Thursday, December 18, 2025
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Uh-Oh: HBO’s “The Gilded Age” Makes A Big Error About Ellis Island in Latest Episode

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Julian Fellowes’ “The Gilded Age” is improving in the ratings and in its production. Originally planned for NBC, the period drama soap opera had a clunky start but it’s picked up in its five episodes.

However, last night’s episode offered a glaring historical error.

You see, Ellis Island didn’t open until 1892. “The Gilded Age” takes place in 1882.

In an early scene in episode 5, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, and Louisa Jacobson are riding to some event, and Louisa’s character is explaining to Baranski’s all the new people who will be some event.

Baranski’s wonderfully haughty Agnes van Rhijn replies, “Who’ll be going The latest arrivals from Ellis Island?”

Only seagulls and pigeons were living on Ellis Island in 1882, Agnes. Ouch! This is a common mistake in our times to think that every immigrant who came to America arrived via Ellis Island, which is now a historical museum. But for example, my ancestors came from Eastern Europe and London prior to 1892 and through different ports. Only one of my grandparents’ families landed there, in 1913.

Julian Fellowes and his team always did a wonderful job with historical facts on “Downton Abbey.” But when there was a mistake like this one, they took umbrage. He once said of the errors,“The real problem is with people who are insecure socially, and they think to show how smart they are by picking holes in the program to promote their own poshness and to show that their knowledge is greater than your knowledge.”

“Mad Men,” which was set in the 1950s, sometimes goofed as well. And I’m sure “Mrs Maisel” has, too. But Aunt Agnes will have to wait another decade before she can make such an elitist statement.

PS It hasn’t been said yet, but I do think when Agnes refers to “new” people, she’s referring to Jews. It hasn’t been explicit yet, but the Russells — or at least Mr. Russell — is Jewish. And in last night’s episode he asked his daughter’s suitor if he would mind working for a Jewish financial firm.

Oscars Court a Plot Twist with “Cinderella” Outdrawing “Spider Man” So Far in Public Fan Vote

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Here’s a plot twist no one saw coming.

This year the Oscars abruptly announced a Twitter vote for #Oscarfanfavorite. This was meant to be a public fan vote that would bring the general audience in to the Academy Awards. It was widely assumed that “Spider Man: No Way Home” would win, and that would bring ratings to the March 27th show.

But “Spider Man” fans, who’ve spent $760 million at the box office, either don’t know about the fan vote or don’t care. The result is that another movie is taking the lead.

“Cinderella,” an Amazon Prime release that never went to theaters, is at the head of the pack. Deadline.com reports that “Cinderella,” which stars singer Camilla Cabelo, is getting the most votes on Twitter. Not only wasn’t “Cinderella” in theaters, it also got terrible reviews. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 43%.

So this is a mess. What makes it worse is that Sony is the original studio for both movies.  Their $700 million film may lose to one they didn’t even release!

Hey “Spider Man” lovers, get to Twitter and Tweet hashtag #Oscarfanfavorite immediately.

My choice would have been “Tick Tick Boom” or “Being the Ricardos,” neither of which was nominated for Best Picture. I also really liked “Free Guy,” but that’s not happening. Also, “Respect” for Jennifer Hudson’s performance.

Breaking: Britney Spears to Publish A Memoir, Maybe Getting $15 Mil Advance

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Britney Spears, I assure you, is not going “to write” a book. She’s going to publish one, maybe.

Reports this afternoon that Britney has sold a memoir to Simon & Schuster for an alleged $15 million advance.

That seems high given that S&S itself is for sale and that sale — to Random House– hasn’t been approved. But S&S would be the right publisher for a book by the beleaguered pop star about her career, her conservatorship, motherhood, and all her travails.

Whatever ghost writer gets this plumb job had better get a big fee. And there will be a ghost writer. Britney will dictate the book in dance.

Sunday Ratings: Olympics Go Out with a Whimper, “Summer of Soul” Yields Very Modest Audience

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Everyone must have been watching “Euphoria” and “Billions” last night. Because they weren’t watching broadcast TV, that’s for sure.

The Winter Olympics on NBC ended with a whimper, just 5.04 million viewers.

It was worse on ABC where Questlove’s “Summer of Love” had a meager 1.5 million. This was Disney using ABC to promote a Searchlight movie for Hulu and maybe find some Oscar votes in the process. But it didn’t work out. I may have been the only person who watched it. “Summer of Soul” deserves an Emmy award after last night’s showing. It’s a great archival doc that continues to insist its material was “lost” and “found.” This is not true.

We don’t have the numbers for “Euphoria” yet, but the episode was all about Lexi’s school play. These “kids” (they’re in their 20s) go to a high school that looks like it spent $50,000 or more on the class musical.

Meanwhile, the internet theory is that Zendaya’s Rue is already dead from a drug overdose and is watching all this from the great beyond. Certainly last night there were what I would call “Paul is dead” clues: a funeral in Lexi’s play (it was for Rue’s dad) and the way Rue sat alone at the show and just made faces. Who knows? Maybe they’re all dead. If any of us had gone through high school this way, no one would made it to graduation.

Tomorrow, cable ratings.

Reports: Sherri Shepherd Will Permanently Replace Wendy Williams Next Fall on Talk Show

This may be it for Wendy Williams.

The syndicated talk show host hasn’t been on her own show in months, replaced by substitutes. Her last show was in July 2021, the end of her 12th season. She never returned when the new season began in September.

One of the subs, Sherri Shepherd, has done such a good job she will inherit the mantle next fall. No more “Wendy Williams Show.” Sherri will get her own show with her name.

It’s pointed out that Wendy’s Instagram is no longer in her control, and now features Shepherd. The story was reported by LoveBScott.

Shepherd is effervescent and fun, she also has a lot of experience and can create a new show with her background on “The View” and elsewhere.

Williams has suffered from many physical and mental ailments this season including Grave’s Disease. This past week she posted a video from Florida where she’s re-centering herself. To paraphrase her, the grind of the show and living in New York and dealing with divorce, etc was just too much for her.

With Shepherd guest hosting, “The Wendy Williams Show” has maintained itself at 800,000 viewers average per day. That’s pretty good. It’s also 300,000 more per day than the same syndicator’s “Nick Cannon” show. If Debmar-Mercury puts some money into Sherri’s show, they would have a breakout hit.

Here’s Wendy’s video. My guess is she’ll write a revealing memoir and then appear on all the talk shows promoting it.

Queen Elizabeth, Justin Bieber: What in the World Could They Have in Common? COVID! Bieber Cancels Vegas Show!

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Two people who have nothing in common. Queen Elizabeth and Justin Bieber. What could be the thing that binds them together?

Why, it’s COVID.

The Palace announced earlier today that the Queen, who is 95, tested positive for COVID yesterday. She’s ok, and fingers crossed, will recover quickly.

And Justin Bieber? He’s had to cancel his show in Las Vegas tonight because he’s tested positive as well. Bieber’s 2020 and 2021 tours were scotched because of COVID. (Also, poor ticket sales.) But he’s just started his “Justice” tour and now he’s had to stop.

Bieber’s next dates are Tuesday and Thursday in Glendale, Arizona, and then the Forum in Inglewood (Los Angeles).  There’s no word yet whether those will go off as planned.

Rock tours are back on, with the likes of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sting, and others all trying to hit the road and make up for the last, lost two years. Even The Who are coming, and their Farewell Tour was in 1975. Plus Elton John’s “Farewell Yellow Brick Road” tour is arriving in New York this week.

There’s no backstage access for any of these things because the musicians are so terrified of the wrong person air kissing them and costing the promoters millions. So far, ticket sales for Bieber are stronger than they were two years ago because of pent up demand. Stay tuned to see when things get back to normal.

Box Office Update: Tom Holland’s “Uncharted” Debuts with $44 Mil, Channing Tatum Unleashes Power of the “Dog”

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As I said yesterday, 25 year old actor Tom Holland is top of the pops. He’s got the number 1 movie, “Uncharted,” and the third highest box office film ever, “Spider Man.”

“Uncharted” debuted with $44.1 million this weekend. Spidey took in another $ 7mil for a total of $770 million.

The Power of the Dog: Channing Tatum’s low cost mini film “Dog” made $15 million, which is what it cost. Everything from here on out will be profit. The dog gets a nice marrow bone and maybe a new collar. If he’s smart, he’ll seek new management immediately. This is Untied Artists’ first hit only because it was so low budget. This is the same amount of money “Licorice Pizza,” an Oscar nominee, has made in 13 weeks.

Jennifer Lopez’s “Marry Me” took in $3.5 mil total over the weekend, bringing it to $16.8 million over 14 days in very wide release.

keep refreshing…

 

UPDATED Kanye Responds: Sells Just 33,000 $200 Devices That Will Play New Album, Fires General Manager on Instagram, Disses Apple

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see Kanye’s response, which he posted to Instagram at 3pm Eastern, below in bold

Kanye West’s new album, “Donda 2,” will only be available on a device called the Stem Player. It costs $200 and is able to separate elements of the music on it so the listener feels they’re doing the producing. It looks like a large beige Bayer aspirin with electronic lights. (Take one and call me in the morning.) The album will not be available on Spotify, Apple, or other streaming services Kanye has named. Tidal is still a question since “Ye” was an original founder.

So far, according to numbers posted by the rapper entrepreneur, he’s sold just 33,000 copies of the Stem Player, half of what he says are available. Around 8,300 have sold in the last 3 days since he Tweeted about the album’s availability. The Stem Player has been available since the release last summer of “Donda 1” but it never really took off. Apparently, it doesn’t have a big memory and doesn’t really play other music well.

To celebrate the Stem Player’s lack of sales, Kanye has publicly fired his fashion General Manager, a designer named Laurence Chandler. He wrote on social media that he’d let him go. He also attacked Apple Music for not making a deal to stream “Donda 2” even though the whole idea of the Stem Player, he says alternately, is not to have the album on Apple or other platforms.

(The Stem Player, like Kanye’s sneakers, is now selling for more than the listed price as a collectible. Years from now these things will be flooding ebay at twenty bucks a pop. It’s the equivalent of Neil Young’s Pono player.)

Kanye wrote on Instagram: “I love how Apple only sees artist in only one way. They’ll sit with Daniel Ek but won’t meet with Ye. I remember me and Virg were with Daniel Ek in the club in Stockholm and he told me he could tell I get more p***y than him.”

He also says, alternately: “I turned down a hundred million dollar Apple deal. No one can pay me to be disrespected. We set our own price for our art. Tech companies made music practically free so if you don’t do merch sneakers and tours you don’t eat. Jay Z made Tidal and fake media attacked him. Well in the words of my big brother. Come and get me. I’m willing to die standing cause I ain’t living on my knees no more. God please cover me. I run this company 100% I don’t have to ask for permission.”

And PS, he’s been raving about Kris Jenner’s boyfriend, Corey Gamble, repeating sub-tabloid claims that Gamble is cheating. Last year, Kanye called Kris Jenner names on social media, this year he says she’s a genius.

And it’s Sunday.

UPDATE: Kanye responds on Instagram: To earn the $2.2 million we made on the first day on the stem player the album would have had to stream 500 million times We did more revenue on stemplayer, without the album even being out, than we would have done with the album being out on streaming

 

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Broadway Blues: With 19 Shows Down to $18 Mil Week, “Mrs. Doubtfire” Musical Delays Reopening Til April 14th

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“Mrs. Doubtfire” isn’t coming back to Broadway so fast.

The musical version of the Robin Williams movie opened on December 5th but then COVID arrived. Cast members became ill, shows were cancelled, and then the Omicron took its toll.

Producers decided to shut down until March 15th. But beware the Ides of March. Broadway, shrunk from 30 shows on New Year’s Day to just 19 this week, is still suffering. The box office on January 2nd was $26 million. Last week it was just $18 million.

Now producer Kevin McCollum tells the New York Times that “Mrs. Doubtfire” won’t return before April 14th. There are some people who think the show may not return at all, but McCollum is a man of his word. He’s trying.

McCollum tells the Times that without tourists yet, there’s no point. And COVID is not over in New York by a long shot. It’s just that people are tired of it, or in showbiz terms, “so over it.”  Nevertheless, there were 2,100 new cases in New York City yesterday. So keep that in mind. I know two people who’ve tested positive in the last three days. They were completely vaxxed.

“Mrs. Doubtfire” was panned, naturally, by the Times and received middling reviews elsewhere. Still, it’s an original musical, which Broadway is in need of this season. It requires time and patience and some awards love in the spring to keep it going. I haven’t seen it, but hope to when it returns. Let’s give it a chance. Every show needs one right now.

 

Hubris Alert: Alec Baldwin Buys a 55 Acre Estate In Vermont While Being Sued for wrongful Death of Cinematographer

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Alec Baldwin obviously doesn’t understand the meaning of optics or “not now” or “read the room.”

The Bennington, Vermont Banner newspaper reports that Alec and his attention seeking wife Hilaria (nee Hillary) have purchased a 55 acre spread for a reported $1.75 million. The property, says the Banner, has been described as a “classic Vermont 18th century farm [that] features 55 beautiful acres, a 3,600 [square foot] main house, and a nicely renovated 1800 [square-foot] guest cottage with 2 baths.”

You may recall that after Baldwin allegedly killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the low budget movie, “Rust,” Hilaria loaded her six kids into the SUV and drove “aimlessly” until she came upon Manchester, Vermont. Baldwin joined her there, where they camped out and confronted reporters.

The whole Vermont adventure was depicted as a fluke, when in fact, Hilary Thomas’s family had owned land up there for years. So it was not a random trip, that was lie, just like the whole mishegos about Hilaria coming from a Spanish background. She’s white shoe WASP from New England.

Alec Baldwin seems not to care how his actions are interpreted. After the shooting, he and Hilaria kept posting happy family photos to social media, and they’ve been doing it ever since. Is it any wonder that Halyna Hutchins’ widower, Matt Hutchins, filed a civil lawsuit against Baldwin this week? After Alec told George Stephanopolous in a very ill-thought out interview that he and Hutchins were pals and so on? Matt Hutchins can only be furious and inflamed as he comforts his 9 year old orphaned son that the man who allegedly killed his mother is enjoying himself three months later.

Let’s hope the Baldwins enjoy their new house, and don’t have to give it up in civil settlement over Halyna Huchins’ death.