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Tony Awards Ratings Take HUGE Tumble as Bette Midler Non-Performance Costs CBS and Show Plenty

Roger Friedman
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Tony Awards Ratings Take HUGE Tumble as Bette Midler Non-Performance Costs CBS and Show Plenty

The Tony Awards ratings were very very bad.

Of course last year was a high because of “Hamilton.” Total viewers were 8.73 million.

Last night, total viewers were 6.01 million. This was LESS than 2015, which was near rock bottom with 6.25 million total.

The NHL championship didn’t help, neither did Celebrity Family Feud.

The big disappointment was Bette Midler, who stiffed the Tonys by not performing any number from “Hello, Dolly!” She was brought to Broadway was a staged celebrity draw, but has failed to deliver the goods. She’s done no publicity and not done anything to help the Broadway community. Producer Scott Rudin isn’t even doing an Actors Fund performance to benefit retired actors.

If Midler had performed, and could have been promoted, the Tony ratings would have been substantially higher. What a shame. The whole “Hello, Dolly!” exercise has become a money grab. And it ends in a few months, since Midler will exit at the end of the year. That may be the end of the run as well.

Midler, who is insulated from any negative reaction, has no idea what a tepid response she got last night in Radio City. The crowd was ambivalent at best. Real Broadway stars performed on the show, like Patti Lupone and Christine Ebersole. And Lupone pitched in, after losing, to sing a final number with Kevin Spacey. (Thank goodness.)

Goodbye, Dolly.

 

Soap Opera Villain and Trump Celebrity Supporter Kimberlin Brown Returns to “Bold and Beautiful” Owned by Major Democratic Supporters

Roger Friedman
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Soap Opera Villain and Trump Celebrity Supporter Kimberlin Brown Returns to “Bold and Beautiful” Owned by Major Democratic Supporters

The last time anyone saw nutty Sheila Carter on CBS’s Bold and the Beautiful was at least a decade ago. It’s hard to follow, but she had plastic surgery to look like someone else…or you know, whatever.

The last time anyone saw the actress who played Sheila, Kimberlin Brown, was last summer. She spoke at the Republican National Convention for Donald Trump. She was one of his handful of D list celebrity supporters like Scott Baio.

So what a surprise to see Sheila aka Kimberlin back on “Bold and the Beautiful” last Friday with her original face. Not only did soap fans think she was gone for good, but political observers would have guessed the same.

That’s because Bradley Bell, who owns and writes the soap, is a huge Democratic fundraiser, Obama and Clinton supporter. So is wife Colleen, who had an ambassadorship under Obama. She was named US ambassador to Hungary from January 2015- January 2017. The Bells are also very close to fellow Obama/Clinton fundraisers Netflix chief Ted Sarandos and his wife Nicole Avant. They’re so close that Bell named a whole family on the show after Avant’s.

But it’s all about ratings. And the surprise return of a long vanquished villain is catnip to soap opera– no matter who she supported in the election. The White House now is certainly a daytime drama. And this will give the Oval Office something to watch while Sean Spicer does his daily briefing!

Sunday Ratings: Megyn Kelly Trounced by “60 Minutes,” Tony Awards Smacked Down by “Celebrity Family Feud,” Hockey

Roger Friedman
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Sunday Ratings: Megyn Kelly Trounced by “60 Minutes,” Tony Awards Smacked Down by “Celebrity Family Feud,” Hockey

Ratings are in for Sunday night. It was another disaster for NBC News and Megyn Kelly. Her interview with the absolutely disgusting and horrible hate monger Alex Jones didn’t do much. Her “Sunday” show was trounced by “60 Minutes,” which scored 7.66 mil total viewers. Kelly had 4.35 million.

I was at the Tony Awards and didn’t catch up to Kelly’s interview until this morning. The NBC people think they’re doing their own “60 Minutes.” They are not. Kelly is such an infuriating lightweight– she laughs with Jones, and the composition of the segment looks glamorous. Outtakes on other services show her waiting around to interview him while he’s on the radio, and she’s also kidding around, laughing. She is not a news person. Even Barbara Walters in her most suck-up days to Kissinger and Nixon didn’t look this bad.

Meanwhile, the Tony Awards were smacked down by “Celebrity Family Feud” and the NHL Hockey championships. To counter program, the Tonys– very oddly — featured NHL and former New York Ranger hockey great Ron Duguay to introduce “Come from Away” because they were all Canadian. Also, the Rangers are owned by Madison Square Garden Productions, so is Radio City Music Hall, and Duguay is a sportscaster for MSG Network. The audience had no idea who the hell he was, it was hilarious. But I enjoyed seeing him. He was also one of the few presenters not to use the TelePrompter.

The Tonys scored a 6.01. Celebrity Family Feud on ABC had a 6.93. But the Tony are very niche. Very. And last night, without Bette Midler performing on the show, it was a tough go indeed.

Broadway: Bette Midler Snubs the Tony Awards But They Give Her Best Actress Anyway

Roger Friedman
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Broadway: Bette Midler Snubs the Tony Awards But They Give Her Best Actress Anyway

Bette Midler didn’t perform on the Tony Awards but they gave her Best Actress in a Musical for “Hello. Dolly!” tonight. Ben Platt won best actor for “Dear Evan Hansen.” Midler did give a funny speech which made up for her absence. She is likely still talking now. For a woman who would not perform on the Tonys, when she finally got the chance, she talked and talked and talked.

All night, though, mention of Midler and “Hello, Dolly!” received tepid responses,  not the standing ovations one would have expected. The mood in the room at Radio City was fairly unimpressed. Every other musical nominee performed on that stage. Only Midler, who’s never done a Broadway show before as a headliner and probably never will again, declined.

Instead, she let David Hyde Pierce do a one-man number from the show, and a bad number at that. It’s a song that was cut from the original show and only added back to give Hyde Pierce (who everyone loves) a solo number in the show. When he was finished, Midler came out to present Best Actress and barely acknowledged him. Backstage must be a laugh riot at “Hello, Dolly!”

Producer Scott Rudin got his Tony for Best Revival of a Musical with Dolly. But all the spending he did on ads failed to produce a Best Play award for “A Doll’s House, Part 2.” Instead, “Oslo” won. Rudin did get Best Actress in a Play for Laurie Metcalf.

“Dear Evan Hansen” won Best Musical. Its star Ben Platt, won Best Actor, and Rachel Bay Jones won Best Featured Actress. Best Featured Actress in a Play went to Cynthia Nixon for “The Little Foxes.”

The Tony show was a mixed bag. There were a lot of plugs for the Radio City Rockettes, for no reason other than to placate the owners of the theater. There were a few plugs for CBS’s Stephen Colbert. Kevin Spacey’s celebrity imitations wore thin fast. He doesn’t seem to realize Johnny Carson has been dead a long time, and that most of the audience who remembers him is old.  Ditto his obsession with Bobby Darin, which is now probably embarrassing Darin in heaven among friends.  Spacey’s Bill Clinton imitation went over like a lead balloon, as did his references to Hillary Clinton’s email. Stale, stale, stale.

 

Best Musical
Dear Evan Hansen

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Bette Midler, Hello, Dolly!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Ben Platt, Dear Evan Hansen

Best Revival of a Musical
Hello, Dolly!

Best Play
Oslo by J.T. Rogers

Best Revival of a Play
August Wilson’s Jitney

Best Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bandstand

Best Direction of a Musical
Christopher Ashley, Come From Away

Best Direction of a Play
Rebecca Taichman, Indecent

Best Performance by an Actress in Featured Role a Musical
Rachel Bay Jones, Dear Evan Hansen

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Laurie Metcalf, A Doll’s House, Part 2

Best Orchestrations
Alex Lacamoire, Dear Evan Hansen

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Kevin Kline, Present Laughter

Best Book of a Musical
Dear Evan Hansen, Steven Levenson

Best Score
Dear Evan Hansen, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Bradley King, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Cynthia Nixon, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Gavin Creel, Hello, Dolly!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Michael Aronov, Oslo

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Christopher Akerlind, Indecent

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Mimi Lien, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Santo Loquasto, Hello, Dolly!

Best Costume Design of a Play
Jane Greenwood, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes

Gwyneth Paltrow Has No Idea What’s On Her Goop Website, Has Never Tried Some of the Stranger Products

Roger Friedman
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Gwyneth Paltrow Has No Idea What’s On Her Goop Website, Has Never Tried Some of the Stranger Products

Gwyneth Paltrow told Jimmy Kimmel this week she has no idea what’s on her Goop website. She has also never tried products she sells like a Jade egg meant to be placed in the vagina. She also says she knows nothing about “Earthing,” which is also recommended on her site. “I don’t know what the f– we talk about,” Paltrow admitted to Kimmel.

Making fun of Paltrow and Goop is a common snarky practice by now. But I can’t think of another actress who has squandered her Oscar the way Paltrow has. I thought after “Shakespeare in Love” in 1999 she’d be making great movies, picking up more awards, maybe doing Broadway. She has got maybe only other movie anyone really cares about — “Sliding Doors” (also 1998). The other nominees the year she won were Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, and Emily Watson. I needn’t tell you all their credits and accolades since then.

Paltrow’s career has become about selling this stuff. She tells Kimmel she’s in the office every day, that Goop is her full time job. Well, whatever turns you on.

The Jade egg, by the way, sells for $55-$66. It was roundly criticized all over the internet, but Jade published a defense.

Box Office: “Wonder Woman” Puts “The Mummy” in Its Grave With $57 Mil vs. $32 Mil

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “Wonder Woman” Puts “The Mummy” in Its Grave With $57 Mil vs. $32 Mil

“Wonder Woman” weekend 2 was a phenom, with $57 million– astonishing. It’s an over the top hit, that’s for sure, and keeps growing.

But the poor “Mummy.” The weekend take was $32 million– maybe a little less. That’s way short of Brendan Fraser’s “Mummy” movies.

But for Tom Cruise, it’s not that bad. Aside from “Mission Impossible,” Cruise is not a big opener and not a big total grosser. His opening weekends for non “MI” movies range from $22 mil to $37 million. This one is right in the middle.

As for what happens to it going forward– not much. Cruise barely gets to $100 million, and that’s rare. The studio held “Edge of Tomorrow” in theaters ’til it dripped out its last customer so they could pass $100 million. But at that point you’re wasting money holding the theater, the print, the ads. “The Mummy” may go $75 million.

A sequel? Well they made a “Jack Reacher” sequel to a movie no one liked much, and look what happened. “The Mummy” should stay buried.

RIP Adam West, the Real Batman Forever, Dies at 88 — His Wry Sense of Humor Lives On

Roger Friedman
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RIP Adam West, the Real Batman Forever, Dies at 88 — His Wry Sense of Humor Lives On

Adam West– the real Batman of all time– has died at age 88. His rep says he had a short battle with leukemia.

West played Batman in the ABC TV series with Burt Ward as Robin in the mid 60s. His wry sense of humor and sarcasm — which we didn’t get as kids but is vividly apparent on the show looking at it now– made “Batman” a phenomenon. The show aired twice a week when it debuted in 1966, with animated tags of “POW!” and “Bam!”

 

West worked a long time before and after “Batman,” but he never recaptured that glorious moment in time for those 120 episodes and a Batman movie, as well.

What a week! The beloved Glenne Headley died yesterday at age 62 after a pulmonary embolism. She was such a fine actress on stage and film. Also, yesterday, John Heyman, one of the great movie and TV producers, a towering figure in show business, passed away at 84. (His son, David, was taught well– he produced the Harry Potter movies.)

And so it goes.

“The Mummy” Unravels at Box Office: Tom Cruise Version Well Below Brendan Fraser’s Three Episodes

Roger Friedman
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“The Mummy” Unravels at Box Office: Tom Cruise Version Well Below Brendan Fraser’s Three Episodes

Brendan Fraser, come back! All is forgiven.

Between 1999 and 2008, Fraser starred in three “Mummy” movies for Universal Pictures. All of them did considerably better than Tom Cruise’s version, which opened Friday night after Thursday previews.

To wit: “The Mummy” 1999 opened with $43 million weekend. The opening night took in $14.5 million.

“The Mummy Returns” 2001 had a $68 million weekend. Opening night: $23 million.

“The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” 2008 launched with $40 million, and $15 million opening night.

Now Cruise’s chapter arrives with a $12 million opening night, eyeing a $29-31 million weekend.

Two things come to mind: Universal waited too long on that third “Mummy” Movie with Fraser. Why was there a seven year gap? They lost their own momentum. And also, Fraser should have made some kind of appearance in the new movie. A hand off would given the movie a nice PR hook.

As it is, this “Mummy” will be Cruise’s second worst opening ever, following his absolute worst– last year’s “Jack Reacher: No One Gives a Damn.”

Lesson learned: Fear the walking dead.

Apocalypse Now: Justin Bieber’s Monotonous, Grating Vocals Now Occupy the Top 3 Songs on iTunes

Roger Friedman
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Apocalypse Now: Justin Bieber’s Monotonous, Grating Vocals Now Occupy the Top 3 Songs on iTunes

Yes, it’s a bad time in the world. Months and months of political chaos. LeBron James fighting for Cleveland’s life. And now this:

The monotonous, grating voice of Justin Bieber now occupy the top 3 singles on iTunes. The most odious pop star of this generation has bleated his way to a hat trick on the charts.

At number 1, it’s David Guetta’s new release, “2 U,” featuring Justin. At number 2, there’s a Spanish track called “Despacito” in which Bieber is remixed into a lively number from Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee.

For number 3, there’s “I’m the One,” in which Bieber is leveraged with Lil Wayne, Chance the Rapper, and Quavo.

None of the singles are his own releases. On all three, he’s the guest star. But his name on the recording, so you can’t avoid it.

All of this is the devilish work of manager Scooter Braun, who should get credit for sticking his Bieber in all the right places. On “Despacito” he’s been turned into the mall food court version of Enrique Iglesias, which is evil genius.

Bieber even managed to get on Ariana Grande’s Manchester UK charity concert last week– because Braun manages both of them. His appearance was perfunctory at best, eclipsed by most of the other acts.

So what’s next? Kennedy Center honors? Hey, why not at this point?

PS Braun is very smart. Look at this video. It already 7.2 million views. Are we surprised? Turn the volume down for future listenings.

Tom Cruise’s “The Mummy” Takes in $2.7 Mil Thursday Night: Have Suri, Scientology Scandals Undermined Popularity?

Roger Friedman
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Tom Cruise’s “The Mummy” Takes in $2.7 Mil Thursday Night: Have Suri, Scientology Scandals Undermined Popularity?

Tom Cruise’s “The Mummy” made $2.66 million on Thursday night. That’s considerably less than “Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation” made in its Thursday outing two years ago–$4 million. It’s more though than “Edge of Tomorrow”–$1.8 million. It’s actually far more than “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” with $1.32 million– Cruise’s most recent film.

So there’s some solace in that. But “The Mummy” will be number 2 to “Wonder Woman” this weekend. And if word of mouth doesn’t propel it past tonight, there will be a lot of jokes about mummified, it’s a wrap, walking dead, and so on.

A big hit to the box office has a lot to do with perception of Cruise by fans. By now they all know that he has had nothing to do with his 11 year old daughter Suri, based on reports. And that may be because of his devotion to Scientology, a religious cult that has now been exposed in movies like “Going Clear” and Leah Remini’s terrific TV series. Remini also wrote about Cruise’s weird life in her memoir.

All of these things add up over time. While the “Mission Impossible” series has carried him financially, Cruise otherwise struggles at the box office. “Jack Reacher 2” made just $58.6 million in the US. Even internationally it was a bust, with just $103 million. Cruise needs twice that to succeed on the bottom line. And apparently Scientology is always there with hands out waiting for more donations.

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