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Wednesday, November 07, 2007

EXCLUSIVE! MICHAEL LOHAN SHOW DRAWS 100,000+ VIEWERS ON YOUTUBE! Lohan backtracks; admits he's got a series; still sulks

In less than 48 hours on YouTube, the pitch tape for The Michael Lohan Reality Project has registered 101,866 viewers-- with the number growing in leaps and bounds every few hours as YouTube refreshes its viewer count. The overwhelming success of this real-life reality series is dampened only by Michael Lohan himself, who stunned many people this morning when he told E! Entertainment News that the video was "pirated from me and then spliced together with a title that made it look like some show I was putting together."

After producer Burt Kearns of Frozen Pictures set the record straight with the E! gossip reporter, Lohan came clean this evening:
...the elder Lohan is clarifying his remarks... after being called out by the clip's producer, who claims Lohan is having second thoughts because of scenes featuring Lindsay.

"It was shot as a documentary, documenting what I was doing for Teen Challenge (a youth-outreach ministry). It's not a reality show at all, that's the truth"...

"This is not a reality show like Dina's show. Not like The Simple Life. It's a documentary that follows Michael as he tries to rebuild his life, tries to rebuild other people through his ministry work and tries to rebuild his own family," Kearns said...

"Michael Lohan is a little embarrassed by it. He's very afraid of going against Lindsay. He's worked very hard to stay on the right path with her. And so, unfortunately, Michael isn't telling the truth."
"The shots of me talking about those terrible pictures of Lindsay, that was to show my honest reaction to what happened, what abusing drugs and alcohol can do to one person's life, and it was all for Teen Challenge," he (left, dressed for the reality shoot) says, adding that he's called his daughter to explain he was no longer pursuing the project.

"There is no shooting going on right now... And I promise, even if the show is picked up, I don't care, I'm not participating," he said.

Kearns also thinks the Lohans' troubled history is what's coloring Michael's recent comments.

We spoke exclusively to Kearns this evening:

TB: Michael's calling you a liar. Are you a liar? Liar?

Kearns: "I really like Michael. I feel for him. And I really like working with Michael. I think he's a really special person. Sadly, both our fathers are ill. He's been very supportive. Everything Michael is saying and doing shows why he is such a great subject for this documentary reality series."

TB: But he called you a liar! Liar!

Kearns: "We're cool. We're all like family here. A big Irish-Italian family. Every step closer to the truth that Michael takes is a great step forward."

TB: Yeah right. He says he's not working with you. Contract or not!

Kearns: (laughs ruefully) "No worries, mate. Today Michael admits it was a documentary project. Tomorrow he'll admit we're pitching it as a series. And hopefully next week, he'll be starring in it. "

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't relate to Michael, but I don't hate him either. He seems different than Dina which is a HUGE plus. The show, in its entirety, would be pretty entertaining. Insightful.

Anonymous said...

Don't be hatin' on my star! I'm an associate producer (read: investor) and a cast member of a heretofore "top-secret" entertainment project--a TV pilot, nascently referred to as "The Michael Lohan Reality Project", which apparently doesn't exist... (anymore). :-)

For the record, I love Michael Lohan. He's the real deal. In fact, I invested in his show, not knowing who Lindsay Lohan was. I know. I know. I've had my head buried in the sand for the last 10 years. I may be the only person currently in his life right now who knew nothing of his famous daughter upon meeting him.

I invested in Michael. I did so, because I believed in him. And I still do. Michael is doing what he feels God is leading him to do. I just pray that God wants him to stick with the show. People resonate with his internal and external struggles of the past, the present, and the future. Perhaps folks actually see a little bit of Michael Lohan in themselves. Some people hate him. Some love him. Some are undecided. Honestly, most people don't have enough unbiased information upon which to make a fair assessment.

But one thing is undeniable. Almost everybody knows him! The media are fascinated with him, in spite of themselves. One way or another, I believe Michael will always leverage that "gift" to do something good for people. Doing so in an UNPREDICTABLE way?... That will make great television, and correspondingly, good business.

Also for the record, I love Burt Kearns, the show's producer at Frozen Pictures. Burt is a man of integrity. In real life, there are miscommunications, misunderstandings, disagreements, arguments, fights, & life-long feuds. With respect to the now public wrangling over the MLRP, I'd say that we're probably somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. We're doing good things, and hopefully we will continue to do good things together as a team.

In the end, it will work out well for everybody, although there's absolutely no way right now to clearly define what success will look like. Thats' not a bad thing. In fact, that's actually THE WHOLE POINT! This IS reality, after all! Nobody can't script it. Nobody can control it! By overwhelming interest on the 'net, the public is casting a clear vote in favor of such a show. Love it. Hate it. Doesn't matter. People will watch it. A bold network out there will pickup the show, and they will be handsomely rewarded for so doing. Because despite the obvious issues surrounding the writer's strike, I know of no professional writer who can write the stuff life gives us naturally. Life is not written. It just happens!

That's my $0.02. By the way, can I accrue those two cents to my capital account and get a bigger piece of the project? Back-end points are fine. :-)

Sean Connors
Executive Producer, Actor, Model
Denver, CO | Santa Monica, CA

http://IMDb.SeanConnors.com

http://IMDb.SeanConnorsFilms.com