What's the true measure of a television show's success these days? Ratings? Perhaps the sales of its box-sets? Or could it in fact be a series that has celebrities queuing up to make a starry cameo appearance. The news last week that Sir Paul McCartney had respectfully submitted songs to appear on the smash-hit musical series Glee is surely the final confirmation that it's crossed over into popular consciousness.
The US crime drama CSI might be the most popular series of its sort in the world, but to truly hit the headlines, this month it had to announce a future appearance from the ubiquitous teenage popstrel Justin Bieber. Hot on the heels of this revelation came reports that the French first lady, Carla Bruni, had been offered a role in the show, after expressing her admiration for it.
Thankfully, Sir Paul is unlikely to be appearing in Glee in person, thumbs held aloft as the kids prance about the practice room to the Frog Chorus (although that would actually be worth watching). The show's creator, Ryan Murphy, received two CDs in the post from The Beatles legend and has promised to "do something with him" - which will probably take the form of a special themed episode. But Glee does have form in real-life celebrity cameos: Olivia Newton-John and the singer-songwriter Josh Groban both appeared as themselves in the first season. And Susan Boyle is to take on the role of a school dinner lady in the Glee Christmas special.
Newton-John's song with the gloriously mad cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) was genuinely amusing, but the acting was merely passable. Groban's is worse. In fact, the whole notion of a celebrity cameo is fraught with danger, particularly when that celebrity plays him or herself. When real-life characters appear in straightforward high schools - as in Glee - the spell of this hitherto carefully created world is, all too easily, broken. Suddenly it's obvious that we're just watching a television series.
Still, the more successful shows can just about get away with it - just as long as the cameos are infrequent. So where Glee runs the risk of becoming a series that's more about the guest stars than the story, the cameos on one of the most successful and longest-running sitcoms, Friends, were interesting simply because they were reigned in to a few a season. Brad Pitt's appearance in 2001 as Will Colbert, a schoolfriend of Ross, Monica and Rachel's, won him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in A Comedy Series. Friends also gave walk-on roles to Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis and George Clooney - all of whom entered into the spirit of it. It helped that they're actors, of course.
Cameos in these kinds of shows can work because they're inherently comic turns in, well, a comedy. But when a non-actor is parachuted into a gritty crime drama - soon to be the fate of Bieber in CSI - it's often nothing more than a ratings-grabber, human product placement. At least the country popstar Taylor Swift, who starred in CSI last year, had acted before - though MTV's review of her performance ("enthusiastic") was faint praise.
But it wasn't downright awful. One of the most hilariously bad cameos of all time is Boy George's appearance on, believe it or not, The A-Team in 1986. Completely shoehorned into a bizarre storyline about a scam involving "Cowboy George" and the obligatory armed bank robbers, any notion of the suspension of disbelief (often required when Mr T and pals were on our screens) was annihilated by acting from the so-bad-it's-good school.
The worst cameos (and by that rationale the most infamous) are always the ones that have the audience shaking their heads and asking "what is he doing there?" There is no logical reason why Chris Lowe from the British pop band The Pet Shop Boys should be driving up Ramsay Street to ask the characters of Neighbours the whereabouts of the nearest recording studio. But he did - incredibly badly. Staying in Australia, in Home and Away, the sight of Michael Palin creeping along Summer Bay's beach dressed as a surf dude who was scared of sharks had to be seen to believed.
And yet when Paris Hilton appeared on the hit US series Supernatural, she was actually rather good - because she didn't mind laughing at herself. In fact, the show's creators actually managed to use Hilton to make a social comment on the all-pervading influence of celebrity - before she had her head cut off.
Supernatural's writers were clearly influenced by the show which has used celebrities better than any other series on television: The Simpsons. It's featured Mel Gibson and REM, the stars of Cheers and Tony Blair. Nearly every time, the star in question is gently made fun of - but because it's an animation it doesn't feel so forced.
Of course, Sir Paul has appeared on The Simpsons too - proving that two thumbs up from Macca is the greatest compliment of all.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
UAE SQUAD FOR ASIAN JIU-JITSU CHAMPIONSHIP
Men’s squad: Faisal Al Ketbi, Omar Al Fadhli, Zayed Al Kathiri, Thiab Al Nuaimi, Khaled Al Shehhi, Mohamed Ali Al Suwaidi, Farraj Khaled Al Awlaqi, Muhammad Al Ameri, Mahdi Al Awlaqi, Saeed Al Qubaisi, Abdullah Al Qubaisi and Hazaa Farhan
Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development