Martha Stewart

[BobbyD 2]

(Pagesix.com)DIVA DIVESTS IT'S official — domestic diva Martha Stewart is selling Turkey Hill, the Westport, Conn., home she's owned for more than 30 years. The reason? "I hardly go there anymore. I don't miss it," she tells the upcoming issue of Fortune magazine. A possible sale was first scooped in The Post in June, but Martha's spokesperson denied our story. She bought the property as a young stockbroker in the '70s, and is hoping to get as much as $10 million for the three-bedroom house on four acres with a heated pool.

[BobbyD 2]

(NYDailynews.com)Stock, shows tank - but Martha is up BY BILL HUTCHINSONDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER It's a good thing prison toughened up Martha Stewart: Now that she's free, her company's stock is dropping, her daytime television show's ratings are in the doldrums and her ballyhooed prime-time show is a dud.But the domestic diva told Fortune magazine for its November issue that the string of flops doesn't have her down."I have learned that I really cannot be destroyed," the 64-year-old Stewart said.But Stewart's magic touch might not be so indestructible. Her company's stock has been tanking, plummeting nearly 20% since last week to close yesterday at $17.22, its worst run since March 2004.Her daytime TV show has drawn 20% fewer viewers than her company predicted. Her prime-time show "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" also has been a drag on NBC's ratings."We're getting 6 or 7 million viewers a night. Guess what? That's damn good," said a defensive Stewart, who was picked for Fortune's list of the most powerful women of 2005.Stewart is still full of bravado even though it seems to fly in the face of the bottom line. "I thought I was replacing The Donald," Stewart said of real estate tycoon-turned-TV star Donald Trump and his hit show "The Apprentice," which draws 3 million more viewers on average than the Stewart spinoff."It was even discussed that I would be firing The Donald on the first show," she said in the article. "I don't think he ever knew."

[BobbyD 2]

(Pagesix.com)MARTHA: BOO! IT'LL be Halloween every day for Martha Stewart - the house she recently bought is haunted. The rundown property, on Flax Hill Road in Norwalk, Conn., is set to be used in a new reality show in which the doyenne of domesticity will teach a group of troubled women the skills they need to renovate it. But The Stamford Advocate reports that Martha and company will be sharing the place with a cast of ghosts, including a soldier in a Civil War uniform and an old man. If they aren't camera shy, they could boost ratings.

[Rebelgirl 1]

http://www.nypost.com/business/57279.htm

REALITY BITES

By PAUL THARP

 

 

November 12, 2005 -- Donald Trump is back for two more seasons of "The

Apprentice" but Martha Stewart's gotten the word on her show: "You're

fired!"

 

 

The reality show shuffle is one of the latest makeover changes at NBC

as it struggles to climb back up the ratings ladder.

 

 

The Peacock Network suffered an embarrassing 20 percent slide in

viewers in the newest ratings showdown — the first week of the

all-important "sweeps" in November.

 

 

The month-long sweeps — done four times a year — determine how much

money a network can collect for airing commercials on its national

programming.

 

 

Although NBC nudged higher into second place in Tuesday evening

ratings, aided by its "Law and Order: SVU" hit, it didn't fare that

well for the whole week, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

 

 

Trump's popular "The Apprentice" has given NBC an edge during its

primetime period, and is being renewed for two more seasons, said

industry sources.

 

 

Martha Stewart's copy-cat version, "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart,"

won't make it past Christmas, however.

 

 

The network said her final show will run Dec. 21, following the

conclusion of 13 episodes that began in September. Ratings have been

disappointing, data show.

 

 

Younger viewers are defecting from NBC in greater numbers. In just one

season, the average age of NBC's viewers rose to 50 from 47, too old

for advertisers who prefer to pitch their wares only to viewers 18 to

45.

 

 

Advertisers believe that younger viewers can be more easily influenced

or manipulated by commercials than older audiences already fixed in

their ways.

 

 

Nielsen said NBC managed to capture just 3.3 percent of younger

viewers 18 to 49, down significantly from 4.1 percent of the young

eyeballs a year earlier.

 

 

The slump could mean another black eye for NBC's programming boss,

Jeff Zucker.

 

 

Zucker was hoping new shows such as "My Name is Earl" and "E-Ring"

would bring back its vanishing audiences.

 

 

"NBC is in a rebuilding phase and we are encouraged by our progress

nurturing shows that can be keys to our future success," such as the

comedies "Earl" and "The Office," NBC said in a statement.

 

 

Top-ranked ABC is holding onto its lead — and boosted viewers by

another 10 percent in sweeps with shows such as "Desperate Housewives"

and "Lost."

 

 

Among younger viewers, ABC got 4.5 percent of them to watch ABC shows,

said Nielsen.

 

 

"Desperate Housewives" was the most-watched program among young

viewers for the week with a rating of 11.1. The network's average

viewer was 45.9 years old, up from 44.9 years a year earlier, said ad

firm Horizon.

 

 

CBS trailed in second place among younger viewers with a 4.4 percent

of them, while Fox came in fourth with 3.0 percent. Fox is owned by

News Corp., which also owns The Post.

[BobbyD 2]

(IMDB.COM)Martha Stewart's 'Apprentice' SackedMartha Stewart's version of hit reality TV show The Apprentice will not be commissioned for a second series by US TV network NBC. The Apprentice: Martha Stewart failed to match the popularity of the original show fronted by tycoon Donald Trump, and NBC executives insist they only ever viewed it as a one season special. Stewart, who spent five months behind bars this year after being convicted of insider trading, has drawn in an average of 6.8 million American viewers - but her show will not return on NBC after its December 21 finale.

[BobbyD 2]

(Zap2it.com)Stewart Sued by Jury ConsultantOn the heels of learning that "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart" won't get renewed, the domestic diva has been slapped with a lawsuit.Jury consultant Julie Blackman, who advised Stewart's lawyer regarding the stock sale lying case, is suing Stewart for more than $74,000, report news sources.The lawsuit filed Tuesday, Nov. 15, claims that before the trial, Blackman was hired by attorney Robert G. Morvillo to formulate a defense plan. On top of the usual jury selection and trial tactics duties, she also conducted phone surveys, checked focus groups and designed a jury questionnaire. Although lawyers are the ones to hire experts, it's done on behalf of their clients, who are responsible for footing the bill. Stewart has yet to be served with papers regarding the lawsuit.Stewart was found guilty in March 2004 for lying about selling stock in ImClone Systems Inc. She served five months in prison, wore a poncho upon release and then endured five additional months of house arrest sporting a snazzy anklet. She returned to work with her NBC show "Martha" -- where she sold replicas of her poncho of freedom and folded T-shirts Japanese-style -- and with her version of "The Apprentice," which only got a lukewarm reception.

[BobbyD 2]

More ImClone Mess for Martha E! OnlineMartha Stewart may want to make room in her closet. Another poncho could be on its way. Despite having done the time, the domestic diva still needs to deal with the fallout from the crime. She faces a Thursday deadline to respond to the charges in a civil suit that she was privy to insider information before ditching a lion's share of ImClone Systems stocks in 2001. Stewart spent five months in prison in 2004 over criminal charges from the case after she was found guilty of lying to prosecutors over the sale. Proceedings in the civil suit were postponed while the criminal side played out, with prosecutors only lifting the stay last month. According to the New York Times, Stewart has until the end of Thursday to decide whether to plead not guilty, as she has done from the investigation's outset, contest the Securities and Exchange Commission's accusations of insider trading and try her darndest to clear her of-late tarnished name. Should she successfully defend her case, she could also be reinstated as Chairwoman and CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, positions she was forced to leave following her criminal conviction two years ago. If the talk show hostess does plead innocent, preparations for a civil trial will likely begin immediately with Stewart expected to give a deposition right away. Which is likely the route the one-woman empire will take. According to the NYT, at a hearing at Manhattan's Federal District Court last month, Stewart's lawyer, Martin Seidel, called the S.E.C.'s allegations "novel claims" that were "ripe" for contesting. Stewart's legal woes started when she sold off 4,000 shares of ImClone stocks in December 2001, a day before the biotech company went public with damaging news that the feds were giving the thumbs-down to its new cancer drug, thus plummeting the worth of its stocks. As it stands, should Stewart choose not to settle by day's end and instead sit for a deposition, it's unclear what tact she may take. According to the paper, she faces two options: Stewart could stick with her original story, despite the fact that a criminal jury already dismissed as bunk the notion that she had an agreement to sell her stocks prior to receiving the information, or she could cop to the trade but argue there was nothing illegal about it. Stewart has maintained from the get go that she traded on public information that was neither illegal nor inside. However, should Stewart go to trial and lose, her punishment this time around wouldn't see her facing any more time behind bars. The domestic diva would likely face a sizable penalty but would still retain her position as editorial director of her company. Which would still be a pretty good thing.

[fykeylicious 1,099]

The Donald Trump-Martha Stewart feud seems to be back on, with Stewart blasting Trump for firing his former Apprentice sidekick Carolyn Kepcher.

 

"Donald is out of control," Stewart tells TV's Access Hollywood. "By the time he's finished, he will have fired everyone around him and there will be nobody left."

 

She continues, "Poor Donald will be sitting there on his little pedestal all by himself. He needs to be careful!"

 

In his own statement on Friday, Trump shot back: "Martha will always be upset with me because her version of The Apprentice was a complete failure and my version remains a tremendous success. Despite that, I still love Martha"

 

The two moguls first butted heads in October 2005, when Trump blamed Stewart, whose Apprentice spin-off had premiered a month earlier, for pulling viewers away from his own version.

 

Firing back, Stewart told Fortune she'd expected to fire Trump and that her show would replace his. Stewart's Apprentice was cancelled in November.

 

The feud came to a head in February, when Trump skewered Stewart in an open letter blaming her performance for her show's failure and writing in a P.S., "Be careful or I will do a syndicated daytime show, perhaps called The Boardroom, and further destroy the meager ratings you already have!"

 

"I almost can't believe my longtime friend Donald Trump wrote it," Stewart said in a statement to PEOPLE at the time.

 

Source: People.com

[Cutielb99 0]

Stewart Vamps for Letterman

Posted Sep 12th 2006 12:18PM by TMZ Staff

 

 

Martha Stewart made a bizarre appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman" last night -- licking what appeared to be blood from Dave's fingers.

 

While making sandwiches for a cooking segment, Dave exclaims, "I cut myself" as the camera zooms into his finger, showing something red oozing from his finger. Stewart then takes his finger into her mouth and licks it clean.

 

Before you start checking for Stewart's reflection in the mirror or wearing crosses around the domestic diva though, it should be noted what kind of sandwiches they were making -- peanut butter and jelly.

[BobbyD 2]

SPYING DOESN'T EEM TO PAY

 

MARTHA Stewart is obviously worried about Rachel Ray - the celebrity chef whose new TV show starts today on Channel 7. Four Stewart staffers using fake names tried to infiltrate Ray's audience at a taping last week, a source told PAGE SIX, but the spies were recognized by a security guard who also works for Stewart. "They were kicked out because they lied about their names," sniffed the spy. "Otherwise they would have been welcome to stop by - we have nothing to hide." A rep for Ray said: "We did have a group at a taping on Wednesday who misrepresented themselves and were turned away from being in the studio audience." Stewart, whose ratings on NBC are mediocre, is obviously concerned about her new rival, whose Food Network ratings were through the roof. But a Stewart spokeswoman said, "No one from Martha Stewart misrepresented themselves. In fact, a Rachel staffer who they knew well, greeted them warmly, even asked if she could get them better seats. For reasons unknown to us, they were asked to leave by one of Martha's former audience coordinators, not by a security guard - and they did so."

[BobbyD 2]

Martha Stewart Wants Eminem on Her Show

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Martha Stewart wants Eminem to appear on her "Martha" TV show. Not because he can knit or bake brownies but because audience members love his music. "We play his music during breaks to keep people very lively and they love him," Stewart told AP Radio in a recent interview.

 

"I would really love to have Eminem on the show," the 65-year-old lifestyle guru said. "I don't think he knows that my demographic audience is so involved in Eminem music."

 

Stewart said she's not good at everything.

 

"I can't pick up a guitar and play a fantastic song. ... I cannot sit down at a piano and do that," she said. "I'm happy about my knowledge in so many different subjects relating to living, but in terms of specifics, I don't know if I'd be really very good on `The Young and the Restless.'"

 

However, Stewart does have a wild side.

 

She licked David Letterman's jelly covered finger when he pretended to cut himself during a cooking segment with her on CBS's "Late Show With David Letterman."

 

"I knew it was jelly because I looked really carefully before I licked his finger. And I think he was looking for a reaction and didn't know what I would do," Stewart said.

 

"I'm sure he was totally shocked that I would lick his finger, as were many, many, many other people," she said with a laugh.

[BobbyD 2]

Martha Living high

 

Stewart & fans celebrate 15 yrs. of namesake mag

 

BY CHRISTINA BOYLE

DAILY NEWS WRITER

 

Martha Stewart is still considered a good thing.

The domestic diva was greeted with a standing ovation and mobbed by fans shouting, "I love you," and, "You're amazing," as she launched the 15-year anniversary party of her Martha Stewart Living magazine yesterday.

 

More than 2,000 people flocked to Pier 94 on the Hudson River to get a glimpse of their favorite household guru.

 

Stewart took them down memory lane, describing the history of her company before handing out some tips on how to polish silver and prune tulips.

 

"This is so much fun to look back on," said Stewart, 65. "I'm so proud of the company I have built and the sweat and tears of so many people who worked with me.

 

"I've always tried to entertain well and be inventive and creative and come up with beautiful ideas."

 

Dressed casually in jeans and a beige jacket, Stewart toured the workshops and demonstrations at the party with her three dogs as admirers from across the U.S., Central America and even Europe tried to steal a quick word or get a photo with the queen of homemaking.

 

Florence Sabrin, 59, of Florida, said, "She's really an inspiration. I've been following her for more than 15 years, and woman to woman, she's been an icon."

 

Cassie Burney, 33, traveled from Canada with her friend Kerry Mayrand, 28, for the party. "I went up and said, 'We love you,'" Burney said. "She's so beautiful."

 

The only mention of Stewart's five-month stint in jail for lying to feds about a stock trade came from fans. But all agreed it only made them support her more.

 

Janette Parsons, 47, of Red Bank, N.J., said, "The lady has panache. I think she rocks. The way she handled going to jail and admitting she made a mistake shows her strength, and I respect her more because of it."

 

She added, "When she speaks, you feel she is your friend. The only other person I can think of who did that was Princess Diana."

 

Originally published on October 1, 2006

[Freckles 79]

Did you see her in Vanity Fair? DAMN she looked great. Sorry I can't post photos but if anyone has them... put 'em up.

 

Saw her in person in New York once about 5 years ago. Her ears are gigantic. I thought they were fake, at first; they made me do a second take!

[Cutielb99 0]

"I would really love to have Eminem on the show. I don't think he knows that my demographic audience is so involved in Eminem music."

– Martha Stewart, to the Associated Press

[BobbyD 2]

Martha Stewart says she still doesn’t quite understand why she was put in jail. “When I say I really don’t know what I was accused of, I mean that,” Stewart tells Life magazine. “It was a very difficult time in American business. The clamping down on business behavior, the intense scrutiny on very visible figures in America — I was one of them, because I was the first woman to make a billion dollars in America, herself. So I sold some stock, and I was accused of doing something around that sale that really didn’t make too much sense, and I had to go to jail because I defended myself.”

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ALL'S FORGIVEN

Page Six

 

October 27, 2006 -- HAS Martha Stewart decided to forgive and forget? After unceremoniously banning Post columnist Andrea Peyser from a press conference last year at her palatial West 26th Street headquarters, the domestic dominatrix put her foe on the guest list for a soiree thrown the other night by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Celebrity Cruises. "I kept expecting someone to tap me on the shoulder and say, 'There's been a mistake,' and toss me out," Peyser said. "In fact, someone did call out my name - I'd won a raffle for a Martha Stewart professional pumpkin-cutting kit, whatever that is."

[BobbyD 2]

'Martha' Gets More How-to Time

Syndicated show picked up for third season

 

Amid a shakeup in its behind-the-scenes personnel, "The Martha Stewart Show" has gotten some extra time to work those details out.

 

The syndicated daytime show has earned a pickup for a third season in 2007-08, with NBC-owned stations in the country's biggest markets and other good-sized station groups agreeing to carry the series for another year. The show is distributed by NBC Universal Television Distribution.

 

"Thanks to NBC Universal and our station partners for showing such incredible support so early in this, our second season," executive producer Mark Burnett says. "We look forward to a third year of entertaining content, filled with great storytelling and how-to information that will make a difference in the daily lives of our viewers."

 

The pickup for next season comes on the heels of co-exec producer Rob Dauber's departure from "Martha." Dauber and Stewart reportedly had differences over the direction of the show, and ratings for the series are down compared to the same time last year.

 

Ratings have picked up a little recently. NBC says the show recorded its highest ratings of the season in both total viewers and its target audience of women 25-54 during the week of Oct. 16, the most recent week for which numbers are available.

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RACHAEL, MARTHA SPLIT BARRY

Page Six

 

November 3, 2006 -- RACHAEL Ray outmaneuvered Martha Stewart - and got chided for it by the grand diva herself. Ray had taped a show with Barry Manilow Wednesday, which was set to air today on ABC - after Manilow appeared live on Stewart's NBC show Thursday. But Ray's producers found out about Manil ow's appearance with Stewart and aired Ray's Manilow segment at the same time as Stewart's, prompting Stewart to announce on-air: "I'd never met Rachael Ray - I think she's fun and lovely - but, you know, we have Barry Manilow live this morning, and he taped an epi sode of the Rachael Ray show that was supposed to air tomorrow. But for some reason, they pushed the show up to today, and now Barry is on two shows at once. He's live with us, but it's really not fair to the artist because these performers deserve to reach as big of an audience as possible. But anyway, we have him here. Live."

[sanlee 49]

A Socialite's Life

 

 

Martha Stewart Uses a Thumper, And I'm Not Talking About The One From Bambi

 

 

Martha Stewart is one hot cougar. Since she did a bid, she's playing fast and loose and we love it.

 

Martha Stewart has a wild side. The TV queen made a guest appearance on the Howard Stern show last week, where she admitted to some juicy details about her personal life.

 

Stern got the famous home decorator to admit she owns and uses a vibrator, called the Thumper.

Wow Miss Martha! She also said when she was in prison last year other girls would try and get her into some lesbian action, which she always declined.

 

AND: Martha let it slip that she was going commando right then and there!

 

Paris, Lindsay, Britney...and Martha. And Martha lived through her own personal women in prison movie, shanking a bitch in the shower and throwing down in the cafeteria. And this Thumper business.

Granted, I'll never be able to watch her wield a handheld mixer on her show again without thinking delicious, sensuous, nauseating thoughts but it's worth it.

[Hoyaheel 1,874]

Now I love Martha even more than ever

[Cutielb99 0]

NOT A GOOD THING

Page Six

 

December 26, 2006 -- MARTHA Stewart was suffering from a wardrobe malfunction the other night at the Cinema Society screening of "Dreamgirls." Riding in the elevator at the SoHo Grand, the honcha of housekeeping confided to a pal, "My pants keep coming undone! It's scandalous. I can't seem to keep the top button up." Her focus then headed south and Martha complimented her companion on her shoes. "What size are you?" asked Martha. "You should come over to my place sometime. We are talking thousands of shoes. I have thousands of shoes! It's crazy."

[sanlee 49]

NYPost

 

Name Grabber

 

UPSTATE neighbors of Martha Stewart are miffed that she's trying to trademark their village's name, Katonah, for a line of furniture and home furnishings. "[it's] a tribute to a place, like Philadelphia Cream Cheese or London Fog raincoats," a flack for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia told the Bedford Pound Ridge Record- Review. But Katonah Village Improvement Society co-president William O'Neill fumed to the paper: "I am astonished . . . The word has a Native American origin and has been in use as a place name since 1852." The Westchester community was named after Chief Katonah.

[BobbyD 2]

Martha Backs Hillary, Rosie

 

MARTHA Stewart is a Hillary girl. At the ASME luncheon the other day at the Princeton Club, Joanne Lipman, editor-in-chief of upcoming Conde Nast business magazine Portfolio, asked Stewart if she would support Hillary Clinton for the 2008 presidency. The domestic diva said she'd already written her check for the maximum amount. Stewart also said how much she loves Rosie O'Donnell - a subtle dig at archenemy Donald Trump. Meanwhile, we hear Lipman's stock at Conde Nast is falling before the first issue even comes out because it's taken so long, over a year, to assemble staff and get the book off the ground. "The magazine is a mess right now," said a well-placed Conde Nast insider. "Support from Si [Newhouse] is fading, advertisers aren't exactly lining up, and Joanne has spent a lot of money hiring high-profile writers - she is over budget." A rep for Conde said, "This is not true. What you are hearing is far from what's happening at the magazine."

[BobbyD 2]

Martha's Splurge Time

 

MARTHA Stewart may be slicing the price of her Connecticut estate in half, but she's spending twice as much as before to live in the West Village. The Post's Braden Keil reports Stewart has paid $16 million for a full-floor, 4,800-square-foot condo at 165 Charles St. The seller is fellow magazine publisher Louise MacBain, who already owns a lavish $20 million duplex penthouse just above. Plans for Stewart's unfinished 14th-floor space in the 16-story Richard Meier-designed building include five bedrooms, six baths, a 53-foot-wide great room and two terraces. Before going to jail in 2004, Stewart sold an unfinished Meier-designed duplex a few doors away on Perry Street for less than $7 million.

[BobbyD 2]

Ugly Moment

 

MARTHA Stewart lashed out at courtroom sketch artist Shirley Shepard during a taping of her show on Tuesday. When Stewart saw Shepard in the studio audience, she pointed her finger and exclaimed, 'I know you!' " Stewart (pictured, as sketched by Shirley) then declared, "She's the bad artist who did all those terrible sketches of me" - and told Shirley to stand up. "Martha, you get prettier every day," Shirley responded. "It was so rude and so embarrassing," says her daughter, Andrea Shepard, who was also there. A rep for Stewart declined comment.