TCA: Star Jones vs. the crix

POSTED BY STEVEN ZEITCHIK

Star Jones has aggressively remade her look for her new Court (um, tru) TV talker that begins in August. But after a contentious panel Sunday at TCA, it's her image that may need a little bit of a makeover.

A chorus of critics shouted that she was doing "publicity damage" and "being coy" when she first hinted at, abut then refused to reveal, to whom she would give her first TV sitdown about her weight-loss.
She made matters worse when she eventually revealed it would in fact not be a television interview at all but a column for Glamour magazine. Exchange revealed the tricky dynamic between critics and stars at TCA: speak too freely and a star get hammered by critics in print, spin too much and get hammered by them in the room.

New NBC co-topper Marc Graboff ran into the same problem with reporters Monday when in response to a question about Kevin Reilly, he tried to spin the ankling as something other than an ouster. "Thanks for that clarification," the questioner replied, and the room burst into laughter.

Jones wasn't helping her cause by generally not giving reporters what they want--a soundbite on any of her former co-workers. She declined to criticize showrunners because she "didn't want to ruin the warm fuzzy feeling" she had from doing the show.


- Steven Zeitchik