Dr. Ian Smith continues to rack up book sales, media appearances and fans thanks to his newest book, the best-selling “Shred: The Revolutionary Diet.”
Several celebrities — including Steve Harvey, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Kandi Burruss and “Home & Family” co-host Cristina Ferrare — are already doing the “Shred” diet, with Harvey losing 15 pounds in five weeks and tweeting about his success. Smith also has the mayors of Atlanta and Philadelphia offering “Shred”-related events and activities to their city workers. “We have medical offices, churches, celebrities, Facebook groups and more coming together to ‘Shred’ and it’s becoming a movement of sorts,” Smith tells The Starr Report.
His media tour continues with a March 1 appearance on “Live with Kelly and Michael” — followed by visits to “Anderson Live” (Anderson Cooper), Ricki Lake and “CBS Saturday Morning.”
Smith’s book was #4 on amazon.com as of late yesterday — an indication of how successful it’s been since its release in mid-December.
* * *
Beyonce worked ratings wonders for HBO — and helped OWN a bit — last Saturday night.
The singer’s self-produced documentary, “Beyonce: Life is But A Dream,” snared 1.8 million viewers on HBO last Saturday night. That was the biggest audience for an HBO doc since Spike Lee’s “When the Levees Broke,” which chronicled the Hurricane Katrina aftermath and pulled in 1.7 million viewers in 2006.
Over on OWN, Beyonce’s interview with Oprah Winfrey — which also aired Saturday night — averaged 1.3 million viewers. That’s good for OWN, but was still no match for Winfrey’s interview last March with Bobbi Kristina Brown, which netted 3.5 million viewers following the death of Brown’s mother, Whitney Houston.
* * *
The irrepressible Linda Dano will celebrate her 20-year milestone on QVC by unveiling new pieces to her Linda Dano Home Collection on the shopping channel tomorrow, Feb. 21, at 2 p.m. “As hard as it is to believe that I’m celebrating 20 years with QVC, it’s been the perfect way for me to reach so many more people than I could have imagined,” says Dano, who is the only American actress to appear on all four ABC soaps — “All My Children,” “One Life to Live,” “General Hospital” and “Port Charles” — as the same character, Dr. Rae Cummings. (Sadly, only “GH” now remains on ABC’s schedule.)
More QVC: “The Doctors” co-host Dr. Lisa Masterson will appear this Sunday, Feb. 24 (10 a.m.) to debut “The Dr. Lisa Power Walk.”
* * *
Add this one to the “TMI” department.
Jenny McCarthy tells People magazine about the last time she blushed (well, they asked her, right?)
“I accidently farted on an airplane sitting next to a stranger,” she says. “It was embarrassing because he recognized me, and it was a loud and deadly one. I immediately did a little scream and turned on the air vent to get rid of the smell. I then put a blanket over my head. It was horrible!”
Thanks for sharing.
McCarthy’s comments can be found in People’s March 4 issue, which hits newsstands here in New York today (because we rock).
* * *
Last, but not least:
* I’m currently watching “Route 66” on DVD — I’m in the middle of Season 1 — and I can’t get the show’s bouncy, piano-heavy theme music out of my head. Now I know why that particular piece of music, composed and performed by Nelson Riddle, was such a big hit when “Route 66” first premiered on CBS in 1960. The series starred George Maharis, Martin Milner and, later, Glenn Corbett (who replaced Maharis toward the end) — and was shot completely on location, giving it a unique, time-capsule snapshot of Americana.