Even CEO Mindy Grossman, Along With Criss Angel, Is Live In Vegas For HSN’s 33rd Birthday

Criss Angel's HSN Magic Kit

We’ll give credit where credit is due. HSN is really wowing us, first with its “Eat, Pray, Love” event last weekend (more on that later) and this weekend with its live event from Vegas, baby.

We’re watching it now, and illusionist Criss Angel is doing his thing, performing and hawking a magic kit with Callie Northagen.

HSN has transported a host of its hosts — Colleen Lopez, Bill Green, Chris Scanlon, etc. — to Sin City, and its celebrity vendors, like Wolfgang Puck, Jennifer Flavin Stallone to do shows in front of a studio audience. There were 25 celebs doing presentations, and the vibe was fun.

HSN also set up booths in Vegas with its jewelry, apparel, etc. The home shopping network at about 8 p.m. went to a shot of Jean Queen Diane Gilman in her booth, where we saw HSN CEO Mindy Grossman, live and in the flesh.

Lopez gave a shout-out to Grossman as a woman of style (that should ensure a raise, Colleen).

We know that QVC often goes on location, to Italy and Arizona, for example. But HSN’s Vegas event, with sets it built special for the gala and interacting with a live audience, was really creative programming for a home shopping network.

HSN Host Bill Green Gets A Little Bored On Gem Day

HSN's Gem Day Today's Special

HSN is having its big Gem Day Wednesday, but host Bill Green was not very psyched for it.

We caught him this afternoon, and he was presenting some jewelry, but there was no vendor next to him to help chat up the merchandise.

Green got up and walked over to the models, saying, “I’m bored.” Well, we were bored, too, but we’re not a home shopping host who is supposed to sell, sell, sell.

Green caught himself, and said, “I should’t have said that.” But the “bored” remark was already out there, like the cow being out of the barn (is that the cliche?).

We’re sorry to say we’ve been pretty bored — like Green – with HSN’s Gem Day, and we love rocks.

By the way Bill, if you helped get us a full-time job, we wouldn’t be home in the afternoon watching you say you are bored.

HSN Why, Why Are You Selling Tacky ‘Faux’ Furs And Running Cheesy Holiday Promos?

This is definitely a chick discussion, but we love fake furs. Our closet has four fake fur coats, and that’s after donating three other ones last year to a coat drive and giving another one to our sister. Fake furs are really warm and fun.

So it’s with some dismay that we have to report that the “faux” fur apparel being sold on HSN Wednesday by designer Stefani Greenfield is not up to snuff. And to add insult to injury, the pieces are expensive.

Some fake furs really try to emulate real fur, and other fake furs are just fun and are not trying to look “real.”

We have an imitation mink coat that looks so real it draws dirty looks, we presume from animal lovers. And over the years we got dozens of compliments from friends and strangers on the obviously fake leopard coat that we gave to my little sis Karen last year.

The stuff in Greenfield’s Curations line is obviously not trying to look like real fur, but it looks bulky and cheap. But it’s not cheap.

Greenfield’s faux fur jacket is going for $200. A vest is $150. A headband goes for $30; a hat $40; and a weekend bag and belted-vest are both priced at $150.

We don’t care that the October issue of InStyle magazine is offering a discount on one of Greenfield’s vests.

And while we’re kvetching, HSN ought to be ashamed of the tacky, low-rent holiday promo spot it’s airing that features Bill Green, Colleen Lopez, Shivan Sarna and Lynn Murphy. They are seen clowning around, throwing Christmas gifts at each other. Is it supposed to be campy? Not working. We cringe every time we see it.

That spot gives home shopping channels a bad name. Its lack of sophistication perpetuates every stereotype there is about home shopping networks. Why bring in high-end jewelry designers like Dallas Prince, Carol Brodie and Me & Ro and then run a promo like this?

Whoever produced it should be shot, and not with a camera.