This week, MTV Russia announced that it was pulling a political talk show hosted by It girl and media personality Ksenia Sobchak after just one episode. In an enigmatic statement, it said it was suspending the show to "define the format and the channel's positioning."

This week, MTV Russia switched off the reality shows for an hour to teach the kids about politics with a chat show called "Gosdep," or "State Department," presented by blonde it girl and media personality Ksenia Sobchak.

This week, billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin lined up their teams of celebrity supporters for the presidential race, with pop star Alla Pugachyova still staunchly behind Prokhorov, even if she called him a "wimp" in his love life.

This week, the main topic of gossip was the surprisingly colorful love life of Anatoly Chubais, the redheaded economic reformer of the 1990s. Rumor has it that he has secretly married Avdotya Smirnova, the much younger presenter of "School for Scandal," the NTV interview show. Neither of the couple commented publicly, but that did nothing to stop speculation.

It's a measure of the changes in Russia that pop diva Alla Pugachyova got married — for the fifth time — and no one was really that bothered.

The State Duma has opened for business with its new deputies, including actress Maria Kozhevnikova, 27, who once posed for Playboy and this year was voted Russia's sexiest woman by the readers of men's magazine Maxim.

The grande dame of the Russian glossies, former Vogue editor Alyona Doletskaya, presented the first issue of her new magazine, and the party was at a venue so exclusive it doesn't have a name.

This week, the most unlikely celebrities have manned the barricades, whether on Twitter or actually by going out and getting arrested. Others confessed their love for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Flamboyant pop star Filipp Kirkorov just made the announcement that he's now the father of a daughter through a surrogate mother in the United States. Unlike a lot of show business stories, this actually was a surprise.

This week, Britain's Daily Mail highlighted the case of Kristina Rei from St. Petersburg, who has enormous lips springing out of her face, created with what it said was £4,000 ($6,215) worth of silicone injections.

This week, blond pop singer Valeria became an unlikely dissident, as her husband and producer, Iosif Prigozhin, complained in an interview with Radio Liberty that United Russia had hijacked one of her concerts to electioneer from the stage.

This week, the scandal around media personality and it-girl Ksenia Sobchak and her jokey exposure of youth tsar Vasily Yakemenko at a pricey restaurant deepened, as a national channel apparently pulled an interview with her.

This week, socialite and media personality Ksenia Sobchak caused a bit of a sensation in an Italian restaurant by going up and filming the founder of pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi, Vasily Yakemenko, having a pricey lunch with his wife.

This week, Russian MTV started "Project Podium," its homegrown version of the U.S. hit show "Project Runway," where young designers compete to create the best outfit and show it on catwalk models.

This week, Channel One started a new show called "Special Assignment," where famous people have to put on khakis and join the Russian army for six weeks.

On Wednesday night, Rossia television treated viewers to more than an hour of a "live" concert in Grozny to celebrate the 35th birthday of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Or I should say, to celebrate Grozny's city day, since Kadyrov modestly waved away attempts to celebrate his big day or give him presents.

This week, pop diva Alla Pugachyova has been on everyone's lips since she stood up, hands in pockets, and bluntly expressed her support for "Misha" Prokhorov and dressed down spin doctor Vladislav Surkov for "going crazy." Revenge was swift to come, as toadying channel NTV dusted off a shady financial scandal involving the singer for a show Sunday night.

This month, Channel One has a new show called "Phantom of the Opera," in which pop singers have to sing operatic arias live. Russian stars have already skated, waltzed and done trapeze acts, but this is maybe the most terrifying reality format — because, after all, pop stars are supposed to be able to sing.

This week, actor Ivan Okhlobystin, who plays an irascible doctor in TNT's medical comedy "Interns," announced his plans to run for president. If that wasn't ridiculous enough, pop diva Alla Pugachyova spoke out on her political views, backing billionaire turned politician Mikhail Prokhorov, whom she praised as a "real man."

This week, "Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker came to Moscow and dodged a kiss from a Bolshoi Theater security guard, who was overwhelmed by the chance to get close to his idol.

When it comes to excess, Russians tend to take the biscuit, especially abroad, when there is national honor at stake. This week, a group of Russians walked out of a nightclub in Sardinia forgetting the little matter of the bill: 86,000 euros, including more than 90 bottles of Cristal champagne.  

This week was the first episode of reality show "Russian Dolls" on the U.S. Lifetime channel, which could not have been more hotly anticipated, at least by me. A show looking at the lives of the Soviet emigres who settled in New York's Brighton Beach and turned it into a strange replica of home is a brilliant idea.

This week, Roman Abramovich's teenage daughter reportedly moved into a starter home in London worth £4 million ($6.46 million), soon after calling off an engagement that had raised eyebrows in the British press.

This week, Forbes magazine published its list of the highest-earning Russian stars in entertainment and sport, and the top place went to chanson singer-songwriter Stas Mikhailov — who was not even in last year's rating.

This week, rock star Courtney Love sang at Kolomenskoye with her band Hole and treated the audience — and several hapless journalists — to some choice phrases.

This week, pop star and actress Jennifer Lopez announced she was divorcing singer Marc Anthony, but the show went on, as she sang at the wedding of an Uzbek businessman's son for a reported $1.8 million.

The charity fund that persuaded Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to sing "Blueberry Hill" — and prompted those awkward questions about money — is doing it again this weekend with Moscow concerts where they promise Woody Allen will play jazz.

This week, Channel One controller Konstantin Ernst took a dig at the luxuriant breasts of retired ice dancer Anna Semenovich, saying they were doubly responsible for the death of Russian cinema. And a little bit of a fairy tale died, as Russian-born model Natalia Vodianova revealed that she has separated from her husband, British aristocrat Justin Portman, whom she had married in a perfect market stall-to-mansion story.

DTV's new drama series "Bailiffs" aims to bring a touch of humanity to the service, which for one reason or another, has always had a bit of an image problem.

This week, porn actress and former reality show contestant Yelena Berkova was convicted of drug possession in a sad comedown for the voluptuous star who once — almost — ran for mayor of Sochi. Meanwhile, svelte actress Renata Litvinova, romantically linked to the even more rake-like rock star Zemfira, spoke of her hatred of fat people.