Evans Above

The Smoking Gun has obtained a letter sent to Lindsay Lohan by Morgan Creek CEO James G. Robinson. Robinson blames her lates and absences from the set of Georgia Rule on her “ongoing all night heavy partying.”

He also goes on to say that Lindsay better shape up or face the financial consequences.

Don Park neatly sums up North Korean nutbag Kim Jong-Il.

Just catching up on the mailbox…we had a couple of items arrive recently but I’ve been swamped and haven’t written about them. So now I’m making amends.

The first item is Unexpected Dreams: Songs from the Stars. The CD is the brainchild of “vocal coach to the stars” Eric Vetro. It’s a collection of soothing children’s ballads whose proceeds are going to support the Los Angeles Philharmonica’s “Music Matters” music education program.

The CD’s performances include a sultry rendition of “Summertime” by Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Iron’s great take on Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” and Victor Garber with the Into the Woods classic, “No One Is Alone.”

Toss in John Stamos singing Billy Joel, Nia Vardalos and Teri Hatcher singing The Beatles, and Ewan McGregor singing Sade and you have a CD that will have you and your kids reaching for a teddy bear and a blankie. A sweet CD for a great cause.

The next item in the mailbag is Barry Manilow – Manilow: Music and Passion. It’s a DVD of the 100th performance of Manilow’s wildly successful show at the Las Vegas Hilton. Besides renditions of Manilow’s greatest hits, the DVD also includes behind-the-scenes looks at the creation of both the stage show and the TV special celebrating it. The DVD is well shot, the music crisp and the extras are quite informative.

Manilow explains that the non-touring stage show gives him the chance to do stage effects that would be too costly to ship from city to city on a tour. He’s also aware of the challenges of a long-running show, saying that after the first few months of fans, he realized he was playing to audiences that had heard of him, but didn’t really know what he and his music were about.

To get the real Vegas experience, watch Manilow’s DVD and then give all your money to a total stranger.

When you’re talking about influential TV series that illustrate changing times, you have to mention That Girl.

The Marlo Thomas sitcom premiered in 1966 and followed actress Ann Marie in NYC. What made it stick out for its time was the fact that Ann Marie was single, living on her own, and pursuing her career. She had a boyfriend, but much to the chagrin of her parents, she was in no rush to get married until she was ready.

Shout! Factory has just released the first season of the series on DVD. We received a copy of it and it looks fantastic. Thirty episodes, commentary from Marlo Thomas, and a behind-the-scenes look at the show’s creation. The documentary detailing the show’s creation is particularly interesting, as it details the various changes in casting and role formats.

If you’re looking for groundbreaking series, hit the stores and get your hands on this DVD. Here’s a Quicktime preview.

Last year for the May sweeps period, Entertainment Tonight covered the Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau wedding.

This year, both ET and its even crappier sister show, The Insider, are spending time breaking up “reunion” interviews with Joey Buttafuoco, Mary Jo Buttafuoco and the “Long Island Lolita”, Amy Fisher, into bite-sized morsels they can spread over several episodes.

Again, I have to ask: Isn’t ET supposed to be covering entertainment news? If the three stooges I just mentioned had at one time been actors or industry figures, then perhaps this attention would make some sense. The fact that ET’s paying them for these interviews really shows how far they’ll stoop for ratings.

Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, who has a blog over at their site finds ET kinda distasteful as well. The guy’s an enjoyable read. He knows the arena he’s in can be goofy and trivial and will even call himself out when he thinks Access has taken themselves too seriously.

I’ll talk more about this later, but if you get a chance, see the Al Gore documentary about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. If you don’t buy a hybrid after seeing it, there’s got to be something wrong.

Votefortheworst.com has gathered together various sources to show that American Idol’s Kellie Pickler is doing a fine acting job playing the hick.

I don’t know why some people think Larry King is a great interviewer. He’s often clueless and he keep s on interrupting people.

The TV’s on in the other room and I can hear a repeat of his interview with Liza Minnelli. He asks her what it was like performing Cabaret night after night.

KING: “Cabaret” that had to be incredible doing that every night.

MINNELLI: Well, that was, I’m telling you it was quite a wonderful time and I’m so lucky that I have almost perfect recall, which is wonderful. I have a good memory and I remember every second of that show.

KING: Did you enjoy it every night?

MINNELLI: Well, we only did that show [Liza with a “Z”] once, one time, in front of an audience and that was when it was filmed and it had, you know, we had 16 dancers. We had everything. Then I went back out on the road with only four dancers and did a whole different show and whatever, you know.

KING: Oh.

She made the movie, Larry, she was never in the Broadway show.

This week’s eliminated American Idol contestant, Kevin Covais, had to have the dumb comment of the week. Asked by Ryan “Could I be more annoying?” Seacrest for his parting words, he said, “America, be smart. Pick one of these amazing people.”

Yo, Kevin! There aren’t any write-in candidates. Who do you think they’re going to vote for instead?

I also love how the show keeps talking to “America”. If 30 million people are watching, that’s only a bit over 10% of the population. That means, say, 85% of the U.S. couldn’t give a rats ass about you.

I’m currently backstage in the press room, getting ready for our live blogging of the ceremony. Best thing about being here: the food.

Join us for our live coverage and the red carpet photos we’ll have later.