Total Eclipse of Larry's Heart

Press conferences tend to be boring, scripted affairs. And, in my 13 years of covering them, rarely have I heard a word that surprised me. Well, that all changed yesterday when Larry Mendte, the former CBS-3 anchor who got canned after the feds charged him with busting into his co-anchor Alycia Lane's e-mail some 537 times, took to the podium at his attorney's office at 5 p.m.
Earlier in the day, he pleaded guilty to one count of -- for lack of a better term -- cyberspying. Smart move. They had him cold. Then, came a 10-minute apology in which he basically told the world:
1) I nailed her.
2) My wife found out.
3) Things got ugly.
4) Alycia decimated my ego by saying I was old and washed-up, and talking smack on me to others.
5) I returned the favor by ordering a keystroke-capture device online, busting into her Yahoo account and spreading the juicy stuff out to gossip reporters.
6) I got caught and now want to be the poster boy for Internet safety, but only after the world knows about our "flirtatious, unprofessional and improper relationship."
7) I wonder who will play me in the straight-to-Lifetime movie. Is Fabio still available?



As taking a flame-thrower to the whole damn house goes, it was a classic performance. Should be interesting to see how it plays out image wise, though.
I'm of the mind that throwing mega-hot Alycia under the cement mixer will make the middle-aged-woman demographic go ga-ga for Lar-Lar, what with her being everything they wish they were and, thus, hate her.
Others think it'll go the opposite way, driving public opinion toward her. (As it stands right now, 61 percent of voters in a philly.com poll think he ought to do time. He won't.)
Only time will tell.

Here's the Inquirer's take. And the Daily News'. And the video that we grabbed for philly.com.