Conflicted about Carradine coverage

On Friday's CBS Early Show, Julie Chen was pumping Michael Madsen for details about David Carradine's mental state. It was very strange to see Michael Madsen being hammered by a pregnant Julie Chen, since Madsen is in mourning, not to mention his rep of not being too tender with women. But as expected, very little was mentioned about the auto erotic asphyxiation - 'accident' was bandied around a lot.

The syndicated entertainment shows like Entertainment Tonight and the E! network, on the other hand, has put that potential cause of death right in the store window. I appreciate the honesty, but there is something unseemly about placing it on the crawl, E! network. And to say the least, Entertainment Tonight playing up that angle doesn't feel like an act of integrity either. After all, Entertainment Tonight has been on a slide since they practically propped up Anna Nicole Smith in front of their cameras from the time of her son's death to her own. Then, there was the incessant coverage of Stern and Birkhead's paternity battle. Then the coverage of Heath Ledger's death and their aborted attempt to air an alleged Ledger drug tape. Then the false reporting of the Jolie-Pitts' twins birth and their reticence to retract the story once evidence came out that the story was false.

For me, how David Carradine went out doesn't shade his career accomplishments; but if the entertainment shows continue to make a meal of this, or any other celebrity scandal for that matter, it could taint other people's views. And seeing Dr. Drew Pinsky on Larry King, espousing his 'great friendship' with Carradine, is most certainly, not a good sign. Dr. Drew is a famewhore in bifocals, not the type who would run around with Carradine and Madsen; and yet, I saw no one questioning his so-called knowledge of Carradine. And lucky us... Dr. Drew was also parked on Larry King's panel for more Gosselin talk. All we need now is Dr. Phil and Dr. Travis from The Doctors. Dr. Travis may be handsome, but he lack tact and has no bedside manner whatsoever and could compound the callousness of the incessant TV doctors' onslaught.

Hopefully, the FBI will find out the real cause of Carradine's death, as much for the family's closure as for the halt to the whoredom.