"Shattered" Brinkley Takes Stand in Divorce Trial
Dealing with the fallout of her husband’s betrayal didn’t feel like a death to just Christie Brinkley, it felt like one to her friends, too.
The erstwhile cover girl took the stand during the second day of testimony in her public divorce trial from philandering architect Peter Cook Thursday, testifying as to her confrontation with Cook and subsequent reaction after learning of his affair with an 18-year-old staffer.
“I just said to Peter, ’How could you?’ ” she said on the stand, making her testimony all the more poignant by choosing that moment to look at Cook head-on for the first time in the two-day trial.
Brinkley further testified that she learned of her husband’s affair with Diana Bianchi from the teen’s police officer stepfather, Brian Platt. He had informed Brinkley of her husband’s infidelity moments before she was to speak at a local schoolan incident she referred to as “the day my world was completely shattered.”
“I turned to look at Peter,” she said. “His face was so tense…He was saying, ’No.’ I thought, ’Oh my god. It’s true. He did it.’ I knew from his face. It explained the feelings I’d been trying not to feel.”
When she further confronted Cook with the man’s claims, Brinkley said he asked her, “You’re not going to believe that man over me, are you?”
Brinkley said the couple’s now 10-year-old son was with them at the time and that she “saw little Jack’s face looking at his dad, the man and me. I thought, I am going to pass out.”
At that point, she asked Cook to take her home so as not to break down in public. After they arrived, she quickly left again on her own.
“I was just in shock,” she said. “I just started driving away from my perfect life. I thought I had the picket fence. We were happy.”
In addition to the shock of it all, Brinkley said her initial reaction was “to get to the bottom of this. I need to know.”
Prior to Brinkley taking the stand at Central Islip Supreme Court, her close friend and Today entertainment correspondent Jill Rappaport testified to Brinkley’s depressed state following the June 25, 2006, argument that led to the disintegration of the couple’s marriage.
Rappaport said she found Brinkley pulled over on the side of a public road.
“When I got there, Christie was lying on the ground huddled over with her hands on her knees. I thought she had died,” Rappaport said. “She was sobbing…almost catatonic. I grabbed her by the shoulders, and she said, ’Can you believe this? Please tell me this is a nightmare.’ “
Later, Brinkley also addressed Cook’s witness stand confession that he spent $3,000 per month on pay Internet porn sites during their 10-year marriage.
“I found conversations of him trying to lure girls, saying he would take them shopping, saying he would pay them if he could see their face.
“I felt really stupid. Why didn’t I know? Why wasn’t I aware of this? I felt humiliated. I felt shattered. I just felt grief-stricken.”
Brinkley said she confronted Cook about her findings and “he said it was an abberation, something he was only into now because of the guys in the office.”
During a recess, Cook belittled Brinkley’s tearful testimony, “Shrek was more believable,” he quipped, per Newsday.
Roughly 30 witnesses are expected to take the stand in the case, which will run about four weeks.
The first day of testimony yesterday featured Brinkley’s daughter with Billy Joel, Alexa Ray Joel, as well as Bianchi and Cook, who did his fair share of bawling during his time on the stand.
Tim Allen’s scary Internet avatar
A few weeks ago, while doing some research on stand-up comedians who became sitcom stars, I ended up Googling a whole bunch of names to get some additional pre-television history on them. One of these was Home Improvement’s Tim Allen. While looking up Tim’s information I came upon a listing for his personal website. It was a weird listing though — something like Tim Allen — T’Avatar. Well, since I know Tim’s not a Romulan, I thought this was just an abbreviation of something. Needless to say I clicked in.
Turns out, T’Avatar was short for Tim Allen’s Avatar, which appears in an opening video to his website. Folks, this Avatar freaks the living piss out of me.
It’s just a picture of Tim, with his computer animated eyes, eyebrows and mouth. They have just the right amount of exaggeration to them that it makes the Avatar a tad bit scary. At first, I thought this was just an initial reaction to Allen’s Avatar. But, when I pulled his site up again for this post the initial appearance was just jarring.
Heck, maybe I’m being a tad too sensitive here. So, I would like you to take a look and let me know. Just click on this link and tell me if you feel the way I do about this. By the way, a less scary Tim Allen can be seen regularly on Nick at Nite’s daily airings of Home Improvement.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate, Part 1
(S08I12) I never really cared for the Dracula episode of Buffy. It definitely had its funny moments, but having Dracula thrown into the Buffyverse lore was hard to stomach. Not to mention this ass had an easy time of wooing Buffy. Oh, and Xander too.
That said, this was a great issue. It marks the first of a series of issues written by TV Buffy writer Drew Goddard, and the feeling from the show is captured perfectly. For some reason I wasn’t able to say that as much before, but here I feel right at home.
Of course, one of the most talked about things from this issue is Buffy’s night in the sack with fellow slayer Satsu. Joss Whedon told the NY Times: “We’re not going to make her gay, nor are we going to take the next 50 issues explaining that she’s not. She’s young and experimenting, and did I mention open-minded?” For anyone following the series all along, this wasn’t a total shock. In fact, I wouldn’t have been surprised to have seen this happen in the TV series at some point.
It’s a good thing that Xander has romantic interests elsewhere, again, in this season. Otherwise he’d really be questioning his own desirability again, seeing as two of the most important women in his life — both whom he had romantic interest in at some point — have turned to play for the other team, even if just for a little while. Knowing Xander, he’d wonder “what’s wrong with me?!”
The entire scene plays out perfectly and in very much the style I’d expect from TV. Xander’s initial reaction, then Andrew’s, then Willow’s. And, of course, Buffy’s.
The best part of the Dracula resurfacing is everyone’s reaction as they discover who they’re dealing with, all looking squarely in Xander’s direction. I’m glad for that, since Xander’s part in the TV episode was by far the best part. And, as the issue ends, we see there’s more of that to come.
But, what does Dracula want with the scythe? Is he working on his own or for more powerful forces?
Quote of the issue:
Xander: “My eye! My burning, beautiful eye!”
Friday Night Lights: Humble Pie
(S02E13) Oddly enough, the thing I found foremost in my mind after this latest FNL installment was Seinfeld. More specifically, “The Bizarro Jerry.” Not that the FNL writers went all nutty and decided to try their hands at comedy. They did, however, present us with a lot of characters that were in the opposite position of where we are accustomed to seeing them. For the most part, it worked very well. The episode was not without its issues though.
So, in no particular order, we’ll begin with Bizarro Tyra. Not only do we see Tyra joining up with the volleyball team, which is rather out of character, but we also see her on the opposite side of the relationship with Landry. Despite my issues with the murder story, I really like the possibilities here. The new girl, Jean (Brea Grant), is a welcome addition, and the scenes between her and Landry were all very good. The CD scene at the restaurant, with Saracen and Riggins cackling away in the background, was my favorite of the bunch.
Frankly, the way they have forced everything about Tyra/Landry this season, I have to believe there is more to come for the two of them. That’s not necessarily bad. Jean, and the newly inspired jealousy in Tyra at least offers a new angle. And it is an angle that rings much truer than what we saw earlier in the season.
Getting back to the volleyball, that brings us Bizarro Tami taking on the coaching role, while Bizarro Eric cheers her on. I was kind of up and down on the whole volleyball angle. As soon as Eric suggested the idea, my initial reaction was, “Hold on now. Didn’t we just go through how Tami was ready to quit her job because she didn’t have enough time for everything?” They did manage to diffuse that somewhat with Eric’s announcement that it would only be for a few weeks.
I also felt that they overplayed just how bad the girls were. No coach, not even the wife of the great Coach Taylor, is going to take a group of girls from scared of the ball to winning team in just a few days. The winning end was mitigated somewhat as one of the players snuck in the comment that the opponent’s best player was out. Having Riggins hanging around, still helping out as part of Eric’s punishment, was a good bit of continuity. Although, having him be the inspiration for Tyra’s anger seems a little misguided at this point. So, it was hit and miss and I didn’t hate it. On the other hand, I couldn’t help thinking as the game went on that we could really be watching some football.
In other bizarro goings on, we find Billy doing something reckless while little brother Tim is the voice of reason. As reasoned as you can be when you decide to pay the money you stole from your not-so-friendly neighborhood meth dealer anyway. This one is not a huge stretch I suppose, as we’ve seen both of the Riggins boys demonstrate great ability at poor decision making, but it did still feel a little opposite.
I have to say, I was worried for Billy there. As it all played out, there seemed to be the very real possibility that we were going to see Tim’s world rocked just a little more. I think I was actually more surprised that Guy didn’t shoot Billy than I would have been if he had. I’m glad it played out that way. Tim has had a rough run of it this season and killing his brother would really seem to be piling on. I think he’s due for a run of smooth sailing.
Of course, it doesn’t look like that smooth sailing is going to have much to do with Lyla. Tonight didn’t really bring us the bizarro Lyla, but she’s kind of in the middle of a bizarro season, so we’ll go with it. I find myself believing her little speech on the Riggins doorstep that she isn’t coming back. Maybe this whole change is for real and she has moved past all of that. At the same time though, something about her new pal Chris just rubs me the wrong way. I suspect that he’s not set to be with Lyla for the long haul either. Also, was I the only one questioning where the $3000 came from? Christian Teen Radio can’t pay that well.
After weeks of waiting, we finally get a nice update on our old pal Street. His character was more what we expect than many of the others. I did think that his role in the Herc/Street dynamic was quite different though. Gone are the days where Herc always held the upper hand and Street looked up to him as a mentor. The two are clearly peers now, and that’s nice to see.
Nicer than the new job down at Garrity Motors. While it did offer up a couple of nice scenes, I can’t see this being the answer for what Street is looking for. Ultimately, he’s going to have to get out of Dillon. All of those same things that chased him away from coaching will make their way into selling cars. Speaking of selling cars, that had to be the most annoying thing in the episode. Not Street getting Gerald into a new hybrid. Rather, NBC whoring their show out to Chevy.
I’m well aware that advertising fuels the network engine. Given that, I’m OK with product placement, promotional consideration announcements, and the like. Hell, I’m even willing to overlook the fact that Garrity Motors changes makes on the whim of whatever automotive advertisers NBC can drum up. That said, their little flashback/commercial for the new Tahoe hybrid crossed the line. It’s a fuzzy line, and I’m not sure just where it is in the sand exactly, but that was over it.
And finally, Smash. This was certainly not an example of Bizarro Dillon. Everything about this was exactly the Smash we have come to know over the last two seasons. He went along with being pressured into the apology because it seemed to be the path that would get him where he needed to be. But when push comes to shove, you just knew he wouldn’t be able to hold back. The final scene with Mrs. Williams, Coach Taylor, and Smash was outstanding. His coming to the realization that despite the fact that he told the truth, he only made things worse for himself was sad, but rang true.
I was actually a little surprised to learn that there are only three regular season games left in the season. The question now becomes whether or not Smash will play in any of those. And I suppose there is the question of whether or not we will ever get to see how they play out. My guess is that the suspension won’t stick. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to find out.
And there we have it. All in all, a very good episode. The crappy Tahoe advertising was out of line, but that falls on the doorstep of NBC, not FNL. With just two more episodes to go, I like where the show is.