In July of 2002, Broken Newz grabbed its 17 minutes of fame (we took two extra minutes because we are greedy bastards). Our Business Director Bill Doty was invited to the Tech TV studios in San Francisco to pull the hair of Leo Laporte, Host of The Screen Savers. This of course was due to a piece we did early in the year called Celebrity Toupees.

Taking the opportunity for a paid excursion, Bill packed up the Minivan and head towards the coast with his son Austin. A trip that would make men out of both of them.

Although he took the opportunity to see family and friends, Bill did not lose perspective of his mission. Proving to the world that Leo's hair was a masterfully created ball of fur.

Although parking seemed to be the greatest hurdle, they did manage to make it to the studio with plenty of time to spare. I here countless conversations between IT guys and sys adims over the "Babes of Tech TV", but I tell you...until you see the women who work behind the cameras, you have not seen to tip of the good stuff (what?). So, greeted by one of the producers who fits in the description above. Bill was taken to the studio where he was asked to wait for showtime. This of course was now a difficult task due to the three guys sitting behind him who just fell off the Trek Convention Wagon. You had thought they had seen Elvis the way they admired every single person related to the show. One person even explained to Leo that he named his dog after him...I kid you not!

The numbing wait ends and the show begins. Bill finds out it is a 90 minute show and he does not have a clue to when his segment starts, so he just sits back and ganders. Of course then he realized the show starts off talking about toy trains....yes, TOY trains. Toot toot.

Bill is a patient man, he sits through the trains, and the PDA talk, and a segment basically designed to help you catch a cheating spouse. One hour later, he has to be getting close.

Austin is getting restless, but doing great for a 7 year old. Much better than the time Bill flew him to Chicago to see a Cubs game. But Fathers and Sons have to do these things...if only my father had taken me to .....oh, sorry. Then he is told "After the commercial, your on."

"Hmmm" Bill thinks, he had never really thought about what he was going to say, or what he was going to do. The producer never really asked. Was he just going to be asked questions by Leo? Run up, pull his hair and run? Pee in his pants and run of the stage crying? Well, it is only live TV, he was sure it will be fine.

Commercial ends, Leo talks about the toupee story, and Bill is on. I would like to comment on how nice Bill dressed up for this appearance on National television, you may have seen him after the show washing windshields or digging in a dumpster.

Austin stole the show. This kid was born to be in front of a camera. I guess when your 7 you do not understand the fear of National coverage....well, okay...cable television.

Leo asks a few questions about the site. The main story "Ultimate Surrender" is talked about, the geek snorting audience laughs at the witty banter from Leo. Then he quickly defends the authenticity of his hair. I personally believe this to be a touchy area for Mr. Laporte. Anyone who would invite someone to pull their hair on a show, has something to prove.

After some stunt Bill did involving what I could only describe as a "tribble", Bill and Austin both preceded to tug the rug of Leo Laporte. At that point, Broken Newz was discredited for untruthful information. We must now run a correction by saying Leo Laporte, host of The Screen Savers, is the proud owner of a real head of hair.

We do thank everyone at Tech TV for their hospitality. It was fun for us and great for our traffic report. Although not so great for our customer service department having to direct emails and phone calls asking were to download the Ultimate Surrender game. But the good comes with the bad. We were in the process of changing the Toupee story by omitting Laporte from the list. But them a photo was offered to us from a nameless member of the TSS staff. Altered? You have to make that decision. We have already done out part by bring you the story in the first place.

Doing further research on Mr. Laporte, we have uncovered some facts that now questions his true gender. We started to release this information to you but then wondered, what would we have to pull on his show this time? From there, we let it be.