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At first I thought the new promo for the “Melania” movie was a tribute to Timothee Chalamet.
Remember when Timmy was standing on top of the Sphere in Las Vegas to promote “Marty Supreme”?
The new “Melania” video starts out like that, using the Sphere as a projection of clips from the upcoming infomercial.
But take a look below. Isn’t it really a sly reference to Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West spying on Oz through her looking glass? Congrats to MGM/Amazon marketing. Very clever!
PS It could also be a gesture to her planet of origin, or her original spaceship. Same as the one that dropped Stephen Miller here…
CBS News PR — I mean, their whole world has been turned upside down by the new regime.
To promote their embrace of Trump dog killer Kristi Noem, they actually boasted about the interview having “15 million views on TikTok.”
I think they’re barking up the wrong tree. “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan as usual did her superlative job getting egg on Noem’s heavily made up face. LOL.
Meanwhile, the PR department lost its mind screaming that Monday’s installment of the CBS Evening News brought in 6.8 million viewers — the largest showing since 2021.
They failed to mention that on Monday, ABC’s World News Tonight scored over 10 million viewers — also a high watermark.
And why? For one thing, Trump was threatening to invade Greenland on Monday. Also, more importantly, NBC’s competing news show was pre-empted by dog races or something. There was no show. So NBC News viewers scattered out to try different shows. We’ll see what the rest of this week looked like with order restored.
CBS News chief Bari Weiss’s wife, Nellie Owens, isn’t in the tank with Trump after all.
Nellie Bowles openly mocks Trump’s Bored of Peace today in The Free Press, the conservative rag bought by CBS for $150 million to be added to the Ellisons’ pro-Trump agenda.
Good for Nellie. The Bored of Peace, she reveals, is just a $1 billion per membership club for autocrats.
Owens writes: “Does it include Trump golf club memberships? Gift bags? Is it just that you get invited to Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff’s text chain? All we know for sure is that it costs $1 billion for a permanent seat on the Trump Board of Peace, which is just a little less than your average private K–8 school board seat.”
The Pope says he’s thinking over his invitation to join. His spokesman said: “I believe it will be something that requires a bit of time for consideration before giving a response.” (It’s not happening.)
Would the Bored of Peace replace the United Nations? Owens isn’t sure. She says of the venerated organization, “I’m not sure I would replace it with the team behind the Trump Steak of the Month club and such, but no one else is offering.”
I might add: Mayor Mamdani may have other ideas. All that beautiful potential affordable housing on the East Side! Because you know the Bored of Peace HQ will be on a Trump property.
Owens also takes aim at Jared Kushner’s proposed map of Trump Gaza. She writes: “What is this, a clothing website I almost bought something from two years ago?”
The story of the stars of “Heated Rivalry” is unrivaled for its explosive nature.
Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie were unknown to everyone except their families two months ago.
The series — a kind of gay hockey Hallmark miniseries — dropped on HBO Max on November 28th.
Since then, the show and the actors have experienced a kind of Beatlemania. They just did a press tour that caused intense pandemonium among their viewers. They’re walking runways, chatting with Jimmy Fallon, and giving opinions on every topic.
Now they’re going to carry the Olympic torch in Milan, Italy on February 6th, the night the Winter Olympics in Milan, Cortina begin. The ceremony will be broadcast on NBC, which is no doubt popping Champagne corks.
Can these guys even skate? It seems like the show I watched was all cutaways.
You’d think “Heated Rivalry” had been on the air since September. But they only had a six episode season. A second season is not shooting yet. How will these actors, who’ve become overnight sensations, return to their show with straight faces? Will the show be able to continue, or will fans be disappointed by the next go ’round.
We’ll see what happens next. (Think “Yellowstone.”)
PS The instrumental soundtrack to the show, by someone called Peter Peter, is number 14 on iTunes! TV tie-ins rarely produce original musical hits, and not instrumental. What is this?
The new Harry Styles single is a little odd, a droning EDM disco confection that brings new meaning to “lethargic.”
“Aperture” barely has a tune or a melody or hook. It sounds as if disco legend Giorgio Moroder made a single for the Ambien crowd.
Will “Aperture” be a hit in clubs? Maybe, with remixes. But the crowd may also doze off. It’s also not radio friendly, if that matters.
Is “Aperture” — which really should have been called “We Belong Together” — a taste of what’s to come with Harry’s new album?
Also, is there an actual instrument used to create this sound? Or is it just AI?
Harry is doing a 7 city residency tour this spring, with a massive 30 performances at Madison Square Garden and nowhere else in the US. If you want to see him, you’ve got to come here.
He also has six shows at Wembley Stadium in London, and stops in Amsterdam, Sao Paolo, Mexico City, Melbourne and Sydney. The best known opening acts are Shania Twain, and Robyn.
So here is “Aperture,” which is no “Watermelon Sugar.” All that walking around London and Rome and this what we get:
Saturday Night Live has definitely lost ratings steam this year.
After a big opening in October, the show dropped to an average of around 4.1 million for the all season..
The only really bright spot was the Christmas show with Ariana Grande and Cher. Ratings shot up to 5.4 million.
But this past Saturday’s return for the winter session saw a collapse from that high. “Stranger Things” star Finn Wolfhard and musical guest ASAP Rocky brought in just that 4.1 million again.
Upcoming shows with Teyana Taylor and Geese, and Alexander Skarsgard and Cardi B, don’t promise much improvement.
Frankly, Saturday’s episode was a snooze. The first segment after the monologue was incomprehensible. I guess Sabrina Carpenter was featured, but no one over 12 would hasve known from her costume as a kid, to whatever it was they were talking about.
“SNL” isn’t getting the message on the music, either. I know Geese is getting a lot of marketing push, but no one knows who they are. They haven’t had a hit yet. The show needs to bring on acts with some name recognition. That’s why Cher’s show did so well.
Any of these sketches should have come right after the monologue.
The first past of Judd Apatow’s Mel Brooks documentary begins tonight on HBO.
It’s a winner, of course. How could it not be? At 99, Mel Brooks is a wonder of the western world. A comedy genius, director, writer, performer, and mensch.
Apatow and pals couldn’t go wrong even if they tried. But they got it all right, especially with a lot of new interview material with Brooks, who knows how to tell his life story.
Part 1 is punctuated by an interview with Rob Reiner, son of Brooks’s best friend, Carl. Rob says he met Mel at age four, which makes his murder last month all the more upsetting.
There are a lot of home movies and clips of Brooks’s interviews over the years. He’s very honest about being an absent husband to his first wife, and having very low career moments until “The Producers” in 1968 brought him an Oscar. It opened the door to all his success in the 70s and 80s.
Yes, there’s plenty of material about “Get Smart.” And I’m thrilled they used some of Mel on the David Suskind show talking about Jewish mothers. A classic comedy moment.
Stay tuned, because Part 2 airs Friday night, also not to be missed.
The two parts feature new interviews with Brooks himself, as well as the comedians he has inspired including Ben Stiller, Jerry Seinfeld, Adam Sandler, Nick Kroll, Patton Oswalt, Dave Chappelle, Conan O’Brien, Josh Gad, Jimmy Kimmel, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, and Tracey Ullman; filmmakers Rob Reiner, Robert Townsend, Peter Farrelly, Jerry & David Zucker, Barry Levinson, and David Lynch; actors Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Cary Elwes, Matthew Broderick, and Nathan Lane; Brooks’ children Stefanie, Nicolas, Eddie, and Max; and granddaughter Samantha.
Today’s Oscar nominations may be more important than you know.
Jacob Elordi, just 28, got his first nod, for “Frankenstein.”
The Australian born star of TV’s “Euphoria” has taken off like a rocket.
Now, with this nomination, he moves up to top of the list of candidates to play James Bond.
He’d be the youngest 007 ever. But that’s what the new producers of Bond want — youth.
Elordi would bring a huge following of a new generation of Bond fans, too. Very shortly, he’ll be on screen with Margot Robbie in quote unquote Wuthering Heights, directed by Emerald Fennell. After scorching the earth in Fennell’s “Saltburn,” Elordi has vaulted to the top of the under 30 stars. See the trailer below.
Rumors are Elordi’s had meetings with the producers and director Denis Villeneuve. With the Oscar nod, “Wuthering Heights,” and “Euphoria,” watch this space for news.
Let’s see if he’s shaken, or stirred!
PS Choice for new James Bond singer– I’d vote for Olivia Dean, no debate.
Sydney Sweeney is going where no actress has gone before.
She’s going to star in a film version of Edith Wharton’s 1913 novel, “The Custom of the Country.” Sweeney will play the aggressively ambitious and unlikable Undine Spragg, a force of nature on the page but so far not translatable to screen or stage.
This is the same novel that was going to be adapted by Sofia Coppola for Apple TV with Florence Pugh in the lead — until the studio pulled the plug.
Josie Rourke, whose only film credit is the panned box office dud “Mary, Queen of Scots,” is the director. Producers include Alison Owen (1998’s Elizabeth”) and British movie publicist Charles Finch.
The only successful Wharton film adaptation has been Martin Scorsese’s 1993 hit, “The Age of Innocence,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder. All other attempts to put Wharton on the big screen have failed, and no one has made “Custom of the Country.”
Also, in the 114 years since the novel was published, Broadway has also not welcomed any productions.
It’s unclear if anyone’s mentioned that to Sweeney, who also hasn’t had any experience with period pieces. She’s coming off two recent releases right now, “The Housemaid,” and “Christy.” She’ll next be seen in season 3 of HBO’s “Euphoria.”
In the old days you could actually imagine some wild, bawdy take on “Custom of the Country,” made by Ken Russell. How this will work out is anyone’s guess.
