“Dune” is coming soon. Like tomorrow.
Not only will Denis Villeneuve’s long awaited epic play previews tomorrow night in theaters, it will also hit HBO Max early.
You can watch Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, and that wild sand worm on HBO Max starting tomorrow night at 6pm (Thursday).
The movie is like “Star Wars” in the sand, with hints of “Superman,” and some other mythologies. It’s all about the fight for “spice,” but not Spice Girls, unfortunately.
Hey, you ignorant Fox News viewers. Since yesterday every other network has reported that Neil Cavuto, a star of Fox News, was diagnosed with COVID. It’s serious because he has suffered from MS, multiple sclerosis, for 25 years.
But Fox News itself doesn’t want you to know this. They only just mentioned it in passing at the beginning of his show, when Charles Payne — a frightening looking Fox android– sent him a get well. Foxnews.com has not reported the news at all.
Why? Because Cavuto urged his viewers to get vaccinated. He said in a statement: “I hope anyone and everyone gets that message loud and clear. Get vaccinated, for yourself and everyone around you.”
Fox News at night goes on a rampage against the vaccine. Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and the rest of those morons use whole hours to warn people away from vaccines– even though they are mandated by Fox News to be vaccinated as is everyone at News Corp.
While I’m somewhat stunned by this news, doctors tell me I’m lucky as well. Had I not been vaccinated, and with all my medical issues, this would be a far more dire situation,” Cavuto, 63, said in a statement.
Cavuto must be thrilled that his own company is trying to cover up his illness.
Fox News finally addressed Cavuto's Covid diagnosis on the air, but ignored his strong statement supporting vaccines pic.twitter.com/64kanyVBlh
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 20, 2021
It hasn’t been a great year for “Jeopardy!” At one point the veteran game show was down to 4.5 million viewers this year. That was off a high of 6.1 million last winter when they returned after Alex Trebek’s death.
Well, the most recent rating week which ended Friday October 8th was a smash hit. The show rose 7% to 5.9 million viewers, a huge comeback.
Alas, the sudden rise had nothing to do with who was hosting, although Mayim Bialik’s hosting run has had improved ratings. But the reason was something different.
The cause of the jump was the last week of Matt Amodio’s run as champion. Fans tuned in to see if Amodio would make it another Friday as top player, which he did. Unfortunately, on Monday the 11th, Amodio’s run came to an end when he was defeated. He exited the show with over a million bucks.
Now “Jeopardy!” goes back to reality. And coming November 5th Ken Jennings takes over as host again. He was last seen in January.
Thursday brings must-see TV with the 500th anniversary episode of “SVU”: A celebration of twenty three years, so many stories, and actors who’ve come and gone who everyone loved.
Producer Warren Leight has really worked in a lot of guest shots and flashbacks, enough to satisfy every fan. Dann Florek is back as Captain Cragen; you will tear up during his video chat with Olivia (Mariska Hargitay). Tamara Tunie is still the M.E, Melinda. (Has she been in the basement all this time?) So great to see both of them.
Danny Pino is back as Nick Amaro, and he’s solving a cold case that involves a true crime writer who was Olivia’s English professor when she was a teen. They slept together and SPOILER they do again in this episode. Aidan Quinn is spectacular as Burton Lowe, just the right combination of charming and creepy.
We also get clips, by the way, of Diane Neal and Elizabeth Ashley from older episodes, and an appearance by Peter Hermann (Hargitay’s real life husband) as defense lawyer Trevor.
That’s a lot of people and a lot of plot, but this episode is cleverly and economically devised with a plot twist ripped from the headlines as well as a personal backstory that gives it gravitas. It’s an impressive trick. “Law & Order SVU” has more quality per square inch than any of the long running shows on TV. Plus, they actually paid for a snippet of “The Girl from Ipanema,” which makes for a pretty cool clue.
Kudos on Number 500. And to Mariska Hargitay, who turns in Emmy worthy work every week.
“NCIS” unthinkable without Mark Harmon, right?
Wrong.
Monday night “NCIS” had its first post-Harmon episode and cemented in Gary Cole as the new leader of the unit, Alden Parker. He’s younger, funnier, and more off beat.
And the audience responded. “NCIS” not only won Monday night, it beat “The Voice” and rose 10% in younger viewers.
Total viewers came to 7.6 million, same as last week. But they key demo did rise, indicating that maybe a slightly younger viewer is coming over to see Cole, who has a big following from “Veep,” “The Good Wife/Good Fight” and dozens of other outstanding performances.
The current numbers don’t compare to “NCIS” in its heyday, but everything is different now. And the show is doing its job on Mondays: winning. It’s also setting the stage for “NCIS Hawai’i,” which is holding its own at 10pm.
What would be interesting? Bringing back Pauley Perrette as Abby to mix it up with Cole. That would be a blast!
Adele keeps on ticking.
Her new single, “Easy on Me,” released last Thursday night, has sold 350,000 copies through Monday according to Buzz Angle/Alpha Data.
Around 72,000 were actual sales, meaning paid downloads. Otherwise, it’s all streaming. Spotify is in its glory! They’ve recorded 64 million streams for “Easy on Me,” all from the same computer. (Just kidding.)
At this rate, “Easy on Me” will hit 500,000 for first week sales at the end of the day Thursday.
Keep in mind that Adele is a streaming giant anyway. Her big hit from 2015, “Hello,” has streaming over 600,000 copies since the beginning of this year. Can “Easy on Me” beat it? We’ll see.
Sony Music is the beneficiary of all this weeping and carrying on. They should have Sony tissue boxes. They’ve also got the number 2 single, “Stay,” by the Kid Laroi with Justin Bieber, which has been on the charts for weeks. And Lil Nas X is selling like hotcakes.
Just wait for November 19th when Adele’s “30” album lands and all the tracks swamp the singles charts. Ka ching!
The biggest scandal with “Easy on Me”? Whether the o should be upper or lower case!
Leslie Briscusse co-wrote so many famous songs from movies, Oscar winners, nominees, chart hits and so on. He died on Tuesday at age 90.
His most famous pairing was with Anthony Newley (who was also married to Joan Collins for quite a while), but he wrote with others as well. They wrote several hit Broadway shows including “Stop the World I Want to Get Off” featuring the perennial “What Kind of Fool Am I?” That song won a Grammy in 1963. In 1968 he won an Oscar for “Talk to the Animals” from “Dr. Dolittle.”
Two of James Bond’s greatest hits, “Goldfinger” and “You Only Live Twice,” were his. So were the two famous songs from “Willy Wonka.” Both “Pure Imagination” and “Candy Man” were written by Briscusse.
Briscusse wrote several hits with the legendary Henry Mancini including “Le Jazz Hot” from “Victor/Victoria” in 1982. Briscusse had 8 Tony nominations and 5 Oscar nominations.
That we’re all still singing his songs, at least humming them, all the time, is a great legacy.
Here’s one of my faves of all time, one of the top 5 Bong songs:
WITH SPOILERS-Â STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE ENDING
“Only Murders in the Building” has come to an end. I realize I was calling it “Only Murderers in the Building,” and now that title has been mentioned in the 10th and final episode.
Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez rocked this series. They made for a wonderful crime solving trio at the Arconia on the Upper West Side. I’m nervous for the people who live im the real building– not the Apthorp but another similar set up further up Broadway. The final scene of tonight’s show really gave away the facade.
So the story was that Tim Kono had been killed after witnessing his friend Zoe get shouted off the roof. Nathan Lane’s deaf son did that, and so we thought he had killed Tim, too. But last week Jan the bassoonist, played with gleeful madness by Amy Ryan, had been having an affair with Tim. Her bassoon cleaner was found among his possessions. And tonight, Amy lost it, snapped gloriously and was revealed as Tim’s murderer. All hail Amy Ryan, who will be much missed in season 2. (Maybe they can bring her back.)
Along the way, Sting was a suspect. Tonight, when Jan poisoned Charles (Steve Martin) he floated around the building in a stupor to strains of “Fields of Gold.” It was pretty hilarious. And Sting’s cameo a few episodes ago was the perfect nonsensical sidestep to pad the episodes out.
Nathan Lane already chewed up the furniture in episodes as the deli owner whose son sort of killed Zoe, then he sponsored the main trio’s podcast. But last week Jane Lynch came in as Charles’s stunt double and almost stole the whole show. She was amazing. Jane Lynch just takes whatever show she’s on and makes it her own. (See “Mrs. Maisel”).
The end of “Only Murders” was already a set up for the next season as Mabel is found with the dead body of Bunny, the awful tenant and head of the co-op whom Mabel only minutes earlier called the most hated bitch in the building. A new mystery begins as our trio is taken away by the police.
Steve Martin and Martin Short are well known quantities already, so it’s no surprise how wonderful they’ve been in this series. Short, especially, was sublime. He and Martin are such good pals in real life, and they play off each other like Jack Benny and George Burns. (Short being Benny.)
But the real gem of “Only Murders” is Selena Gomez, who never sang a note. She just segued from Woody Allen’s “Rainy Day in New York” to this Manhattan murder mystery without missing a beat or a note. She has a droll delivery and natural deadpan. You can’t get enough of her.
So we wait now for Season 2, I guess in a year, on Hulu. This series was shot with pauses for commercials. So NBC, which as a stake in Hulu, would be smart to show the series next summer before Season 2 comes. In the meantime, this is reason enough to subscribe to Hulu. I will miss these people!
Boy, am I getting calls today about Marvel’s “Eternals.”
Directed by newly minted Oscar winner Chloe Zhao, “Eternals” has an all star cast. It premiered in Hollywood last night, and screened for the press in New York.
And all hell has broken loose.
Matt Donnelly, a west coast Variety reporter, Tweeted out big spoilers from the film including what happens in the post-credit scene. A big pop star appears. If you scroll down a bit I’ve reproduced the Tweet. He also Tweeted news of a same-sex kiss.
The post-credit scene was only shown in Los Angeles to the premiere crowd. But the New York press audience never saw it. The movie just cut off. So the New York journalists were pissed when they learned that they hadn’t seen what their colleagues saw.
On top of that, the reaction to “Eternals” from those who saw it, also on Twitter, was lukewarm to say the least. There’s a review embargo so reading between the lines is causing eye strain. What I was told is that it feels like an indie Marvel movie. (I think that sounds interesting, at least.)
Meanwhile, Donnelly hasn’t removed his Tweet spoiler. And fans are enraged that he’s ruined the movie for them.
Look below for the spoiler. PS Thanks to the source who sent me this screenshot. Donnelly has blocked me!
Celine Dion’s heart will go on but not her shows.
The Canadian superstar just cancelled all her Las Vegas shows for the foreseeable future. She has a residency set to begin November 5th through the 20th at Resorts World Theatre and a second run from Jan. 19 to Feb. 5, 2022.
Celine says she’s suffering from “severe and persistent muscle spasms.” She says in a statement: “I feel so bad that I’m letting them down, and I’m especially sorry for disappointing all the fans who’ve been making their plans to come to Las Vegas.”
Celine has often been the subject of stories about extreme weight loss. But this sounds a little more serious, and it sounds like she knows it, too. So sending get well wishes, and that whatever this is can be cleared up quickly.