HSN’s Joy Mangano Breaks Record With Orders For 180,000 Of Her Home Fragrance Product — Two Weeks Ago

Mangano's Forever Fragrant

Joy Mangano, HSN’s so-called “Mother of Invention,” is doing well with products beyond her Huggable Hangers.

Maybe they’re taking a cue from QVC PR, but HSN waited two weeks to finally put out a press release on inventor-entrepreneur Mangano making HSN history Jan. 31 by selling 180,000 units of her home fragrance product, Forever Fragrant, in one day.

She surpassed her previously held record, for Huggable Hangers, by more than 50 percent.

Here is Mangano’s canned quote.

“I am thrilled by the overwhelmingly positive response to Forever Fragrant. I believe in the product, but didn’t know just how many people would be as excited about it as I am. HSN, once again, has been the perfect platform to allow me to enter the homes of 93 million Americans and share with them such a remarkable new household item.”

Forever Fragrant are fragrance-releasing sticks and discs that last up to two years.

Mangano introduced six new scents to the collection during her January appearance: Blackberry Grape (deep purple); Coconut Colada (golden yellow); Country Home (red); Couture Powder (pink); Eucalyptus Desert (dark green); and Lavender Fields (lavender). Fresh Linen (white) and Vanilla Amber (amber), two of the original best-selling scents, were also reintroduced.

Yummy.

Mangano’s claim to fame is her Huggable Hangers. Laugh if you will, but our closet is full of them. They really do free up a lot of space in your wardrobe. There’s a reason more than 260 million of them have been sold.

HSN owns Mangano’s company, Ingenious Designs LLC, making of the Huggable Hangers, My Little Steamer. IDL is now also
managing and designing product for the guitarist Esteban, Iman, Serena Williams, Paula Abdul and chef/restaurateur Todd English.

“Joy epitomizes the creative, entrepreneurial spirit that thrives here at HSN and we couldn’t be happier about her latest accomplishment, especially as it coincides with her 10th anniversary,” said Lynne Ronon, HSN’s EVP of merchandising. “Her ability to take practical home solutions to the next level is unmatched. She has an innate talent for creating products that people need and want to have in their homes.”

Former ‘American Idol’ Judge Paula Abdul Gets Teary Over Fan Call On HSN

“American Idol” alum Paula Abdul got choked up and teary Sunday night during her appearance on HSN to sell her “Forever Your Girl” jewelry line.

The petite singer’s fans were calling in to her in force, offering testimonials about her star-themed jewelry. But many of the women went on to laud Abdul for being such as inspiration to them.

We heard at least a half dozen women tell Abdul “I love you.” Who knew she had such rabid fans.

The caller that choked up Abdul was Melissa, who was buying the singer’s jewelry to save for her 2-year-old granddaughter. Melissa said she used to tune in to “American Idol” to see what jewelry Abdul was wearing from her HSN line.

“I won’t watch ‘Idol’ anymore without you,” Melissa said during her call. “Paula, you and eveything you do highlights our life. We can hear your voice and you put a smile on our face because you’re always so happy and wonderful.”

HSN host Callie Northagen said that the call choked her up, and she reached over to Abdul, who looked emotional as well. The camera then stayed on Northhagen, and there was a break for a promo.

When the show resumed, Abdul said, “During the break, I was in tears.” She had to fix up her eye makeup.

Here’s the video of Abdul and Melissa’s call.

‘Idol’ Paula Abdul Is Back On HSN, But What’s Up With Actress And Tabloid Star Tori Spelling?

Singer and “Amercian Idol” alum Paula Abdul is back on HSN this weekend after her visit in October was abruptly canceled, but what’s happening with Tori Spelling?

Spelling is apparently not listed for any appearances in December on the home shopping network, where her fashion jewelry collection is sold.

Both Abdul and Spelling were scheduled to appear on HSN the same weekend in mid-October, but their appearances were both scotched. HSN viewers who called customer service to find out what happened to the two stars weren’t given an explanation of the cancellations.

Now, two months later, Abdul is finally back on HSN this weekend with her “Forever Your Girl” jewelry line. But there’s no word on when Spelling will return.

At the time Spelling was absent, the tabloids were having a field day reporting that she was under 100 pounds and had been hospitalized.

The blonde, who is very gracious and down-to-earth on the air, has a reality show with her husband Dean McDermott on Oxygen, “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood.”

Paula Abdul Is Selling The ‘Star’ Bracelet She Wore On ‘American Idol’ On HSN, Says She Gifted A ‘Variety’ Exec With Some Of Her Jewelry

After an unexplained cancellation of a visit this fall, former “American Idol” judge and singer Paula Abdul was on HSN Saturday to celebrate the first anniversary of her jewelry line, Forever Your Girl.

And she told a juicy tidbit about an exec at Variety, the sister publication of the trade magazine where we used to work.

Abdul was showing off a tricolor knot ring and matching bracelet that have pave stones. Abdul said that she recently attended an event honoring famed director Steven Spielberg, and she wore both those tricolor pieces. Abdul was sitting “next to the woman who runs Variety,” and the woman started raving about the jewelry, according to the singer.

Abdul took the ring and bracelet off and gave them to the unnamed Variety honcho. “She was just so happy,” Abdul said.

“We haven’t seen Paula since July,” HSN host Marlo Smith told viewers. She failed to mention that Abdul had been on HSN’s program schedule in October, but that appearance was canceled without explanation.

Abdul’s “Reach for the Stars” pave bracelet and ring, which she wore during “American Idol” telecasts, were both on clearance for $10 each.

Abdul says she gets stopped in the street when she wears that jewelry. “Everyone says, ‘That’s the ‘American Idol’ bracelet,'” Abdul said.

The singer also said she wore several of her various bracelets stacked at the recent American Music Awards.

We were eyeing Abdul’s nail polish, which was gold with sparkles. It was a little over the top, which Abdul later admitted on-air.

“Forgive my nail polish, I think it’s a little much,” Abdul told viewers, adding later on, “My nails are ridiculous.”

Girlfriend, we love you for being honest.

Paula Abdul Set To Return To HSN Dec. 12 and 13 After October Cancellation, No Word About When No-Show Tori Spelling Will Be Back

Paula Abdul HSN ring

Two months after her last appearance on HSN was cancelled without explanation, former “American Idol” host Paula Abdul is returning.

Abdul is scheduled to appear on HSN Dec. 12 and 13 to sell her Forever Your Girl line of fashion jewelry, which is marking its first anniversary.

Back in October, Columbus Day weekend, the singer was listed in HSN’s online and print program guides to do jewelry shows for two days. But she never appeared.

Around that same time, actress Tori Spelling was also scheduled to be on HSN for her costume jewelry line, and those shows were also pulled without explanation. Curious and disappointed viewers were speculating that the no-show was due to Spellings ill health or her rumored marital woes.

So far we did not see Spelling listed for any return to HSN.

Spelling and her husband Dean McDermott are the star’s of Oxygen’s reality show, ‘Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood.”

QVC, HSN and ShopNBC Should Give Thanks For Home Shopping’s Sea Change: They’ve Attracted Luxury Brands Like Gucci, Badgley Mischka And Stephen Dweck

QVC CEO Mike George

We thought we were seeing things a few days ago when we checked ShopNBC’s Web site and saw that it was selling dozens of Gucci watches. What happened, did they fall off a truck? Why was Gucci, a premier luxury brand, being sold on a home shopping network?

Then back in October, we couldn’t believe it when a sharp-eyed poster on QVC’s jewelry forum said that upscale jewelry designer Stephen Dweck, whose chunky gemstone masterpieces are featured in Neiman Marcus, was on the No. 1 home shopping network’s schedule. THE Stephen Dweck?

We checked QVC’s program guide ourselves, and there it was: Dweck was doing a lower-priced jewelry line for QVC called Dweck’s Diamonds. His Neiman Marcus pieces didn’t even have diamonds. The high-end stuff is made with semi-precious stones.

Also in October, we were checking the press releases on HSN’s Web site when we saw the network had struck a deal with one of the most famous and elite fashion houses: Badgley Mischka, designers of bejeweled gowns for the red carpet and celebrities.

We’ve written bits and pieces of this during the past two months, but we thought we’d tie it all up in a tidy package for Thanksgiving: There has been a sea change in the home shopping world, prompted by the disastrous economy and the crash of the luxury market.

Yes, home shopping networks have seen their sales hurt by the economy, like everyone else. But they claim they are still managing to steal market share from brick-and-mortar retailers. In fact, QVC is making a full-frontal assault on them this Black Friday, with 28 hours of special products and programming stunts starting Thanksgiving night.

The consumer press will continue to mention “cubic zirconia” in every story it writes about QVC or HSN, oblivious to the fact that some of the most esteemed names in fashion, jewelry and cosmetics — brands you find in Saks, Bloomingdale’s and Neiman Marcus — are plying their wares on the aforementioned home shopping channels.

ShopNBC CEO Keith Stewart

Male journalists are blind to this. You still have the nerds at Gawker, a snide Web Site for the navel-gazing media, chiding HSN for selling “useless crap.”

If you have ever seen how male journalists dress or their fashion and style sensibilities, you will realize that you can’t expect them to know names like Badgley Mischka, Judith Ripka, Robert Lee Morris, our fellow Montclair, N.J., resident Bobbi Brown, Yves Saint Laurent, Smashbox, Lancome and Dweck. And these brands and artists don’t represent “useless crap.”

Luxury-good makers are hurting, and they need to make up their loss in sales. So they are turning to outlets like QVC, as CEO Mike George explained at a recent Liberty Media conference, as outlets to distribute new lower-priced lines to the masses. George cited fashion designer Vivienne Tam’s QVC alliance at the meeting held in Manhattan by his parent company, Liberty.

“This complete implosion of luxury retailing in America has caused all these folks to rethink their business model,” George said.

And that means partnering with QVC, HSN or ShopNBC.

As we said, it will take the consumer press years to figure out that home shopping channels are distribution powerhouses that have undergone a transformation, in part because of the infllux of talent like a Morris, who does couture jewelry for designers like Donna Karan and RLM Studio sterling silver jewelry for QVC.

The Big Three — QVC, HSN and ShopNBC — are aggressively trying to broaden their audience and potential customer base, those who don’t normally watch any of these three networks. That means the three are actually “programming” the channels, doing “shows” that have entertainment value, not just product shilling, so they will attract non-QVC or non-HSN watchers.

We remember once interviewing a QVC exec years ago and asking what the network’s ratings were. He said ratings were irrelevant: QVC was only concerned about how many products were sold in an hour.

HSN CEO Mindy Grossman

That’s a totally different tune from what we heard recently from QVC’s George, and from the strategies that HSN CEO Mindy Grossman and ShopNBC CEO Keith Stewart have initiated.

Like traditional TV networks, the home shopping players want viewers to “sample” a QVC or an HSN. These new audience members, hopefully, will then see products that they want to buy.

For example, singer Natalie Cole recently did a live concert on HSN to promote a new Holiday CD set she is selling on the channel. If you’re a fan, you might tune in to HSN to see her, and then actually decide to purchase her CD. Artists such
as Jose Feliciano have also performed live on QVC.

QVC alum Stewart on a recent third-quarter conference call pointed out that actress-entrepreneur Suzanne Somers, who came to ShopNBC from HSN, had succeeded in attracting new viewers to Minneapolis-based ShopNBC because she was “entertaining.” And these networks want new eyeballs.

And home shopping networks’ capacity to reach millions of consumers and do fulfillment of orders has not been lost on magazine publishers, celebrities or cable’s reality TV stars. With circulation falling, women’s magazines such as Lucky, Allure, Glamour and Self are partnering with HSN to sell subscriptions.

And stars have seen the light. In a recent interview in Oprah Winfey’s O magazine, Joan Rivers, who’s had a jewelry line on QVC for almost 20 years, told O she was on home shopping when “nobody except dead celebrities was doing merchandise on TV.”

Nowadays, it’s hard to find a celebrity or TV star who doesn’t have a home shopping line. Even Madonna was interviewed on HSN when she was selling her children’s book.

Here’s a partial list:

Paula Abdul, HSN, formerly “American Idol,” Fox

Rachel Zoe, QVC, “The Rachel Zoe Project,” Bravo

Isaac Mizrahi, QVC, “The Fashion Show,” Bravo

Padma Lakshmi, HSN, “Top Chef,” Bravo

Ramona Singer, HSN, “The Real Housewives of New York City,” Bravo

Susan Lucci, HSN, “All My Children,” ABC

Carson Kressley, QVC, “How to Look Good Naked,” Lifetime Television

Dr. Robert Rey, ShopNBC, “Dr. 90210,” E! Entertainment Television

Tori Spelling, HSN, “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood,” Oxygen

Paula Deen, QVC, Food Network

Rachael Ray, QVC, “The Rachael Ray Show,” syndication

Ingrid Hoffmann, HSN, Food Network and Univision

Home shopping is a big business. ShopNBC is the also-ran in the group, but in the third quarter Stewart made some nice progress cutting its losses. Sales for the Big Three were all down, but down less than previous quarters.

And we are not talking chump change for these networks. The three home shopping channels generated $8.3 billion in net revenue in 2008. QVC domestic posted $4.9 billion, HSN netted $2.8 billion and ShopNBC had $568 million.

Even with revenue still slipping this year, for the first nine months QVC had revenue of $3.308 billion; HSN had net sales of $1.4 billion; and ShopNBC had $372.6 million in net sales.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Stop The Presses: New York Daily News Discovers Celebrities Like Paula Abdul And Tori Spelling Have Lines On Home Shopping Networks Like QVC and HSN

HSN's Bill Brand

The New York Daily News has discovered that a lot of celebrities are selling products on home shopping networks like HSN and QVC. Wow, what a scoop! Who knew?

The Sunday story is headlined “NYC’s Celebrity Fashion Obsession,” and features a photo of one of Susan Lucci’s HSN necklaces.

In the piece, the Daily News says that New York consumers are skeptical of goods that have been given the stamp of a celeb. The story then quotes Bill Brand, HSN vice president of programming, marketing and business development.

“If the celebrity doesn’t have a connection to the to the product they are selling, it won’t translate,” Brand is quoted in the Daily News.

He cited health-conscious actresss Fran Drescher’s new skincare line, which is about to debut. “It was natural for her to be doing a skincare line for us and it sells,” Brand told the Daily News.

The story points out that Lucci, Paula Abdul, Rachel Zoe, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Tori Spelling, Serena Williams, Tina Knowles and Iman all have products on home shopping outlets.

The Daily News does have a tiny scoop: that designer Isaac Mizrahi’s new line for QVC premieres Dec. 4 with “plaid-covered cheesecake,” whatever that means.

By the way, Brand is never asked about the reliability, or lack of it, when dealing with stars. For example, earlier this year Spelling and Abdul were scheduled to make appearances on HSN, but those shows were abruptly cancelled, without explanation.

What Do Molly Sims, Fran Drescher, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs And Badgley Mischka All Have In Common?

Badgley Mischka

What cable network will actress Fran Drescher, model-turned-actress Molly Sims, rapper/entrepreneur Sean Combs and the red-carpet fashion design team Badgley Mischka all be appearing on next month? It’s HSN.

An odder assortment of celebrities might be hard to find, but there will be lots of premieres of these stars and their products on HSN in November. If you are a fan of any of these folks, but hate home shopping networks, remember that you will get a chance to see these celebs live — unfiltered and without scripts — on HSN.

Sometimes it’s not a pretty sight, like when Jessica Simpson recently appeared on QVC. Other times it’s a pleasant surprise, like seeing the likable and amiable Tori Spelling and Paula Abdul when they sell their fashion jewelry on HSN.

Drescher has a skincare line, FranBrand, that will debut on HSN Nov. 10. HSN describes her as “the flashy girl from Flushing.”

Sims’s fashion jewelry line, Grayce, will premiere Nov. 13. Items are already up on HSN’s Web site.

Sean “Diddy” Combs, formerly known as Puff Daddy, has a fragrance line set to appear on HSN Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.

And Badgley Mischka, in the wake of a major recently announced deal, will premiere the American Glamour line Nov. 17, with a two-hour show.

We expect the legendary designers, and we mean that, Mark Badgley and James Mischka to be down in Florida.

We have a pair of pink metallic sandals from these guys that we bought at a Manhattan sample sale. That was years ago, but we could go to a black-tie event with those shoes and they’d look right in style.

On its Web site, HSN welcomed the celebrity newcomers to “the HSN family.”

No-Names Rachael Ray, ‘The View’ Host Elisabeth Hasselbeck Do Their Thing On QVC Friday

When we tell friends we’re doing a blog on home shopping, some stick up their noses and say they wouldn’t be interested, they don’t know anyone on QVC or HSN. Ignorance is bliss.

So they have never heard of Madonna, who has appeared on HSN to promote her children’s book, or Paula Abdul, Ellen DeGeneres, Susan Lucci, Bobbi Brown, Natalie Cole…We don’t have time to go on and list all the celebrities and big names that have home shopping lines.

Today a couple of fan favorites are being featured on QVC. TV food star Rachael Ray, who has been on QVC for a year with a cookware line, has Today’s Special Value, a stoneware set for $47 and change.

And Elisabeth Hasselbeck of “The View” will be on Friday with her apparel for QVC’s Dialogue line.

Ray was just on, and her hair is long. Does she have extensions, or have we not just seen her in awhile? Last time we looked, she had short hair.

The Buzz About Tori Spelling’s Cancelled HSN Jewelry Shows: Ill, Too Skinny or Splitsville With Dean?

The online forums on not only HSN but QVC were buzzing Tuesday with speculation about the cancellation of actress Tori Spelling’s scheduled appearances on the Southern Channel.

There were two threads on the topic on HSN.com, and one on QVC.com called “Tori Spelling cancels visit to HSN.”

Spelling, who does a fashion jewelry line for HSN, has been the subject of much chatter in the tabloids, regarding her weight and whether her marriage with Dean McDermott is on the rocks.

When one gossip rag claimed that Spelling was now only a sickly 95 pounds at 5-feet-6 inches, the blonde shot back that she actually weighed 107. Wow, what a whale!

HSN and QVC customers weighed in passionately about why the actress was a no-show, speculating that Spelling was ill, and blasting her for not only her recent weight loss but also the fact she and McDermott immorally left their then-spouses to run off and get married a few years back. Those two cheaters deserve to be miserable, according to many of the customer forums.

Anyone remember the Bible quote from Jesus, about let he is without sin throw the first stone?

Spelling is also reportedly stressed out over her estranged relationship with her mother Candy, which may be why she has dropped so many pounds.

Interesting enough, Paula Abdul’s jewelry shows on HSN this past weekend were also cancelled, but nobody crucified her on the HSN forums.

Spelling is busy, doing a reality show for Oxygen called “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood.” In fact, we actually saw Spelling and McDermott during an event that Oxygen held at a cable convention a few years back, and both were uttering charming.

They looked madly in love. He was gorgeous and was so attentive to her, it could make you swoon.