In Santa Monica, 'Top Model' Ads Are A Big Blue Bust

Negriff recalled two previous occasions in which entertainment-industry ads had been given thumbs down by Big Blue Bus. One was an ad for the FX series "Nip/Tuck," which featured beautiful women and a nasty-looking scalpel. Negriff said that ad fell into the same category of objectification.

The other ad was for the feature film "10 Things I Hate About You." Odd, given that it was a remake -- sort of -- of Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." In that case, Negriff explained, "several people said it appears the bus is saying Big Blue Bus hates 10 things about you" -- and it had to go.

"We can generally advertise movies and things from the entertainment industry," she said, "we just have to recognize we're a public agency and have to be sensitive to . . . feedback from our community."

Yesterday afternoon an aspiring cub reporter out of The TV Column's Santa Monica bureau reported seeing a Big Blue Bus driving by festooned with an ad that had a movie quote: "Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here."

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Tony Soprano's hit man has dropped out of ABC's dancing competition because it was too hard.

Vincent Pastore, who played Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on "The Sopranos," bailed after just one week of training, explaining in a statement he had no idea it was going to be so taxing.

"Unable to put forth my best effort, I felt it appropriate to step aside and give someone else the opportunity," he said.

Ironically, Pastore participated in the most recent edition of VH1's "Celebrity Fit Club." He kind of flaked out there, too, missing his stated goal of losing 35 pounds over 100 days. He lost 29 pounds.

" 'Dancing With the Stars' is physically demanding and it pays to know your limits," the show's exec producer, Conrad Green, said in a statement. "We respect his decision."