Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Chances are that even if you’ve never seen this paparazzi potpourri of shameless celebrity ass-kissing, then you’ve at least seen one of the approximately one million parodies of it that exist. Hosted by a loud Englishman, the aptly-named Robin Leach weaseled his way into the day to day lives and obscenely sumptuous homes of rock stars, movie stars, billionaire industrialists, and even the occasional member of royalty. Touting the motto of “Champagne wishes and Caviar dreams,” the point of the show was apparently to make the other 98 percent of the planet that doesn’t live in a mansion realize just how low on the economic food chain they really are. Lifestyles was a bit of a trendsetter, though, and surely influenced the rise of such programs as MTV’s Cribs and the current spate of celebrity “reality” TV shows that follow the daily lives of perma-baked wonders Ozzy Osbourne and Anna Nicole Smith, the ex-Playmate who is now stretching her spandex beyond all reasonable tolerances in all the wrong places. The best thing about Lifestyles was that it featured the mega-hot mocha au lait Shari Belafonte as a co-host. This gorgeous sampling of white chocolate is best known for being the daughter of legendary singer/actor Harry Belafonte, a.k.a. the “Tally me Banana” man. While any red-blooded male would be happy to have Mr. Belafonte’s daughter tally their banana an inch at a time, she has yet to indulge us with her bulges on-camera, though she towed the line in French Silk. She did do a spread in Playboy, however, and her pirated pics are surely out in cyberspace somewhere. Happy hunting!