Lisa Robertson Wiggles and Jiggles

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! The other night on PM Style, Lisa Robertson finally let down her guard and let loose, breaking it down with the infamous Women With Control "No More Wiggle, No More Jiggle" dance! Haters be damned!

So what exactly is the story behind the "No More Wiggle, No More Jiggle" dance? How did this home shopping rump shaking thing get started in the first place?

Building New York:New York Stories, hosted by Michael Stoler. August 6, 2012. Renée Greenstein, President & Owner of Two Chicks in the Backroom.

Now this has absolutely nothing to do with nothing, but Renée’s ethnicity is so interesting and diverse, I just have throw it in here. She is a combination of Ethiopian, Scottish, Native American, and German decent. Her mother is Jewish, but she went to Catholic theology school. And she’s a Canadian to boot! She is a one woman United Colors of Benetton ad.

After deciding against theology school, Renee attended the Fashion Institute NY, worked as a fit model, and then moved into fashion sales. Eventually, she worked for a company that sold private label clothing to QVC. (On a side note ... Could Renee be the woman behind the mysterious Jessica Holbrook line? Who is Jessica Holbrook, exactly?) While working behind the scenes at the Q, Renee met Bob Johnson—which you will probably remember  from the old Mojave Magic makeup line—who encouraged her to go out on her own. So in 2001, her company Two Chicks in the Backroom was born.

Renee brought the Slinky fabric to QVC, but they were forced to change the name when Horizon Mills (who was working with HSN at the time) sued. Slinky can still be found on HSN today, always and forever with that ridiculous little registered trademark sign beside the name. Renee came up with the name Citiknits, which QVC promptly trademarked, and for the first time she started working in front of the camera. Renee eventually left Citiknits, which is currently dying a slow, painful death at the Q, and started Attitudes by Renee and later added Women With Control. The main difference, of course, is that she owns those names, not QVC.

One fateful night during a Women With Control presentation, QVC model, Jacqui Thompson, uttered those famous words for the first time, “no more wiggle, no more jiggle,” and Renee immediately had them trademarked. The rest, as they say, is history.

Sometimes cringe-worthy, sometimes funny, but always pure home shopping cheesiness... take it away girls...

QVC Sues Andrew Lessman

Andrew Lessman has a new opponent.

Last year, when HSN decided to start selling the weightloss sprinkles, Sensa, Andrew pulled all his weight management products from HSN. He adamantly refused to sell his items on the same network that sold what he considered to be a complete scam. Andrew wrote at length about the issue on his blog and stood his ground. And it worked. You can read all about the infamous Lessman-Sensa Feud here, here, and here.

Now Andrew has set his sites on the Nature's Code vitamins and supplements sold on QVC. Last year, Dr. Taub stepped down as spokesperson for the brand and was replaced by Dr. Rouse. At the time, Queen Bea did some digging and had quite a bit to say about Dr. Rouse (check it out here).

This is what Andrew had to say:

"Question: When is a "Doctor" not a Doctor? Answer: When they appear with Nature's Code vitamins on QVC. When QVCs on-air doctor discusses health on TV, the public reasonably assumes he is a Medical Doctor (MD), but he is not, which unfortunately makes these broadcasts inherently misleading."

Andrew continued to toss calm and measured barbs at the new Nature's Code spokesperson and products throughout the video. And then he goes on to make two more videos. The first one denounces the Nature's Code Hair, Skin, and Nails supplement as being "bad," "ridiculous," and made of "99% additives." The video gave another thorough dressing down to their Nature's Code Resveratrol supplement.

How did QVC respond?

By suing.

Here is the quote from Andrew Lessman's blog:

Who would have thought that events that began just a few weeks ago with QVC’s use of my most popular product’s name (Healthy Hair Skin and Nails) would end with them suing me?! I took no legal action against QVC for their use of my product’s name and when I exercised my constitutionally protected right to free speech, QVC responded with a lawsuit. It is a disturbing and unfortunate turn of events, but I am grateful for all your words of support and please don’t worry about us. My company and I are in the hands of extremely experienced lawyers who will capably protect my interests against QVC’s meritless and unwarranted attack. As you might expect, there is much I could say at this time, but instead, I will let my lawyers’ soon-to-be-filed documents speak for themselves.

Rumor has it that the court papers that were filed state that QVC approached Andrew about coming back to the Q after Dr. Taub retired (in case you didn't know, Andrew started with the Q years ago before moving to HSN). I haven't actually seen the papers, so I don't know that for a fact. However, it sure appears as though QVC is at least trying to imitate Andrew with their revamped Nature's code line.

Since Andrew is a lawyer and is well aware of what you can and can not legally say or claim, I'm certain that he worded his blogs and videos in such a way as to provide himself sufficient legal cover ... unless he was trying to pick a fight. A lawsuit brings publicity and sheds light. Maybe he believes that the Nature's Code products will be revealed to be objectively inferior to his? Regardless, this should be interesting! Clash of the Home Shopping Titans!

JTV Sued for Discrimination

According to KnoxNews.com, Former Jewelry Television vice president Steve Gordon is suing JTV for age discrimination. He also alleges that JTV was involved in a plot to weed out all the employees who accrued high health care costs--known in legalese fancy talk as “a pretextual guise for discriminatory conduct.”

Steve was laid off as part of the company-wide workforce reduction back in May of last year. However, a month before he was terminated, Gordon said he met with two Jewelry Television executives who discussed the company’s increasing health-care costs, including those associated with his cancer treatment.

Steve was hired in 2004 after being recruited by then-CEO Robert Hall and then diagnosed with a type of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma cancer in 2005. He claims that he was replaced with younger people (i.e. healthier), that they re-hired certain people, and that they tended to hire friends and family.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, maintains that Jewelry Television sought to eliminate employees who threatened the company’s objective of an independent public offering by increasing health insurance or workers’ compensation premiums. Steve is seeking $10 million in damages.

After the whole Andesine Labradorite debacle and jewelry sales being down across the board, JTV needs another lawsuit like it needs a hole in the head. I hope this isn't true. I hope that they aren't so heartless as to pull the rug out from someone diagnosed with cancer. But I know the realities of corporate America and nothing surprises me anymore.

Suzanne Somers Sued!

Suzanne Somers is being sued for $400,000 by former business partner, John Bouchillon, over a a restaurant chain that never happened.

Supposedly, he invested the money, but the partners couldn't agree if the chain should be organic or not. Couldn't they have just a done partial organic menu? That just seems like a strange thing for a business deal to fall apart over. And I have to wonder if she was planning on using all her Somersize products in the recipes.

Between this and the gold mesh necklace that wasn't, Suzanne's been having a rough time of it lately.