Support independent journalism, free from the trades and other publications that are part of the tinsel town machine.
For 12 years, Showbiz411.com has been covering Hollywood, Broadway, the music business and the business of celebrity. Ads are our main source of funding, but contributions (not tax exempt) from readers who enjoy the scoops, exclusives, and fact based reports are always welcome and very appreciated. To inquire about ads, email us at showbiz411@gmail.com.
The Golden Globes special last Thursday night was a ratings bust.
“Golden Eve,” the Globes equivalent of the Oscars Governors Awards, had just 2 million viewers.
The special was beaten by the “Law & Order” shows, as well as “911 Rescue,” and a new NBC show called “The Hunting Party.”
The only show it beat was “Greys Anatomy,” which is going to be canceled any minute.
The Golden Eve special featured tributes to Helen Mirren and Sarah Jessica Parker by, respectively, Harrison Ford and Matthew Broderick.
What else was on the show? I didn’t even know it was on. The Globes never sent a single press release and did little promotion. And then, on last night’s actual Golden Globes, there was no mention of this taking place.
The pending arrest of “thirtysomething” star Timothy Busfield is already causing a ripple effect.
Busfield — who’s under an arrest warrant for sexual abuse of two little boys on a TV show set — was supposed to play judge Thursday on “Law and Order SVU.” Now the episode has been pulled and will be replaced by the one that’s banked. We may never see the episode called “Corrosive.”
The ironies are incredible considering “SVU” is about sexual predators. Busfield is now alleged to be one.
At the same time, Busfield’s wife, Melissa Gilbert, was supposed to host a breast cancer research fundraiser in New York on Saturday, March 14th. The press releases went out before the news about Busfield.
But now Gilbert’s name has been removed from the ThinkPink.com website that still includes musical performances by Melissa Errico, Bernadette Peters, Christine Ebersole, and Denyce Graves.
As for the case, it all came to light in late 2024 when a University of New Mexico Hospital doctor contacted the Albuquerque Police Department regarding a “sexual abuse investigation” involving twin child actors who are brothers born in 2014.
The inappropriate behavior allegedly occurred on the New Mexico set of the Fox/Warner Bros TV drama series, “The Cleaning Lady.” Busfield is executive producer and director.
Busfield, 68, is innocent unless proven guilty, of course. But the mere taint of the accusations and arrest warrant have dealt him and Gilbert a devastating blow. Gilbert and Busfield have each been married a couple of times. He has three adult children.
This isn’t Busfield’s first trouble with the law over charges of sexual abuse. According to Wikipedia, In 1994, a 17-year-old female extra accused Busfield of sexual assault during the filming of Little Big League in 1993. Busfield denied the allegations and filed a countersuit against the girl’s lawyers, accusing them of defamation. The actor eventually settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. In 1996, a judge ordered the actor to pay $150,000 to the Minneapolis law firm that had represented the accuser following the loss of his defamation suit.
EXCLUSIVE The seating at the Golden Globes Warner Bros table was more than a little interesting.
Right between Warner Discovery Chairman David Zaslav and Warner’s chief Mike DeLuca — not far frpm “One Battle After Another” star Leonardo Di Caprio — was a strategically placed face who rarely if ever has attended an awards show.
That would be Aviv Nevo, aka Vivi Nevo, who is 60 years old and is officially Israeli although he was born in Romania.
Nevo, worth a billion dollars, runs NV Investments. He turned a $10 million inheritance from his father into this vast sum largely by investing in Time Warner during its heyday.
Nevo’s presence was no coincidence. His very public placement was absolutely a signal to David Ellison and the Paramount Skydance group that wants to take over Warner Bros. Zaslav is trying to sell Warner Bros. to Netflix. But Ellison and his Trump endorsed gang want the studio mainly to get hold of CNN and do to it what they’re doing to CBS News.
Over the years I met Vivi Nevo mostly at parties given by Harvey Weinstein, as Nevo invested in The Weinstein Company when it launched 22 years go following the break up of Miramax from Disney.
Nevo keeps a very low profile. It’s so low that he’s rarely seen and never interviewed. But Zaslav was very clever last night. He was certainly reminding Ellison he has big dogs in his corner. He’s playing the highest level chess game. What comes next is anyone’s guess.
The Sun in the UK is a ridiculous newspaper. It’s for lining birdcages.
Out of nowhere they’ve decided that Marlon Brando’s son, Miko, is the father of Michael’s youngest son known as Blanket or “Biji.”
Mike is such a lovely guy, and was really a good friend to Michael. I’m sure he’s horrified.
Twenty years ago, when all this paternity stuff was tabloid fodder, I told my readers that Blanket had a mother selected by Michael from a looseleaf binder. In all likelihood, Michael himself provided the materials for fertilizing the egg.
People who were not involved in the conception of the three children were Miko, actor Mark Lester, or the very dead Dr. Arnold Klein.
I would ask that everyone leave Prince, Paris, and Biji alone. Michael was their father, regardless how they were conceived. Also, I am told they all know the truth behind their births. But Michael raised and nurtured them, and as it turns out, did a great job.
Enough already! These aren’t fictional people. They real humans who live through all this tabloid BS. They don’t deserve it.
The Golden Globes were well produced by Ricky Kirschner and Glenn Weiss.
But there were some oddities.
There was no “In Memoriam” segment. No mention of Rob Reiner, Robert Redford, Gene Hackman or Diane Keaton or any of the great actors, directors, etc who passed away this year by the Golden Globes.
That’s very worrying.
Not a single winner said a word about the current events in the country, nothing against ICE or Trump or any jokes about Greenland, Venezuela. It felt like the winners were told not to say anything. I’m shocked they complied.
Nikki Glazer started strong with jokes about CBS News — “the C stands for See BS.” Her jabs were painless and there was no mention of the Golden Globes or Hollywood Foreign Press. No one from the Globes spoke on camera.
The whole proceeding was tame at best but moved efficiently. The show ended on time, which is all you can hope for.
A strange moment: actor Dave Franco giving a TV Award to Seth Rogen, for “The Studio.” Rogen broke his friendship with Franco’s brother, James, after the latter became involved sexual misbehavior lawsuits, etc.
A married couple won the screenplay awards. Ron Bronstein won for “One Battle” with Paul Thomas Anderson. Mary Bronstein won for writing “If I HAd Legs, I’d Kick You.”
Strangely, there was also no mention of Thursday night’s Lifetime Achievement Awards ceremony. This was really weird because Helen Mirren as also nominated for an award tonight. Shouldn’t Sarah Jessica Parker have been in the room tonight? Or some acknowledgment of the awards?
The most jarring part of the night was the recognition that George Clooney and Julia Roberts are considered the “elders” in the Hollywood community.
“One Battle After Another” is the big winner tonight at the Golden Globes, repeating its wins form the Critics Choice Awards.
Paul Thomas Anderson won Best Picture, Director, Screenplay. Teyana Taylor took Best Supporting Actress — all in comedy.
“One Battle” is on its way to the Oscars.
Best Dramatic Film was “Hamnet.” Steven Spielberg produced it and accepted the award.
Acting prizes went to Timothee Chalamet for Best Actor in a Comedy for “Marty Supreme.”
Best actress, comedy — Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You.”
Best actress in a drama — Jessie Buckley in “Hamnet.”
Best actor in a drama — Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent.”
Best foreign language film — “The Secret Agent.”
Best box office movie — “Sinners.”
Best Supporting Actor — Stellan Skarsgard, “Sentimental Value”
Last night the Chateau Marmont hosted two pre-Golden Globe parties in different locations.
Upstairs in a luxury suite, Lynn Hirschberg and W Magazine had to beat the celebrities with a stick so many of them wanted to get in. As usual, W had as many stars are they could jam in the suite and its overlooking terrace/
But downstairs, at Bar Marmont, the Vanity Fair party was as a sad echo of the old days. Literally one movie nominee — Michael B. Jordan — was photographed. We can only hope he was on his way upstairs.
A smattering of well known actors were spotted, including Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, and Keegan Michael Key and his wife Elle — were getting a lot of attention. Among the spotlight stealers was Jennifer Lopez, who doesn’t miss a red carpet even if she has nothing to do with the event.
But mostly the room was filled with TV people and– on Wireimage.com — pages and pages of nobodies. While I’m sure these guests have loved ones and important to someone, they can only be described as space fillers.
At a Vanity Fair party? What a sorry end. It used to be you said “Vanity Fair party” and the stylists would be out in armies getting the stars ready. But not last night. You know things are bad when Shaboozey is the center of attention, and Carl Tabor — Hollywood’s official guest — is chronicling the night.
Vanity Fair has cut way back since Graydon Carter and his team left a few years ago. Magazine circulation and website traffic are way down. On their recent Hollywood cover, VF featured no actresses because — some say — they couldn’t get any.
The pre-Globes party invite last bodes poorly for the coming Oscar night party. Once a force in gigantic tents on Santa Monica Boulevard, the party has been downsized severely. It will mostly be a place where stars stop for a photo op, then move on to bigger events.
Hard to believe, but there’s a Go Fund Me page for alleged assassin Jonathan Ross.
Already $222,000 has been raised for the ICE agent who appears to have shot dead 37 year mother of three, Renee Good.
The top donation is $10,000 — from Trump crony and company raider Bill Ackman.
So we know where he stands on the debate of whether Ross shot an unarmed woman in the face and killed her.
There are a few $1,000 donations, mostly anonymous, from clueless individuals.
Hard charging independent journalist Brian Krassenstein says the Page may be against the rules because it’s defending potential criminal activity. He’s reported it to GoFundMe. (See below).
Meantime, Renee Good’s Go Fund Me page brought in $1.5 million before it was shutdown by organizers. The friends said that was enough, and for people to donate to the less fortunate.
But is this what America is about now? Donating money to a man who shot a woman in her car and then yelled “Fucking bitch!”?
IMPORTANT: I Just reported the GoFundme for Ice Agent Jonathan Ross as it appears to be breaking their terms of service. Please do the same and them SHARE!
For years, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was considered a joke. The hosts of each year’s show mocked them openly.
Now the HFPA is gone, replaced by Golden Globes voters who comprise many of the HFPA.
But now that Penske/Eldridge, publisher of all the Hollywood trades, the voters are no longer part of the show. Nikki Glaser can make fun of them if she wants — but they won’t be in the room.
The company now fills the Hilton ballroom with advertisers and commercial partners. Who needs the voters anyway? They’ve been used to at least put together a list of nominees that resemble other awards shows this year.
Who will be watching? Last week we had the Critics Choice Awards, with the exact same nominees. The CCA’s, which aired on USA Network and the E! channel, scored 726,000 viewers — up 125% from last year.
At least the CCA’s have a lot of good will in Hollywood. The Globes are a different story. This week they’ve been attacked by all the showbiz newsletters. No one has their number like Richard Rushfield from Ankler. Read his summary of the Globes this year. He’s got it.
A lot of money has gone into the promotion of the Globes. This week, they had a nighttime special called “Golden Eve,” based on the Motion Picture Academy’s Governors Awards. Sarah Jessica Parker was honored on the TV side, Helen Mirren on the movie side. Ratings will be in tomorrow, but so far engagement on YouTube is low except for the segment in which Harrison Ford presented Mirren with her award.
Why was Ford giving Mirren an award? They co-star in “1923,” the “Yellowstone” series returning for a second season. The show appears on Paramount Plus, which is part of the CBS-Paramount family. It’s just corporate in house promotion.
As for the main show, I’ll be watching at 8pm tonight, Tweeting and updating here on the site.
The amazing Grateful dead guitarist, singer and writer succumbed to lung cnacer, his family said.
His family posted to Instagram as you’ll see below.
weir wrote the Dead hit, “Sugar Magnolia,” but contributed to every bit of the Dead’s lore. Weir was the front man vocally for the group on so many hits including their signature song, “Truckin.” He had a substantial solo career, too.
What a shame. Most of the Dead is now deceased, starting with Jerry Garcia. Their legacy is unparalleled. To paraphrase their most well known song, “What a long, great trip it’s been.”
“It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.
“For over sixty years, Bobby took to the road. A guitarist, vocalist, storyteller, and founding member of the Grateful Dead. Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music. His work did more than fill rooms with music; it was warm sunlight that filled the soul, building a community, a language, and a feeling of family that generations of fans carry with them. Every chord he played, every word he sang was an integral part of the stories he wove. There was an invitation: to feel, to question, to wander, and to belong.
“Bobby’s final months reflected the same spirit that defined his life. Diagnosed in July, he began treatment only weeks before returning to his hometown stage for a three-night celebration of 60 years of music at Golden Gate Park. Those performances, emotional, soulful, and full of light, were not farewells, but gifts. Another act of resilience. An artist choosing, even then, to keep going by his own design. As we remember Bobby, it’s hard not to feel the echo of the way he lived. A man driftin’ and dreamin’, never worrying if the road would lead him home. A child of countless trees. A child of boundless seas.
“There is no final curtain here, not really. Only the sense of someone setting off again. He often spoke of a three-hundred-year legacy, determined to ensure the songbook would endure long after him. May that dream live on through future generations of Dead Heads. And so we send him off the way he sent so many of us on our way: with a farewell that isn’t an ending, but a blessing. A reward for a life worth livin’.
“His loving family, Natascha, Monet, and Chloe, request privacy during this difficult time and offer their gratitude for the outpouring of love, support, and remembrance. May we honor him not only in sorrow, but in how bravely we continue with open hearts, steady steps, and the music leading us home. Hang it up and see what tomorrow brings.”
