CBS correspondent Thalia Assuras touted the celebrity status of the Obamas on Wednesday: "The paparazzi and the press corps treat them like movie stars. They're on magazine covers and in fashion spreads. Even the presidential pooch is a celebrity. The Obamas are helping turn staid old Washington into Hollywood on the Potomac." [audio available here]
During the Early Show, Assuras reported on numerous upcoming reality TV shows being set in Washington D.C. and credited the first family for turning the nation’s capital into a celebrity hot spot. She cited Washington Post reporter Sally Quinn, who declared: "All of the power is concentrated here and power is a great aphrodisiac. And so, Washington has become the place to be." Assuras added: "And be seen. Even film stars are flocking here for a chance at the spotlight. Now the latest proof that the nation's capital is indeed the new hot spot, the arrival of reality TV."
Here is the full transcript of the segment:
7:00AM TEASE:
MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ: And look who’s moving into the neighborhood, the reality show that started it all is moving in near the White House.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: In D.C., politics, even the social kind, can be a real [expletive].
RODRIGUEZ: D.C. may never be the same again.
7:24AM TEASE:
JULIE CHEN: Coming up, why the Obamas will be sharing the spotlight with the granddaddy of all reality shows.
7:30AM TEASE:
CHEN: Coming up in this half hour, Washington D.C. may seem like the ultimate reality show. But it is about to take a back seat to not one, but five reality shows. We're going to tell you why it is no longer being referred to as, quote, ‘Hollywood for ugly people.’
RODRIGUEZ: I've never heard it referred to as that.
CHEN: You’ve never heard that?
RODRIGUEZ: No.
CHEN: That's an old saying.
RODRIGUEZ: I get it.
7:37AM TEASE:
CHEN: Well, up next, Washington D.C. is about to lose the title of Hollywood for ugly people. The granddaddy of all reality shows is taking over.
7:40AM SEGMENT:
JULIE CHEN: Well, the nation's capital is about to get a massive make-over, thanks in part to the Obamas and Hollywood. CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras has the story.
[SONG: Lifestyles of the rich and the famous]
THALIA ASSURAS: The paparazzi and the press corps treat them like movie stars. They're on magazine covers and in fashion spreads. Even the presidential pooch is a celebrity. The Obamas are helping turn staid old Washington into Hollywood on the Potomac.
SALLY QUINN [THE WASHINGTON POST]: All of the power is concentrated here and power is a great aphrodisiac. And so, Washington has become the place to be.
ASSURAS: And be seen. Even film stars are flocking here for a chance at the spotlight. Now the latest proof that the nation's capital is indeed the new hot spot, the arrival of reality TV. There’s talk of five reality shows being based here. Hitting the air waives later in the year is the CW network’s Blonde Charity Mafia. 20-Something it girls share their escapades as they party their way through D.C., all in the name of charity of course.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN B: Everyone in California can't believe that I moved out here and am staying.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This is the true story-
ASSURAS: MTV is set to announce as early as today that its next location for the Real World will be D.C. indications are that it will be filmed in the city's hip and hopping Dupont Circle area. And if America can love New Jersey housewives, why not the dames of D.C.? Bravo’s Real Housewives new franchise will focus on the power elite, coming up with a cast of real insiders, though, could be tough.
SALLY QUINN: I would rather jump off the top of the Washington Monument than be on this show.
ANNE SCHROEDER MULLINS [POLITICO]: I actually talked to a few women who said they would love to be on the Housewives show and the quote was, ‘my husband won't let me.’
ASSURAS: But when the line-up is finally announced, you can bet TMZ, the Hollywood buzz machine, will have the scoop.
HARVEY LEVIN: I love Washington D.C. I mean, I – I want to stake out our position in Washington D.C. and grow it.
ASSURAS: Proof positive America should watch out for more buzz coming out the nation's capital. Thalia Assuras, CBS News, Washington.
HARRY SMITH: I can see Harvey getting space in the new – Newseum, right?
MAGGIE RODRIGUEZ: Oh, right.
RUSS MITCHELL: The Harvey Levin wing.
[LAUGHTER]
SMITH: That’s right.
RODRIGUEZ: Is the Big Brother house going to be the White House this summer? Wouldn’t that be something?
CHEN: We don't know what we're working on yet, but we will reveal it shortly. I'm surprised after all these years that Real World has never been in D.C.
RODRIGUEZ: It is surprising. Yeah, you’d think so, with all the interns there, especially. There’s a vibrant – there is a vibrant-
CHEN: That’s a different reality show-
DAVE PRICE: We actually didn’t need MTV to create an entertaining program based on the interns.
MITCHELL: Congressional interns, what I was talking about.
—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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Comments Policy
...turned DC into H-wood?
June 10, 2009 - 11:31 ET by mattmNah, it's CBS and the rest of the Obamedia who have done that.
matt, Yeah, I was going
June 10, 2009 - 11:40 ET by Chris Normanmatt,
Yeah, I was going to say that without the media praising them for being "cool" and "elegant", the Obamas are really nothing all that special.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
Heard on Rush
June 10, 2009 - 11:57 ET by mattmWhat's the difference between God and Obama?
God doesn't think he's Obama.
(Also, the media is not on God's side)
Word. :) The
June 10, 2009 - 12:05 ET by Chris NormanWord. :)
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
God and Obama
June 10, 2009 - 13:28 ET by bigtimerHere's another...
What do God and Obama have in common?
Neither have a birth certificate.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
CBS's assessment is wrong
June 10, 2009 - 13:17 ET by kgI agreed. The media has turned DC into hollywood....some Disney type movie staring the Lord and unicorns.
"DumbAssity of Dope"
Hollywood on the Potomac.
June 10, 2009 - 11:35 ET by ThisnThatHollywood on the Potomac. Yes indeed. Where smoke & mirrors are used instead of real substance; where there are nothing but actors and pretenders instead of real people; and where real-life settings are always turned into make-believe scripts so as to make everyone feel happy and good. And oh-yes -- where over-inflated and preposterous money is thrown around like candy by people who don't deserve even a fraction of it.
But back to reality -- when, oh when, is this adulation crap going to end? I've had my fill of it by now.
___________________________________
Liberals constantly demand that we accept a glaring falsehood as truth; Obama's elimination of the word "terror" will make terrorist acts less terrifying
I thought
June 10, 2009 - 11:38 ET by oldmanateethey were going to say 'Survivor'.
DC has become Hollywood
June 10, 2009 - 12:01 ET by KC MulvilleOnly a person who idolizes Hollywood could think that's a good thing.
Both have a bunch of bimbos willing to sleep their way to the top. In Hollywood they're called starlets, and they sleep with casting directors and agents. In DC, they're called Democrats, and instead of casting directors, we have the news media.
Orwellian Hollyweird....
June 10, 2009 - 12:10 ET by Pilgrim1949The current crop of drug-and-marxist-philosophy-addled cultural kiddies in this Baroken administration have used Professor Peabody's "Wayback" machine and dialed in "Liberal Utopia." Cue the sytar music and swirling psychodelic color spirals...
The result: we've been dumped into the dystopian world of "1984" -- on steriods! -- in all its malevolent and malignant charm, with Obama in the role of "Big Bro."
If I might offer another Sci-Fi reference from decades ago: Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream!"
Let's hope Tea Party screams echo across the land with such roaring volume that the mortar between the bricks of the Capitol Building starts to crumble.
Caracas, not Hollywood
June 10, 2009 - 12:12 ET by slickwillie2001I first heard the 'X on the Potomac' meme wrt the Bamster a couple of weeks ago, but it was 'Caracas on the Potomac'.
Nothing surprises me...
June 10, 2009 - 12:17 ET by Kevin JacksonThis is why we need unapologetic conservatives pounding these racist, elitist Democrats! Here is a good place to start! www.theblacksphere.net Funny and poignant, just like the blog!
Oh Wow
June 10, 2009 - 12:36 ET by jdripperNow there are two cities in the country dedicated to promoting fiction and suspending disbelief.
Jack
"If at age 20 you are a conservative then you have no heart. If at age 30 you are a liberal then you have no brains." Sir Winston Churchill
Goes to show you don't need
June 10, 2009 - 13:04 ET by RR GOPGoes to show you don't need any talent to make it in Hollywood and become famous.
So funny that these Liberals and "journalists" are always so impressed by Hollywood. Reagan seems to have effortlessly left that garbage far behind him when he was President as one would never know that he did have that background.
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 61% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory (yep...approval for Congress now at 39%...do you believe that!?).