Suburbarazzi

On tap this week: Rosie’s return to television, how Hillary Clinton got her groove back (with a little help from SNL and Jon Stewart), and the latest on Al Pacino playing the bad guy in the next James Bond film.

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Also, you may have seen Vanessa Williams on the Barbara Walters Oscar special a week ago. During it, she confirmed a whole slew of rumors about her personal life. Which brings us to this week’s quiz: Can you guess which of the following she did NOT cop to?

A. Using Botox
B. Being the victim of racism while growing up in Millwood
C. Living with her 2 ex-husbands in Chappaqua simultaneously
D. Being an a Barack Obama booster

The answer is at the end of the video and after the break.

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At the end of the video and after the break is the answer to this week’s quiz: In winning the Oscar for Short Subject Documentary, Croton native Cynthia Wade actually beat out another Lower Hudson Valley product. “Salim Babaâ€? director Francisco Bello graduated in 1998 from which local institution?

A. Hendrick Hudson High School
B. Ossining High School
C. Scarsdale High School

Need a quick reminder of where Ted and I stand on this year’s major Oscar nominees? Wondering what Fidel Castro has to do with this year’s ceremony? Waiting in line to be slapped by Ruby Dee? Check out the Suburbarazzi segments from Friday night’s episode below. (If you want to see the whole half-hour show, click here.)

Here’s the opening segment, in which we discuss Oscar gossip, box office success, violence and most of the major categories:

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And here’s the closing segment, during which Ted and I make our Best Picture picks and surprise TV’s Karen DePodwin with, well, watch to find out!

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(AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

You may heard: There’s a little reality-TV program scheduled this weekend where beautiful people will preen for the camera and get voted on by the masses. And no, I’m not talking about the all-new episode of Big Brother 9. It’s that other show, the one where they give out big gold men (weighing eight pounds) and then little gold men (made of chocolate). I’d like to say we’re above picking the winners and losers—like every other print/blog/television entity on the planet—but, well, we’re not. And, fortunately, our friends at RNN, bless their souls, were good enough to let us opine on air tonight for a special Oscar Special:

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Sure, Small Bites and Varsity Insider may have been the first blogs to the half-hour TV party, but our show had far more gold.

I should also point out, despite giving ourselves billing in the ad on our sidebar, the truth is the program is all RNN. Or to be more specific, Karen DePodwin. She did yeoman’s work pulling this all together. The ad really should have said, “The DePodwin Oscar Special, with guest stars Suburbarazzi and Liz Johnson.”

One other caveat: Please ignore the painfully awkward segments when I start rambling about Michael Moore (Wha? Castro? Huh?) and “Juno” (what I meant to say — “Blood” and “No Country” will split the high-brow voters, leaving “Juno” a chance at winning). Instead, focus on my esteemed colleague, Chris Serico—whose Ruby Dee logic (anytime you slap a former Oscar winner, you automatically get to win one, too) was downright brilliant. Or, for that matter, Liz Johnson and Peter Pratt, who can spray me with truffle juice any day of the week. And, of course, the indomitable Karen DePodwin, who looks lovely enough to be Suffern HS homecoming queen.

Hey, it’s Chris here. Ted and I initially posted the footage of the RNN Oscar Preview Special at about the same time, so I’m just going to supplement his words with a couple of thoughts.

As Ted mentioned, many thanks go to anchor/reporter Karen DePodwin and the entire RNN crew for thinking of us when she first pitched the Oscar Preview Special. I know Ted and I were really proud and thrilled to be a part of it.

Plus, we’d highly recommend ordering an imitation Oscar and surprising someone with it. We swear we didn’t tell her in advance! We also didn’t have the heart to tell her it wasn’t real. But maybe it’s got chocolate inside, so if that’s true, it would not be a total loss.

This Friday at 7:30 p.m. EST, Ted Mann and I will join TV reporter Karen DePodwin for a live RNN segment about Sunday’s Academy Awards. I’ll be wearing my tux for only the third time since my senior year in college, so the comedic value of that alone might be worth the tune-in. Here’s a preview of one of the topics slated for discussion.

Stars with a connection to the Lower Hudson Valley have done very well for themselves at the Oscars over the years, and 2008 is no exception.

Eight-time Oscar-winner Alan Menken, a New Rochelle native and North Salem resident, has been nominated three times for his songs from the Disney movie “Enchanted.” He took home his first two trophies for Best Song and Best Score for “The Little Mermaid,â€? and his most recent ones were in the same categories for songs from “Pocahontas.â€? In total, he’s been nominated for a whopping 18 Oscars, but hasn’t won one since 1996.

First-time nominee and sentimental favorite Ruby Dee, a New Rochelle resident, is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her part in “American Gangster,” starring Mount Vernon native Denzel Washington and former Nyack dweller Russell Crowe—both of whom are Oscar-winners themselves.

LoHud also has at least two representatives in the Best Documentary/Short Subject category, including Ossining High School alumnus Francisco Bello (for “Salim Baba”) and former Croton-on-Hudson resident Cynthia Wade (for “Freeheld”).

After the break, check out a list of some other prominent current and former residents of the Lower Hudson Valley who have won or have been nominated for an Oscar in the last 30 years. (more…)

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My apologies for the horrendous screen-cap. Not my best freeze-frame.

At the end of the video and after the break is the answer to this week’s quiz: With everyone from the Foo Fighters to Alicia Keys in attendance, Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy party has become almost as celebrated as the ceremony itself. Where does the music mogul live in Westchester County?

A. Armonk
B. Bedford
C. Chappaqua
D. Pound Ridge

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At the end of the video and after the break is the answer to this week’s quiz: Didi Conn, who played Frenchie in the movie version of “Grease,â€? once visited visited Nyack Middle School to see its production of that musical. In that show, the role of Danny Zuko was played by what actor who would go on to star in “Freaks and Geeksâ€??

A. John Francis Daley
B. James Franco
C. Seth Rogen

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The quiz for this week:

Should John Edwards come in a distant 3rd in the upcoming South Carolina primary, many pundits predict he’ll be out of the race. Which Lower Hudson Valley star has been campaigning for him down there to make sure that doesn’t happen?

A. Tim Robbins, of Pound Ridge
B. Ralph Lauren, of Bedford
C. Kimberly Williams, born in Rye (By the way, I mistakenly said she lives in Rye in the studio—totally wrong. She hasn’t lived there in years.)
D. Vanessa Williams, of Chappaqua

The answer is at the end of the video and after the break.

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At last, we’re finally putting our completely overexposed “People of the Year” package to bed. In the clip, we count down the final five people on our list, and Stacy-Ann Gooden makes her pitch for Mary J. Blige (raised in Yonkers, first discovered doing karaoke at the White Plains Galleria).

While she didn’t make the cut for 2007, she’s already a strong 2008 candidate. In fact, aside from Nyack rapper Lucky Me, she’s the only other hip-hop star on our radar screen thus far.

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At the end of the video and after the break is the answer to this week’s quiz: In what year did “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” hit No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts?

A) 1938
B) 1948
C) 1958
D) 1968

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At the end of the video and after the break is the answer to this week’s quiz: During my interview with Chevy Chase earlier this month, whom did he say was his best friend from his “Saturday Night Live” days?

A. Dan Aykroyd
B. Jane Curtin
C. Garrett Morris
D. Bill Murray

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This week’s quiz:

In a recent feature film, everyone’s favorite newspaper, “The Journal News,” features prominently, with one of the major characters toting a copy around with him in nearly every single on-screen scene. Was it:

A. Russell Crowe in “American Gangster”
B. George Clooney in “Michael Clayton”
C. Albert Finney in “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead”
D. Jack Black in “Margot at the Wedding”

The answer, as always, is at the end of the clip or after the break.

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At the end of the video and after the break is the answer to this week’s quiz: Pound Ridge resident Susan Sarandon won an Academy Award for “Dead Man Walking” in 1996 but also has been nominated four other times. Of the following films for which she was nominated, which represents her first Oscar nod?

A. “Atlantic City”
B. “Thelma & Louise”
C. “Lorenzo’s Oil”
D. “The Client”

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My apologies to the great Dave Bickler for unintentionally dropping the “r” in his last name during this segment. It’s almost like the French pronunciation thereof. Classy, but inaccurate in this case. My bad. I clearly did not have the eye of the tiger in that moment.

At the end of the video and after the break is the answer to this week’s quiz: Which Yankees broadcaster sang Broadway hits at a one-night-only concert in Irvington this weekend?

A) Michael Kay
B) Paul O’Neill
C) John Sterling
D) Suzyn Waldman