Entertainers

PARIS - We saw a giant spinning globe at Chanel, heard live music by Antony and the Johnsons at Givenchy and snapped front-row pics everywhere of celebrities, including Jessica Chastain, Naomi Watts, Frank Ocean, Zoe Saldana, January Jones, Kourtney Kardashian, Kanye West and Cher. Paris Fashion Week, which ended last Wednesday, was entertaining, whether designers presenting their ready-to-wear collections for fall-winter 2013 were dazzling with smoke effects or with an all-out assault of museum-worthy workmanship to remind us of what their ateliers can do, even if, in the end, nobody really dresses like that.

Jerry Buss brought 10 championships to Los Angeles with the Lakers and along the way he altered the way people experience professional sports. "He changed the whole way that we went to a game: the Laker Girls, the whole fan experience, A-list people on the floor, the whole thing," Magic Johnson said. "Dr. Buss is the reason why the NBA is thriving the way it is. " When Buss purchased the Lakers (along with the Kings and the Forum) in 1979 for $67.5 million, he had a very specific vision.

The beloved mentor and his favorite student spent their final hours together holding hands on a hospital bed. Jerry Buss was entering the final stage of his life after a long battle with cancer, and he wanted to spend some of it with Magic Johnson. Buss summoned Johnson to his room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center last fall and, together, for five hours, they clutched each other and told stories and cried. At one point, Buss summoned two nurses to the room. Johnson was worried something was wrong until Buss ordered the three to pose for a picture.

DALLAS — Mavericks owner Mark Cuban loves to poke and prod the Lakers. Witness his Kobe Bryant "amnesty" comments a few days ago. But Cuban said it hasn't been as entertaining to zing the Lakers since former coach Phil Jackson and, yes, Shaquille O'Neal left. "It's nowhere near as fun. They would always take the bait," Cuban said Sunday. Of course, that was before Bryant wrote "Amnesty THAT" on Twitter after ripping through Dallas for 38 points in the Lakers' 103-99 victory Sunday.

Randy Runyon, who entertained audiences in Southern California for more than a decade as Chucko, the clown character he took over from his father in the 1980s, died Wednesday at his home in Canyon Country. He was 57. His death followed a lengthy battle with lung cancer that spread to his liver, according to his wife, Joan. Runyon's father, Charles M. Runyon, created the character and starred in the "Chucko the Birthday Clown" show on KABC and KTTV in the 1950s and '60s. Children often waited years for the chance to appear on the popular show on their birthday with Chucko, who, with his finely painted clown face and spinning merry-go-round hat, became a Los Angeles celebrity along with such other kiddie-show stars as Engineer Bill, Sheriff John and Bozo the Clown.

Mark Saylor, a former Los Angeles Times editor who oversaw a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles on corruption in the entertainment industry, died Friday of cancer at his Pasadena home, his wife said. He was 58. Saylor, who was also a nationally ranked chess master, was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer last spring, said his wife, Nora Zamichow, a former Times staff writer. In 1998, as entertainment editor for The Times' business section, Saylor worked with reporters Chuck Philips and Michael A. Hiltzik on three major projects over one year: fundraising by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences that netted only pennies for its charity; a resurgence of radio station "payola," or illicit payoffs, for airplay of new recordings; and the preponderance of untested luxury detox programs for wealthy celebrities.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of "Argo. " I've seen it twice, enjoyed it mightily both times, and put it on my 10-best list, where it belongs. I called it "a smart, complex and engaging film that crackles with energy and purpose," and I stand by those words. But the thought that "Argo" has somehow become the favorite to win the best picture Oscar on Sunday makes me feel a little sad. It's not because there are other films that I would prefer to see win, though, obviously, there are. Yes, I would be delighted if Michael Haneke's austere, emotional "Amour" took the statuette, but that's about as likely as "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" getting more nominations than "Lincoln.

This winter, NBC has learned the hard way just how fleeting victory can be. The network had its best fall in years. The new prime-time lineup got a welcome push from the Summer Olympics in London. The post-apocalyptic drama "Revolution" was a surprise hit after "The Voice," the singing contest that has turned into NBC's main entertainment draw. NFL games reigned supreme on Sundays. Mired in fourth place for years, NBC suddenly found itself No. 1 - a position it hadn't regularly seen in nearly a decade.

"We need to buy a movie studio. " Amid the conferences, panels, meetings and informal conversations in the wake of the presidential election, this idea has been a near constant among conservatives who feel like the country is slipping through their fingers. Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee combined raised just more than $1 billion, and all we got are these lousy T-shirts. Since conservatives are losing the culture, goes the argument, which in turn leads to losing at politics, maybe that money could be better spent on producing some cultural ammo of our own?

No art form is more sensitive to social media than television. Over the years, shows as disparate as "Grey's Anatomy," "Mad Men" and "The Colbert Report" widened and intensified their fan bases through Twitter, Facebook, network websites and YouTube, making devotion just as important as ratings in defining a show's success. But there can be a dark side to this intensity; a fan's feeling of ownership can erupt in vitriolic hysteria when a beloved character is killed or an episode doesn't deliver - the social-media furor over the first season finale of "The Killing" almost got the show canceled.