Tag Archive for 'assistants on TV'

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rachel zoe fires assistant

Published on November 6, 2009 in Celebrity Assistant Soapbox and Video. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Taylor, the peroxide-haired “senior assistant” who seemed to hate her boss Rachel Zoe, has been fired. There was no reason offered by either Rachel or Taylor (who Ashley likes to refer to as “the awesomely bitchy one”). Along with Rachel and fellow assistant Brad, Taylor was one of the stars of The Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo, which just finished airing its second season. Today, Taylor emailed all her contacts the following note:

After four amazing years at Rachel Zoe Corporation, I’m saddened and exhilarated at the same time to announce my departure. After much thought and consideration, I have decided to take the challenging leap to go off and style on my own.

After the jump, let’s revisit some of Taylor’s finest (and most disgruntled) moments.

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lloyd gets a last name

Published on September 21, 2009 in Fictional Assistants and Former Assistants Done Good. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

I have to admit, I can’t really stand Entourage. I view it as Sex and the City for guys and am totally sick of listening to male friends of mine have inane conversations where they argue about who is the Vince in their circle and who is the Eric. However, I get sucked into watching it mostly for one character, the ever-beleaguered assistant, Lloyd (Rex Lee), and his banter with his evil boss, Ari (Jeremy Piven).

This season, Lloyd got tired of being Ari’s bitch and decided to strike out on his own as a talent agent. Ari, who a) thought Lloyd was the best assistant he ever had, and b) hates to be challenged/threatened in any way, obviously didn’t handle it well. Lloyd went after Johnny Drama, movie star Vince’s less cool brother, as his first client. Ari responded by also trying to woo Drama, even though he’d never expressed interest in Drama or his work before. Luckily for Lloyd, Drama realized that Lloyd actually cared about him as a client and a person, while Ari just wanted to stick it to Lloyd by stealing his client.

So, a mini triumph for Lloyd, but knowing this show it’s obvious Ari is going to try and sabotage Lloyd and make his life miserable. I look forward to seeing how the “Gaysian” does out on his own. In the meantime, though, an incredibly important thing happened – single-monikered Lloyd finally got a last name. (It’s Lee, the same as his portrayer’s.) This is sort of like when your email goes from being assistant@company.com to being yourname@company.com. It may seem like a small change, but it’s actually a huge leap for your self-esteem. Team Lloyd Lee!

lloyd’s night on the town

Published on September 14, 2009 in Fictional Assistants. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

This weekend, the New York Times did its weekly “A Night Out With…” feature about Rex Lee, best known as Lloyd the long-suffering assistant on Entourage. The Times followed Lee and several friends as they went to the hugely popular restaurant Koi in Los Angeles. Some choice selections:

Seated at the head of a table decorated with an orchid and a bottle of low-sodium soy sauce, Mr. Lee played host to six friends, most of whom he worked with when he was an assistant to a commercial casting director. After dinner, everyone would walk to Mr. Lee’s nearby condominium to watch the latest prerecorded episode of “Project Runway.”

After four years of playing Lloyd on “Entourage,” the frazzled, gay Chinese-American assistant who suffers the homophobic and racist insults spit out by his manic boss, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven), you might think Mr. Lee would be tired of melodrama. But that’s exactly what draws him to “Project Runway.”

What a cutie. Team Lloyd!

former assistant done good: betty suarez

Published on August 5, 2009 in Fictional Assistants and Former Assistants Done Good. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Although Ugly Betty’s new season hasn’t started airing yet, it’s not too soon to congratulate the show’s titular heroine on her recent promotion from assistant to features editor at Mode magazine. STA has been following her journey from the start, and it’s going to be interesting to see how the show changes now that Betty is in a position to have an assistant instead of be one. (As previously reported, former Sopranos star Jamie-Lynn Sigler will join the cast as Betty’s replacement working for Daniel.)

And what goes along with Betty’s promotion? A long-awaited makeover, of course. Sources report that focus groups were shown pictures of actress America Ferrera in different outfits, including a Chanel power suit and a black cocktail dress, and asked to say which one they liked the best. I guess it’s good that Betty won’t be so ugly anymore, but I really hope she doesn’t lose her spunk and kind heart. You hear that, show? Don’t let her get promoted to be the boss from hell. Our girl knows better than that.

if sta met ‘mad men’

Published on July 26, 2009 in Fictional Assistants. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

I adore Mad Men – not just the show, but the style and the actors. (Who doesn’t wish they looked like Joan?) So I love the website Mad Men Yourself, where you can create a digital version of yourself who can interact with the Sterling Cooper world. Here’s my avatar as she presents a badass pitch in a client meeting and balances a cup of tea:

kendra hires, then fires assistant

Published on July 22, 2009 in Celebrity Assistant Soapbox. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Kendra was always my favorite “Girl Next Door,” despite her braying laugh, because she seemed to be the only one not playing a weird role or speaking forced dialogue for the cameras. Now, Kendra has her own spinoff that details her marriage to football player Hank Baskett and her impending motherhood. So what happens when you become big enough to get your own self-titled reality show? You get an assistant, of course.

Rather than go through the process of interviewing people, Kendra hired her brother’s girlfriend Maranie to be her PA. However, while Kendra liked Maranie’s good attitude and organizational skills, she didn’t really know how to be an assistant. Kendra, as far as I can tell, didn’t put a lot of effort into training Maranie, although she did ask for very specific things, so Maranie at least had something to go on. However, the relationship didn’t last very long – Maranie made it about three episodes before Kendra fired her for not helping out enough when Kendra prepared a big dinner for some of Hank’s teammates and their spouses.

It seems like Maranie is still dating Kendra’s brother, though – perhaps they could have called Bethany Hamilton and asked for her advice about keeping assistants in the family?

‘ugly betty’ gets a new assistant

Published on July 22, 2009 in Fictional Assistants. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Last season, Ugly Betty ended with our longsuffering assistant heroine Betty Suarez being promoted to Features Editor at Mode magazine, thus qualifying her as a Former Assistant Done Good.

However, that left a spot open for a new assistant. Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler, best known as Meadow from The Sopranos, will join the show next season as Daniel Meade’s new assistant. For now, the role is recurring, but there’s definitely room for growth. Let’s just hope Jamie-Lynn fares better on the show than Lindsay Lohan did (i.e. doesn’t get fired from the show before her storyline is over).

’southern belle’ hadley quits PA job

Published on July 20, 2009 in Celebrity Assistant Soapbox. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The first season of SoapNet’s Southern Belles: Louisville is over as quickly as it started, but the few episodes managed to pack in plenty of drama. The show’s resident personal assistant, Hadley (who worked for an unnamed film producer) made two big life changes – she got together with her longtime best friend Russ, who recently admitted his crush on her, and she realized that her assistant job was going nowhere and she wanted to quit.

In the premiere, Hadley said that she was “taking a break” from a PhD program and was doing the assisting job while she figured out her next move. Does this mean she’s going to head back to academia, or will she end up doing something entirely different? My guess is that if the series does well enough to get a second season, she’ll be “working” by filming the show.

Unless spoiled rich girl Shea gets her own assistant next season, I don’t know what excuse I have to watch the show now that Hadley has quit her job. You know, because I only watch TV shows and movies that have assistant characters in them, obviously.

Update: My friend B., the blogger behind STFU Parents, contacted STA and wanted to add the following new information to this post:

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lindsay lohan’s workplace movie airs

Published on July 16, 2009 in Fictional Assistants and Video. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Labor Pains, the straight-to-TV movie that was once heralded as Lindsay Lohan’s big comeback, will be airing on ABC Family, the same network responsible for Secret Life of the American Teenager. I think they’re trying to give Lifetime a run for their “young pregnant chicks” entertainment stronghold.

In the movie, LiLo plays a beleaguered assistant whose boss (Chris Parnell) hates her and wants to fire her, when suddenly she comes up with the ‘brilliant’ idea to fake a pregnancy in order to keep her job. (Hmmm…who else gets knocked up to ensure job security?) The movie also features ex-assistant Cheryl Hines as a concerned coworker.

margaret cho, super assistant

Published on July 13, 2009 in Fictional Assistants and Video. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The new Lifetime show Drop Dead Diva, which stars actress Brooke Elliott as Jane, “a shallow model-in-training who dies in an accident only to find her soul resurfacing in the body of a brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney,” premiered last night. Though I didn’t get to watch it yet, there’s one huge plus in the show’s column already: the hilarious and provocative Margaret Cho, who plays Jane’s assistant Teri. Here’s a clip of Margaret talking about her role and what she did to prepare for the part: