Kings of The Episode

KOTU are finally Kings of The Universe. Clint Black and his team, led by Brian McKnight, handily won the challenge on last night’s Celebrity Apprentice. To create excitement and evoke emotion over a new video phone, KOTU decided to put on a concert, and film a promotional piece at West Point with a soldier calling home. Brian felt a Brian McKnight concert would go over in New York better than a Clint Black concert; therefore, Clint was largely left out of the creative processes. Instead, Clint played the role of dutiful employee fulfilling tasks as directed by the project manager. Meanwhile, Jesse James continues to play his game with quiet wit. Much like Trace Adkins last season, Jesse doesn’t get caught up in the forefront of drama, yet he willingly participates and is proving to be the brains behind a lot of the great ideas. This week Jesse was very proud of his connections to West Point, and the piece filmed with the soldiers looked great in the presentation, but his efforts went unnoticed beneath the spectacle of Brian’s concert. Bad boy Dennis Rodman continued to do his own thing this week when he sat out early task negotiations, and then he lashed out unprovoked at Clint and seemingly quit at the beginning of the task. The remaining four men carried on without Dennis, and when he reappeared later, Brian decided that they were doing just fine without him and resisted Dennis' efforts to participate. The men won anyway; Clint and Dennis made up in the end. The Athena team lost their first task due to in part to disorganization, but mainly because their presentation just wasn't as good. Despite wisely utilizing Joan Rivers as the comedic hostess, their presentation of half-live, half-filmed vignettes failed to impress. While facing The Donald in the boardroom, all of the teamwork in the first few episodes washed away. The claws came out and the women took each other to task. Model Claudia Jordan was the first woman fired.

Taylor Swift has been named an Agent of Change by Rolling Stone. The magazine composed a list of the top 100 people they feel are “fighting everyday to show us what is possible.” Taylor is number 100. Rolling Stone cites Taylor for being "the first teen pop star who seems to get what it means to be a teenager" and for managing to "keep her head on straight -- no drinking, no smoking, no limousine peekaboo -- without seeming like a prude." She is also credited for bringing a whole new audience to country music, alluring teen girls who identify with her wholesome image. That wholesome image will soon be headlining the Fearless Tour. Today Taylor will see for the first time the set she designed in sketches several years ago. And if that isn’t enough, she is auctioning off an autographed guitar to help save homeless dogs and cats that roam the streets and beaches of Puerto Rico and other islands in the Caribbean. Money raised from the auction provides medical care, food and spay-and-neuter services. To bid, visit CharityBuzz-dot-com.

News From Around The Country
Toby Keith will be honored on March 26 by the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation. Toby will be given the Johnny “Mike” Spann Memorial Semper Fidelis Award, named after the first soldier who died in the War On Terror. On March 28th, Reba McEntire will host Celebrity Fight Night XV, a tribute to Muhammad Ali. The gala event raises money for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. A message on the Oprah Winfrey Show website is asking for huge fans of country music to sign up to be part of the audience for an upcoming country music themed episode. The message mentions Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, Kenny Chesney, and Darius Rucker as guests. Two Carrie Underwood singles have been certified digital Gold. "Last Name" and "Just A Dream" have each sold in excess of 500-thousand downloads. And finally, Neal McCoy, Michael Martin Murphey, and Linda Davis will be inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame on August 15th.