Taking a high society challenge
If the whole wealthy-society-matron thing doesn't work out, Kathy Hilton could have a big future in TV newsmagazine hosting. The mother of heiresses Paris and Nicky Hilton is so poised, so flawlessly gracious, so stiffly coiffed, she'd probably give Diane Sawyer a good run for her money. She projects the kind of chilly warmth that counts as dignity on the small screen, and she wears a hard smile that could charm the entire population -- of Stepford.
And the fact that Kathy Hilton is heading up a new reality show does raise suspicion about the security of her social position. ''I Want to Be a Hilton," which premieres tonight at 9 on Channel 7, is a rather tacky vanity venture for a woman who's supposedly a national leader of good taste. Appointing yourself a judge of etiquette and then humiliating blue-collar types because they don't know how to eat escargots isn't exactly classy behavior. It's the behavior of someone who needs money or attention so badly that she'll flaunt herself and exploit her own daughter Paris's infamy. It's hard to believe that those in Hilton's circle, no matter how nouveau riche, won't be appalled by her show, which is coproduced by her husband, Rick.
Naturally, ''I Want to Be a Hilton" is yet another iteration of ''The Apprentice," with Hilton leading a contest among 14 wannabes who dream of being an honorary Hilton and winning $200,000. The players live together in two Manhattan lofts, they backbite and bond, and they genuflect shamelessly before Hilton so she won't name them during her weekly elimination meetings. And they undergo aristocratic challenges, such as dining in high society -- although in this case, the society doesn't get much higher than Billy Bush of ''Access Hollywood" and Ted Allen of ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."
The players are, of course, a typically colorful lot who speak in sound bites. Reality casting agents have truly perfected their craft over the years, coming up with an endless stream of these telegenic exhibitionists who are willing to reduce themselves to TV types for prime time. ''I want to trade in my blue-collar lifestyle," says one woman. ''Her shoes cost more than our mobile home," says another hopeful. ''I am a dumpster diva," announces yet another. Ann is a former Miss Tampa who bursts into song inappropriately, adding unintentional comic relief to the proceedings. And Yvette is the most grating, with a British accent that will make you want to hold crumpets over your ears.
A Vegas dancer, Yvette has a habit of wearing skimpy clothes, and next week she is caught making out with one of her fellow competitors. ''You have to be a little careful with the sexuality," Hilton warns her maternally more than once, in what could be seen as a veiled reference to her feelings about Paris's public image. Kathy is openly slighting the sort of party-girl antics that originally turned Paris into something of an icon. By making the comment, Kathy probably doesn't want to appear to be doing what she is ultimately doing -- riding the wave of Paris's vacuousness and sexual high jinks. She uses Yvette to establish a moral ground that she can hardly stand on.
The players -- like most TV viewers outside of New York -- did not know from the Hiltons before the advent of Paris, who emerges from a Humvee limousine next week with sister Nicky. And the players don't seem particularly respectful of the Hiltons and their inherited wealth, even while they kiss up to Kathy. On ''The Cut," the players clearly have an admiration for
Sex ed crusader becomes a focus
LOS ANGELES -- ''AIDS IS GOD'S CURSE."
A child, no more than 9 years old, held the banner high at an antigay rally in Lubbock, Texas. On the other side of the street, gay students protested the school board's decision to deny them the right to organize in school.
The gay students' cause has drawn legal support, media coverage, and an unlikely ally in Shelby Knox, a conservative Christian teenager and a proponent of comprehensive -- as opposed to abstinence-only -- sex education.
Knox's story airs at 7:30 tomorrow night on WGBH World (digital cable); at 4 a.m. tomorrow on WGBX (Channel 44); and at 10 p.m. Monday on WGBX (Channel 44), as part of the PBS documentary series ''P.O.V."
''Not everybody sees the interconnection in sex education and gay rights. Shelby did," Lipschutz said.
And she ''felt it was very important to have that in the film because she understood this film is also getting a message out there," Lipschutz added.
Knox wasn't supposed to have been at the center of the report.
''We started out to do the story about sex education in a town where kids were advocating to get better sex education," said Lipschutz's creative partner, Rose Rosenblatt. ''Shelby emerged as the dominant character. As we followed her more and more, it became the story of fighting for sex ed through the point of view of this young girl."
Knox was a high school sophomore in 2001 when she joined the Lubbock Youth Commission, a group of 35 high school students who had been empowered by the mayor to give Lubbock teens a voice in city government.
The commission lobbied fervently for comprehensive sex education in schools. The area's high schools teach abstinence-only sex education, and Lubbock has some of the highest US rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
As the culture wars were waged on the outside, Shelby's views made things contentious at home.
''For the first time, it was less important to her what we said or what we felt, she was just so passionate about the issue," said Shelby's mother, Paula Knox, from the family's home in Lubbock.
The Youth Commission was eventually disbanded, with the city's budget shortfall blamed for its demise.
Now 18, Knox is a sophomore at the University of Texas in Austin. A self-described liberal Democrat, she was raised Southern Baptist but has no current affiliation with any religious denomination. However, she still adheres to a ''purity pledge" she took at 15 vowing to abstain from sex until she marries.
''The artistic surprise of this film," Lipschutz said, ''was that we started out doing a fight over sex ed, and as we were editing we saw that we didn't have that fight as much as we had Shelby's transformation, and specifically a religious, social transformation."
Knox said the film isn't about her: ''It's about an issue that is very important to the United States right now. I'm simply the face of that issue in this film."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Globe on NECN
Here's what's happening on ''Around the Globe" today on NECN:
9:30 a.m.: ''Talk of New England" -- Parenting columnist Barbara Meltz on kids' video gaming habits.
12:30 p.m.: ''Globe at Home" -- Book editor Jim Concannon and first-time novelist Joanne Skerrett talk about ''She Who Shops."
5 p.m.: ''Around the Globe"
6:30 p.m.: ''New England Business Day"
8:30 p.m.: ''NewsNight"
Schedule is subject to change.
On Boston.com
11 a.m.: Emily Crockett, who was blinded by brain tumors as a child, discusses the challenges of her first year at Harvard.
Radio highlights
9 a.m. WCRB-FM (102.5) -- Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 13; Field's Piano Concerto No. 1; Faure's ''Masques et Bergamasques."
Noon WUMB-FM (91.9) -- ''Live at Noon." Guest: Mac McAnally, Nashville singer-songwriter.
