Yeesh. Warner Bros. has moved Baz Luhrmann’s 3D version of “The Great Gatsby” out of Oscar contention. It’s going to come out in Summer 2013 instead of this Christmas. This means a few things. One is that “Gatsby” is a mess and has no place at the Oscars. Two, Christopher Nolan is insisting on an all out push for ‘The Dark Knight Rises” and doesn’t want “Gatsby” in his way. Or both. And I’ll tell you what: Nolan would be right. With ten films up for Best Picture, I would back “The Dark Knight Rises” for the 10th spot, and Nolan for Best Director. Why not? This is no different than “Lord of the Rings.” WB should go all out for him.

As for “Gatsby”: the trailer looked horrifying. Leo looked horrified in it. Luhrmann has turned F. Scott Fitzgerald’s epic of class distinction into a pop up book about the Roaring 20s. Releasing it in the summer is like saying. We don’t know what do, so on top of “Superman” we’re going to slide this one by you. Too bad. DiCaprio misses a chance at Best Actor. But at least he can go up for Supporting in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained.” And that’s good news, because– like Cate Blanchett in “The Aviator”–he’s guaranteed that win. The Academy knows how hard he’s worked. So other Best Supporting Actors mau have to accept this. It’s good news and bad news for everyone except F. Scott Fitzgerald, who could never catch a break in Hollywood.

“The Dark Knight Rises” is finally shaking off the box office blues it suffered in the aftermath of the Aurora tragedy. While it doesn’t make up for the  human losses, it also has nothing do with them. But “TDKR” wasn’t getting the expected audiences because people feared going to the theatres. Not so much anymore. Over this weekend, the Christopher Nolan film made $36 million, ten million more than the second place finisher, the remake of “Total Recall.” “TDKR” is finally getting on track, and people who were nervous are coming to see it.

Meanwhile, Oliver Stone’s “Savages” is doing very well for Universal. The film has made $46 million and isn’t done. It’s Stone’s biggest non-sequel hit in a long time. Universal’s already had a great year with “Ted” and “The Lorax.” The new owners of Universal should keep that mind if they think replacing Ron Meyer is a good idea. The most solid studio exec in the business–and the best liked–knows how to ride out down cycles and come up with good ones. I’m just sayin’….

Oprah’s OWN Network is a pretty public failure. No one’s watching it, and I frankly have no idea where it is. The Discovery Network is trying to figure out how to save OWN. So what does Oprah do? She takes her “team” to Barbados and posts a picture of it on Instagram. Even better the six people seated around the table are eating enough food for 20 people at some kind of beautiful villa. There’s an Instagram of the brunch spread, too. How utterly decadent! Oprah fiddles while Rome burns. How will the other people at OWN and Discovery enjoy this photo?

Meanwhile, Oprah did indeed have Mickey Singer on and told the world how much she loves his book, “The Untethered Soul.” She mentions that he was indicted and lets Singer get away with saying he was innocent and that all the charges were dropped. Not so simple, Mickey. Singer paid a $2.5 million fine to the government in a settlement. Two defendants had their charges dismissed over a lapsed statute of limitations. Singer used the best lawyers money could buy to defeat local Florida prosecutors.

I found OWN on my iPad thanks to the Time Warner app. Super Soul Sunday was very enlightening. But I’d rather listen to real Super Soul Sunday on WBLS when Debi Jackson plays an afternoon of super soul classics. And she plays them with conviction!

I don’t know how she does it: it was only six years ago that Oprah Winfrey was touting new age nut Eckhart Tolle as the all time genius of the world. He was her spiritual mentor. Winfrey actually ran podcasts and internet classes with the guy who has since quietly vanished from the spotlight. Now, maybe because she’s in her own personal crisis with her OWN network, Oprah is pushing a new guru. (She still hawks Marianne Williamson.) This guy is named Michael Singer, author of a book called “The Untethered Soul.”

But Michael Singer is indeed better known in his hometown of Alachua, Florida as Mickey Singer. And in 2005 he was indicted in a massive government fraud case against his company Medical Manager Health Systems, which was an offshoot of WebMD. http://www.gainesville.com/article/20051216/LOCAL/212160339 Singer was accused with nine others of inflating Medical Manager Health Systems profits, and of conspiring to launder money.

Two years after the indictment, Singer donated $100,000 of new computer software to the Alachua Police Department. By the time the case was over in 2010, Singer settled with the government by paying a $2.5 million settlement. The government dropped all charges. Singer acknowledged that the accounting practices of his company were illegal but–according to the agreement hammered out between his powerful Washington DC lawyers from Baker Botts and local Florida prosecutors–didn’t know it was taking place at the time. http://tinyurl.com/c9u3y4m

Later, the people actually convicted by the government had their verdicts overturned based on a lapsed statute of limitations. http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100303/articles/3031013

Now Singer will appear on Oprah’s Sunday Soul show this weekend on OWN. After his long adventure with the government, Singer–who was an early software multi-millionaire in the medical systems field–became a guru. He started something called the Temple of the Universe outside of Gainesville, Florida. He has lots of followers, but I’m not sure you could call it an actual cult. Temple of the Universe is registered with the IRS as a religion and has non profit tax status. But they’ve filed no public papers about their finances. They don’t even come up on Charity Navigator. But Singer is selling books and CDs and conducting new age classes and lectures.

Odds are Oprah will not be asking him about all this other stuff on Sunday’s show.

(republished from earlier this week)

Esther Kartiganer, the beloved and long standing producer and sort of “show runner” of “60 Minutes” during its heyday died on August 1st age 74. According to a report in the Brandeis University newsletter, Esther succumbed to a heart attack on a chairlift in Aspen, where she had a second home. I met Esther around 1983. She was sort of the unofficial show runner of “60 Minutes” and worked for Don Hewitt alongside such other CBS veterans as Shirley and Joe Wershba. This was during the time when “60 Minutes” was the only prime time news show, and when anything that happened on it changed lives and rocked our worlds. Esther was a serious journalist who took Don Hewitt and Mike Wallace’s business seriously. She was a true professional and a great friend when I was a book publicist in the 1980s and later when I’d pitch ideas to her just for fun. Here’s the Brandeis link. Condolences to her family, and to her friend Geri who at least paid for a proper posting in the New York Times. CBS News should take out a full page ad for Esther Kartiganer. She was their wise owl and loyal soldier. http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2012/august/kartiganer.html