, never a group to go anywhere without cameras in tow, reportedly spent some time in the Hub outside of the conference, filming scenes for their popular E show that, according to Bruce Jenner, involved the usual hijinks and something about a duck. Could the Kardashians have commandeered one of our city’s infamous Duck Boats? Did mama Kris Jenner pose for a cute portrait with the “Make Way for the Ducklings” statues in the Public Garden? Perhaps we’ll find out in the upcoming season!

Talk show host and world renowned journalist, Barbara Walters, is known mostly for bringing us headlines through her ground-breaking interviews with celebrities, politicians, newsmakers, and world leaders. Through her work on “ABC World News,” “20/20,” and her morning talk show, “The View,” many of her interviews are known for bringing to light facets of famous personalities previously unseen by the viewing public.

Walters, though known throughout her career as being so used to New York life that she never received a driver’s license, was actually born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1929. Her parents were Louis “Lou” Walters and his wife, Dena Seletsky, both of whom were Jewish and descendants of refugees from the former Russian Empire, which is now Eastern Europe. Her family later moved to New York City, where her father opened a Big Apple version of the Latin Quarter, and even worked as a Broadway producer.

While Walters herself rarely makes headlines for her own exploits, she does, from time to time, become part of a story due to her journalistic point of view or personal involvement with a celebrity of note. She recently appeared in some new stories for commenting on the current tussle going on in the talk show circuit in regards to garnering an interview with Pippa Middleton, the sister of newlywed royal, Kate Middleton, also known as Duchess Catherine, wife of Prince William.

“It’s not true,” the legendary journalist said on “The View.” “ABC News does not pay for interviews. I have no idea what Oprah does, but we do not pay. ABC News does not pay. She’s not a news program, so maybe they have a different policy.”

It’s been purported that a bidding war had been taking place between Walter’s camp and Oprah Winfrey. 

It was only months ago, when the queen of daytime launched the Oprah Winfrey Network and hooked up with powerhouse producer Mark Burnett, to find the next hippest host for the new reality show “Your Own Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star”.

Over 15,000 people auditioned and it came down to  Miss Winfrey hand-picking two winners. It just so happens that one of the newest vivacious host to be hitting the airwaves has a hint of New England in her. Also Texan Zach Anner was the other lucky stallion that has received a contract, cash prize and a Chevy Equinox SUV. Sweet.

Graduate of Hamilton-Wenham High, Kristina Kuzmic-Crocco rocked it with her energetic and personable vibe to land her OWN show “Kristina’s Fearless Kitchen”.

She is contracted for six episodes but we are pretty sure she will pull you in. Each episode sparks by teaching guests that cooking is not a chore and that it can be a creative process.

Kristina resides on the west coast with her husband and two children. She moved from Croatia to Hamilton, MA at age 14 with a thick accent and poor English.  She enrolled in theater right away and the camera clearly took a liking to her fancy face and desirable curls.

“If it weren’t for my theater background, my cooking show would be very different,” she said. “It taught me to be my goofy self in front of the camera.”

Don’t be surprised to know that Kristina is a natural. She has never been to culinary school and learned to cook from her grandmother.

Exact launch of “Kristina’s Fearless Kitchen” is still pending and we will be tuned in. Check out the pilot on the O Network. Oh and check out Kristina’s blog stickycook dot com at the moment its currently unavailable but will be cooking soon. So check her out on FB.

With the start of the new year, Oprah Winfrey’s much-anticipated cable TV network kicked off, OWN, with a whole slate of new shows and series featuring some of her best friends and professional acquaintances. Among them is Gayle King, best known as being, well, THE long-time best friend of Ms. Winfrey. Her new show on the network, aptly titled, “The Gayle King Show”, also started the very first week the network hit the air. What many may not know about King is that for many years she was a featured anchorwoman for a local news show in Connecticut.

In 1981, King was hired by WFSB Channel 3 in Hartford, Connecticut, making her part of the regular anchor team. Over the next 18 years, King covered local events that varied from simple community pieces, to important statewide events, such as the homecoming of the UConn women’s basketball team after winning their first national championship during an undefeated season.

Since leaving the local stage, King has worked closely with her friend on a variety of projects, including becoming an editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine, and as a correspondent for the “Oprah Winfrey Show”.  “The Gayle King Show” is actually the continuation of her successful radio show on XM Satellite Radio. As the host of her own daily live talk show on TV, King continues to do what she does best; talking to celebrities and other interesting personalities about the things that her viewers find interesting.

With the winter months soon to be officially behind us, the warm spring months are bringing with it a plethora of TV pilots holding casting calls in search of talent from around the New England area for both specified and general extra work or main casting for new reality shows. Check out some of these exciting opportunities, and see if maybe you’re the one they’re looking for!

“Bunco Boston”–reality show: If you’re a lady living in Boston, who is between the ages of 20-49, and you play bunco, the newly revived social dice game, then get your friends together and apply for this new reality show. Even if you’ve never played the game, but have a socially dynamic group of friends who would shine in the spotlight, email a group photo with your names, phone numbers, and email addresses to:

[email protected]

Auditions will be held at Boston Casting the week of March 15th.

Oprah Winfrey Network series–reality show: Are you ambitious, driven, always on the go? Does your everyday qualify as the word “busy” with everything from work, to obligations, and other responsibilities? Do you feel like you never have time for yourself to enjoy life? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the Oprah Winfrey Network wants hear about your struggles for a new series. Email your name, age, address, phone number, and recent picture to:

[email protected]

“Paradigm”–TV pilot: Autumn Drive Productions LLC in association with New Hampshire writers Justin Scarelli and Deborah Whitaker are looking for talented and experienced actors to star in their newly created show that hopes to explore science and spirituality from a modern perspective. Currently, five roles are up for grabs, including 2 males and 3 females. For more information about the roles or the project, please email:

[email protected]

Or call Deb (603) 464-9299 or Joe (603) 459-9616. Auditions will be held Saturday, March 20, 2010 2-5 pm at the Amherst town library, 14 Main St. Amherst NH.

“Boston’s Finest”–TV pilot: If you are an Asian man between the ages of 50 and 75, Boston Casting needs you for an upcoming TV pilot, called “Boston’s Finest”. This paid extra work would shoot for 1-2 days some time between March 20th and April 10th.   If interested, please send a recent photo or head shot and all relevant contact information to:

[email protected]