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Michele Lee is best known for starring as Karen McKenzie for 14 years on CBS’s “Knots Landing.”
But Lee had a big Broadway career in the 1960s and early 70s, starting with “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” She was Rosemary to Robert Morse’s J. Pierrepont Finch first on stage and then in the 1967 movie. He famously sang “I Believe in You” to Lee, and in the film she sang it with him.
Hearing the news about her lifelong friend’s passing, Lee told me this afternoon: “I really believe Bobby was the Robin Williams of musical theater. He was a comedic genius. You never knew what he was going to do up there. And when you see us on screen, that’s not just Rosemary looking at him adoringly, that’s Michele Lee. That was really how I felt about him.”
Lee did not originate Rosemary. She was the replacement for the original actress, Bonnie Scott. who became pregnant four or five months into the run. But she and Morse just clicked, and the rest is history.
Last night, Fox’s “The Masked Singer” fell to its lowest numbers ever. The total was 3,968,000. The show has been in decline since its return on March 9th.
It didn’t help that despised former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani was unmasked as the special guest. He “sang” the song “Bad to the Bone.” Giuliani’s appearance sent judge Ken Jeong off the stage and registered a protest also from Robin Thicke. Giuliani, a Trump henchman, is also thought to be part of the January 6th 2021 insurrection at the Capitol.
The show was taped some weeks ago, and Jeong’s walk off was publicized when it happened. So fans of “The Masked Singer” knew this was coming and chose not to watch it. If the idea was to generate ratings through this bad taste publicity it didn’t work.
The streaming service was a minus on Warner Discovery’s books, and now it’s over. The New York Times says it’s shutting down on April 30th.
What will happen to news personalities like Chris Wallace and Kasie Hunt who were brought over from Fox News and NBC News, respectively? Their agents and lawyers must be going crazy.
But no one knew where CNN Plus was, or what it was, or how to find it. It had a failure to launch, in simple terms. A few days ago it was reported that Warner Discovery, the new version of Time Warner whatever, had suspended all marketing and fired the COO. The writing was on the wall.
Part of the problem was without Jeff Zucker running CNN, and the parent company being sold, no one had a vision for what this was supposed to be. We all hate Fox News, but they birthed Fox Nation with a plan. And now it’s up and running.
One day, CNN will return to streaming. But for now, the dream is dead.
Legendary star of Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown,” and, of course, “Foxy Brown,” Pam Grier made a surprise early appearance to an appreciative crowd at the TCM, Classic Film Festival’s Media welcome reception at the Roosevelt Hotel Wednesday night.
Introduced by TCM general manager Pola Changnon, the iconic 72 year old star bounced on that stage like she owned it, because she does. Pam was just 24 when she was cast as the lead in “Coffy” a Blaxploitation, low budget raunchy and violent action-packed movie (which will be shown at the festival with Pam giving the introduction). Pam later went on to kick ass in classics such as “Foxy Brown” in 1974 and had a career resurgence with Quentin Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown.”
Grier explained her love for the movies. “I’m a film maven. In snowstorms I watch 3 or 4 movies a day. I get to see the narrative and culture from so many people. we’ve lived and experienced so many things. So sometimes they change. Our curiosity, our political position, our culture, our ideas, it’s so important that you continue to show all these incredible movies.”
When Pam saw TCM host Ben Mankiewicz out of the corner of her eye she let out an appreciative shout out. Mankiewicz hosts the mega popular TCM Podcast “The Plot Thickens”; the upcoming season will be about Pam’s singularly remarkable life story. How did Pam become best known for portraying touch, sexy crime fighters? “My great grandmother lived in Wyoming. She was the first black ‘Annie Oakley’ or ‘Foxy Brown‘ if you will. She had a hotel for the Blacks and the Chinese who worked on the railroad. She was also a sugar beet farmer. She taught my grandfather how to treat us girls to do anything a boy could do. Bring the tractor in and change tires, you name it. That’s how I got tough.”
Pam just finished a film in Atlanta and is thankfully working often these days. She mentioned that in a recent interview she was asked how did all those action films? She quipped, “I just don’t know how I did them all without a sports bra!”
The TCM Film Fest opens tonight and all five TCM hosts were in attendance, besides Ben; Alicia Malone, Dave Karger, Jacqueline Stewart and Eddie Muller were all chatting with guests. TCM fest film attracts film lovers worldwide. Tonight’s opening will honor “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” for its 40 anniversary with Steven Spielberg, Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace Stone, Kathleen Kennedy and more joining in. Saturday night Dave Karger moderates the “Diner” panel with Kevin Bacon, Steve Guttenberg, Tim Daly and Paul Reiser. Closing night on Sunday is “A League of Their Own.”
Lily Tomlin will be feted with a hand and footprint ceremony on Friday.
Other notables at the TCM Fest include Piper Laurie, Bruce Dern, and Disney animator legend Floyd Norman. Our pal, film journalist and historian Leonard Maltin, will receive the Robert Osborne award on Saturday. Spielberg comes back to the TCL Chinese Theater on Saturday night for the 4K restoration of George Steven’s iconic “Giant” which he worked on with The Film Foundation, including Martin Scorsese.
But back to Pam, as she looking around on the stage she announced, “I guess I’m a classic now!” You sure are Pam!
Robert Morse is gone at age 90. His impish charm, noted everywhere this morning, served him well. His big early moment came in 1962’s “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” for which his extremely charming performance won him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He won another Tony in 1990 for his one man show as Truman Capote as “Tru,” and an Emmy award for play Capote in a 1980 TV special.
To more contemporary audiences, Morse was better known as Bert Cooper, founder of ad agency Sterling Cooper, on “Mad Men.” He was nominated for Best Guest Actor in a Drama five times between 2008 and 2014 in that role which he made iconic and beloved before getting a big musical number upon his exit. (He should have won.)
But it was Morse’s J. Pierrepont Finch in “How to Succeed” that cemented his career all through the 1960s. First it was on Broadway and then in the movie in 1967, each time with Michele Lee, later the star of “Knots Landing,” as his Rosemary.
Here he is:
and here is as Bert Cooper:
I talked to Morse a lot over the years, first when he was on Broadway in “Tru,” and later with “Mad Men.” He was just delightful, incredibly fun and smart and insightful. He’s really going to be missed and never forgotten.
Alec Baldwin has posted an odd Tweet which he says is from his lawyer. They thank the New Mexico Environment Department for investigating the death of Halyna Hutchins and exonerating Alec from responsibility.
But that maybe a premature because that’s not exactly what the report about the Hutchins death says. Indeed, they point out that that assistant director Dave Halls handed Baldwin a loaded gun and that Baldwin didn’t know it. They state that “Alec Baldwin’s authority on the set included approving script changes and actor candidates.” But they also add that “Alec Baldwin handled the revolver and fired the round that struck and injured Halyna Hutchins and Joel Souza.”
Baldwin’s exoneration is not mentioned in the report, only in his lawyer’s tweet.
So let’s wait a second. Even if we know Baldwin didn’t intentionally fire a loaded gun, and certainly had no intention of killing or hurting anyone, the report states that he fired the gun. Baldwin has always maintained that he did not fire the gun.
On top of that, the report is highly critical of Rush Productions LLC. In a summary they say “OHSB found that Rust willfully violated the Occupational Health and Safety Act by demonstrating plain indifference to the safety of employees and exposing those employees to the serious hazards associated with firearm use.” They fined the Rust company over $136,000 for causing Hutchins’s death.
They state that the accident was “willful.” The report says: “Members of Rust management knew that firearm safety procedures were not being followed on set and acted with plain indifference to employee safety by failing to review work practices, adhere to film industry standards for firearm safety, and take corrective action.’
But the department does not determine individual responsibility: “OHSB has jurisdiction to hold employers accountable for violations of workplace safety requirements. In this case, the employer is Rust Movie Productions, LLC. OHSB does not issue citations to any individuals associated with the employer.”
So no one is off the hook. Not Baldwin, not Hannah Guiterrez-Reed, and certainly not Dave Halls or of the producers of the movie. There’s a lot more to come here.
Up til now, Nat Geo’s “Genius” series was on their channel, lumped into your cable tier. But starting with the next production, the sometimes fact based series is moving to Disney Plus. You’ll have to pay to stream it.
After sort of botching the Aretha Franklin “Genius” series, the producers are now moving on to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. They’re going to be thrown together for the next series, which will combine their incredibly disparate stories.
According to a press release: “While King advanced racial equality through nonviolent protest, Malcolm X argued forcefully for Black empowerment, identity, and self-determination. With their formidable wives, Coretta Scott King and Betty Shabazz, by their sides, King and Malcolm X became synonymous with the civil rights era and the fight for racial and economic justice. While they met only once and often challenged each other’s views, neither would have been as successful without the other.”
Of course, we have Ava Duvernay’s excellent “Selma” and Spike Lee’s classic “Malcolm X” as precedents. But now screenwriter Jeff Stetson will weave together these two civil rights leaders in “Genius: MLK-X.” No word on casting yet.
Why did “Genius” leave its happy home at Nat Geo? Money is always the answer. The series is adding Reggie Rock Bythewood and Gina Prince-Bythewood as executive producers, but so far no King or Malcolm X scholars, historians, or experts. That’s what got them in trouble with Aretha.
It won’t be much consolation to the family of dead cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. But the New Mexico Environment Department’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau (OHSB) has fined the producers of the Alec Baldwin movie “Rust” $136,793 for Hutchins’ “avoidable” death last winter on set.
You may recall that Baldwin allegedly fired a gun that was loaded with real bullets, or didn’t fire the gun but it discharged, killing Hutchins and wounding the film’s director.
Quoting from the OHSB’s press release: “The report concludes that Rust Movie Productions, LLC management knew that firearm safety procedures were not being followed on set and demonstrated plain indifference to employee safety by failing to review work practices and take corrective action.”
Environment Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said: “Our investigation found that this tragic incident never would have happened if Rust Movie Productions, LLC had followed national film industry standards for firearm safety,” said “This is a complete failure of the employer to follow recognized national protocols that keep employees safe.”
“Blackish” wrapped up 8 award winning classy seasons last night on ABC. It went out with a whimper, I’m afraid. Just 2.4 million million watched the show end its run.
But look, it’s all good. “Blackish” made real stars out of Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross. It launched Kenya Barris, and had spin offs. “Blackish” was the rare network comedy to get Emmy nominations. Its legacy is preserved. And there would be no “Abbott Elementary” without it.
Over on NBC, Mondays are bleak. Absolutely no one is watching “American Song Contest” or “Endgame.” The former is hosted by Kelly Clarkson, dressed like a sofa, and Snoop Dogg, who has no idea where he is. The latter is one of those mystery generic NBC shows no one watches or realizes is on television.
On Monday, the pair of shows averaged 1.5 million viewers all night. That’s about 4 million less than everything else on the other networks including “American Idol.” Why NBC would put a singing show on against “Idol” is anyone’s guess. Masochism? With ABC plotting the return of Monday Night Football, NBC might think about putting on some actual shows to replace these.
Big announcement: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are getting back together for the first time since “The Last Duel.” Didn’t see that one? No worries, they had no scenes together.
Their new project is for Amazon, and it’s the story of how Nike romanced basketball great Michael Jordan. The movie is not called “Sneakers” but it should be (there was already a great heist movie with that name). Affleck plays Nike’s Phil Knight and will direct the film, Damon plays Sonny Vaccaro, and will co-write the screenplay with Affleck. Ben’s movie, “Argo,” won Best Picture a few years ago and he’s directed several other good films like “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Town.”
Not included in the announcement is sort of the key thing: who’s going to play Michael Jordan? He’s sort of key to the story. So is his late father, Michael Jordan Sr. Jordan was a young, hot star on the Chicago Bulls in 1984 when he signed his deal with Nike for $500,000 a year for five years. LOL. In the first year, Nike sold $126 million of Air Jordans. The rest is history.
At the time, Jordan was just 21. He was also (and still is) six-foot-six. He’s also the greatest ball player of his time. So finding an actor to play him will not be easy but it will be crucial to the movie. It could be a star making moment for a young, gifted actor who can dribble and still be charming. So hold on. Phenoms wanted.
