Generally, I see Fashion Week and events like it as nothing more than overpaid stick-people walking around in clothes I wouldn't want to be buried in. So the likelihood of me paying attention to anything related to the fashion industry is somewhere in the area of slim and none. (Sorry, Project Runway addicts; I've tried.)

However, thanks to Dorothy Snarker, about this time last year I stumbled across a fashion event I could learn to love. For the past five years, New York's Fashion Week has kicked off with the Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection. The event is designed to raise awareness about heart disease among women. And it involves beautiful ladies strutting their stuff in fabulous red dresses by some of the industry's top designers. Last year's celebs included a coy Kelly Ripa.

Kristin Chenoweth was there, with her little dog too.

This year's event, which took place on Feb. 1, included an equally stunning list of beautiful ladies. The group included some talented Latinas, a few singers you might have heard of, one L Word connection, a runway veteran in a skimpy little dress that came in a bag and a First Lady who can't tell red from white.

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In our final pilot review before the fall season begins in a few weeks, Lori and I discuss what works (and doesn't work) about three more new fall pilots: Aliens in America (The CW), Reaper (The CW), and Cane (CBS).

The short version? Cane is the Jimmy Smits-led Latino family drama, Reaper is the Buffy-esque dramedy of a young man who discovers on his 21st birthday that his parents sold his soul to the devil, and Aliens explores how a Wisconsin family reacts when a Pakistani Muslim exchange student comes to live with them (hint: not well).

Since most of the lead characters in these shows are men, why do you care? Reaper and Cane were created/written by women, and the prejudice Raja faces in Aliens will probably seem more than a little familiar to lesbian and bi women in the U.S.

Also, Reaper is one of the funniest dramedies we've seen on TV in a long time.

Why else do you care? Missy Peregrym. Paola Turbay. Original Cindy Valerie Rae Miller.

Plus Rita Moreno, Amy Pietz and a teenage girl who's "sweetly unaware of how good looking she is." (Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.)

Watch the vlog below (no major spoilers) — and next weekend, look for our vlog about Jodie Foster's new movie The Brave One! … continue reading

You might have noticed that I'm a Muppet fan. I have many fond memories of The Muppet Show and have been known to search for clips when I need cheering up. So I was thrilled to come across one of my favorite skits, an interpretation of "Copacabana" — and was also stunned to realize I had completely forgotten that Liza Minnelli played Lola the showgirl!

Here's the clip: … continue reading

Yesterday, it was announced that Rita Moreno and Rebecca Gayheart have signed on to guest star in upcoming Ugly Betty episodes in May.

Their sweeps-month appearances add to the hit ABC comedy’s ever-growing number of familiar faces popping up in Betty’s beautiful world. These include Gina Gershon, Lucy Liu, Katharine McPhee, Debi Mazar, Patti LuPone, Kathy Griffin, Jerry O’Connell and Tim Gunn. Plus that’s not even counting the mother of all not-so-ugly guest stars, Salma Hayek herself. … continue reading