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Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Megan Mullally Start Shooting Latest “Golden Girls” Type Movie

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If you’re a famous actress of a certain age, and you can find a script and three other comparable ladies, a movie is in your future.

The latest is called “Fabulous Four,” and it stars Bette Midler, who’s getting married later in life, with her pals Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Megan Mullally.

When the film, directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, was first announced in 2023, Sissy Spacek was attached. Apparently she dropped out was replaced by the dynamo Emmy winner Ralph, who just got an award named for her at Project Angel Food in Los Angeles.

All of this started with “The First Wives Club” years ago. Lately Jane Fonda headed two movies in the “Golden Girls” category, both hits — “Book Club 2” and “80 for Brady.” More and more of these are being filmed as the audience exists and they love seeing big stars still in their prime. These movies are also great for guys in this age group, too!

Bleecker Street Films will produce and release.

Jann Wenner Book “The Masters” Debuts on Amazon Best Seller List at Number 6,769 After Disastrous Interview

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Jann Wenner’s new book is officially DOA.

“The Masters” debuts today on amazon’s hardcover bestseller list at number 6,769.

At one point before Wenner’s disastrous interview with the New York Times, presales had the book up to around 1,400. A promotional tour was planned and Rolling Stone would have plugged it certainly.

But all possibility of success ended when Wenner told a Times interviewer, David Marchese ,that he included no female or Black artists because they weren’t articulate enough — and basically didn’t matter.

The result was cancelling of the promo tour, being ousted from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame board, and denounced by Rolling Stone.

Wenner said in the interview when asked about the lack of Blacks and women in the book: “The people had to meet a couple criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them. Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.”

You can read the whole thing here.

It’s sad end to a career, and even sadder for Little, Brown, which could never have predicted this outcome.

“Moonlighting” with Cybill Shepherd, Bruce Willis Finally Goes to Hulu After Songs Are Cleared

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“Moonlighting” is finally coming to streaming.

The famed and beloved Cybill Shepherd-Bruce Willis TV that ran from 1988 to 1992 will be on Hulu any minute.

The reason we’ve never seen it before? Music clearances. They’re finally all done.

Glenn Gordon Caron was the writer-producer. It was his show. Back then, Shepherd and Willis, a newcomer, were at each other’s throats. The show as a big comeback for Shepherd, who played Maddie Hayes, and a launching pad for Willis, who’d been a theater actor and a bartender up to that point.

The banter between Willis and Shepherd on screen is memorable, almost as good as the stuff written back in the day for Tracy and Hepburn in their classic films. While the mysteries became thinner and thinner, the meta stuff of the show– including sizzling musical numbers — are memorable.

Looking forward to also seeing Allyce Beasley as Miss DiPesto and Curtis Armstrong as Herbert. They were all magic.

Legendary “Gone with the Wind” Star Hattie McDaniel to Get a Replacement Oscar for Lost Award in Effort to Right Wrong

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Hattie McDaniel is the legendary star who won Best Supporting Actress in 1939 for playing Mammy in “Gone with the Wind.”

She died in the 1950s and left her Oscar statue to Howard University. Over time in the 60s it disappeared.

Now the Academy will deliver a replacement statue to Howard on October 1st in a special ceremony headed by Phylicia Rashad.

McDaniels’ experience with the Oscars in 1939 left a lot to be desired. She was seated, shamefully, in the back of the auditorium, apart from the other nominees. She would be the only Black actress to win an Oscar until Halle Berry in 2002.

“When I was a student in the College of Fine Arts at Howard University, in what was then called the Department of Drama, I would often sit and gaze in wonder at the Academy Award that had been presented to Ms. Hattie McDaniel, which she had gifted to the College of Fine Arts,” said Rashad. “I am overjoyed that this Academy Award is returning to what is now the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University. This immense piece of history will be back in the College of Fine Arts for our students to draw inspiration from. Ms. Hattie is coming home!”

Back in 1939, McDaniel only received a plaque, not a statue, which was customary for Supporting Actors. Now she will shine with a real statuette.

Bravo to the Academy!

Trump Upset with Fox News, Says Was Once “Our Voice,” Now Has “A Serious Case of Laryngitis,” Calls Fox & Friends “Unrecognizable”

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Donald Trump has never actually acknowledged Rupert Murdoch’s stepping down from running Fox News — or the elevation of son Lachlan.

Today, however, he’s critical of Fox News, saying they were once

“our VOICE” — whose voice, his? MAGA? But now that voice has a “serious case of laryngitis.”

He also says “Fox and Friends” is “unrecognizable.” What? Have they gone all PBS on him?

Over the weekend he also attacked NBC and MSNBC. And yet, they all still cover him. Just not with a weight blanket.

Golden Globes Oust Three Members, Add Two Categories Including Best Box Office Hit and Stand Up Comedy

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The Golden Globes are busy with announcements.

They’re adding two unnecessary categories. The first is Best Box Office Hit. They will give an award to the best movie that made over $150 million worldwide, $100 domestic. This means “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer” will get an award no matter what. This is pandering to the TV network that shows the Globes, which has yet to be announced. My guess is they’re going back to NBC, which is owned by Universal, so “Oppenheimer” will drop that bomb.

The Globes are also adding Best Stand Up Comedian on TV. This is because the group is generally associated with humor. This seems like a sop to Netflix and HBO, which produce comedy specials. Maybe Ricky Gervais will win.

On Friday the Globes ousted three members. Two of them — Munawar Hosain and Aniko Navai — have been there for decades and probably should have been purged a long time ago. A third more recent member, a woman named Howaida Hamdy, was publishing antisemitic rhetoric on social media.

In the changeover from the Hollywood Foreign Press to this new configuration we were told that there would be lots of new members. But so far about 65 of the original 90 remain, maybe more. And there is one Black member of the new Membership Board of eight people. I think they misunderstood the assignment.

What network? Which host? I guess these things are coming.

Global Citizen ABC Special a Spectacular Ratings Flop, Usual Spokesman Hugh Jackman Skipped the Show for a Walk in the Woods

The Global Citizen TV special on ABC was a spectacular flop on Sunday night.

The show, which was highlights from the concert in Central Park the night before, scored just 1 million viewers. That was the lowest rateed show of the main networks by far.

Even though the concert itself had some very good performances, GC is something TV viewers can’t understand — or they do, and don’t want anything to do with it. Anyway, football was on against it, and “60 Minutes.”

Usual GC spokesman Hugh Jackman never turned up on Saturday in Central Park, perhaps fearing he’d be drenched. He posted on Instagram on Sunday morning taking a walk in the woods near his house.

GC was a bust on YouTube Saturday night also, starting with 250K viewers and whittling down to 31K by the time the Red Hot Chili Peppers were on.

SCOOP UPDATE Late Night TV Shows — Kimmel, Fallon, Colbert, Meyers — WILL Be Back on October 2nd Even Without Actors as Guests

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UPDATE: I was correct. The shows return on Monday. Oliver is back this Sunday night.

EARLIER Our four months of suffering is almost over.

All the late night talk shows, as well as John Oliver and Bill Maher on HBO, will be back on October 2nd.

That’s the plan according to my sources. Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Seth Meyers should all return on that date now that the WGA strike is over.

Their guests? Unless SAG wraps up their strike this week, the hosts will be interviewing rock stars, sports stars, miscellaneous celebrity, reality stars, and so on. No actors.

And “Saturday Night Live?” Lorne Michaels is looking at the following week for a return. But that may not be so easy. It’s unclear if the cast will come back during the SAG strike even though they’re under the same contract as soap opera actors. Some may refuse, but for the most part SAG will tell them they have to go back to work.

“Yellowstone” Dropped By 3 Million Viewers on Second Sunday CBS Outing, But Fans Got to See A Character Smoking (An FCC No No)

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The “Yellowstone” CBS experiment is falling apart.

On Sunday night, the Kevin Costner series got 4.3 million viewers for its first season rerun run on the Tiffany network.

Last week, the premiere of “Yellowstone” got about 7.5 viewers during its first hour, and a little less during the second for an average of 8.2 million.

Last May, the final episode of season 5, part 1 had over 8 million viewers on the Paramount Network.

Of course, “Yellowstone” season 1 has been available forever on DVD and streaming. In fact, last night Peacock ran two commercials during the show inviting fans to come watch it without commercials.

Last night fans also got to see something that’s an FCC no-no on broadcast TV: smoking. Beth Dutton, the hardcore central character played so brilliantly by Kelly Reilly, was puffing away without abandon. Her brother (Wes Bentley) mentioned cancer, but she wasn’t having it. Cigarette commercials were banned by the FCC 5 decades ago for the major networks. Characters smoking on screen is rarer than rare. “Mad Men” had it but they were on cable. “Mrs. Maisel” was on Amazon.

But CBS? No, no, no.

“Yellowstone” is also full of almost R rated stuff sexually. It’s way more than a broadcast show would ever be allowed by CBS on a Sunday night. The smoking, the sex — CBS is stuck with it until new primetime shows are trotted out after the SAG and WGA strikes. This “Yellowstone” experiment was out of necessity.

I guess “Yellowstone” fans know all about Beth and her smoking. Someone put together a compilation of her best moments.

RIP David McCallum, 90, Suave Illya Kuryakin from “The Man from UNCLE” and Ducky from “NCIS”

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David McCallum has died at age 90. The beloved actor is known to a couple of generations show as Duckie from “NCIS.” But to us more mature folks McCallum will always be the suave international spy Illya Kuryakin from “The Man from UNCLE.” He and Robert Vaughn, as Napoleon Solo, were the TV James Bonds of the 60s.

Their show was so incredibly popular that it led to a parody comedy, “Get Smart,” from Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.

McCallum had a long movie and theater career, as well. He was also accomplished musician. And believe it or not, he was involved in a Hollywood tabloid scandal. He was married to actress Jill Ireland, whom he met in England and came to the US with. She even guest starred in The Man from UNCLE. But when he introduced her to actor Charles Bronson, Ireland left him and married Bronson. It was a big scandal at the time.

McCallum, of course, happily remarried, had a son and daughter with his second wife. He had few film roles in the 1980s, but hit gold when he was signed to play Ducky on “NCIS.” He started in 2003 and was still signed to the show this year. He also performed in three Broadway productions. He got a Drama Desk nomination in 1984

But David McCallum will always be associated with The Man from UNCLE. He will never be forgotten for his suave, cool performance.