Public clamors for Paris news — just not her DVDs

Paris Hilton's legal troubles continue to make headlines all over the world.

But the public's fascination only goes so far.

The 26-year-old heiress's TV series, The Simple Life Goes to Camp, has steadily declined since its debut Memorial Day, to 1.3 million viewers. Last Sunday's episode, after news channels went big with coverage of her return to jail on Friday, pulled in just 890,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. That's still the E! network's highest-rated show of the week.

Sales of The Simple Life DVDs are up 24% from what they were a week ago, says 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's Steve Feldstein. "All this non-stop coverage has got to be good for something," he says.

But even a significant percentage gain like that didn't exactly push The Simple Life DVDs to the top of the sales chart. As of Wednesday morning, The Simple Life — The Complete Fourth Season ('Til Death Do Us Part) was at No. 1,482 on Amazon.com's list of top-selling DVDs. The Simple Life — The Complete Third Season (Interns) was at No. 3,348, The Simple Life — The Complete Second Season (Road Trip) was at No. 2,747, and The Simple Life — The Complete First Season was at No. 4,066.

Taking a look at Hilton's movies now out on DVD, they ranked even lower on the list. National Lampoon's Pledge This!, a teen comedy in which Hilton plays the president of a snooty sorority, and the horror remake House of Wax, in which Hilton gets killed, didn't even crack the top 5,000.

Hundreds of auctions for Paris Hilton items on eBay have ended without a single bid, from posters and photo CDs to autographed stills — including a hand-signed 8-by-10 for which bidding started at exactly one cent. No takers.

And of the items that did sell, the ones that poked fun at Hilton seemed to attract the most action, and the most bids. A black T-shirt emblazoned with "Lynwood Jail, Los Angeles County — The New Hilton" sold for $11.99, while a "Free Paris" shirt fetched $12.49.

News Source : USA Today