TV's Upfronts! Bloated Baldwin Bro, Office Cast Storm Swag Suite

The biggest hit at Lucky magazine’s “hospitality suite” (swag distribution center) at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, held for celebrities in town for the network television industry’s “upfront” presentations on Monday, May 12, was Guitar Hero III, the music video game. “My boyfriend always kicks my butt and I still have to master ‘slow ride, ta-na-na-na, take it easy,’” said Kate Flannery, who plays Merdith Palmer, the red-headed lush on NBC’s The Office.

Lindsay Price, bouncy fashion designer Victoria Ford on Lipstick Jungle, also picked up a copy. “Something feels very wrong about this,” she mused of the event, “but it’s so much fun.”

Ms. Flannery’s colleague Jenna Fischer, a.k.a. frustrated receptionist Pam, was experiencing similar moral tremors. “It totally feels like you’re shoplifting!” she said. “But now I’m grateful because I hate to shop.”

“The first time you come here, you’re like, ‘Oh, no, no, no,’” said another Office-mate, Oscar Nunez (Oscar Martinez), “but then you just become this hoarder that asks for five of everything; it’s weird to see yourself change like that.”

Socialite and All My Children actress Leven Rambin felt entirely justified picking up a few freebies, though: She’s turning 18 on Saturday (watch out, fellas!). “This always feels like getting gifts for my birthday,” she said. “The first time I came to one of these, I called my mom, who had no concept of what this was, and she was like, ‘Did you steal?’”

Former Celebrity Apprentice star Stephen Baldwin, who’d scored some bottles of expensive skin cream, had no such qualms. “I’m trying to get two of everything,” he said.