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Media Summer’s Common Scandal Denominator: Sara Gilbert — First Roseanne, Now Maybe Julie Chen

Roger Friedman
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Media Summer’s Common Scandal Denominator: Sara Gilbert — First Roseanne, Now Maybe Julie Chen

Sara Gilbert is so nice and smart. She must wonder what’s going to happen next.

First she sets up the “Roseanne” reboot, it’s going to be a big hit. Then whamm-o, Roseanne tweets something racist about Valerie Jarrett and “Roseanne” goes up in flames.

That’s on ABC.

Over at CBS, Gilbert gets the idea for “The Talk,” a knock off of “The View,” but ok, with different women and her sensibility. Les Moonves adds Julie Chen, his wife, as the moderator, kills off two beloved soap operas, waits through really bad ratings. He also fires two of the original anchors, Holly Peete Robinson and Leah Remini, and drives Sharon Osbourne into a nervous breakdown.

But eventually “The Talk” takes off.

Now Moonves is in serious trouble, which could also mean an exit for Chen– after all, if this Moonves scandal gets worse, will she stay if he leaves? Or can she stay? Not likely. If that happens, Gilbert is out a moderator and a protector. Maybe the new head of CBS will bring back “As the World Turns.” Oy vey.

Gilbert did get “Roseanne” re-started as “The Conners.” What can she do with “The Talk” if Chen leaves? Re-boot that, too? As “The Yak Yak”?

Poor Sara.

CBS Gets a Black Eye from the New Yorker as Les Moonves is Accused of Sexual Misconduct, CBS News Described as Hotbed of Harassment, “60 Minutes” Chief Cited

Roger Friedman
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CBS Gets a Black Eye from the New Yorker as Les Moonves is Accused of Sexual Misconduct, CBS News Described as Hotbed of Harassment, “60 Minutes” Chief Cited

Les Moonves may be finished at CBS. Ronan Farrow’s piece in “The New Yorker” is a devastating portrait of sexual misconduct over many decades. Farrow has gotten a very good and smart actress, Illeana Douglass, to describe a long incident in which Moonves made sexual advances on her, then attempted to ruin her career.

Douglas, by the way. is like Hollywood royalty. Her grandfather was legendary actor Melvyn Douglas, her grandmother was Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas. Illeana dated Martin Scorsese for a decade and appeared in many of his films. She’s not making it up.

Farrow’s piece details Moonves’s alleged misbehavior, and it also details hidden stories at “60 Minutes.” This is so crazy– “60 Minutes” is considered the crown jewel of everything in news. Vicki Gordon is someone I’ve known for decades. She is an impeccable person, full of integrity, and a great producer. That she endured a fellow producer throwing furniture at her and mistreating her is pretty awful. I know she’s telling the truth.

Well, it’s another group of people flushed down the toilet. Moonves and Fager will have a lot of trouble hanging on once this is absorbed. Anyway, it’s time for a female exec producer at “60 Minutes.” For years when Don Hewitt was there (who I liked a lot) the real power was a terrific woman named Esther Kartiganer. She got credit for nothing.

 

Drake Is Still Number 1, His “In My Feelings” is A Streaming Phenom, Made $500K Last Week

Roger Friedman
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Drake Is Still Number 1, His “In My Feelings” is A Streaming Phenom, Made $500K Last Week

Drake is still number 1 with his “Scorpion” album.

But that doesn’t begin to describe the success he’s had this summer.

Last week, Drake made $534,000 just from streaming the number 1 hit “In My Feelings.” He raked in almost another $2 mil total from last week’s streams.

It’s a good thing, too, since his album sales are only 24K. No one wants the CD or the download. They just want to listen.

“In My Feelings” is a phenom, just like “Hotline Bling.” People make their own videos for YouTube. It’s everywhere. “In My Feelings” samples two other rap songs, which means it’s paying off for a lot of people.

Carrie Fisher Will Be Featured in “Star Wars IX” as Princess Leia Using Existing Footage

Roger Friedman
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Carrie Fisher Will Be Featured in “Star Wars IX” as Princess Leia Using Existing Footage

Despite her tragic death in December 2016, Carrie Fisher will be featured in the last “Star Wars” movie.

LucasFilm and Disney obviously reached an agreement with Fisher’s daughter, Billie Lourd. I was told some months ago Lourd did not want J.J. Abrams to cobble together a Leia-like CGI character for the movie.

But, you know, money and Hollywood prevail. Maybe it’s good for the closure of the series. Mark Hamill will be back as Luke Skywalker, and his character is actually dead.

You may recall that back in June 2017 Hamill told me the original script for Chapter 9 really centered on Leia.

Here’s the official word:

“Finding a truly satisfying conclusion to the Skywalker saga without her eluded us. We were never going to recast, or use a CG character,” director J.J. Abrams said in a statement. “With the support and blessing from her daughter, Billie, we have found a way to honor Carrie’s legacy and role as Leia in Episode IX by using unseen footage we shot together in Episode VII.”

 

Kevin Spacey’s Final Movie Made Before Scandal “Billionaire Boys Club” Dropped onto Amazon Prime, Video on Demand Without Fanfare

Roger Friedman
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Kevin Spacey’s Final Movie Made Before Scandal “Billionaire Boys Club” Dropped onto Amazon Prime, Video on Demand Without Fanfare

Kevin Spacey’s last movie, a remake of “The Billionaire Boys Club,” has been dumped ahead of its theatrical release on Amazon Prime and other video services.

The film was supposed to be released by Vertical Entertainment, the same company that gave us the huge flop “Gotti” earlier this summer. It still has a release date of August 17th.

But today “The BBC” just turned up on Amazon.

Spacey plays Ron Levin, who was murdered in a Ponzi scheme gone wrong from the 1980s. Ansel Elgort plays Joe Hunt, who organized the Ponzi scheme and the murder. The saga was first turned into a book and then a TV Movie starring Ron Silver and Judd Nelson.

So far “The BBC” is sporting just reviews, both negative, on Rotten Tomatoes.

Vertical’s next release is a documentary about Harvey Weinstein.

Spacey, whose career has been destroyed by scandals regarding sexual misconduct, has no more movies in the can. He hasn’t been seen in seven or eight months since “Rent” actor Adam Rapp accused him molestation as a teen. Since then Spacey has been the subject of lawsuits and accusations from a variety of men alleging misconduct. He was replaced with Christopher Plummer by Ridley Scott for “All the Money in the World.”

 

For Real: New York State Boots Spectrum Cable Citing Their Poor Service and Incompetence, Gives Them 60 Days to Get Out

Roger Friedman
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For Real: New York State Boots Spectrum Cable Citing Their Poor Service and Incompetence, Gives Them 60 Days to Get Out

Crazy but true: Spectrum Cable, which used to be Time Warner, which really used to be part of the real Time Warner, has been booted from New York state. The New York State Public Service Commission revoked the approval of the merger between Charter Communications and Time Warner that created Spectrum.

And they’re out. What will happen next? Stay tuned. But this is particular to their broadband and web service. I’ve personally been in a fight with Spectrum for weeks over shoddy service. The internet shuts off several times a day. I’m constantly rebooting computers and changing to other services. I guess I wasn’t alone!

More details to follow. I guess we’re all headed for RCN. Who knows? According to the commission’s press release, Charter has 60 days to file a plan for the future, and they cannot interrupt service.

The Commission cited:

The company’s repeated failures to meet deadlines;
Charter’s attempts to skirt obligations to serve rural communities;
Unsafe practices in the field;
Its failure to fully commit to its obligations
under the 2016 merger agreement;
and
The company’s purposeful obfuscation of its performance and compliance obligations to the
Commission and its customers.
According to a release: “These recurring failures led the Commission to the broader conclusion that the company was not interested in being a good corporate citizen and that the Commission could no longer in good faith and conscience allow it
to operate in New York. Today’s actions are meant to address Charter’s failings and to ensure New York has a partner interested in the public good, not just lining its pockets.
“Charter’s repeated failures to serve New Yorkers and honor its commitments are well documented and are
only getting worse.
After more than a year of administrative enforcement efforts to bring Charter into compliance with the Commission’s merger order, the time has come for stronger actions to protect New
Yorkers and the public interest,” said Commission Chair John B. Rhodes.
“Charter’s non-compliance and brazenly disrespectful behavior toward New York State and its customers necessitates the actions taken today seeking court -ordered penalties for its failures, and revoking the Charter merger approval.”

Exclusive: Sean Penn Will Play 7th President Andrew Jackson in Mini-Series for History Channel, Infamous for Relocating Indian Nation

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Sean Penn Will Play 7th President Andrew Jackson in Mini-Series for History Channel, Infamous for Relocating Indian Nation

Sean Penn is certainly getting into TV these days.

He’s about to appear in a Hulu series called “The First” in which he’ll play the first astronaut to set foot on Mars. Of course, Matt Damon’s already been there, but please don’t tell Sean that. He’ll see Matt’s farm and tent when he arrives.

But now I can tell you that a long-aborning project has come together for Penn at The History Channel. This is a mini-series about President Andrew Jackson that was supposed to be for HBO. But I’m told it’s moved to The History Channel. The famed playwright and short story writer Donald Margulies is writing the script.

Jackson was the 7th president, following John Quincy Adams, whom he defeated. He served 8 years from 1829 to 1837.

His history is marked by great ups and downs, illnesses and scandals. His presidency’s biggest and longest lasting disaster was the moving of Native Americans from their land — the Indian Removal Act– in 1830. His story is rich with horrible things that should give Sean plenty of scenery to chew on– Emmy Awards here we come!

“American Lion” is based on the book of the same name by Jon Meacham.

 

Sean Spicer’s New Book Has Lots of Hype, Protests, But Sales Fall Flat, Already out of Top 300

Roger Friedman
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Sean Spicer’s New Book Has Lots of Hype, Protests, But Sales Fall Flat, Already out of Top 300

Sean Spicer’s hype is bigger than his reality.

Spicey, as he came to known on “Saturday Night Live,” just published a memoir to cash in on his short stint with the Trump Administration. “The Briefing: Politics, The Press, and The President” was published on Tuesday by Regnery, the conservative publishing company everyone in real publishing ignores.

Immediately, Spicey was bombarded with protests. Book signings had to be cancelled. He won’t be invited anytime soon to Michael’s to celebrate.

But the real issue is that “The Briefing” isn’t selling. It’s stuck at number 325 now on amazon.com after a short stint hovering near number 100. Reviews on amazon.com from readers aren’t very encouraging either.

The Kindle edition e-book isn’t faring well, either. It’s sitting at 1,406.

Meanwhile, Spicey’s old friend and White House colleague, Omarosa Manigault, she the butt of jokes from “The Apprentice,” will try her hand at bilking the public with her own book next month. Who would waste their money on this fiction? I guess we’ll see.

CBS Braces for Chaos as The New Yorker Prepares to Publish Les Moonves #MeToo Shocker

Roger Friedman
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CBS Braces for Chaos as The New Yorker Prepares to Publish Les Moonves #MeToo Shocker

Six months ago I was told that the New Yorker and maybe the New York Times were working on #metoo pieces about CBS chairman Les Moonves.

Every few weeks there was a whisper one of the stories was coming. Then there was silence again.

Now Kim Masters reports that The New Yorker piece by Ronan Farrow is about to hit the world. The New Yorker website will probably crash. CBS stock is already down.

Is the story real? Or is just part of the corporate nuclear war between Moonves and Shari Redstone? Stay tuned…

 

“Hello, Dolly!” with Bette Midler Offers Huge Discounts, But Telecharge Can’t Make the Transaction

Roger Friedman
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“Hello, Dolly!” with Bette Midler Offers Huge Discounts, But Telecharge Can’t Make the Transaction

Yes, pigs have flown. “Hello, Dolly!” with Bette Midler is deep discounting tickets.

I told you last week that there were quite a few seats available in all sections for Bette Midler’s final five week run as Dolly. The seats are on the side, in the back, but they’re fine. “Dolly!” is a big show. You can see it from anywhere in the theater.

Then came the notice on BroadwayBox.com via email: there were deep discounts on those remaining seats. You could pay $139 and be sitting just a few feet away from someone who spent upwards of $600.

Telecharge is offering the deal, and you can make progress on their site up to a point. Just after you click on the new price, a page comes saying “We’re sorry, we’re having a problem with this feature of the site right now. Please try again.”

Good luck. Do we still have a Federal Trade Commission? That deal is supposed to be good through August 16th. And now it’s gone.

 

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