Friday’s cover of the New York Daily News reads: “Trump to World: Drop Dead.” It’s meant to evoke the famous Daily News cover from October 1975 when President Gerald Ford refused to step in and save New York from financial ruin. We got the last laugh on Ford– look at thriving New York now. And we’ll get the last laugh on Donald Trump, the most mocked politician in the world– by the world.
Actress Jennifer Garner has called out People magazine on Facebook. Garner says this week’s People cover story was not authorized by her and she didn’t participate in it. In the magazine business that would be called “a write around” when the star doesn’t participate.
This is the sort of thing that’s typical of tabloids but well outside the world of People, which is owned by Time Inc. People was supposed to be the high standard in celebrity magazines since it began in 1974. The whole idea of People was to get the exclusive interview with whomever they were writing about. It’s hard to imagine the original editors of People– or the editors up til now– approving such a move.
To make matters more obtuse, the Garner story — called “Life After Heartbreak”– isn’t even featured on the People website. The cover itself is being used to promote subscriptions. Something must be up at People. Editor in chief Jess Cagle would never get into such a situation unless he was forced by management. With Time Inc. unable to find a buyer, and the “bottom line” getting tougher than ever to meet, editorial sense seems to have been subjugated to ad dollars. It never,ever works,
Here’s Garner’s statement:
It has been brought to my attention that there is a People magazine cover and article out today that appear to be coming from me. It isn’t unusual for me to receive calls from loved ones thinking I forgot to tell them I am pregnant–with twins!–(Geez Louise), but those are so ridiculous they’re easy to ignore.
This isn’t a tragedy by any measure, but it does affect me and my family and so, before my mom’s garden club lights up her phone, I wanted to set the record straight:
I did not pose for this cover. I did not participate in or authorize this article.
While we are here, for what it’s worth: I have three wonderful kids and my family is complete.
Have a beautiful day,
Love,
Jen
I think the party might be over at the Kardashian house.
On Sunday, there were only total 973,000 viewers. That’s down from over 1.3 million the week before. The down trend is turning into a gathering storm.
The demo number dropped, too, from o.6 to 0.4. Fewer and fewer people are watching the antics of these self-absorbed nitwits. It’s like an awakening.
Losing Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner as a character probably didn’t help. But she’s said she’s done with it. And her book was a dismal sales failure.
Meanwhile, “Twin Peaks” on Showtime registered just 195,000 viewers on Sunday night for Parts 3 and 4. The justification may be that subscribers had already streamed those episodes. But I think it’s a bust. No one knows what’s going on. It’s not good. It’s certainly not sustainable for 14 more weeks.
Michael Ontkean must be laughing from his home in Hawaii.
PS Maybe these episodes are a ‘prequel’ to the final ones? Who knows? It’s a mistake if that’s the case.
The best show on TV continues to be “Veep,” which is on so late– 10:30pm– on HBO Sundays. Absolutely sublime. This past week was heaven. Julia Louis Dreyfus can do no wrong.
CNN has fired Kathy Griffin from their annual New Year’s Eve show over the Donald Trump decapitated head thing.
Anderson Cooper then threw Griffin, his friend, under the bus with this Tweet:
For the record, I am appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.
— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) May 31, 2017
Lesson learned: In the media, no one is your friend. Cooper could have just kept his Tweet shut. Yes, Griffin was wrong, and what she did showed no judgement no matter how much you dislike Donald Trump. But the piling on is just way too much. Shall we stone her, a la Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”?
Certainly Donald Trump’s crimes against humanity outweigh what she’s done here. He’s taken to Twitter to say his son is upset. But on his personal Twitter account– which has a larger following than his @POTUS– Trump has yet to express dismay or condolences for the two brave men killed in Portland for fighting a racist. Is son Barron upset about that? I doubt it.
Anyway, the CNN New Year’s Eve show is an abomination. Cancel it already. It’s a total embarrassment.
Griffin has apologized (see below). Has Trump apologized for making fun of a handicapped journalist?
No.
I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong. pic.twitter.com/LBKvqf9xFB
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) May 30, 2017
EXCLUSIVE Superstar songwriter Diane Warren is like the Susan Lucci of the Oscars in the Best Song category. She’s had 8 nominations. The last one was in 2016 with Lady Gaga for “Til It Happens to You” from “The Hunting Ground” documentary. She was robbed– I think– in favor of Sam Smith’s James Bond theme song from that year. (Sam who?)
Now Warren has a potential 9th nomination. I hear that Andra Day and Common have just recorded her new song, “Stand Up for Something,” for the movie about the arrest and trial of a wrongly accused black man in 1940 Connecticut. “Marshall” stars Josh Gad and Sterling K. Brown, with Chadwick Boseman as a young Thurgood Marshall and Kate Hudson as his accuser. Reginald Hudlin directed, and Open Road releases the film in October.
On the song, Day — who is hot as a pistol right now– recalls a young Aretha Franklin during the Jerry Wexler days in the 1960s. Common, who received an Oscar for his collaboration with John Legend on “Glory” from the movie “Selma,” gives the song a contemporary feel as well.
The whole production sounds like a monster radio hit. And it’s certainly timely these days as a protest song. I hope Warner Bros. Records gets the single out ahead of the movie. This isn’t Warren’s only possible Oscar entry this year– she also has Cher singing the title track from a documentary about Syrian children. (See below.)
Ariana Grande, manager Scooter Braun and Live Nation are planning one amazing show in Manchester this weekend.
Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber are among the acts already announced, as well as Usher, Coldplay, Take That and Niall Horan.
But two others are of major interest. The Black-Eyed Peas are included, but it’s unclear if Fergie will be part of their show. The Peas have been absent their lead singer for some time. Fergie, like many others, sent a message of condolence on Twitter after the Manchester tragedy. If she showed up with the group, that would make it extra special.
In the Manchester press they’re wondering also about local boys Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis. Apparently the Oasis song “Don’t Look Back in Anger” has turned into the city anthem since 22 people were killed on May 22 after Grande’s show. Locals are hoping that the brothers– notorious for fighting on stage and not speaking to each other at all– will put their petty differences aside for the occasion.
Meantime, most of the secondary ticket sellers who usually rip off fans are vowing not to allow sales for the show on their services. StubHub.com is among those who’ve said ‘no.’ The Manchester newspaper says they’re still waiting to hear from ViaGogo. Most importantly, Ticketmaster.com– owned by Live Nation– has vowed to keep it clean for this show.
The leader of the free world Tweeted this since midnight tonight. The internet is going wild. What does it mean? Did someone grab his phone from him mid Tweet? What is covfefe? What the hell is going on?
Despite the constant negative press covfefe
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017
Even though Kathy Griffin just apologized for posting a video of her hoisting Trump’s bloodied severed head, fellow-admiring comedienne Sarah Silverman thinks she has nothing to apologize for. “Kathy is a singular voice. She’s really funny and it won’t be news tomorrow. Kathy is a prolific storyteller. That’s part of who she is.”
Sarah was telling that at a Q & A, for her upcoming “A Speck Of Dust,” comedy special as part of Netflix’s FYSEE series in Beverly Hills, to court Emmy voters.
Sarah is unabashedly vocal about politics. “We are being bombarded by daily atrocities. I’m from New Hampshire; everyone tends to be involved with politics there. “ She says she can be so active “because I keep my overhead low.” When asked her childhood idols, she answered, “Woody Allen, Nichols and May, Albert Brooks, Robin Williams, his “Live At The Met,” album is just classic. Steve Martin, well he was my everything. I love smart and aggressively dumb. Artsy and fartsy. He embodies that. He pulls scarves out of his fly and he writes for the New Yorker.”
She then was asked about her recent health scare due to epiglottis, a blockage of the airway. She joked, “They had to tie my hands down, because I’d wake up and try to get the thing out of my throat. I really thought, because I was loaded with painkillers, that I was captured by ISIS.”
She recently received acting kudos for her acting turns on “Crashing,” as well as “Masters of Sex.” Is acting something she’ll do more of? “Well objectively, I’m really good at it. I like to dip my toe in it, long as it doesn’t get in the way of stand up.” She continued, “I’m a comedian and comedians want everyone to love them. That’s our sickness. Her theory is not to question it. “I think comedy dies in the second guessing.”
Silverman also quoted writer Charlie Kaufman as a mantra she adheres too. “Failure is a badge of honor. It means you risked failure. And if you don’t risk failure, you’re never going to do anything that’s different from what you’ve already done or what somebody else has done.” Savvy Sarah then noted, “I’ve never been for everyone. I’ve had to be comfortable with that. “
Scott Pelley is out as anchor of the CBS Evening News starting now. Page Six reported that this would happen back in December, and today it became a fait accompli.
Age has a lot to do with it– Pelley is turning 60 right now. His vast experience and excellence as a journalist weren’t enough to keep him in the anchor chair. But he gets the consolation prize of “60 Minutes.”
Ratings were a problem. His show ranks third behind Lester Holt, who’s younger and very good, and David Muir, who is on ABC.
Pelley’s replacement for the near future will be Anthony Mason. But he’s “old,” too. CBS News obviously wants to skew younger at 6:30pm. I’ve said before that Jeff Glor is probably their choice, but who knows?
Pelley’s show is so well written and executed, I’m sorry it’s not doing better. It’s my favorite of the three shows. But then again, I am not in the Muir demo. I enjoy really well made news shows. You can listen to Pelley on the radio– CBS Network– at 6:30pm and you don’t miss the visuals. It’s usually that evocative.
With the end of Pelley really comes the end of the great CBS News tradition. Bob Schieffer is still kicking around. But the Murrow generations are now long gone. Remember when Walter Cronkite was trusted because he had the age and experience? Haha. Those days are over.
Pelley, I should note, went after Donald Trump and his circus clowns hard over the last few months. Maybe because he knew his days were numbered, Pelley eviscerated Trump on some nights– the way Cronkite and Rather used to take on Nixon. He did an absolutely great job and should be commended. He will be missed at 6:30.
I just came from seeing Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman.” And like the reviews have said so far, it’s Wonderful.
Frankly, you wonder exactly why it took so long to get a good DC Comics movie.
“Wonder Woman” offers a surprise for DC Comics fans, too: a new opening logo for the DC Universe. It’s not been seen before, and all the DC super heroes are in it. It’s a good omen for this fall’s “Justice League.”
Also, in a very minimal way, “Wonder Woman” offers the idea of Bruce Wayne as the Tony Stark of the DC Universe. This is a non spoiler: we don’t see Bruce or Batman, but their presence is felt. And it’s a nice nod.
What can I say that you haven’t already read? First I think “Wonder Woman” is a hit because it’s fresh. We know the stories of Superman, Batman, even Spider Man, by heart. How many times can you hear them? But this story of Diana Prince and her origins? It’s cleanly told, not confusing, very human, tugs at heart strings, seems modern and yet has the feel of a well made film. It’s got a very Spielberg-Lucas feel to it as well. Jenkins got very analog. The movie’s in the woods, there’s a lot of Earth, the relationships are detailed and the dialogue bounces like the first two “Indiana Jones” movies.
And then: there’s Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. She’s the star of the year in this movie. For Pine, this is a breakout, far from Captain Kirk. For the first time, he’s given something to chew on besides a Tribble. He’s got a very Harrison Ford-y thing going on. They’re a good team. From now on, Gadot in Hebrew will mean “thank god.” She is stunning.
“Wonder Woman” will be a franchise. The question is, can Jenkins keep it economical like this and not let studio tendencies blow the sequels to smithereens. Please, no crazy cameos from celebs or extraneous people. (Lynda Carter is allowed, yes.) But otherwise the simplicity of this “Wonder Woman” is what makes it tick. Warner Bros. is saved from the agonies of “King Arthur.”