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Updated: June 3, 2009, 3:27 pm	Share    Print    Email

Meredith Viera's producer should be pleased - "Today Show" has been nominated for Emmy. Photos courtesy of Google Images

Southampton - The National Television Academy of Arts & Sciences finally realized what I could have told them years ago. We Hamptonians love two things better than most - We love to talk and we love food and when we're talking it's usually about food and sometimes art. So it's hardly a surprise that in the Emmy nominations announced last week that East Enders dominated the list. Believe it or not, our neighbors have racked up some 20-plus nods from the Academy with some snaring multiple nominations! Where we didn't fare as well was in the arena of Daytime Drama - also known as soap opera. Our resident Soap Queen Susan Lucci of Westhampton was most conspicuously absent from the list read by the gorgeous Vanessa Williams who will host the actual awards in the fall. La Lucci, as you may recall, was nominated an astounding 18 years in a row before finally going home with the little gold statue. You would think they would not wait another decade and a half to give her another. Don't they know who she is?

Kelly Ripa's morning show has competiton from another East Ender, Rachel Ray.

On the AM beat, the "Today Show" was nominated for Outstanding Morning Program which should make NBC honcho Jeff Zucker happy enough to buy everyone at Nick & Toni's a round, and make East Hampton funny lady Angela LaGreca, who produces Meredith Viera's segments, very happy indeed.

From here on in it might get a little confusing as the Emmy awards get real specific when they're passing out the gold, globe-bearing ladies. The "Barefoot Contessa" Ina Garten, who brought fabulous food to the hordes on Newtown Lane, was tapped for Outstanding Culinary Program. Domestic goddess Martha Stewart was named in the Outstanding Lifestyle Show. New to Southampton this year, Rachael Ray is in the Outstanding Talk Show/Entertainment category, up against "Live! with Regis & Kelly," executive produced by East Ender Michael Gelman and starring Bridgehampton resident Kelly Ripa.

Now it get's really confusing. Both Garten and Ray are competing in the Outstanding Lifetime/Culinary Host category. Garten for "Barefoot Contessa" and Ray for her other TV show "30 Minute Meals with Rachael Ray". And in the category of Outstanding Talk Show Host, Ray is up against not one but three fellow Hamptonians - Ripa for "Live with Regis & Kelly," and Joy Behar, of East Hampton, and her fellow Southamptonite Barbara Walters for "The View."

Did you follow that? Hope so! In the final tally the fairly new kid on the block, Ray, and the culinary veteran, Stewart, both scored four nominations. Got that?

Patricia Heaton co-starred with Kelsey Grammer.

You can't keep Hamptonite Kelsey Grammer off the tube for long. Despite the failure of the interestingly-conceived-but-ultimately-not-very-original-in-the-final-analysis "Back to You," Kelsey didn't give up on the show. He was like a dog with a bone and even approached other networks when Fox dumped the show in which he co-starred with multi-Emmy winner Patricia Heaton.

Now just a month later, he has been cast in a new ABC sitcom called "Roman's Empire," and he gets to be the emperor, top dog with star billing and all the perks that implies. He plays Roman Pretty - an outrageous, outspoken family patriarch. The show revolves around a quintessential Mr. Nice Guy who gets dumped by his heiress girlfriend, daughter of Roman, but still stays involved with The Prettys. Like so many of the really successful pilots, it is based on a hot British comedy of the same name. My spies who have seen the first episode tell me it's very similar to "Arrested Development."

But new show aside, Grammer and his beautiful wife Camille will still chair Artists Against Abuse to benefit The Retreat. This will be the 14th year of this annual event, which features a silent auction of specially-commissioned, hand-painted ceramic plates and a live auction of select original works of art. The evening includes cocktails, food and entertainment. To date, this signature event has raised over $1 million for The Retreat and its mission.

Kelsey Grammer to star in new show.

On another note, I was tickled to hear from the producers of "Grey Gardens" - the smash Tony-winning musical about our favorite eccentrics Edith Bouvier Beale and Edie "The Body Beautiful" Beale - will soon have its U.S. community theatre premiere with the Buck Creek Players in Indianapolis later this month.

Just think how much fun these amateur thespians will have "Puttin' on the Ritz" then sliding quickly into squalor. It's too delicious. Who wouldn't get a kick out of wrapping an old skirt on your head and marching around singing "This is the Revolutionary Costume for Today," while waving an American flag. Those community theatre kids will have a blast.

That lovable creative genius behind the displays and style of Barney's and author of such hilarious books as "Wacky Chicks" and "Eccentric Glamour," Simon Doonan will soon see his life - or a version of it - unfold on both BBC2 and LOGO TV, the national gay television network. The witty Brit who lives in Shelter Island with his husband, the amazingly gifted designer Jonathan Adler, will watch as "Beautiful People" - based on Simon's self described "How I clawed my way to the middle" memoir - makes its stateside debut.

The story follows Simon and best friend Kylie, who dream of living in London with the "beautiful people." At the time, the early 1990s, Simon is living with his wacky family - the gin-drinking mother, the blind ex-druggie hippie aunt, the slutty sister, the Irish, wine-experimental father and briefly, his angel-turned-devil grandmother, and conspires to escape the lot. Sound funny? You bet!

New movie about Simon Doonan (here with Jonathan Adler) scheduled for release.

The New York season is winding down, but Southamptonite artist, art collector, philanthropist and community activist Henry Buhl is squeezing one more fab party in before he returns to the East End to tend to his radiant sunflowers. He and a score of his civic-minded friends will host the A.C.E. Award Gala on Wednesday, June 3 at Guastavino's to benefit the SoHo and Tribeca Partnerships. Buhl founded A.C.E., the Association of Community Employment Programs for the Homeless, some years ago. As he tells anyone, he wanted to get his neighborhood cleaned up, and so decided he would create an organization to provide the homeless with shelter and work. The theme of the gala is "Coming Together to Celebrate Hands at Work." The vivacious and multi-talented Rita Cosby will emcee the awards ceremony, which will honor publisher Jason Binn, Earl Jones, artists Edwina Sandys and Richard Kaplan, Jeffrey Roseman and Marianna Olszewski Rounick. Gala chairs are Hamptonites Sara Herbert Galloway and Barry Klarberg.

After that, it's Henry's big community party, the :SoHo Stroll," during which retailers and restaurants offer special discounts and help raise funds for A.C.E. When that's done, he'll be back to tending his breathtaking gardens at "Girasole," his Southampton estate.