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The Queen is the MC at BET

It’s the baby of entertainment industry awards shows. This Sunday, the BET Awards turn 10 years old in ‘10, as the network itself celebrates its 30th year.

The show got booted into adulthood last year, when just three days before it was scheduled, Michael Jackson unexpectedly died, sending shock waves throughout the world. Perhaps it was fated to be the first major nationally televised awards show to pay tribute to the pop legend, as Jackson himself had strong ties to Black Entertainment Television — and was considered part of the “family” the network likes to foster with its staff and talent.

“It was just devastating,” remembers BET Chairman and CEO Debra Lee of Jackson’s death. She was in the middle of a speech at DirecTV in Los Angeles when she got the news. “Everyone worked around the clock, knowing how important it was to the audience to make it a special tribute. Michael had always been very good to BET, having his videos released to BET and MTV at the same time, and he was the first honoree at our Walk of Fame. He was a big fan of BET, and it was important for us to do the tribute right.”

It was a night to remember, with Janet Jackson taking the stage in her first public appearance since her brother’s untimely passing. “She called us, knowing this would be the place fans would come for comfort,” says Stephen Hill, BET’s president of specials and music programming, who EPs the show with Lynne Harris-Taylor and production partner Cossette Productions. He and his team spearheaded the frenzied activity to revamp the entire program to make it a celebration of Jackson’s life and career by the top artists in the business.

Not surprisingly, the show garnered its best ratings ever, with about 10.7 million viewers — and Hill has his work cut out for him this time around to match last year’s epic broadcast.

Sunday’s program features not only a popular Queen and a celebrated Prince, but a King and a Princess. Queen Latifah hosts the show for the first time — not that she hasn’t been asked before. The artist known once again as Prince gets the Lifetime Achievement Award for his legendary, iconic career — and the tribute to him promises to be a blockbuster. King of the South TI is performing, as is Princess Nicki Minaj. And let’s not leave out Eminem, Alicia Keys, Ludacris, Usher, T-Pain, Drake, Diddy-Dirty Money and Rick Ross.

Assuredly, all eyes will be on Kanye West as he makes his first awards show appearance since the debacle that was his notorious interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV VMAs last year. Will she be waiting in the wings to exact some payback in West’s direction? Hill won’t say, but promises a lot of surprises.

Prince scores the Lifetime Achievement Award

What BET brings to the awards show table is not only a celebration of music, but honoring the best of African American culture in entertainment and athletics, as well as singling out people who have made a difference in their communities. Six-time Grammy Award-winning artist and philanthropist John Legend will receive this year’s Humanitarian Award for his work to end poverty through education. Long after the mainstream media spotlight has dimmed, there will also be recognition of the continuing plight of the people of Haiti, in the wake of the devastating earthquake.

“It’s as much a family reunion and gathering as it is an awards show,” says Hill. “The cousins get together and show off in a dance competition, bringing their best and brightest productions. They know we embrace their art and desire to show off. It’s a cool place for surprises — and to get the best entertainment and look back to yesterday.”

Achievements will be recognized in 19 categories.  Jay-Z leads the pack with five individual nominations for Best Male Hip Hop Artist, Best Collaboration, Video of the Year (two nominations) and Viewer’s Choice. Following with four nods each are Beyonce (Best Female R&B Artist, Best Collaboration, Video of the Year, Viewer’s Choice), Alicia Keys (Best Female R&B Artist, Best Collaboration, Video of the Year, Viewer’s Choice), Trey Songz (Best Male R&B Artist, Best Collaboration (two nominations), Viewer’s Choice) and Melanie Fiona (Best Female R&B Artist, Best New Artist, Video of the Year, Centric Award).

Drake scored three individual nominations, as did Young Money. Other multiple nominees include Rihanna, Fabolous, Nicki Minaj, B.O.B., Maxwell and Monica. Justin Bieber fever will heat up the house at the Shrine Auditorium, as the teen heartthrob scored a nod for the new “Fandemonium” award. He’s competing against Minaj, Songz and Chris Brown.

The Subway Sportsman of the Year Award promises a lot of drama, with LeBron James pitted against Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Carmelo Anthony and Usain Bolt. On the distaff side, it’s both of the tennis superstar Williams sisters up against Candace Parker, Vanessa James and Tamika Catchings for the hardware.

Women vying for the Best Actress trophy are Gabourey Sidibe, Zoe Saldana, Mo’Nique, Taraji P. Henson and Regina King. Either Denzel Washington, last year’s host Jamie Foxx, Quinton Aaron, Idris Elba or Don Cheadle will take home the Best Actor award.

Jay-Z leads the nomination pack

“We’ve established a reputation as one of the best shows out there,” says Lee. “The audience continues to grow, people who love African American culture and music has allowed to grow. Our goal is to keep growing.”

The show has come a long way since its inception ten years ago, when BET brass decided enter the fray of awards shows that attract a similar audience, including the Grammys, the MTV Awards and the Soul Train Awards.

“The productions have gotten more elaborate, the pairings of artists has gotten better,” says Lee. That will be reflected in the tribute to Prince, says Hill, who expects the unexpected. “He’s nothing less than changed music and the perception of how black men play instruments. He’s the most emotional singer in more genres than anybody. He is music. We are honored beyond belief that he will appear,” he told me.

The Prince tribute will surely take its place among top moments in BET Awards history, like Michael Jackson’s surprise appearance during James Brown’s tribute, Rick James in his final duet with Teena Marie and Will Smith presenting Muhammad Ali with the first-ever Humanitarian Award.

It was Janet Jackson’s turn to shine, and the pop megastar obviously put a lot of thought into who she would spill to in her first televised interview since the tragic death of her brother Michael nearly five months ago.

That’s why it was such a jarring experience to watch her Wednesday night on  ABC’s “In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts.” Ms. Jackson was classy, revealing, charming, honest—even as Roberts lobbed cringe-worthy questions like “What’s your favorite body part?” and more probing ones on her current romantic status.The timing of the big-time get was no accident. Jackson’s new album was released the day before, she’s kicking off the American Music Awards Sunday night on ABC, and a “sneak peek” at her new video closed out the show. The program offered viewers a tantalizing view of Jackson’s Malibu home, and was non-linear at best, flying around from topics like Jackson’s early days as a television actress in shows like “Good Times” to her secret marriage to Rene Elizondo to whether she’d ever met Dr. Conrad Murray. Segments were punctuated by a smarmy announcer—better suited to a show like “True Hollywood Stories” reading inane copy like “Next: losing her brother, but finding herself.”After showing Roberts a display of family photographs — including one of Michael and his children shortly before he died — Jackson admitted almost off the top that she often smiles as a protective mechanism.  And despite the serious nature of most of the interview, she was true to her word, flashing a mesmerizing grin throughout the show.Jackson herself—dressed in a conservative cream-colored dress and glittering geometric gold earrings, was riveting, mainly because she’s purposefully and wisely kept herself scarce.  Yet there was little new information. She was in New York when she got the fateful call about Michael collapsing.  She didn’t leave town right away, not knowing how serious it was.  He used to call her “Dunk.” She called him Mike.But just when things were starting to get insightful, as when she revealed that her father ordered her not to call him Daddy when she was a very young girl, that he forced her to drop acting for singing or that she didn’t celebrate a birthday until she was 23 years old, Roberts’ (or the editor’s) apparent ADD would kick in and the subject would be changed.Maybe this wasn’t really an ABC News production, as it was long on assumptions and short on facts—and there was heavy emphasis on Jackson’s weight issues that she seems to have struggled with since childhood, yet no discussion of how she’s managed to always get back in center-stage shape. Roberts inquired about her “booty,” and Jackson revealed that former long-time record producer boyfriend Jermaine Dupri made her feel very comfortable in her own skin, leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions after Roberts elicited they were actually no longer together—even after Jackson admitted that she adored him and “loved him to death.”  

There was a mention made of Jackson’s quickie first marriage at age 18 to singer James DeBarge in order to escape her family and that it ended because of his drug abuse, which was rather defamatorily equated with Michael’s—without any other information. Quick sound bites, but no details, on how the family tried to stage interventions with Michael—increasing the amorphous haze around that part of Jackson’s legacy, in contrast to his on-point performances in “This is It,” which his sister said is too painful for her to see.  

MJ fans were no doubt disappointed not to hear more substantive discussion about Janet’s relationship with her older brother—although there were many adorable old photos and video clips of the two together. Still, her grief was palpable, as was her anger at Murray and her reaction to the fact that her brother died from an overdose of Propofol. “Serious, heavy. None of us knew,” she said of his usage of the intravenous hospital anesthetic.

Take her grief out of the equation and despite her strict upbringing, the rocky love life, the struggles with body image, the interview proved there’s no reason to pity Janet Jackson. To paraphrase a notorious Joe Jackson comment about Michael, she’s smiling all the way to the bank.  .

If I were Dr. Conrad Murray, right about now, I’d be using a lot of sedatives, as many as he gave Michael Jackson on the last night of his life. Yes, Michael was apparently addicted to prescription drugs–as millions of people are, and very persuasive in his demands. But there’s no excuse for Murray’s complete and total negligence in causing the pop icon’s death. His own life, as he knew it, is over. It’s a wonder he’s not yet under arrest.

After the rehearsal at Staples Center, Murray, through an IV, gives Jackson a sedative in a bedroom at the Carolwood home. An hour later, another one. Several hours later, even more. Then, more ‘pams, the generic equivalents of Xanax, Ativan, Valium–a potent cocktail that would have made anyone high as a kite. Then, at 10:40 a.m., Murray gave Jackson 25 mg of the anesthetic propofol, waited 10 minutes, said he left to take a leak for two minutes, came back and Michael was not breathing. So what did this good doctor do? Administered inadequate CPR, then made cell phone calls for 47 minutes. What could he have possibly been talking about, and to whom, instead of trying to save his patient’s life? Why didn’t he call for an ambulance right away? On what planet did this person go to medical school? Then, at one point he runs downstairs to get Michael’s oldest son Prince. Who then called security, who eventually called 911, an hour and 20 minutes later, after trying to administer a “rescue” drug. So very, very tragic.

At UCLA Medical Center, Murray “neglected” to tell the medical team that he had administered propofol, which might have helped them revive Jackson, maybe not. He refused to sign the death certificate and then left. And that was the last time in his life that he’ll legally act as a physician.

This could not get more surreal, or more offensive.  Dr. Conrad Murray, under fire and under investigation for the death of Michael Jackson, makes a just-released YouTubevideo thanking his so-called supporters-and never once even acknowledging Jackson’s death, much less expressing his condolences to the family.  It was absolutely heartless, sickening and shocking to see and hear this man’s pathetic spiel about how he was afraid to return phone calls or e-mails expressing support for him.  Who are these “supporters” anyway?  A couple of Houston patients at his pill mill clinic he treated for “free,” while probably milking their insurance companies to the limit?

It does appear that for Dr. Murray, it was all about the money. Apparently about to lose his home in Las Vegas, and having to support the former stripper and the child she had by him a few months ago, he was very eager to get his hands on $150,000 a month that he would have been paid as Michael’s personal physician during the set of London concerts.

Poor, poor Michael. He did not have to die at this juncture, as so many millions of fans around the globe concur.  But somehow, he trusted this man with his life. As a human being, as a physician, there is total failure, and no excuses for what happened. Regardless of how strange and disconcerting that Michael Jackson needed an IV drip of an anesthetic to go to sleep at night (why, oh why did he not take Ambien?), Murray’s job was to watch over his star patient while he was “under.” If somehow he was compelled to leave his side to either sleep or make personal phone calls, whichever version of the story you might believe, he needed to make sure there was a trained medical person there on duty, as required. 

Having recently gone through the illness of a family member, it’s very easy to hire a skilled nurse-practitioner whose job it is to watch over the patient at all times.  So not only did Murray apparently not know what he was doing in administering anesthesia, he was criminally negligent, and then completely incompetent in administering CPR.  And who can buy his story that he waited half an hour to call 911 because he didn’t know what the address of the house?  I have never heard anything so ridiculous. It was simply an incredibly feeble excuse to try to cover up his responsibility for Michael’s death, which probably did happen hours before that call was made.  But I’m wondering why he didn’t take the evidence out of the house, because he probably could’ve gotten away with it.

After watching this video — and I’m not going to post the link — I’m convinced this man is the worst kind of idiot, akin to a drunk driver who kills innocent people, who at the very, very least, should never be allowed to practice medicine again.

Even as the Las Vegas, NV home and offices of the incompetent, asleep at the swtich Dr. Conrad Murray were being raided,  I was having a very interesting conversation with some medical colleagues of Dr. Steven Hoefflin who did (most of) Michael Jackson’s plastic surgeries, including his first or second nose job, depending on who you believe. 

Apparently loving the limelight that he got from being associated with celebrities — and Michael certainly wasn’t the only one — Dr. Hoefflin ran afoul of some of his medical associates and staff members, who claimed the doctor liked to look under the sheets of anesthetized patients like Sylvester Stallone and Elizabeth Taylor, who never sued because they didn’t want the publicity, and say and do weird things. (The California State Medical Board found no evidence of wrongdoing, however.)

One of his nurses–we’ll call her Nurse A, left the practice as a result and joined up with another plastic surgeon, who was not only a colleague of Hoefflin’s, but a friend.  But when this doctor — we’ll call him Dr. Z. — hired the nurse, that ended their friendship.

Nurse A had first met Michael Jackson in the late 70s, and actually attended to him during the surgery on his scalp after his hair caught on fire during the Pepsi commercial in 1984.  She said that Michael was initially taken to Cedars-Sinai but that Hoefflin didn’t have hospital privileges there, so that’s why he ended up at Brotman in Culver City.  The surgery was actually performed the morning after the accident, and Nurse A. was stuck in morning rush hour traffic freaking out while listening to reports on the radio. (Jackson later donated the settlement he got from Pepsi to Brotman’s burn center, later renamed the Michael Jackson Burn Center.)

Nurse A., an attractive blonde, got very friendly with Jackson and spent time at Neverland Ranch, riding horses with him on the trails there. She also would often pick him up and take him out in LA to different places.  She said he preferred to be with her in just her regular vehicle than a car that would attract attention and that he was often in disguise.  She said he was very, very generous, although noting that she herself never got any money from him,  but, like so many others have said, that the people around them always had their hands out.  She said Michael often visited sick children in the hospital as well as friends who were hospitalized.

He invited her to attend the taping of the “Smooth Criminal” video at Universal and she said she was thrilled to witness it, and hang out in his trailer with him during breaks in the shoot, which went until 4 a.m. She said he was very soft-spoken on set and all the dancers loved him. Nurse A. said she has many, many fond memories of Michael– but that when she was around Joe Jackson, she wanted to take a Brillo pad to herself.

Meanwhile, Doctor Z. estimated that Michael had at least 50 surgeries on his nose and said the singer, whom he also knew, was a sociopath when it came to plastic surgery, a misguided soul who did not know when to stop — – and no one ever really told him to.

Although it’s hard to watch, it’s good that the footage of the fire during the Pepsi commercial that burned Michael Jackson’s scalp has come to light. Brings up interesting questions, though–who had it under lock and key for so long, and how much did US Weekly, that paragon of investigative journalistic reporting, pay for it?

Now, one of the two LA city fire inspectors that was on set is also speaking out, saying the director, Bob Giraldi, purposefully put Jackson in danger in order to get a better shot. “Making him look more majestic,” is how it was put–convincing Jackson on the sixth take to stand right under sparks from the pyrotechnics that lit his hair ablaze. But it seems to me these fire guys weren’t really doing their jobs in ensuring the safety of the performers, were they, if they didn’t step in to tell the director and Jackson they couldn’t do that. Take a look at what Giraldi told Playboy about a year after the ’84 accident:

Playboy: No one has ever heard your side of the story regarding the ill-fated Pepsi commercial in which Michael’s hair caught fire. You were directing. What went through your mind?

Giraldi: Nothing. I was the only one who didn’t really know what was happening until people rushed onto the stage. I didn’t see it. I was off to the side, watching my black-and-white monitor. The fire looked like a special lighting effect on my screen. Suddenly, Michael was trying desperately to get his jacket off, thinking it was on fire. Like most accidents, it was over before it started. But the hysteria was there. He never seemed to be in danger. Then he was whisked off to the hospital and I saw him a couple of hours later. He was speaking despite the pain. It was an accident. To say any more about it is not very smart, because there will probably be a lawsuit.I have no bad feelings toward Michael, and I hope he doesn’t harbor any toward me. He is a brilliant performer, a genuine, shy, withdrawn young man. He and I worked together three times; we did fine work, had fun and made history. But our personal relationship is over–for the moment.

He’s gone on to do some very important stuff, and so have I.

———————Yeah, he owns a NY restaurant apparently, and for sure now he’ll be a pap target. Karma, as they say.

Interestingly, Pepsi apparently didn’t…um, pardon the expression, burn their bridges with Michael, as he went on to make another series of groundbreaking-at-the-time soda pop commercials for them in ’88. In recent weeks, the company ran a full-page ad in the LA Times (and possibly other major papers) honoring Jackson. Now faced with major PR damage control, I’m sure we’ll hear more about their do-gooding.

In a video of a song called ‘Give in to Me’ on the Dangerous album that didn’t get much airplay in the US, Jackson actually sings the line: “I’m on fire,” and there are pyrotechnics literally electrifying him (through the magic of special effects) in the stagecraft for this rock song with Slash. It’s become my new, favorite MJ “discovery” in the wake of his tragic death: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-CcqOe9WWU

Not since young JFK, Jr. saluted his slain father’s coffin has a child’s reaction to the loss of a parent so moved a global television audience.

Paris Michael Katherine Jackson’s spontaneous, heartfelt tribute to her father was the highly emotional capper to the public memorial service for Michael Jackson at Staples Center.

If you hadn’t choked back tears when Usher sang “Gone Too Soon,” taking off his sunglasses to gaze at the King of Pop’s rose-covered coffin, when Brooke Shields spoke lovingly of their bond as child stars and her fun moments with Michael or when brother Marlon asked him to give his twin Brandon a hug in heaven, you wept with the 11-year old girl as she took the microphone and said, “Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say, I love him so much,” before tearfully collapsing into the embrace of her aunt Janet and other family members. 

The clip has already played countless times, and is likely to become a turning point in the tenor of the media’s never-ending fixation on the man Motown founder Berry Gordy dubbed “the greatest entertainer that has ever lived”—at least until the autopsy results are revealed.

If there was a little bit of hyperbole there, it was understandable, coming from the man who launched the Jackson 5 and its wise-beyond-his-years lead singer into superstardom 40 years ago. Just about all the words spoken at the ceremony—from Queen Latifah reading Maya Angelou’s tribute poem to Magic Johnson’s memory of Michael eating Kentucky Fried Chicken–resonated within the auditorium and throughout the world, and although Mariah Carey criticized herself later for losing it during her rendition of “I’ll Be There,” it was hard to find fault with any of the performances during the nearly 2 ½ hour tribute.

Someone said Jackson not only raised the bar, he broke it. And so did the memorial, far exceeding the expectations of media pundits and fans alike who had been anticipating the event since it was announced just five days in advance.

There was plenty of drama in the lead-up, the babble from naysayers and haters who felt it was all too much, and a measure of dread—as voiced by the LAPD, sternly warning people who didn’t have a ticket not to come downtown—and that they would be thrown in jail if they attempted to scalp the coveted tickets.

It all, miraculously, went off without a hitch. It could not have been scripted better by an Oscar-winning screenwriter. Even the hastily-devised Internet lottery system of allocating and then distributing the tickets at Dodger stadium went smoothly. In a city where memories of the OJ Simpson car chase and the 1992 riots still loom large, there was a potential for some sort of disaster. At the very least, monster traffic jams tying up morning rush hour were a big concern. 

Expert planning by the CHP and the LAPD and personal attention from its chief Bill Bratton mitigated those logistical nightmares. And the only one remaining: who’s going to pick up the tab for all the police overtime–which was actually less than predicted? I vote for a) AEG and/or b) Sony Music, both of which will make untold boatloads of money on Jackson‘s legacy.

Seeing the Jackson family’s well-coordinated motorcade of Rolls-Royces, Range Rovers and Escalates depart from Forest Lawn Mortuary to Staples Center on closed freeways was dreamy, and dramatic.

There was a creepy rumor reported on one of the major broadcast networks that Michael Jackson’s body was not actually in the golden coffin being carried by the hearse. In the context of all the bizarre and eccentric aspects of the pop star’s life that have been reported over the last few decades, it was momentarily believable… until it was clearly apparent that it wasn’t, as his white sequin glove-clad brothers bore the casket into the auditorium.

Inside the Staples Center, it was a relief not to think about the stranger aspects of Michael Jackson’s life — until Al Sharpton brought them up.  If there was a low point, that was it–because for all we know, Michael Jackson’s children were so sheltered that they had no idea that the world thought their father might be a bit strange.  This certainly was not the time to inform them of that, Rev. Sharpton, or to use the occasion to bring up racial divides. Yet the media-loving reverend drove home a good point when he stated that Michael never gave up, and never stopped.

With the tantalizingly little bit we’ve seen of Jackson‘s rehearsals for the shows in London that were to open next week– and there are reportedly untold hours of tapes–that is certainly true. And it makes his passing, at what could have been a new pinnacle in his illustrious, iconic career, all the more tragic.          

The media madness surrounding the sudden death of Michael Jackson continues unabated, fueled by the public’s nearly insatiable decades-long appetite about the talented and troubled King of Pop.

One can get whiplash trying to keep up with all the latest developments.  The pop star will be buried at Neverland after a public viewing and private service.  No, he won’t be.  The former long-time nanny to his three children pumped his stomach regularly.  No, she didn’t.  Former wife Debbie Rowe could get custody of the children.  No, in his will, Mr. Jackson gave guardianship to his mother Katherine and secondarily to Motown legend Diana Ross.  Jackson had a fatal heart attack after being given a shot of Demerol by Dr. Conrad Murray. No, now there are reports he may have been given the powerful anesthetic Propofol intravenously.  Madonna will be part of a special tribute concert planned in London.  No, she will not. Michael Jackson did not “adopt” his three children.  No, he didn’t need to under California law.

That was just a short list of the facts, the half-truths and the complete distortions of the truth that have made headlines since the shocking news of the star’s death was first reported last Thursday afternoon. Celebrity tabloid website TMZ claimed to be first to break news of the heart attack and then the actual death—and whatever claim to fame that’s actually worth is debatable. (Apparently, UCLA has not rid itself of employees who sell tips about celebrities, even in the wake of the scandalous breach of Farrah Fawcett’s medical records.)

Debatable, especially since no one, meaning no one in mainstream media, believed the site as a source for the earth-shattering news that would rock the globe. The recognition of Michael Jackson’s death came only when it was blasted on the Los Angeles Times website a short time later. By then, the circus had come to town — to UCLA Medical Center, to Jackson’s rented mansion on Carolwood Drive and to the Jackson family home in Encino. It will not leave any time soon.

TMZ, run by my former colleague Harvey Levin, bowed to audience pressure to show some respect to the late performer, and the day after his death, changed all of its offensive mentions of  “Jacko” to “Jackson” or “MJ.” At last check, the New York Post and other tabloids were still seemingly glorying in using the distasteful nickname (shortened from “Wacko Jacko”) that Jackson himself told interviewers he found very hurtful. 

But the lowest point in the death coverage—aside from all the rumors that in the heat of the news moment turned out to be not true—was the close-up photograph of an apparently already dead Michael Jackson to which “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Insider” kept cutting. It was repulsive, completely unnecessary and just plain wrong. I’m having nightmares just thinking about its ghastliness—and the incredibly poor taste in running it, repeatedly, in prime time, or at any time. The photo belongs in a coroner’s file, not to be seen by the public. 

The coverage of the Jackson story proves there is still a line between tabloids and traditional news organizations, the line between class and crass. Although that line has become increasingly fuzzy, some of the old school journalists aren’t going down without (a bit of) a fight. Case in point: ABC News eminence grise Charles Gibson’s discomfort in interviewing “The Insider”’s Lara Spencer on set. This mash-up just wasn’t working, and ABC should have stuck with one of its “regular” news correspondents and left “The Insider” (and its anchor) segregated in its own time slot.

Meanwhile, the network played up clips from the 2003 documentary “Living with Michael Jackson,” during which “Nightline” co-anchor Martin Bashir said he spent eight months with the pop star. Given his role in the piece, Bashir found it understandably difficult at times to control his emotions during  2 ½ hours on air on the night of Jackson’s death. Yet his personal experience with Jackson—whether you think he made himself too much a part of the story or not–gave the coverage added resonance and depth.

It also gave viewers the chance to re-examine some of Jackson’s eccentricities up close, including his admission to Bashir that he found sharing his bed with children to be a loving thing to do, a shocking statement which ultimately led to the second, and like the first, unproven, child molestation charge against the singer. And then there was the jaw-popping shopping spree at a luxe store in which Jackson seemed to be buying up every ostentatious chess set, pair of candlesticks and antique lamp in sight, as Bashir trailed behind, astonished by the price tags, one of which was $85,000. 

ABC also dug up a telling Barbara Walters interview of Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley during their brief marriage in the mid-1990s, and let it play.

With the Jackson story being the lead on “Nightline” every night, the show spent one inside baseball lead story on the impact of TMZ, interviewing a harried Harvey Levin, who said he wasn’t getting much sleep since the story broke.

And thinking of that appalling death photograph that should have never aired, neither am I.              

…and it isn’t Dr. Conrad Murray. There are serious questions about why this cardiologist did not know how to properly perform CPR that could have saved Michael Jackson’s life. And why was there a half-hour delay before 911 was called? And who was that person who made the call? From his continued use of the word “sir,” I would guess an employee of the household who was being directed by Murray, who was probably trying to revive Michael and/or cover up what had transpired in those crucial minutes.

And then there’s Dr. Arnold Klein, Michael’s dermatologist and the former employer of his former wife, Debbie Rowe. WhenI first moved to LA, Arnie was referred to me as “the best derma in town.” I had a little wart on my finger, and when I went in to his ritzy Beverly Hills office, he seemed to be very hyped up–read between the lines here–and then he proceeded to hard-sell me on his line of acne skin products. The problem was, I didn’t have acne. Just the aforementioned finger situation. Which required a return visit, during which the good doctor was again very hyped up….and again tried to sell me his overpriced skincare line. Not caring at all for his medical ethics, or lack thereof, or his two-second attention span, I never saw him again, but the experience left a very bad taste in my mouth.

Not surprisingly, the self-proclaimed “dermatologist to the stars” was later sued by Patricia Medavoy for his off-label use of Botox to treat her migraine headaches, for which she suffered severe side effects much worse than the headaches.