I think it was on 1/8/02
I think that Halle did her barefoot act on Tuesday, Jan. 8. Not sure if that gets replayed any other time or not.
I do believe that they plan their wardrobes (or lack thereof) in order to either support of tweak their images. There may be multiple people advising Halle--people she pays, people paid by whoever released her last film, etc. My guess is that the barefoot thing was done to balance the Oscar buzz about her performance in Monster's Ball as a "serious actress.
Going barefoot, for a star, is a simple way to appear casual and open to those of us watching at home. There's a sexual undertone to it (stronger for many of us, of course) but not as blatant and offputting to female viewers as wearing a low-cut dress. Going barefoot is also a way to violate fashion rules (no shirt, no shoes, no service)in a very mild and safe way.
For Halle, the outcome is to look casual and just a little bit unconventional. She may be a serious actress, we think, but thank God, she's not stuffy.
Her advisors may think much about the impact on foot fetishists because there are quite a few of those. The potential impact of ticklers (hardcore plus lurker types) hasn't really been tracked before.
It's a good question for another thread. How many of US are there out there? If it's enough to boost audiences, we might find more mainstream offerings. I think Howard Stern's excursions into tickling come from his deranged but savvy market sense of what grabs his audience. If tickling seems to grab enough of us, others will start grabbing, too.
