From Hollywood Boulevard, it’s The WOW Report for Radio Andy on SiriusXM! That’s right WOWers, World of Wonder Co-Founder Fenton Bailey, Chief Creative Officer Tom Campbell, and WOW Report Editor James St. James have collaborated with reality TV guru and friend of WOW, Andy Cohen, on a weekly Top Ten Countdown of the things from the past week that make us go…WOW!
It’s a pop-culture obsessed hour complete with colorful diatribes, opposing opinions, and a dissection-like discussion that will make your drive home from work more fabulous!
The WOW Report airs TODAY at 4PM EST on Radio Andy on SiriusXM, and the show airs again at 4PM PST (7PM EST). You can also catch it on the SiriusXM app!
This week is dedicated to the WOW-produced Andy Cohen’s Then & Now that premiered on Wednesday – and airs every Wednesday at 10PM on Bravo! In each episode, Andy dives into some of the biggest moments making headlines today and take a look back at a handful of iconic years in popular culture to ask, “How did we get here?!” The first episode focused on the year 1997, so we thought we’d countdown the Top Ten moments of 1997 that made US go WOW!
10) Live! with Regis & Kathie Lee vs. Live! with Kelly & Ryan
In 1997, Regis Philbin & Kathie Lee Gifford were on top of the world with their syndicated morning talk show Live! with Regis & Kathie Lee, but Kathie Lee was dealing with several scandals personally including the cheating scandal between her husband Frank and a flight attendant. Kathie Lee left Live! a few years later and was replaced by Kelly Ripa who has been queen bee there for a few years. Just recently it was announced that after several months of Kelly hosting the show solo, they’ve decided on a replacement for Michael Strahan (who replaced Regis when he left)…and it’s Ryan Seacrest. We give our thoughts on Ryan joining Kelly for Live!, and they aren’t all nice.
9) Brad Pitt Goes Full Frontal!
In 1997, Brad Pitt was on top of the world! He was the HOTTEST movie star at the time, and he had a beautiful girlfriend with whom he shared the same hairstyle, Gwyneth Paltrow. The couple went on vacation to the French West Islands where the paparazzi got shots of Brad IN THE BUFF (NSFW)! Women and gay men everywhere rejoiced because back in those days we didn’t see much celebrity peen. Now, Brad is still super hot and a huge movie star, but not one without his fair share of heartbreak. He recently gave an interview to GQ about his life after ex-wife Angelina Jolie.
8) Pop Pranksters the KLF
2K aka The Justified Ancients of MuMu aka The JAMS aka The Timelords aka The KLF released their single “Fuck the Millennium” in 1997 before BURNING 1 MILLION POUNDS then disappearing. And NOW, they are planning their 2017 comeback with this “VHS” video from YouTube released on New Year’s Day:
If you’ve never heard of the KLF, you MUST listen to their early-90s collaboration with Tammy Wynette “Justified & Ancient.”
7) Late Night TV Then & Now: Bill Maher & Jimmy Kimmel Makes Us Cry
In 1997, Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect had moved from Comedy Central to ABC late night. That was until he called the terrorists who crashed the airplanes into the twin towers “brave.” Then he lost sponsors and was eventually cancelled. NOW late night television is back in politics with Jimmy Kimmel‘s recent monologue about his son’s heart condition and health care. You can watch Bill Maher on Real Time with Bill Maher Fridays at 10PM on HBO, and watch Jimmy Kimmel on Jimmy Kimmel Live! weeknights at 11:35 on ABC.
6) The Mass Suicide of the Heaven’s Gate Cult
In 1997, a religious cult called Heaven’s Gate in San Diego believed that a spaceship was waiting to pick them up behind the Hale Bop comet, so they committed mass suicide over the course of a weekend. They all wore the same Nike shoes as they ate apple sauce laced with cyanide before climbing into bed with a hood over their heads to sleep forever. Today, they’re all still dead!
5) Expedition Robinson: TV’s First Survivor
Survivor – the show where contestants vote each other off of a deserted island or some other desolate location and have to live off the land – debuted in the US in 2000 and has been going strong ever since. We’re currently in season 34! Did you know that it all started in Sweden in 1997 with a show called Expedition Robinson?
4) Ellen Comes Out
From 1994 until 1998 Ellen Degeneres had a sitcom on ABC called Ellen, and she came out on an episode of the show called “The Puppy Episode” in 1997. Little did we know twenty years later she’d be the queen of talk shows!
3) Sheila Nevins: Queen of Documentaries Then & Now
Back in 1997, Sheila Nevins was given the keys to the HBO Documentary kingdom and began making BRILLIANT documentaries including a few with World of Wonder like Drop Dead Gorgeous (A Tragicomedy): The Power of HIV Positive Thinking and the recent Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures. NOW she’s the QUEEN of documentaries, and we’re helping to celebrate her just-released book You Don’t Look Your Age…and Other Fairy Tales out NOW! Get it on Amazon! May we suggest getting the audiobook?
2) Who Remembers the CableACE Awards?
Speaking of Drop Dead Gorgeous (A Tragicomedy): The Power of HIV Positive Thinking, World of Wonder won the VERY last award of the night at the VERY last ever CableACE Awards for the documentary! After 1997, the CableACE Awards ceased to exist. Can you believe that an awards show was ever cancelled?! We have award shows for award shows these days! In fact, this weekend is the MTV Movie & TV Awards on Sunday, May 7 at 8PM. Check out the trailer to Drop Dead Gorgeous.
1) Goodbye English Rose: Princess Diana’s Death
Do you remember where you were when you found out about the untimely death of the people’s princess, Princess Diana of Wales? We discuss where we were when we found out, what was going on then, and what a massive loss it was to lose our beloved Princess Di.
Listen in at 4:00PM EST and again at 4:00 PST (7 PM EST) on SiriusXM!
And be sure to give your ears the gift of THE WOW REPORT on Radio Andy SiriusXM EVERY Friday.
Don’t miss Andy Cohen’s Then & Now every Wednesday at 10PM on Bravo!
Do something this weekend that makes YOU go WOW!!!
