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ABC’s devotion to mediocrity is really paying off.
The network renewed all five of their Wednesday shows this week. And, as has been the case all season, all five scored poor ratings for the night. ABC was trounced as usual by NBC, CBS, and Fox.
The highest number of viewers mustered was for “The Conners” at 9pm with 2.83 million. Just below them were “The Goldbergs” with 2.79 million. Not able to crack 2 million eyes were “Home Economics,” “The Wonder Years,” and “A Million Little Things.” The latter had just a few more than a million little viewers.
And so it goes. NBC’s “Chicago” block won the night. Fox’s “The Masked Singer” had four million viewers followed by half that for the return of “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Not the brightest night in TV history for a sweeps month.
Lil Nas X is going to get the Hal David Starlight Award for writing songs from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Hal wrote the lyrics to almost all of the Burt Bacharach songs like “I Say A Little Prayer,” “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” “Walk on By,” “One Less Bell to Answer,” “Close to You.” “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” “A House is Not a Home,” and so on. Hal was a genius, a remarkable writer.
Lil Nas X, popular right now, wrote “Old Country Road,” “Montero,” and “Industry Baby.”
The Songwriters Hall of Fame should be ashamed of itself. It’s bad enough that Mariah Carey is getting an award as a songwriter on June 16th after her dozens of plagiarism settlements and complaints. But this is really the low point. There are so many great, real songwriters out there who have received no recognition from the Hall of Fame. How can anyone take this group seriously?
Lil Nas X, aka Montero Hill, is a hit singer right now, and his videos are certainly original. But his songwriting skills are lacking in so many ways, especially the lyrics,
You decide:
Hal wrote:
Lord, we don’t need another meadow There are cornfields and wheatfields enough to grow There are sunbeams and moonbeams enough to shine Oh listen, Lord, if you want to know
What the world needs now is love, sweet love It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No, not just for some, oh, but just for every, every, everyone
Lil Nas X wrote:
Uh, need to, uh Need to get this album done Need a couple number ones Need a plaque on every song Need me like one with Nicki now Tell a rap nigga, “I don’t see ya”, ha I’m a pop nigga like Bieber, ha I don’t fuck bitches, I’m queer, ha But these niggas bitches like Madea Yeah, yeah, yeah (yeah) Ayy, oh, let’s do it I ain’t fall off, I just ain’t release my new shit I blew up now everybody tryna sue me You call me Nas, but the hood call me Doobie, yeah
Bologna Shows Postponed: Eric Clapton, vehemently anti- vaccine, has canceled two more shows after testing positive for COVID again today. The two dates are May 20th and 21st in Bologna, Italy.
He already canceled two show this week.
Clapton’s Facebook page is giving false information about COVID infection. But read below what his people have posted. He’s wrong. He’s got to say quarantined for at least 5 days. This statement below is ridiculous.
Clapton had a week coming up of no shows anyway, so his next date is May 29th in Berlin. He’s lucky he had no dates after the Bologna stops on the 20th and 21st, which are now canceled.
The irony here, of course, is that Clapton has railed against the vaccine. He says that after receiving one shot he couldn’t play guitar for three weeks. After that, he refused any more treatment and advised the public against it. He wrote and performed two songs made into videos, one with Van Morrison called “Stand and Deliver.” Now we might surmise he can neither Stand nor Deliver.
Here’s the Facebook statement:
Eric Clapton, whilst feeling fine in himself, has again tested positive for Covid this morning. Whilst there is a strong body of medical opinion that after several days since the first positive test, a person is no longer infectious, it is by no means agreed by all. Accordingly, Eric does not want to travel while still testing positive and take the risk of infecting others. In theory, it is possible that Eric could test negative in the morning of either Bologna shows and fly there for a concert that same evening. However, Eric and his management team think that since it is quite likely that the situation will remain unchanged over the next day or two, Eric should immediately give notice of postponement of the shows in Bologna scheduled for tomorrow and Saturday to dates later this year.It is felt fairer to ticket holders to give as much notice as possible of the postponement in the hope that this will cause less inconvenience than if we continue to hope that Eric would be able after all to give the concerts, only to find we have to announce the postponement a matters of hours before the concert.We are aware that many ticket holders acquired their tickets (at least for the first Bologna show) many months ago, and Eric is very disappointed and apologetic to have to add a further delay.The next scheduled concert forming part of the current tour will be in Berlin on Sunday, 29th May, by which time we have every hope that there will be no obstacle to Eric being able to perform that concert and the remainder of the scheduled concerts.The postponed concerts will be rescheduled by the end of this year. The announcement of the new dates will be made within the next two weeks, and tickets purchased will remain valid for the new rescheduled dates.
I’ve had the honor of knowing May Pang for a long time. She’s a great lady, a survivor in rock and roll and life.
Her story about her time with John Lennon has been told in bits and pieces over the years in interviews and books she’s published. But finally there’s a documentary and it’s mind blowing, lovely, funny, touching, and poignant. Every Beatles and Lennon fan will want to see it, own it, live in it.
Three directors — Eve Brandstein, Richard Kaufman, Stuart Samuels — are responsible for “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story.” The film quickly covers May’s early life, then cuts to her working for Apple Records, Allen Klein, and finally John Lennon and Yoko Ono. This is before they lived in the Dakota.
But then, famously, Yoko instructs May to take John, leave, and be his girlfriend. It’s 1972-73, and this period will go on until the beginning of 1975. In that time, John records and releases the “Rock and Roll” album and “Walls and Bridges,” he also produces Harry Nilsson‘s “Pussycats” album. He reunites with Ringo, and with Paul. He becomes friends with David Bowie and Elton John. He also has a period of debauchery with Nilsson that earns this time the moniker “The Lost Weekend.”
The documentary will premiere June 10th at the Tribeca Film Festival and then it will be shown somewhere depending on distribution. It’s a miracle of a film, beautifully made, with incredibly good production values. May narrates most of the film but there are interviews with many people who were around then including Julian Lennon. They have remained friends since he was a child, and Julian obviously adores her. He says nothing about Yoko, and indeed, Yoko is never disparaged. That’s not what this is about.
May was in her early 20s when all this happened. Amazing, no? She went on to marry David Bowie’s producer, Tony Visconti. They have two adult children. (Later they divorced.) May remains a vital part of New York music history and rock and roll history, a very popular person “on the scene.” She’s one of my favorite people and when you all get see “The Lost Weekend,” she will be one of yours, too.
Last night’s penultimate offering after six seasons scored very well with viewers. The episode — in which Mandy Moore’s Rebecca passes away in 2032 — pulled the 2nd highest numbers of the season with 5.3 million viewers. They were up 10% in total viewers and 17.2% in the key demo.
Altogether, “This Is Us” was the fourth highest rated show of the evening behind CBS’s “FBI” night.
“This Is Us” concludes next week with a two-parter in which all the events of the last six years are revealed to have secret meanings tied to the fate of the world and the history of treacle as a dessert condiment. Also, Jack is alive and has been living a less syrupy life elsewhere.
PS When I first Mandy Moore many many moons ago she was an excellent singer. She was going to be a pop star. I recently read she has a new album out, and we should all check it out.
Marnie Schulenburg was really a bright light on “As the World Turns” during the last three years of its five decade run. Now there are reports she’s passed away from stage 4 metastatic breast cancer just before her 38th birthday.
Schulenburg was in the same generation of “ATWT” actors as Billy Magnussen, who’s gone on to a big career since then. In 2010 she got a 2010 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series.
Condolences to her husband and family. She leaves behind a a two year old daughter named Coda.
After two pandemic years in which Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Hulu, and other streamers could qualify their films just on streaming platforms, the party is over.
The Motion Picture Academy has decreed that only movies that play in theaters will be eligible for the gold statues.
Academy Awards of Merit shall be given annually to honor outstanding artistic and scientific achievements in theatrically released feature-length motion pictures, and to honor other achievements as provided for in these rules and approved by the Board of Governors.
Films that, in any version, receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release will not be eligible for Academy Awards in any category. Nontheatrical public exhibition or distribution includes but is not limited to: •Broadcast and cable television •PPV/VOD •DVD distribution •Inflight airline distribution •Internet transmission
This return to old form isn’t great news for coming films like Apple’s “Cha Cha” or Netflix’s “Gray Man.” Also, this past season, the streamers did little to put their films in theaters at all. Best Picture winner “CODA” was almost entirely shown on the platform and not available widely in theaters.
But this change shouldn’t come as a surprise to the industry. Theater owners are struggling to stay alive at this point. The pandemic forced closures everywhere, particularly hard hit was Hollywood itself where the ArcLight Theaters were shut down as well as the Cinerama Dome. In New York, the lone free standing theater, the Paris, is leased for the time being to Netflix so they can exhibit their films according to eligibility rules.
The other frustration, of course, is that streamers that do put movies in theaters, even for a short time and in limited release, do not report box office numbers. So no one except the studio has any idea if anyone saw their film. In the case of “CODA,” for example, the release was briefly to 600 theaters. The gross was around $1 million.
CBS has issued its fall schedule, and two days of it are basically not TV anymore.
All of Wednesday night is now “reality” programming. I put reality in quotes because it’s scripted reality, the unreal. The shows are “Survivor,” “Amazing Race,” and the new “Real Love Boat,” a dating show for singles on the high seas. CBS says it’s like the old “Love Boat” except there are no aging movie stars from the 1940s and 50s.
Turning Wednesday into a cheap deal is no surprise. CBS can’t compete with NBC’s Dick Wolf “Chicago” night and won’t deal with ABC’s comedy night which will now include “Abbott Elementary.”
CBS has completely abandoned Saturday night, althought that’s been happening for a while now. In the old days, “All in the Family,” “Mary Tyler Moore,” “MASH,” “Bob Newhart,” and “Carol Burnett” was the CBS Sunday line up. But that day is really done forever. Now it’s Drama rerun, Drama rerun, and then the miserable “48 Hours,” which is usually about an unsolved murder in a white trash town.
So that’s it. Oscar and Tony winner Marcia Gay Harden is starring in a series called “So Help Me Todd,” which of course isn’t even about her, but of course it’s not, she’s over 40. So help me God.
Tom Cruise appeared in Cannes this afternoon for a career retrospective discussion live on stage in front of an audience.
It was NOT a Q&A because the audience was not allowed questions. The moderator just allowed Cruise to ramble on, making inane and blank statements about filmmaking.
I know all this because both Variety and the New York Times covered it on Twitter. Variety’s Ramin Setoodeh also posted videos.
Setoodeh noted that in the montage of Cruise’s films, the only co-star omitted was Nicole Kidman, his ex wife. They made three films together: “Eyes Wide Shut,” “Days of Thunder,” and “Far and Away.”
The moderator apparently just let Tom talk and talk espousing drivel. He compared making films to growing flowers, and said he “learned a lot” from making sequels.
From the videos and reports, Tom came across as a combination of Chauncey Gardner, Robert Redford’s “Candidate,” and Hal Phillip Walker from “Nashville.”
There were no questions about his actual life, his children, or when the last time was he’s seen his 16 year old daughter, Suri. Or whether she’ll get a discount pass to see “Top Gun: Maverick.”
UPDATED MONDAY MAY 23RD: I’ve added at bottom a character poster released today. It features Ana de Armas, with the word “Untraceable” across the center. My friend Ed Douglas said on Twitter: “No false advertising there” LOL. Tomorrow comes the trailer.
For a long time, everything was fine. And then, suddenly, it wasn’t.
Today Netflix laid off 150 people — at least — after a previous layoff last month of at least twenty five.
These aren’t anonymous people in other countries. The newly dispensed with were editorial employees, mostly in Los Angeles, who worked on Netflix’s Tudum social media. There are also 70 people from the animation department gone, and they may or may not be included in the count.
Netflix stock went off a cliff on April 18th after the company reported not just stalled growth, but the loss of 200,000 subscribers. They predicted the defection of 2 million more.
The stock has not rebounded. A month later, Netflix is trading at around $190. A month ago it wasalmost twice that, at $348. Six months ago, Netflix stock was at $690. So you can see, there is a problem.
But the problems are not just defecting subscribers. Netflix has spent money like a group of sailors on wild binges all over the world. Millions have been thrown after Oscars and other awards that have not come in no matter how good the movies or the actors. Cannes doesn’t let their movies in because they don’t play in French theaters. In the US there’s a lurking resistance to Netflix because it undercuts the theatrical distribution business, what used to be the heart of the film industry.
Just to put this in focus, there’s also the issue of the actual movies. Netflix has repeatedly gone for the esoteric — long, expensive, hard to understand, works of art. Think “The Power of the Dog” or “Roma.” They’ve committed to a lot of movies which, at their conclusion, viewers say, “I didn’t understand it.”
To that end, Netflix is now awaiting their most expensive release. “The Gray Man” cost by some estimates $220 million. I reported a year ago March that the budget had sailed over $200 million. There’s been an overall sense of ‘more is more’ with “The Gray Man.”
But less than two months from release, there is no updated trailer. Just one from over a year ago, and some cobbled together by fans on You Tube.
The film is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. who went from TV to making “Avengers” movies at Disney-Marvel. They are not known for subtlety. In 2019, they released a two-and-a-half hour non-comic book movie, “Cherry,” starring Tom Holland, aka Spider Man. It got pasted by critics — 37% on Rotten Tomatoes. No one knows what its finances were since it was released on Apple TV Plus, which, like Netflix, is a streamer and gives no figures.
No one knows yet if the Russo’s managed to pull “The Gray Man” together, or if it’s a ticking time bomb. It’s possible that some people do know, actually, and these layoffs may be a way to jettison weight from a boat filling with water. “The Gray Man” is a $220 million movie without superheroes or special effects, not part of a franchise, basically a spy movie a la the “Bourne” adventures. And despite having no current trailer available, it’s coming in two months.
