Show Blog: A Day At Access (May 30, 2006, 12:20 PM PDT)

If there was any question as to whether or not there is a celebrity pecking order in Hollywood, or whether or not Mendte’s First Law of Celebrity Breaking News (”The biggest news involving the biggest stars will break when it is the biggest hassle for people to come into the office to update the show”) should be taken seriously, all you need to do is look to the Access Memorial Day weekend blackberry action for proof. Things started almost immediately on Friday with the birth of Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani’s son, Kingston, which, after much initial email panicking, was judged to be important, but not important enough to interrupt the scheduled day off. And then, in a flash, it happened. The moment we had been anticipating since Brad and Angelina first appeared together in Las Vegas to promote “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” last March. (They might not have known it was going to happen back then, but everyone else sure did.) The Child arrived. Now, normally, you’d think the news of a Jolie-Pitt baby being born over a holiday weekend would mean Access staffers would be issued an “all hands on deck” bulletin before the umbilical cord had been completely cut. And by the initial flurry of email activity, you wouldn’t be alone. Thankfully, however, we were prepared for just such an event and, after some reassuring words from The Boss, only a skeleton crew was needed to update the show and provide the details for last night’s show. By the time news broke later that day that Ben Affleck had been hospitalized in Boston for a migraine, my man had no shot of making the cut.So to sum up: Jolie-Pitt baby? Huge news, be prepared. Gwen Stefani baby? Important, just not important enough to cancel a barbeque. Ben Affleck’s migraine? Take two Tylenol and call us on Tuesday.(Oh, and if you’re keeping score, as of right now, we are planning to congratulate Mira Sorvino and her husband on the birth of their son in today’s goodbyes…but those well wishes could very easily go away if the show continues to come in longer than it should be as the satellite feed draws nearer. So: Sorvino baby? Temporarily important, possibly expendable.) – Mathew Baxt