Tuesday, award-winning author Rebecca Skloot will read from her New York Times best-selling book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks at UCLA Live’s Royce Hall. The critically-acclaimed nonfiction book has been heralded for its intricate research and gripping story. more ›

The end of the Oprah Era means more than the loss of a national anticipation for 4:00 p.m., heart-wrenching exposés, couch-jumping shenanigans and free cars; it also marks the departure of one of the largest book clubs in history. Swaying millions of viewers to read the kinds of books that put Cliff’s Notes in business proves that there is power in community reading. more ›

This week has already had some great late night TV and that streak continues tonight with a great lineup on "Chelsea Lately." --- "COPS" gets a record 24th season. ---- >"$#*! My Dad Says" creator tells Dad about cancellation. --- All this plus the TV Junkie Must-Watch Plan. more ›

In a "world exclusive" report, tabloid site RadarOnline has revealed the identity of the staffer with whom former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had a son. Her name is Mildred Patricia Baena, she goes by the name Patty, she is 50 years old, and her son was born about 14 years ago. more ›

What happens when you escape from a Michigan prison, flee to California, reject your criminal ways in order to settle into a nice home life, and are then rearrested 30 years later? You get a book deal, of course! This is America. And that's exactly what happened to one Marie Walsh, née Susan LeFevre, who fled the Detroit House of Corrections in 1976 after serving 13 months of a ten-year sentence for a heroin deal. more ›

Weekend Edition The National Association of Broadcasters convention opens this weekend in Las Vegas and one of the biggest topics at the show will be 3D TV. While we don't have a problem donning some uncomfortable plastic shades for a couple hours in the movie theater, we really wonder if photos of the American family enjoying a night of television will feature them with giant... more ›

LA has a diverse cast of characters. Whether it's the characters with stirring stories or interesting occupations or the people who are just simply characters, this town has them all. In an effort to get to know some of those characters a little better, we've created "Seven Questions with..." If you have a suggestion for a future Seven Questions subject send us an email. more ›

This morning Oprah Winfrey spoke about stopping her show in September 2011, reports Chicagoist. There's no mention of what's next, such as the rumors of moving to Los Angeles to produce a show on her OWN network, but speculation will continue. more ›

So Oprah will officially announce tomorrow that her show is coming to an end in September 2011. So much for the rumors of Oprah moving her show to Los Angeles... Or is it that after her show is over, she'll do a new one based here on the Oprah Winfrey Network? more ›

Today's big scuttlebutt is that Oprah may relocate her show from Chicago to Los Angeles by 2011. While this might be more convenient for Oprah and TV executives, we think TV is more competitive and more interesting when it is produced in more locations. If the entertainment industry doesn't want to be labelled as a "bi-coastal elitist" then it should be aware of how this appears. more ›

Our sister blog Chicagoist is reporting that Oprah might be moving her show to Los Angeles. That's via Deadline Hollywood blogger Nikki Finke, who doesn't name a source. If true, then Oprah could be here by 2011 and the show would air on her own channel, ending syndication. But Oprah's people say no decisions have been made yet. This would also mean she'll be closer to her Montecito home near Santa Barbara. more ›

SoCal Diet/Lifestyle Coach/Trainer Sean Croxton has a bone to pick with KFC. In this video he analyzes the ingredients in their new Kentucky Grilled Chicken and he isn't happy with the findings. He's also not too pleased with Oprah Winfrey, typically health-forward, who is pushing this product. One might assume that grilled chicken is a lesser evil than fried. Perhaps, but KFC's new KGC is chocked full of trans fats and MSG. LAist wonders, is KGC finger licking good? [Full ingredient list on the KFC website (PDF.)] more ›

Oprah this morning spoke to Rob Lowe on the phone about the "Tea Fire" burning two miles from her home in Montecito near Santa Barbara. Lowe, who also lives in the neighborhood, was home last night when the fire began, but knew nothing of it until his wife called. "This thing came on so fast, you wouldn't believe it... I walked out [my door] and my jaw just dropped," he explained to Oprah. He did not smell any smoke because of the wind direction. Lowe helped pry open the gates at a neighbors house to rescue them. Lowe's house was undamaged when he spoke to Oprah. KNX1070 has the full audio. more ›

DirecTV has finally come to the on-demand table but is it too late? Supposedly it's at least as bad as the Dish Network's offering - very limited functionality, automatically sending content to a set top box with limited storage and potential delays in viewing. more ›

I dunno what's up but the 10:00pm and late night slots seem to have a lot going on. Lewis Black has a new show with a new format on Comedy Central tonight and he's on Letterman as well, kudos to Lewis! more ›

Sherman Oaks and South LA made national news yesterday when a Los Angeles native, now based in Oregon, became the latest decried author who penned a fraudulent memoir. Yes, Margaret Seltzer grew up in the Valley, no Margaret B. Jones (her non de plume) did not gangbang in South Central as her book said. more ›

"If Barack Obama was a state," California's First Lady said, "he'd be California." more ›

LAist News Editor Andy Sternberg is inside the Barack Obama rally which is scheduled to kick off at 1:30 this afternoon at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus. more ›

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• To update our avalanche story from yesterday, 3 have now been confirmed dead after the snowy storm struck near the town of Wrightwood in the San Gabriel Mountains. One missing person was located Saturday, after apparently walking out of the snow encrusted mountain. Another missing person was located Friday, but died on Saturday morning.
• Remember when Fred Thompson was running for president and NBC stopped showing re-runs of Law & Order featuring the ex-Senator because of fair election laws? Well, one blogger thinks that USA should stop running episodes of Walker Texas Ranger because of the exposure it gives to Mike Huckabee lover supporter Chuck Norris. He "has gone way beyond what other celebrities like Oprah, Sylvester Stallone or Jon Voight have done."
• Bert Parks never saw this coming, but the format of the Miss America pageant has been changed to reflect the sentiments of a younger generation used to shows like America's Next Top Model and American Idol. Miss America will now basically be a reality show in which organizers hope infuse some much needed life into the boring traditional pageant.
• There is nothing more terrible than losing a son. But finding out through the press that your son is dead, as Heath Ledger's dad did, must have stung like something awful.
• We already know that 9 USC students were arrested on suspicion of public drunkenness this morning, but you might not have heard that 9 men and women were arrested in Pomona today for allegedly advertising sex on the Internet. They were nabbed at a motel by undercover cops. God, when did illicit, dirty, immoral, solicited sex become illegal?
• Though rains pounded the southland into a wet submission the last couple of days, the five inches are just a drop in the bucket as far as our drought is concerned. Or, so says the state agency in charge of water, who fears that people will stop conserving water in the wake of the storm that is supposed to continue off and on through Monday.
• Even though 7 percent of you don't seem to care, 53 percent said Yes on Props 94-97, while 41 percent said No. A harbinger of things to come or an aberration? Ten days to find out.

I’ve always been a worker-outer. But lately, as I’ve spent more and more time on the cardio machines at 24 Hour Fitness, I can’t shake feeling that I’m just a hamster on a wheel in a vicious human experiment. To combat my paranoia and possibly find a mentally healthier hobby, I’ve decided to scope out what else L.A. has to offer in a weekly series, “Fitness for the Easily Bored.” more ›

OK so now Oprah wants her own network and she's going to get it. Remember that she is one of the four founders of the Oxygen Network, you know, that paragon of programming that now includes: The Bad Girls Club, Snapped, and the Oxygen Original movie Husband for Hire. Now she's distancing herself from that loathsome swamp of bad TV because of her new altruistic endeavor, the modestly named OWN (The Oprah Winfrey Network) which replaces the Discovery Health Channel. Will the Big O stay with this for the long haul or just until something else, like a Stedman replacement, gets her attention? more ›

Joel McHale hosts The Soup, a celebration of the most embarrassing moments in pop culture every Friday night on E! From Tila Tequila to Yo Gabba Gabba you can count on The Soup to gather all the "best of" moments into one big pot of funny. LAist headed to the E! studios for a backstage tour, taping of the show, and one on one with the man who is not afraid to say Oprah's Va-Jay-Jay on national television. When we arrived Joel was in the makeup chair prepping for the show. more ›

This weekend marks the height of the "celebrity" dog-and-pony shows for the Democrats: Hillary Clinton brought daughter Chelsea (we wondered where she was) and her momma Dorothy Rodham on the campaign trail in Iowa. And Barack Obama brought out the big gun -- Oprah Winfrey -- to Iowa and South Carolina. But Republicans have friends in Hollywood, too. Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, also has his own celebrity endorsement: Chuck Norris. Yup. Walker... more ›

Emerald City: The how-to-be-green-for-dummies hit Greenopia is coming out with a new edition in a few weeks so don't panic that the first edition sold out. more ›

Last minute plans? Try some culture via ExperienceLA's calendar. Or try our picks for tonight: Canon at Union Station, Pee Wee's Big Adventure at Angel City Drive-In, or Tonight in Rock. Toady, Oprah Winfrey held a swanky fundraiser for Barack Obama south of Santa Barbara expecting to raise $3-million. Hot chick boards Southwest plane, finds her seat, gets kicked off for being too sexy. The LA Triathlon is tomorrow morning. Find out if you'll... more ›

8:00pm Going Back to New Orleans UPN/KCOP - Music icon Deacon John Moore documents the unique culture of the Big Easy. 9:00pm Against the Tide: The Battle for New Orleans CNBC - The business side of the New Orleans recovery effort. 10:00pm Still Waiting: Life After Katrina PBS/KOCE An African American/Creole family returns to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, hoping to hold on to their bayou culture. 10:00pm DIY to the Rescue: Katrina Rebuild... more ›

It is a shame Oprah does not upload video clips to YouTube, especially important and touching ones dear to us here in Los Angeles. Such is the amazing rerun segment from last Wednesday (originally aired in April) where she brought together two men who met in an alley on an almost fateful night in WeHo: Twenty years ago, Matthew was a young teenage runaway - he now currently works as a manager at the... more ›

- FBI Top 10 Most Wanted caught in Canada. The former Long Beach gun club president accused of child molestation - AP - 150 people in the North Hollywood Washington Mutual were evacuated by firefighters because of fumes. 11 taken to the hospital - Daily News - NBC is spinning off "Heroes" after just one season - AP - Maypole erected in front of Brentwood girls school - LAT - Researchers discover that the... more ›

A Word Or 46: The Oscars blew its big TV wad all over the place so let's get on with our lives. The Daily Show and Colbert Report are back from hiatus -- did they think they were doing the Oscars again? What's their excuse? Lots of new TV tonight. Tonight - Monday - February 26th, 2007 Lakers @ Jazz (KCAL, 6:00 p.m.) Bobcats @ Clippers (PRIME, 7:30 p.m.) How I Met Your Mother/The... more ›