Bryan Cranston at the FOX Party

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[aimage=left]http://www.cybersplat.co.uk/cms/Malcolm in the Middle2148.gif[/aimage]By 8:30 p.m., most of the talent had done their due diligence and left for hipper pastures. Except for BRYAN CRANSTON, the father in "MALCOLM in the Middle," who was mingling with the guests outside the tent, near the portable toilets. Mr. Cranston, almost unnoticeable with a full beard and long hair, said he was having a good time, a great time. We talked about hair, about reality shows, about "American Idol," and finally, about Ms. Abdul, whom we had been bringing up all night.

"What's the scandal?" he asked. "Is there a scandal? I'm so bad at gossip. I don't know who's sleeping with who. I know. It's really sad. I don't know who's sleeping with anybody."


It would be difficult to imagine a more perfect avatar of our particular cultural moment than the man we saw last Thursday at the Fox upfront party who was enthusiastically shaking a Polaroid. He had just had his picture taken next to a tall man in a paisley shirt and cream-colored suit, who was being excitedly hounded by other party guests.
Who's that in the picture, we asked the Polaroid shaker.

"I have no idea," he said.

The Fox upfront party represented, in many ways, the end of the dance for the upfront market last week, the last chance any of the broadcast networks had to throw their talent, chum-style, at the advertising executives who will be deciding where to buy advertising time. And so in the Central Park Boathouse and in one of two tents were people in suits who buy commercial time on the networks. In the other tent, the people in suits were having their pictures taken next to the actors, like fishermen posing next to giant tuna.

Once the night was over, the giddy, star-struck people in suits would get to work deciding, obliquely at least, whether these tuna they had taken pictures with would keep their day jobs.

The man in the paisley shirt, we later discovered, was BRADLEY COOPER of "Alias" and now "Kitchen Confidential," which begins in the fall. Mr. Cooper, along with ADAM GOLDBERG, PAMELA ANDERSON, CHRISTOPHER LLOYD, MARISSA JARET WINOKUR, PETER GALLAGHER and MELINDA CLARKE, was posing while executives and junior officers lined up along velvet ropes, like very powerful children who own the North Pole waiting to see SANTA CLAUS.

DARREN STAR, a producer of "Kitchen Confidential" and the creator of "Sex and the City," was one of the lucky creative types who did not have to pose. After talking with him for a few minutes about kitchens, confidentially, we asked, apropos of Fox, what he thought about claims that PAULA ABDUL slept with a contestant (which she has denied).

"My feeling is: good for her," Mr. Star said. "I hope she's having sex with all of them. Let her enjoy herself. She's single. What's she supposed to do?"

We watched more people in suits posing with cast members from "The Gate," a new detective drama starring MARGUERITE MOREAU and JOHNNY MESSNER. Again, no one we asked, including those whom were shaking their Polaroids, had any idea who they had just taken their pictures with. We watched WILMER VALDERRAMA and DANNY MASTERSON lounging on a couch, surrounded by young women.

MICHAEL RAPAPORT, who will be in a comedy called "The War at Home" but was recognized by the crowd for his movie work, began telling us about his show before we were interrupted by A FOX PUBLICIST.

"I know you probably want to get away from the advertisers," she said, "but can you do a quick photograph?"

His serious and slightly bored expression turned into sunshine and butterflies for the buyers. Then it was back to the interview. What's his take on the scene?

"This process isn't really hard for what you have to do. It's more the standing around that's hard.

"My feet hurt," he said.

<NYT_AUTHOR_ID>With Paula Schwartz and Fiona Byrne
 
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You do have a point there. All I got out of this was that Abdul may be sleeping around and that a publicist's feet hurt.
 
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