• by John Gaffney , November 21, 2002

OPRs For Week Of Nov. 18

Now Here’s A Magazine With A Tremendous Grasp Of The Obvious: Money magazine's 16th annual list of The Ten Best Places To Live In America, released today, identifies ten metropolitan areas where Americans are moving and real estate has been booming. This year's Ten Best Places (in no particular order) are: Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco's Bay Area, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Austin, Chicago, Charlotte, and New York.

And Here’s A Network That Needs To Understand The Phrase “Working Title”: Hotties of the world, unite: ABC is looking to crown a king or queen of comeliness via a new reality series bluntly titled "Are You Hot?" The network will launch a nationwide "American Idol"-like search for the sexiest person in America, with a group of tart-tongued judges passing Simon Cowell-esque judgments on folks who think they're all that and a bag of Baked Lays.

Spam Queen Would Be On The Nice Side: Florida resident Laura Betterly and the company she runs from her home, Data Resource Consulting Inc., sends out as many as 60 million such messages a month. "I'm just trying to make a living like everyone else," says Ms. Betterly. Her e-mail marketing operation, she says, allows her to raise her children, Chris, 10, and Craig, 11, and to spend quality time with them. "You can call me spam queen, I don't really care. As long as I'm not breaking any laws, you don't have to love me or like what I do for a living."

Anybody Else See Music Or Comedy?: Addressing the fracas over Victoria’s Secret’s Fashion Show. “This is not pornography," CBS spokesman Chris Ender said. "It's a one-hour fashion show mixed with musical performances and comedy segments.”

Reader Desert Island Discs Of The Week: From Ken A. Nicholas Newspapers First/LA:

Everything but the Girl/Amplified Heart

Pat Metheny/Letter from Home

Zero 7/Simple Things

Genesis/Trick of the Tail

Rick Derringer/Live in Cleveland

Alt: Telemann/Water Musik