More Insider In The Future - Clay Causes 0.4% Ratings Jump

Clay's recent stint with infotainment show The Insider is not coming to an end, notes this article from the Raleigh News & Observer.

New name in TV talk: Clay
Clay Aiken has done three stints as a celebrity interviewer on 'The Insider.' *
By DANNY HOOLEY AND JOYCE CLARK HICKS, Staff Writers

Singer Clay Aiken seems to be training for a new career lately -- as a TV interviewer.

In the style of Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath, now a co-host for "Extra," Aiken is a semiregular celebrity correspondent for "The Insider."

Since Aiken's Sept. 18 debut as red-carpet interviewer for the Emmy edition of Pat O'Brien's syndicated celebrity show, he has appeared on the show twice more, covering the "Dancing With the Stars" dance-off and visiting the set of "Reba."

Clay Smith, supervising producer of "The Insider" for Paramount Pictures, says that, so far, Aiken is hired on a story-by-story basis, and that nothing is planned for him in the near future. That may change, though.

Smith says Paramount and Aiken's camp may meet this week to discuss extending the relationship.

"I think that Clay aspires to many things beyond his recording career, and I think he's just investigating possibilities right now," he says. "He is such a natural, and so good at what he's done here at the show. Viewer reaction has been amazing."

That reaction, he says, has come in e-mail, letters, phone calls and ratings, which he says are up four-tenths of a percent from when the show premiered in September 2004.

"When you're up almost half a point in this competitive market, I think you have to attribute a lot of that increase to Clay's appearance on the show," Smith says.

Aiken's stint with "The Insider" was sparked by a friendship between Smith and Roger Widynowski, Aiken's publicist at RCA Records. Smith says that one day, when Aiken's name came up in conversation, Widynowski mentioned that if any openings for a celebrity correspondent occurred, Aiken was game to do it, "whatever that may lead into."

As the Emmys approached, Smith thought of Aiken.

"He [Aiken] was ecstatic, because he is apparently a television junkie. He knows every single thing about TV," Smith says. "He loves it. The Emmys are his favorite awards show, and he just knew the nominees forward and backwards."

"The Insider" airs weeknights at 7:30 on WRAL.

Aiken fans can get an up-close and personal look at the singer when he plays the RBC Center in Raleigh on Dec. 22.

Get funky

If you missed legendary Kinston-born horn man Maceo Parker (James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic) and his band assuming house band duties at NBC's "Last Call with Carson Daly" this week, you still have two more chances, at 1:30 a.m. Friday (that's tonight if you're still up) and Saturday on NBC-17. The band includes Parker's son Corey Parker, whose Corey Parker Band is scheduled to play Oct. 15 at Kings Barcade in downtown Raleigh.

Truth becomes fiction?

The lady lies dead at the bottom of the stairs as a cop at the scene makes a grim Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven" joke.

Anyone who has seen the commercial CBS is running for tonight's "CSI" episode may notice a similarity to the Michael Peterson murder case in Durham (Peterson, a novelist, was convicted in the bludgeoning death of his wife in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison).

Read this CBS synopsis for the episode titled "Bite Me": "The overwhelming amount of blood evidence in the case leads Grissom and his team to discover several revealing secrets within this 'typical' American marriage -- secrets of adultery, blackmail and a biting fetish that may have ultimately contributed to the housewife's death."

Biting fetish? That one doesn't ring a bell, but a CBS spokesman confirmed Tuesday that elements of the Peterson case were used for the show. See for yourself tonight at 9 on WRAL.

Name change

Here's a reminder for TV viewers: PAX TV is no more. The network is now simply known as "i."

Pax, a family-oriented network, announced the name change this summer as part of the network's strategy to run more original programming, movies, sports and specials to widen its audience.

The name change soon will be reflected in Channels, our weekly TV guide, and the daily prime time grids in Life, etc., and Home & Garden. Keep your eye out for the i network in our listings beginning Oct. 16.