Here’s the official notice. So sorry for everyone involved.
Seth Meyers Tests Positive for COVID, Cancels Rest of Shows This Week: A Closer Look
Every talk show has had its turn with COVID. Now it’s Seth Meyer’s. He announced on Twitter this morning that he’s tested positive. The rest of the week is cancelled. Who knows about next week?
Not that it’s important, but July is a ratings sweeps month so Meyers and his producers are no doubt disappointed to lose the final week. On a happier note, they’re finally nominated for Emmy Awards and DESERVE TO WIN (hello Emmy voters). Seth’s show is the best written by far on late night TV.
Feel better everyone!
After negative tests Monday and Tuesday I tested positive for COVID this morning. Canceling shows the rest of this week. Apologies to our scheduled guests and loyal viewers!
— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) July 27, 2022
Norman Lear 100th Birthday Special Will Air on ABC, Not CBS Home of All His Shows
Norman Lear is not keeping it All in the Family.
ABC just announced they’re airing a 100th birthday special in his honor on September 22nd.
This is weird. If you recall, all of Lear’s landmark shows were on CBS. All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, Good Times, One Day at a Time. They were all on CBS. Only Diffrent Strokes and The Facts of Life were on NBC.
But the facts of life are this: Jimmy Kimmel is on ABC and he was the one who revived Lear’s shows with live broadcasts on that network. Kimmel and ABC stole CBS’s thunder.
ABC doesn’t say who’s on the special yet or what form it will take, but I’d expect Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers, Valerie Bertinelli, Adrienne Barbeau, Jimmy JJ Walker, John Amos and anyone else who’s still around from the shows as well as all the girls from Facts of Life.
Pop Fizz: Shawn Mendes Cancels Rest of Tour Citing Mental Health Issues
That’s it for Shawn Mendes’s tour. He cancelled three weeks of shows to get himself together. But now he says he needs more time. He’s scuttled everything. The promoters must be livid, as well as the musicians and crews. But it’s more important at age 23 to figure out who you are and what you want out of life. God speed.
PS Among the dates gone are in Toronto, Shawn’s hometown, plus Boston and New York and all of Europe. Ouch!
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Norman Lear Celebrates Turning 100, Advises “Live in the moment…treasure it, use it, with love”
Norman Lear turns 100 today. He’s got all his marbles and then some. Happy birthday, Norman. To celebrate, his daughter, Kate, has recorded a birthday message from Norman and posted to Instagram. It’s below.
Few in the history of the arts in this country have matched Norman Lear’s accomplishments. I mean not just the TV shows like “All in the Family,” “Maude,” “Good Times.” “The Jeffersons.” But also his commitment to political liberalism, the creation of People for the American Way, his unending interest in making the world a better place.
Seven or eight years ago, I left a lunch at the 21 Club with producer Fred Zollo and we ran across Sixth Avenue to the theater district. Fred peeled off, and I was left standing in front of the Shubert Theater, out of breath, heading to a matinee. And who was standing there, unaccompanied, waiting for his wife? Norman Lear, Maybe he was 93. I was taken aback. “Norman?” I said. We shook hands. I was so impressed that there he was, no one noticed that one of the most important people in the history of entertainment was just idling in Shubert Alley. At 93. And now he’s 100 and seems no different.
In 2019, Norman turned up at a cocktail party for songwriter Diane Warren at Ross House at the top of Mount Olympus in Los Angeles. It was great to see him. I am honored that he allowed Leah Sydney to take a picture of us together, it’s one of the best mementos I have from this experience. I post it here again.
We are all in awe of Norman Lear and bow down to him on this momentous occasion.
We Told You: Elton John’s Next Mix with a Pop Icon is “Tiny Dancer” with Britney Spears
I did tell you on June 13th that Elton John was planning another remix of an old hit with a pop icon. This would be like his “Cold Heart” smash hit with Dua Lipa.
Now comes word that the new record will be a rethinking of “Tiny Dancer” with Britney Spears. Spears is not a great singer but that doesn’t matter. She’s indeed an icon and a person of the moment. This would be her first new record in years. She actually hasn’t had a hit in more than a dozen years (I’m being kind).
Elton and husband David Furnish are shrewd marketers. They already released “The Lockdown Sessions” with Elton on duets with a variety of pop stars. The producer is Andrew Watt, hot as a pistol, as they used to say. and adept at making this sort of thing work.
I’m curious to see which other Elton songs are rolled into “Tiny Dancer,” and if it gets a new title as “Cold Heart” used to be called “Sacrifice.” If it’s a hit, look for Britney to turn up at Elton’s final show at Dodger Stadium in November.
Update on Tony Dow, 77, Wally from “Leave it to Beaver” Not Dead But Gravely Ill in Home Hospice
Tony Dow, the actor who played Wally Cleaver as a teenager in “Leave it to Beaver,” is gravely ill and in hospice. There was an erroneous report of his death. His mangers posted a death announcement to Facebook without verification.
His son Christopher updated the situation on Tuesday night.
“This is a difficult time. Dad is at home, under hospice care, and in his last hours. My wife and I are by his side along with many friends that have visited. He has a fighting heart.”
Dow has been battling cancer for at least the last year.
“Leave it to Beaver” is a touchstone to anyone over 60 years old. Despite its sugary homespun lessons, “Beaver” struck a chord when there were just three TV stations and the whole world concentrated on a few stories. Where the younger Beaver (Jerry Mathers) was getting in and out of childhood scrapes, Dow’s Wally was the budding teen that a lot of kids could relate to.
Dow went on to add more acting credits in the 60s when “Beaver” finished its run and eventually became an artist. But his days as Wally will always be remembered with affection.
Netflix Doubles Down on “The Gray Man” With Sequel, Spin Off Despite Terrible Reviews
You can’t stop a bad movie franchise.
Netflix is determined to make “The Gray Man” into something. So they’ve announced a sequel to the current film and a spinoff movie as well in the so called Gray Man “Universe.”
Well, they can’t be worse than the current films. “The Gray Man” teeters on Rotten Tomatoes at around 49%. It’s a bad movie, with no character development or real story, just a lot of explosions and shooting of military machine guns. Everything shatters including the story.
Ryan Gosling was announced for the sequel. Ana de Armas may be in that one, or the spin off which will written in the glib style of “Deadpool.” They tried for that in this one and failed to make i stick.
Anthony and Joe and Russo will return to direct, which makes sense since they are not going back to Marvek and “Avengers” movies.
Netflix says “The Gray Man” is their number 1 movie in 92 countries and I believe them. I’m sure all subscribers are tuning in for 20 minutes or so. But to make it past the first hour — that’s commitment.
Springsteen Tix Gone Wild: Tulsa is the Best Bet, But In Boston a Few Seats Remain at $1,405
Bruce Springsteen tickets went on sale in a bunch of new venues this morning, and they are mostly sold out. To scalpers.
The best bet is Tulsa, where you could still get a great seat for around $700. In Boston just now there were a few floor seats left at $1,405. But they are also back by the sound mixing tent.
Tickets for New York and New Jersey don’t go on sale until Friday. That’s when all hell breaks loose. Think you’ve seen prices as high as $10,000 today? Just wait til Friday.
In the New York area, Springsteen so far has one date booked at MSG — appropriately for April Fool’s Day. There are just a few others including two big ones at Belmont Park on Long Island, one at the Prudential Center in Newark. There’s no doubt those dates will expand — especially MSG — as demand goes off the hook on Friday.
On some ticket selling sites, prices are so high there’s an opportunity to finance them with Affirm.
Another good deal? You can sit behind the stage at Mohegan Sun Casino arena for just $790. That seems reasonable. Bruce does move around quite a bit, so there’s a chance you’ll see him.
Amazon Brings Timothee Chalamet Cannibal Movie to Venice Film Fest: For Release in Theaters or Whole Foods?
Armie Hammer’s going to eating out his heart.
While he’s in movie purgatory for his efforts to become a cannibal, his “Call Me By Your Name:” collaborators have gone whole hog in the pursuit.
Co-stars Timothee Chalamet and Michael Stuhlbarg have joined their “Call Me” director Lucas Guadagnino for his new movie, “Bones and All.” It’s based on a novel by Camille deAngelis and it’s headed to the Venice Film Festival.
Amazon will serve up “Bones and All” in November during Thanksgiving via its new purchase of MGM. It’s unclear if the movie, which is really about feasting on flesh, will premiere in theaters or in another Amazon subsidiary, Whole Foods.
Hammer and Chalamet, as we all know, played lovers in Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name.” It’s possible Hammer’s whole bizarre “cannibal” episode, which has led him to allegedly sell time shares in the Cayman Islands, stemmed from being left out of this banquet.
You think I’m kidding about “Bones and All” being about cannibals? The main character begins the novel with this observation from her earliest days when she chewed on her babysitter:
PS All this may be a trend. Earlier this year we had the totally disgusting “Fresh,” about a handsome doctor (Sebastian Stan) who kidnapped women and gnawed at them bit by bit until they were fully masticated.