Ryan Seacrest - Kent Ninomiya
Kent Ninomiya - Back in 2001 I did a rather silly dating feature story while working in Los Angeles. The producer arranged for me to follow a man and a woman on a blind date. I can't remember what the point of the story was. I can't remember who the lady was. I do remember the guy. He made quite an impression on me. It was a young deejay named Ryan Seacrest. I imagine he agreed to be set up on the blind date and do the story to get publicity for his blossoming career. At the time he had hosted a few television programs but was relatively unknown nationally. That would change soon. I remember being surprised by how soon. Seacrest got the American Idol gig a short time later. It exploded into an American phenomenon. There are a lot of player haters out there who make fun of Seacrest and his success. Say what you want but the guy is special and it was obvious to me before he was famous. He is charismatic, insightful and smooth as silk on live programs. Although it would be easy to assume he made a pact with the Devil to get his success, that would be unfair. Seacrest is no Brian Dinkleman. Do you remember him? Probably not. Dinkleman was Ryan's co-host on the first season of American Idol but was dumped for the second. There is good reason we never heard from him again and we can't escape Seacrest in the media. The reason has nothing to do with luck or the Devil. Kent Ninomiya
