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Taylor Swift Marketing Revs Up to 11 With “The Life of a Showgirl” Movie Opening with Release of New Album

Roger Friedman
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Taylor Swift Marketing Revs Up to 11 With “The Life of a Showgirl” Movie Opening with Release of New Album

No one does marketing like Taylor Swift and her dad, Scott Swift. They should teach a course at Harvard.

On October 3rd they drop Taylor’s new album, “The Life of a Showgirl.”

Beginning that Friday for the weekend, there will be a “Life of a Showgirl” movie event at AMC Theaters for devoted fans.

Taylor promises the film will include cut by cut explanations of all the tracks, the debut of her new single “The Fate of Ophelia,” and lots of dancing.

Fans — mostly girls — are encouraged to wear brown or orange cardigans. Luckily, Swift sells them on her website.M

The “movie” special has precedent. Swift broke records with her “Eras Tour” concert film at AMC Theaters, raking in millions.

So far, Republic Records has kept advance sales of “The Life of a Showgirl” off of Amazon. It would probably be number 1 right now, but still unavailable. But trust me, it’s coming. They’re looking to turn this into not just the biggest release of 2025, but the most since Swift’s last album.

Every recording act and company should study what’s going on here. Of course, it takes money to pull it off, but they have it.

As Shakespeare and the Band once said, “Get thee to a nunnery, Ophelia.”

Sony Strikes Out Again with Big, Bad, Bust of a Movie with “Big, Bad Beautiful Journey” $400K Preview Night

Roger Friedman
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Sony Strikes Out Again with Big, Bad, Bust of a Movie with “Big, Bad Beautiful Journey” $400K Preview Night

Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie are award winning actors. Together, any movie they make should be a hit.

But “Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey” is the latest turkey from flailing Sony Pictures.

For Thursday previews, “BBBJ” made just $400,000. It’s DOA.

I have no idea what this movie is about and neither do you. The title tells us nothing. Just saying “it’s a romcom” isn’t enough. There must be a plot, right?

Oh well. Farrell is reaping the rewards of “The Penguin.” Robbie still has the afterglow of “Barbie.”

Sony has had a string of failures through the year. “Caught Stealing,” a total enjoyable romp, has made less than $20 million. Others, like “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” were out and out flops.

Ed Sheeran Feels the Pinch of Being 34 Years Old As Sales for His New Record Continue a Pattern of Decline

Roger Friedman
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Ed Sheeran Feels the Pinch of Being 34 Years Old As Sales for His New Record Continue a Pattern of Decline

This is no country for old men.

At 34 years old, Ed Sheeran is learning that lesson.

His new album, his eighth, called “Play,” had very soft sales in its debut week.

“Play” is sold 71,000 copies this week, two thirds of it physical CDs and downloads, the rest from streaming. That’s about half of what should have sold.

To be honest, Sheeran hasn’t had a major hit since 2017. He had a great run with four “math” albums that were titled Divide, Plus, Times (X), and Equal, all using their numeric signs.

Those albums had lots of hits including “Shape of You,” “Perfect,”
“The A Team,” and so on. He was unsuccessfully sued over his Marvin Gaye-ish “Thinking Out Loud.”

But the album sales started taking a downturn recently, and “Play,” is the latest example.

The biggest problem with “Play”? No big radio hit like the ones mentioned above. The album is full of good songs, but so far nothing that’s broken out.

It may be at this point that Sheeran doesn’t care about hits. That’s reasonable. Most pop stars have a five year span of hits before their audience grows up and moves on. But it might be nice to give it a go, whether or not the single goes top 40.

The irony here is that Halsey, another pop star, gave an interview this week saying her record company wasn’t pining for a new album since her last one sold 200,000 copies. It debuted with 100,000. That’s a lot better than “Play.”

Jimmy Kimmel on Ice for a Long Time? Moving Trucks Seen Purportedly Packing Up His Hollywood Studio In Video

Roger Friedman
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Jimmy Kimmel on Ice for a Long Time? Moving Trucks Seen Purportedly Packing Up His Hollywood Studio In Video

How long will Jimmy Kimmel be off the air?

From the looks of this video, it could be a while. Or more.

Video was grabbed yesterday of moving trucks packing up Kimmel’s studio. It’s the whole shebang, too.

Disney and ABC are off their rockers if they don’t settle this thing and make nice with Kimmel. The bad publicity and overall fallout is disastrous. Creative people, especially in comedy, won’t work with them ever again. I predict there will be a problem with Conan O’Brien hosting the Oscars in March if Kimmel isn’t on the air.

Stay tuned…

“Spinal Tap 2” Officially Dead, Out of Most Theaters or Cut to 2 Showings, Killed By Algorithms and No Marketing

Roger Friedman
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“Spinal Tap 2” Officially Dead, Out of Most Theaters or Cut to 2 Showings, Killed By Algorithms and No Marketing

“Spinal Tap 2” is dead.

A perfectly good comedy, with a big IP following and lots of goodwill, is mostly out of theaters after one week.

Rob Reiner’s mockumentary sequel, with Paul McCartney and Elton John, fizzled like bad fire work never got the chance to take off.

Blame Bleecker Street Films, which put no money into marketing and just dumped it into release with no intention of back it up.

The movie had a budget of around $25 million.

An insider tells me: “Sadly, they all ran the algorithms (it’s that game today) and all the major players thought it too much of a risk to distribute it, so [the producers went with the best offer, which didn’t include much marketing $$$. Everyone loves the movie and hope it will find an audience in the streaming world.”

“Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues” is now playing in some theaters, but cut down to one or two showings a day, mostly in the morning when no one will see it.

This is despite an effort on Reiner’s part to get some attention on Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon with very amusing segments.

And some of the marketing, which was scarce, was confusing: I saw a few stories go out that seemed like they were about the fictional members of the group instead of the actors. It was way, way too meta to even understand.

Also, clever as it is, why is the poster sending up Crosby, Stills & Nash — something very old that no young person would get. Better an album from the 90s live Nirvana’s “In Utero” or “Nevermind”?

But where was the CBS Sunday Morning piece? Ad spots on classic rock radio? On Sirius? Also I’m told that music magazines like Rolling Stone also had a very tough time dealing with Bleecker Street. You do also wonder why the producers themselves didn’t pop for a 50,000 publicist.

Alas, it’s over. We will have to Smell the Glove on home video whenever a deal is worked out.

BTW The trailer had under8 800,000 views on YouTube

David Letterman Reacts to Jimmy Kimmel Suspension, Notes Trump Threatened This: “You’re telling me this isn’t premeditated at some level?”

Roger Friedman
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David Letterman Reacts to Jimmy Kimmel Suspension, Notes Trump Threatened This: “You’re telling me this isn’t premeditated at some level?”

David Letterman appeared at The Atlantic festival today.

The beloved former talk show host had a lot to say about Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension by ABC.

Variety picked up Letterman’s comments that what’s happened was premeditated. As we know, Trump threatened Kimmel’s cancellation in July. He gloated over it today at a press conference in the UK.

“This is misery,” Letterman said when asked about Kimmel’s suspension. “I feel bad about this,” he continued. “We see where this is all going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous. And you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”

“In the world of somebody who is an authoritarian, maybe a dictatorship, sooner or later, everyone is going to be touched,” said Letterman.

Letterman also said, “The institution of the president of the United States ought to be bigger than a guy doing a talk show.” Kimmel’s removal from late-night TV, he said, “was predicted by our president right after Stephen Colbert got walked off, so you’re telling me this isn’t premeditated at some level?”

“LOST” Producer Damon Lindelof Says He Won’t Work with Disney ABC While the Jimmy Kimmel Suspension Continues

Roger Friedman
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“LOST” Producer Damon Lindelof Says He Won’t Work with Disney ABC While the Jimmy Kimmel Suspension Continues

Damon Lindelof, writer and executive producer of “LOST” and other hit TV shows, says he won’t work with Disney-ABC while Jimmy Kimmel is out.

Don’t forget, “LOST” was a huge hit for ABC.

He says, “I was shocked, saddened and infuriated by yesterday’s suspension and look forward to it being lifted soon. If it isn’t, I can’t in good conscience work for the company that imposed it.”

This is just the beginning of ripple waves from Bob Iger and Dana Walden’s decision to suspend Kimmel. If this goes on into next week, we’re going to see a lot more posts like this one.

Must See TV: Jon Stewart Specially Hosting “The Daily Show” Tonight in Response to Kimmel Suspension: Expect Fireworks

Roger Friedman
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Must See TV: Jon Stewart Specially Hosting “The Daily Show” Tonight in Response to Kimmel Suspension: Expect Fireworks

Jon Stewart usually hosts “The Daily Show” on Monday nights.

But given last night’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel by ABC, Stewart will host the show tonight.

It airs at 11pm on Comedy Central, owned by CBS, which canceled Stephen Colbert.

There will be fireworks, no doubt.

I expected Stewart to be seething and spot on in regard to ABC’s censoring of Kimmel. It should be brutal.

Kimmel is staying silent for now, although he has every right to be angry and feel betrayed by the Disney higher-ups for not protecting him from the Luddites and cowards at ABC, Nexstar, and Sinclair media.

Remember, Kimmel started his career hosting The Man Show on Comedy Central for five years back in 1999. Despite various items about Kimmel’s ratings being low — all planted today by ABC and Disney — don’t forget, he was gone for the summer and only returned to his desk two weeks ago.

Vanity Fair’s New West Coast Editor Comes with Her Own Scandal: Olivia Nuzzi Had Some Kind of Affair with Robert Kennedy Jr.

Roger Friedman
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0

Vanity Fair announced a bunch of new hires today.

Mostly it’s a lot of young women who will be working on social media.

They did snatch the editor in chief of Mediaite to cover Washington. Also, a big catch sounds like Lindsey Underwood, who escaped the The Washington Post Style Section.

But the main focus is on their new West Coast editor. As foretold by the magazine’s new editor, Olivia Nuzzi has joined Vanity Fair.

Nuzzi comes with her own scandal. At New York Magazine, last year, it was revealed she had some kind of affair with Robert Kennedy Jr., the absolute nut case now Health secretary to Trump.

Nuzzi wrote a big feature about Kennedy and fell for him or whatever, and they conducted some type of relationship that Kennedy described as digital or viral or online.

Whatever it was it broke up Nuzzi’s engagement to another journalist. It also violated just about every code of journalism that should exist. She didn’t tell New York magazine what was going on. When they found out, they fired her.

Vanity Fair global editorial director Mark Guiducci, 36, who got his job because he was a friend of Anna Wintour’s daughter, is working hard to establish himself. He’s doing a great job so far. Nuzzi, he says, will be editing stories across platforms and topic areas, with a focus on events, industries, and culture of the Pacific region, as well as writing for the magazine.

I do like her Anna Wintour-like sunglasses author’s photo. She’s workin’ it, that’s for sure.

Under Graydon Carter, we cared so much about Vanity Fair. That ship has sailed and been blown up by the Houthi’s. Guiducci doesn’t have much power– Wintour has to approve everything. His Oscar party will be held not in several massive tents on Santa Monica Blvd but in a powder room at the Four Seasons. His profiles and news will be safe Valentine’s. And Nuzzi’s role in all this will be heavily scrutinized by people much more curious than myself.

Meantime, semrush.com says VanityFair.com has dropped 14% in traffic. Newsstand sales? Forget it.

Guiducci is like Trump when he says everything wrong is due to Biden. Guiducci blames it all on past editors. He fired movie reviewer Richard Lawson, who joined The Hollywood Reporter. Also fired two more movie writers who are thriving outside of Conde Nast.

Let’s put our own sunglasses on and get back to work!

Nepo Shmeppo: NexStar CEO’s Son is Sportscaster on New York’s Still-on-the-Air WPIX Channel 11, Which Dad Owns

Roger Friedman
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In New York, we used to watch WPIX Channel 11.

The station featured the Yankees every day. They also had the best 11pm reruns with “The Honeymooners,” “The Odd Couple,” and “Seinfeld.”

Well, that was a long time ago, in a far away galaxy.

No one ever took Channel 11’s news shows seriously, and their ratings have always been way behind the main channels 2, 4. 4. and 7. A lot of people probably don’t realize they still have news, although I’m always pleasantly surprised to see Magee Hickey and Kaity Tong.

These days, Channel 11 is owned by guess who? Nexstar, the conservative network that just forced ABC to oust Jimmy Kimmel.

The owner of Nexstar is Perry Sook, and that name will sound familiar to WPIX viewers. Perry Sook, Jr. is a sportscaster on the station.

He’s not the lead. That’s Mark Malusis, Joe Mauceri, Nelson Figueroa. But Sook Jr. is there, and we can surmise he had at least some inside pull. I’m sure he loves sports, like all of us, but his background according to his website, is musical theater. He played Shrek in a national tour.

Singing or dancing, don’t downplay this: the Sooks are on the rise. Senior Sook controls 200 TV stations and not just at ABC but at all the networks. He is deeply conservative. In addition to Nexstar, Sook also owns News Nation, which — despite some familiar faces — a right leaning news network that would love to take on Fox News.

Play ball!

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