It doesn’t come as a total surprise. But HBOs The Idol dropped 42% in its second outing. The drama starring The The Weeknd and Lily Rose Depp fell to just 135,000 fans on the cable channel.
Earlier HBO claimed 800,000 viewers, down just 11%. But their calculations include private numbers from streaming. The real hard numbers from cable show The Idol being turned off by subscribers who object to the porn silly story, and lack of acting ability.
Big news today from the UK: Paul McCartney said on an interview show that he and producer Peter Jackson have constructed a final Beatles record that will come out this year.
The song is an elegiac John Lennon demo from 1978 called “Now and Then.” Paul says they’ve used artificial intelligence to make Lennon’s scratchy vocal sound perfect. What the single will be attached to is unclear but obviously the Beatles are planning some kind of album release now that all their 50th anniversary collections are completed.
From McCartney’s comments, you’d guess that Ringo is playing drums on the new track and that a George Harrison guitar solo has been added.
But the Beatles did do this before in the 1990s. When they issued the Anthology albums they put together “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” two other Lennon tracks. Harrison was still alive and the the tracks are heard often on the Beatles Sirius channel.
There’s a newly remastered version of “Now and Then” on You Tube –see below. So someone knew something was up.
Terrible news: actor Treat Williams died this afternoon in a motorcycle accident. He was 71. The accident took place near his place in Dorset, Vermont. Only a few hours earlier he’d posted videos of mowing the lawn on his farm.
His family issued this statement:
“It is with great sadness that we report that our beloved Treat Williams has passed away tonight in Dorset, Vermont after a fatal motorcycle accident. As you can imagine, we are shocked and greatly bereaved at this time. Treat was full of love for his family, for his life and for his craft, and was truly at the top of his game in all of it. It is all so shocking right now, but please know that Treat was dearly and deeply loved and respected by his family and everyone who knew him. We are beyond devastated and ask that you respect our privacy as we deal with our grief. To all his fans, please know that Treat appreciated all of you and please continue to keep him in your hearts and prayers.”
I knew Treat Williams, and interviewed him many times, once for the old US Magazine. He was a great guy, popular with everyone. He got his start in the original production of “Grease” on Broadway. He starred in the film version of “Hair!” and appeared in several Broadway productions including taking over for Kevin Kline in “The Pirates of Penzance.”
His major breakthrough was starring Sidney Lumet’s classic film, “Prince of the City.” In recent years he’d starred in the TV series, “Everwood.” Williams came from Fairfield County, Connecticut was old friends with actress Dana Delany. An even older friend was the late “60 Minutes” essayist Andy Rooney, who was his neighbor growing up. In his family tree he counted P.T. Barnum and robert Treat Paine, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Earlier today, Williams posted the Tweet below. What a shock. Condolences to his family.
What a real Vermonter does pic.twitter.com/gNflWGoxdN
— Treat Williams (@Rtreatwilliams) June 12, 2023
HBO says “The Idol” dropped 12% in its second week. This is despite embarrassing soft core porn sex scenes with wooden acting from The Weeknd, aka Abel Tesfaye.
HBO says total viewing was down to 800,000 from the previous week’s 912,000. But their numbers include HBO Max, which is not monitored or substantiated.
First week numbers for “The Idol” on the HBO channel were just 232,000. If that number dropped commensurately, “The Idol” fell to just under 200,000 viewers.
********WARNING SENSITIVE MATERIAL********
There are really just a few perverts and hardcore Weeknd fans who are hate watching this show. Everyone else has moved on rather than hear their pop star utter the words “pussy” and “cock” in the same scene. And he can’t feel his face.
I’d like an R, for retire.
Pat Sajak has announced he will have just one more spin of the “Wheel of Fortune” starting this fall. Sajak, 76, has been hosting the syndicated game show since 1981. It’s often the number 1 or 2 game show on the air, paired with “Jeopardy!”
No word yet on what will happen to Vanna White, who’s been turning letters on the show almost the entire time.
Sajak says on Twitter: “Well, the time has come. I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last. It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months. Many thanks to you all. (If nothing else, it’ll keep the clickbait sites busy!)”
Sajak leaving TV is like hearing Velveeta is no longer available. He’s part of the mass culture, sort of animated wallpaper. For four decades. he’s been there like it or not.
Who will take his place? Who could take his place? Tom Bergeron is probably already calling his agent. So are a bunch of people. But you know the next host will culturally diverse. Or maybe there will be a spinning wheel of hosts, like what Sony did when Alex Trebek died.
Or everyone could turn to PBS for that half hour, right? Nah.
The Tony Awards were a ratings bomb.
The show last night brought in just 3.42 million viewers. They even lost 2 million viewers from their lead in, “60 Minutes.”
CBS is saying the numbers were up on Paramount Plus, but since those numbers aren’t monitored or published, no one knows the truth.
The fact is, the show had no appeal for the mainstream audience once the LGBT stuff kicked in. When one winner declared “I’m a f****t with a Tony!” that was the end. Sorry. And when the two best musical actors showed up in dresses, what did they think would happen? (This isn’t a judgement, just a marketing observation.)
Also, despite Ariana De Bose being an Oscar winner, the show lacked star appeal among presenters. It wasn’t until Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane showed up to present Sean Hayes with Best Lead Actor there were few big names. The people who did present were lovely, but really on the B list.
The show’s producers had a lot to deal with, starting with no writers and some people who didn’t want to be on the show because of the writers strike They put on an entertaining broadcast, but not one for the public at large.
One segment that should have been included was “Dirty Dancing” star Jennifer Grey giving the Lifetime Achievement award to her father, Joel Grey. That bit was included in the pre-show that we saw in the theater, but was only on Pluto TV.
Graph below is from statista.com
So that’s it.
The Golden Globes will live on as a brand, but their infamous, festering voting membership is over.
Todd Boehly and Jay Penske, who own Dick Clark Productions, the Hollywood Reporter, and Variety have bought the Globes. They’re shutting down the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Some members will continue on to a new body, others will not.
It’s the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. The Globes still have no broadcast partner for the coming awards season. Their ratings on NBC last January were terrible. The group has lost all possible respect, which isn’t hard to believe since they never had any integrity.
The announcement was made in The Hollywood Reporter. They say Boehly’s Eldridge Properties have acquired all of the Golden Globes’ assets, rights and properties from the HFPA and intends to establish a new Golden Globe Foundation through which it will continue the sort of entertainment-related charitable giving that was perhaps the most admirable quality of the HFPA.
The group’s current president, Helen Hoehne, is said to be continuing to the new organization. But what about all the freeloaders who’ve traded on the Globes’ importance to the studios? What will happen to them? And who will replace them? Those questions are unanswered.
This is a major moment in Hollywood. Now the trade newspapers own their own Awards show. There will be no separation of the papers, the awards mechanism, advertising in the papers for the awards, and so on. It’s just all one organism now.
“Today marks a significant milestone in the evolution of the Golden Globes,” added Todd Boehly, chairman of Eldridge. “My partners at DCP and I are grateful to Helen and team for their commitment to the successful implementation of a robust approach to governance, the expansion of the diverse and international voting body, implementing a professional, safe and accountable environment and trusting new ownership with a new direction for the Globes.”
“As stewards of the Golden Globe Awards, our mission is to continue creating the most dynamic awards ceremony on live television viewed across the world,” said Jay Penske, CEO, chairman and founder of Penske Media and CEO of DCP. “We have a great team in place to grow this iconic brand and captivate new and existing audiences to celebrate the very best in television and motion pictures.”
Is The Weeknd wrecking his music career with “The Idol”?
Fans who watched the second episode on HBO last night are more disappointed than freaking out on social media today.
In the 2nd episode, which desecrates John Lennon’s memory by calling itself “Double Fantasy,” The Weeknd appears in a soft core porn sequence that can only be described as disgusting. It’s also a teenager’s fantasy of some kind, so ridiculous you almost laugh out loud.
The Weeknd — Abel Tesfaye — also has dialogue that’s being mocked all over social media. I’m going to refrain from restating it here, but it’s completely vulgar and gross. Then he and the character Jocelyn, played by Lily Rose Depp (whose nipples are on record now forever from two episodes) engage in rough sex.
This is more than any pop star in their right mind would commit to film. The result is quite negative. Part of the reasoning for “The Idol”‘s existence is to sell records heard on the show. But already a single, called “Popular,” is a smashing dud on iTunes. “Popular” is being streamed on Spotify to any recorded numbers. Luminate, which records sales both physical and streaming, as well as airplay, shows an alarming down turn for The Weeknd in the last two weeks. “Popular” has had only 3,590 downloads so far.
I can’t imagine that The Weeknd’s record label, Republic Records, isn’t worried about what effect this will have on the singer’s future sales and albums. Or maybe no one cares. I guess we’ll see soon.
Here are some comments:
Now I’m terrified to watch the next episode of #TheIdolHBO I need a palette cleanser ready in the form of comedies or #wildnout
— mouse (it’s mauli omg) (@uhmchileanygays) June 12, 2023
Watched Ep. 1 of #TheIdolHBO last night. The criticism coming in was it was an oversexualized look at pop stardom. The criticism was correct. Sam Levinson treats toplessness like Succession treated f bombs.
— Pete Sirianni (@petersirianni) June 12, 2023
The acting & script is just atrocious I can’t even hate watch this anymore #TheIdolHBO
— Tommy (@T0MMYC_) June 12, 2023
The In Memoriam last night on the Tony Awards was so classy — the Oscars and Emmys should really look at how they did it.
Last year’s Tony winning Actress in a Musical Joaquina Kalukango is the singer. She has the most remarkable voice. Can’t a real record company make something with her? We’re missing an opportunity. Verve? Decca? Sony Masterworks? Is there anyone left?
Kudos for the show including Tina Turner and Raquel Welch.
Amazing.
On Thursday night, when the Trump indictment was being read and examined on every cable news show, MSNBC beat Fox News.
Ever more amazing: at 9pm Rachel Maddow substitute Alex Wagner took Sean Hannity by 200,000 viewers with 2.5 million. At 10pm when Maddow joined Lawrence O’Donnell, MSNBC’s numbers went even higher to over 2.6 million..
At the key gateway for the night. MSNBC’s Chris Hayes out classed Fox by 500,000 viewers.
What’s the take away? In a pinch, viewers were looking for what was really happening as opposed to Fox’s fictitious weaving of alternative facts.
And CNN? Anderson Cooper had two times his normal audience, but came in third.