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Donald Trump Forgets All His Ghost Writers and Co-Authors

Roger Friedman
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Donald Trump Forgets All His Ghost Writers and Co-Authors

Donald Trump is starting to make me worry–about him. Always boastful, he never sounded really nuts. But since this run for the presidency thing started, he’s sounding more and more like Charlie Sheen–wired, manic, and not in possession of the facts. On Fox News, he announced to Sean Hannity, “I’ve written a lot of bestsellers, including the Art of the Deal. I know something about writing”–as he declared that neither Barack Obama nor Ernest Hemingway wrote their own books.

Uh, Donald forgets: Tony Schwartz wrote Donald’s real bestseller, “The Art of the Deal,” in 1988. Meredith McIver wrote several of the others including “How to Get Rich,” “Think Success,” “Trump 101,” and so on. Every single book published by Donald Trump and listed on amazon has a co-author’s name right on its cover–it’s not like Trump was trying to hide it. Only book, a collection of aphorisms from other business people–lists Trump solo.

So what’s going on? Why is Trump just getting more and more manic, and why isn’t Roger Ailes putting a cap on it? Is it ratings? Because it’s not making any sense, from the birth certificate stuff to this. If only Trump could be in a debate with Hemingway at his peak–a little time travel debate. I’d like to hear Donald ask Ernest for his birth certificate!

Charlie Sheen Tells Toronto Audience He Wants to Drop Lawsuit

Roger Friedman
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Charlie Sheen Tells Toronto Audience He Wants to Drop Lawsuit

Charlie Sheen‘s second show in Toronto is sounding pretty interesting. According to Twitter reports from Canadian student @Brent Stapleton: from the show, he’s told the audience that he wants to drop his lawsuit against CBS and go back to work. Sheen is starting to sound desperate, maybe because of CBS and Warner Bros.’s public stance against him. He’s also told the audience that he’s in a fight with brother Emilio Estevez. As for his old buddy Tom Cruise: “Too bad he worships the Church of the Martian Idiot.” It’s interesting to see the reaction of the crowd through Twitter. One poster, called Sixquick M Weathers, writes: “Boy talk about fake #CharlieSheen done talked all this smack and now he trying 2 get his gig back. What a chump”

The audience is on to him. If Sheen surrenders and somehow manages to talk his way back into his job, where does that leave all these people who spent all this money to support him rebellion? Nowhere I guess.

Other bon mots lobbed tonight: Kelly Preston, the girlfriend whom he accidentally shot years ago–“I didn’t shoot her. She had an accident with a gun in my pants.”

Earlier in the day, Sheen staged an impromptu march in downtown Toronto from his hotel to support people with Bi Polar disorder. He has denied being bi polar, but many experts and psychiatrists have said his actions are consistent with the disorder. Who knows? Maybe Sheen is thinking he’ll admit the condition and beg forgiveness based on that, thanks to Catherine Zeta Jones‘s brave statement this week. It’s worth a try, certainly.

Does Sally Field’s New Job Mean the End of “Brothers & Sisters”?

Roger Friedman
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Does Sally Field’s New Job Mean the End of “Brothers & Sisters”?

Does Sally Field know something we don’t? After years of speculation, she’s finally accepted the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in Steven Spielberg‘s film about the 16th president. Daniel Day Lewis will star as Honest Abe.

It’s a major role, and not one that can be performed without focus and attendance for a two time Oscar winner. Yet, Sally is the star of ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters,” a once great soapy series now slowly dissolving before our eyes. “Lincoln” shoots this fall, right in the middle of the next TV season. Sally wouldn’t be able to do both jobs unless she can ask James Cameron for an avatar. So what gives? Insiders say she has no knowledge about the renewal of “Brothers & Sisters.” But the show, after watching an episode last week, has run its course.

More or less gone are several cast members including Calista Flockhart, Balthazar Getty, Emily van Camp and Patricia Wettig. The show has also lost its main storyline–the Walker family owned Ojai Foods, a produce distributor, and a vineyard. There was also the ongoing saga of secrets discovered in the Walker family when their patriarch suddenly died.

All of that is history. The episode I watched the other day, about the family’s grandmother dying, was so awful I wondered if anyone had actually written it or if the actors were just given an improv. In a strange way, “B&S” was just a long mini series, with one main idea that really resolved itself a while ago. It’s time to pull the plug. I think ABC knows it, and Sally Field–a true showbiz survivor–probably senses it, too.

Christine Baranski Gets the “Times” Treatment this Sunday

Roger Friedman
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Christine Baranski Gets the “Times” Treatment this Sunday

Wow! To kick off a new monthly profile column in the New York Times Style section, Cathy Horyn has chosen Christine Baranski as her first subject. Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/3ejukdf. Horyn is always good, and gets right into why Baranski is so terrific whether it’s on TV, stage, or screen. She did miss a couple of important things, though: Baranski’s watershed moment in films came when she played Andrea Reynolds, the lover of Claus von Bulow, in “Reversal of Fortune.” There’s a scene–rent this movie–where Isles and von Bulow are interviewing Alan Dershowitz (played so memorably and beautifully by the late Ron Silver). It’s an epic moment, as Baranski gets the joke–she always does–and steals the scene from Ron and Jeremy Irons. Cool stuff. Also, she’s downplayed the acting career of Baranski’s husband, Matthew Cowles. As “All My Children” is being canceled, they might recall their most famous villain, the pimp Billy Clyde Tuggle. Cowles made a lasting impression in the 1970s as this nefarious character. With today’s media, Billy Clyde would have been a superstar. “AMC” should bring him back at least once (even if he’s dead). But it’s a nice piece about Baranski, who deserves all the kudos she can get.

Sting’s Sing Shot Made Him Extra Lusty for Wife Trudie

Roger Friedman
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Sting’s Sing Shot Made Him Extra Lusty for Wife Trudie

Big week for Sting and Trudie Styler: they were honored, along with Bill Clinton, Wednesday night by the Riverkeeper Foundation. On Tuesday night, Sting joined James Taylor, Bette Midler and other stars in an anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall. That should be enough, right?

Last night Sting joined Elton John at a private concert in the Waldorf Astoria Ballroom for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The show was so sold out, people were eating dinner in the corridors. The group raised over $4 million. The whole room — the ballroom was the most crowded I’ve ever seen it for a charity event–got a kick out of that including Ms. Styler herself who was sitting with Elton John, David Furnish, Ingrid Sischy, Sandi Brandt, Donna Karan, Evelyn and Leonard Lauder (who PS run this whole thing so well), and Dr. Larry Norton of Sloane Kettering Memorial.

Sir Elton, who had invited Sting, opened the show solo on piano magnificently with “Your Song,” “Tiny Dancer,” and “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues.”

Then came Sting, suffering from a cold– too many nights out this week, it seems. On the stage Sting made an admission. Suffering from a cold, he told the audience he’d gotten a shot to help his voice. “I don’t know if it’s helped, but I’m horny as hell. Trudie,” he advised his beautiful actress-activist wife, “get ready!”

Styler, who’s used to this by now, blushed.

Sting sang three songs–“Englishman in New York,” “Fields of Gold,” “Desert Rose”–the latter with about two dozen of the best dressed women in New York faux belly-dancing with him.

Also on call for the splashy night: Paul Shaffer and wife Cathy, Matthew Settle and Kelly Rutherford from “Gossip Girl,” Deborah Norville, actress Abigail Breslin, who turned 15 last night and is growing up beautifully. Before the show I ran into the night’s emcee, Elizabeth Hurley, who I spoke to about her great friendship with former boyfriend, Hugh Grant. “We actually do live two houses away from each other,” she told me. “Hugh gets along very well with Damien,” her nine year old son, Hurley said. But Grant doesn’t babysit. “I don’t think he’s meant to be along with small children.” No–that’s just for comedies like “About a Boy.”

A great night–and Evelyn Lauder told two actual jokes from the stage to cover the change over from Elton to Sting. Finally she asked, “How much will you pay for me not to do another joke?” Funny!

Now Elton gets ready for his big April 20th show to kick off the Tribeca Film Festival. Trudie is developing a remake of “The Harder They Come,” with the daughter of the original director, and Sting continues writing songs for the Broadway adaptation of “The Soul Cages.” He also plays a fan club show at the Apollo Theater in two weeks. If I were you, I’d join that fan club now!

Hey Charlie Sheen: You’ll Be Replaced by a Different Character, New Actor

Roger Friedman
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Hey Charlie Sheen: You’ll Be Replaced by a Different Character, New Actor

Ok, Charlie Sheen continues to bomb away on his tour. Yesterday, lawyers for Warner Bros. sent him a letter saying there was no chance Sheen was coming back to “Two a Half Men.” Not happening. Sheen’s lawyer, Marty Singer, countered that was “ridiculous” and there have been talks. Hmmm…My sources say that Warner’s, CBS, and Chuck Lorre are cooking up a replacement character and talking to new actors.

It won’t be easy, but come July, when the show resumes shooting, my guess is that Jon Cryer will open the door to a long lost brother or cousin. An explanation? “Charlie’s in Alaska at a sex colony.” End of story. Yes, “Bewitched” changed Darrins. More recently, Shannen Doherty was replaced by Rose McGowan on “Charmed.” She was a new sister. Shannen’s character was never mentioned again. On a cult show called “Unhappily Ever After,” they killed off the mom and turned her into a ghost. Characters on shows like “ER” and “NYPD Blue” were killed off and replaced quite often. The question is now — who will be cast? An existing star? An up-and-comer? A new face?

Charlie doesn’t seem to be getting the message. The tour was a bust last night in Toronto, with more booing and boozing. With every new appearance comes the declining chance that CBS will take him back. Stop now, before it’s really too late.

New York Soaps: Fifty Years Comes to an End

Roger Friedman
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New York Soaps: Fifty Years Comes to an End

ABC’s terrible decision to cancel both “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” brings to an end fifty years of soaps in New York. “OLTL” was the last. “AMC” had been moved sixteen months ago to Los Angeles. At one time, they were here along with several Procter & Gamble shows like “Another World” and its spinoffs, as well as “As the World Turns,” “Guiding Light,” and “Edge of Night,” “Search for Tomorrow.” ABC also had “Ryan’s Hope,” “The City,” and “Loving.” There was also “The Doctors” on NBC, from Colgate Palmolive.

Now, like “Playhouse 90” and other relics of early television, they are all gone. It’s a massive blow to the city’s economy and to the casts and crews of all those shows. Daytime dramas were breeding grounds for hundreds of actors who went on to prime time and Broadway. At the same the shows also provided steady incomes to the veteran actors, directors, etc who kept the business going. Soap actors often turned up in Broadway shows, and vice versa: the best acting on soaps came from theater. That’s what made the New York soaps a cut above the ones from Los Angeles.

Even now, soap actors are planted all over Broadway. For example: Michael Park of “As the World Turns” is starring in “How to Succeed in Business.” Kerry Butler, from “One Life to Live,” is a lead in “Catch Me If You Can.” The loss of the soaps, as well as “Law & Order,” isn’t good for New York, and it sure ain’t good for the viewers. Shame on ABC.

“War Horse” Comes to Broadway, Pulls Our Strings

Roger Friedman
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0
“War Horse” Comes to Broadway, Pulls Our Strings

Michael Morpurgo‘s “War Horse” comes to Broadway tonight so highly marketed that the hype is almost scarier than World War I. A monster hit in London, and a movie to be released directed by Steven Spielberg, “War Horse” has numerous YouTube videos and other materials ready to shock and awe us. Some of it is correct, and some of it is not.

At Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, “War Horse” is a stunning spectacle, a theatrical experience like nothing else. It is very Cirque du Soleil. I can’t remember a play I’ve seen with a full musical score, singers, special effects in sound and lighting that just knock you out. If no one ever spoke in “War Horse” you’d get the message: war is hell. Animals are our friends.

And there are the horses. The Handspring Puppet Company is the Mummenshanz of 2011. They bring these wild horses to life in a way no one’s ever seen on stage or in film. You see, “War Horse” is the story of Timmy and Lassie, or rather, Albert and Joey. It’s the beginning of WWI in Britain. Albert has trained Joey, a semi-racehorse, brought him up on his parents’ poor farm. But then war beckons, and Joey is drafted into service. Soon, Albert follows, determined to bring Joey home. Through the horse’s eyes we see the grim horrors of the war in France.

While Albert, who is just a teen, goes on his adventure, Joey is ultimately rescued by a German soldier who recognizes he’s not just an average horse. This buys Albert time to find Joey, because as the war dwindles down the horse is in poor health. On top of that, Albert is temporarily blinded.

Aside from the visual and audio, some terrific performances by Peter Hermann as the German soldier, Seth Numrich as Albert, Alyssa Bresnahan as Albert’s mum, and Boris McGiver as his sad Dad. The 35 member ensemble is excellent. But nothing prepares you for the beauty of the horses, or how the Handspring Company makes them come to life. It’s extraordinary.

However: The Tony Award goes to the Best Play, not the best theatrical attraction, so I wonder what will happen with “War Horse.” The play is very simple, and nearly as textured or wrought as “Good People.” It may not matter; “War Horse” is galloping toward us even as we speak. Somehow, it has to win all the awards just to satisfy the sound and fury that’s preceded it.

ABC Daytime: Now the Audience Replaces the Actors

Roger Friedman
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ABC Daytime: Now the Audience Replaces the Actors

In the end, Agnes Nixon lives to see her work extinguished by ABC. She’s like the last victim of daytime TV. ABC announced today they’d take the low road and knock off both “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” ABC Daytime’s Brian Frons took the cue from CBS and Procter & Gamble, which snuffed “As the World Turns” and “Guiding Light” in the last two years.

The era of the soap opera is just about over. Only four shows will remain–“Young and the Restless” and “The Bold and the Beautiful” on CBS, “Days of our Lives,” and “General Hospital” on ABC. It’s all being replaced by talk and scripted “reality,” cheap to produce, more inane to watch than a soap, with no redeeming qualities.

The day will come pretty soon when the entire audience will have replaced the actors who were on TV–it’s like breaking the fourth wall entirely. Why watch the show when you can be the show? Fifty years of brand loyalties are being thrown out, too, because the shows that are coming–about cooking and lifestyle–are interchangeable. They’ll be canceled quickly, new ones will take their places, over and over.

The writing was on the wall when ABC announced the end of SoapNet, their cable rerun operation. The network knew then that daytime was about to be scrapped. Moving “All My Children” to Los Angeles and destabilizing the show was the way to erode the audience–just the way CBS hollowed out “Guiding Light” by moving it outdoors into the snow, ice, rain and no studios. Whoever gives these people management advice deserves a gold star.

The silver lining? People will watch less TV in the afternoon. They’ll work, and if they don’t have work they’ll find other things to do. No one watches “The Talk” on CBS, and no one will watch any of this stuff, too. It’s just blather to fill time.

Mel Gibson-Jodie Foster “Beaver” Showing in Cannes Out of Competition

Roger Friedman
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Mel Gibson-Jodie Foster “Beaver” Showing in Cannes Out of Competition

Jodie Foster‘s “The Beaver” starring Mel Gibson will be shown out of competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. It’s one of four films to be shown that way, including Rob Marshall‘s “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and two non English language films.

This should be some controversy as Gibson–Public Enemy No. 1 in Hollywood–goes for his biggest attempt at a comeback. The Summit release opens in the US on May 20th, so the Cannes publicity is sure to help what could have been a disastrous opening weekend. This has to have been a very difficult decision for the festival’s programmer, Thierry Fremaux. But at least it’s out of competition–in a strange twist, Robert DeNiro is this year’s head of the jury. DeNiro would be sympathetic to old friend Foster, who starred with him when she was a child in “Taxi Driver.”

On the other hand, DeNiro left the production of Gibson’s last movie, “Edge of Darkness,” two days into work. He had gone on record then against Gibson’s anti-Semitic remarks and other scandals–preceding Gibson’s next scandal, with girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva.

The rest of the news from Cannes this morning was expected: all the films I mentioned yesterday, including Pedro Almodovar‘s “The Skin I Live In,” are in competition. Some other interesting choices include: Lynne Ramsay’s “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” with Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly; Paolo Sorrentino’s “This Must Be the Place,” with Sean Penn and Frances McDormand (based on my favorite Talking Heads song); Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia,” with Kirsten Dunst and Kiefer Sutherland; and Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Bryan Cranston.

In the Director’s Fortnight, aka Un Certain Regard, only one film from the Sundance Film Festival made the cut: Sean Durkin’s very well done “Martha Marcy May Marlene” with breakout star Elizabeth Olsen, sister of the twins Mary Kate and Ashley.

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