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“SNL” Ratings UPDATE: Big Jump in Delayed Viewing for Owen Wilson-Kacey Musgraves Season Opener

Roger Friedman
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“SNL” Ratings UPDATE: Big Jump in Delayed Viewing for Owen Wilson-Kacey Musgraves Season Opener

We were right about “SNL” scoring just 3.5 million viewers Saturday night. Those were the overnight numbers from NBC, and they were half of last season’s premiere.

But…

A lot of people taped the show and watched it later. Who knew? Figures out this afternoon show the 47th season opener scored 4.9 million total viewers. Maybe those 1.4 million more were motivated by the good reviews of the show. It was a very good outing.

The early 3.5 mil guestimate didn’t take all that in. So congrats, “SNL,” on a bigger audience than thought. Seems like there’s a significant group nodding off before 11:30pm! Have some coffee, everyone!

THEATER: “Slave Play” Writer Jeremy O. Harris Wants Show Removed from LA Theater Over Gender Parity

Roger Friedman
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THEATER: “Slave Play” Writer Jeremy O. Harris Wants Show Removed from LA Theater Over Gender Parity

Jeremy O. Harris, the most recent “it” playwright, has stirred up some trouble in Los Angeles.

Harris has asked that a production of his one hit, “Slave Play.” be removed from CTG Theater Group’s schedule in Los Angeles over gender parity. He means that few female playwrights get their works produced there.

“Slave Play” was supposed to re-open the Mark Taper Forum on February 9th.  But Harris looked the schedule and didn’t like what he saw– this is despite “Blues for an Alabama Sky” written by Pearl Cleage and directed by Phylicia Rashad coming from April 6th through May 8th.

“Slave Play” is returning to Broadway for an eight week run this fall even though it failed to score a single Tony Award. It was a financial hit when it played prior to the pandemic largely because it’s gratuitous porn streamlined for a theater crowd.

I think Los Angeles has dodged a bullet, frankly; The Mark Taper Forum can do a lot better with a return show. How Harris’s financial backers will feel about not having a West Coast production remains unknown. But welcome to cancel culture, and random petulance. Theater owners have enough problems finding shows that will bring audiences, I doubt the CTG people are looking only for plays by people of a certain gender or color. They will book the most popular shows. Harris should know that. If Lynn Nottage or Suzan Lori Parks had had a hit in the previous New York season, it would undoubtedly have headed west.

And so it goes.

Monday Ratings: Another “NCIS” All Time Low, Drops Another 6 Percent in Total Viewers But Almost 16% in Younger Viewers

Roger Friedman
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Monday Ratings: Another “NCIS” All Time Low, Drops Another 6 Percent in Total Viewers But Almost 16% in Younger Viewers

The end of “NCIS” is coming, it’s death by paper cuts.

The 19th season saw the show move to Mondays on CBS at 9pm, leaving its 18 year run on Tuesdays. Star Mark Harmon is one foot out the door, and none of the people on the show except for McGee are recognizable.

Last night’s episode fell 5% in total viewers, and almost 16% in the key demo. Ouch! It’s a series low of 7.6 million viewers.

“NCIS” basically tied “The Voice (7.23 million) and walloped the also dying “Dancing with the Stars,” which came in at 4.77 million.

The good news for “DWTS” is that they went up 4% in the key demo even if their total viewers declined by 2%.

The other good news, for CBS, is that new spin off “NCIS: Hawai’i” took the 10pm hour and beat ABC’s “The Good Doctor.” So that’s something. CBS viewers like shows set in Hawaii, that’s for sure, with or without an apostrophe!

 

Adele Has a Clear Shot to Release New “30” Album In Late November, No Others Planned

Roger Friedman
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Adele Has a Clear Shot to Release New “30” Album In Late November, No Others Planned

Adele is back.

The assumption is she’s set for a November 19th release for her “30” album. That would be the approximate sixth anniversary of the “25” album.

Sony is chomping at the bit because there are no releases on anyone’s schedule right now for the 19th or even the following Friday. If they can drop the album on the 19th, Sony will have a clear shot for two weeks and maybe right into Christmas.

Adele’s single comes on October 15th. The way the current audience eats up new releases, they’ll need a second single by November 15th, and then the album release.

To date this year according to Buzz Angle, Adele sold about 580,000 albums, most of them streaming equivalent. Hard sales– downloads and CDs– is 33K.

What will really be interesting is to see which songwriters made the cut this time, and what songwriting credits Adele herself takes. Having a song on an Adele album is like getting a golden ticket. Ka ching!

Not Just Our Imagination: John Legend Film Company Now a Producer of Temptations Broadway Show

Roger Friedman
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Not Just Our Imagination: John Legend Film Company Now a Producer of Temptations Broadway Show

If you watched the Tony Awards special a couple of weeks ago, you may have noticed John Legend did a whole segment with the cast of “Ain’t Too Proud,” the Broadway musical.

It wasn’t just a nice booking. Turns out John has added his company’s name, Get Lifted, to the list of producers for the Temptations musical, along with his partners Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorious. John and Mike Jackson already won a Tony for being producers on August Wilson’s “Jitney” reunion in 2017 for Best Revival of a Play.

This is a smart idea. Legend may have some designs on playing one of the roles when “Ain’t Too Proud” becomes a movie. He’s not as lanky as Eddie Kendricks or David Ruffin, but he’s certainly got the chops. He could easily play Smokey Robinson, who wrote many of the group’s hits.

“Ain’t too Proud” re-opens on October 16th. It’s one of my favorite all time shows, I could listen to that album over and over.

 Watch the clip here from “Broadway’s Back!”– John knocked it out of the park with the cast.

Adele Releases Teaser for New Single, “Easy on Me,” Coming October 15th Before November Album

Roger Friedman
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Adele Releases Teaser for New Single, “Easy on Me,” Coming October 15th Before November Album

Adele has posted a teaser for her new single, “Easy On Me,” coming October 15th. By the sounds of it, Greg Kurstin wrote it. It’s very “Hello.” The album will come November 19th, her first in six years. The title is, “Remember Me?” No, I’m just making that up. Anyway, look for a tour in 2022 and four big weeks of sales going into Christmas. So Taylor Swift fans were right, Taylor moved up the release of revived “Red” by a week to get out of the way of this onslaught.

Barry Levinson Sells New Acclaimed Film “The Survivor” Starring Ben Foster to HBO

Roger Friedman
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Barry Levinson Sells New Acclaimed Film “The Survivor” Starring Ben Foster to HBO

HBO Films has acquired the exclusive North American rights to the acclaimed Harry Haft biopic “The Survivor” from New Mandate Films and BRON Studios, in association with Baltimore Pictures, Endeavor Content, USC Shoah Foundation and Creative Wealth Media.

I’m hopeful they will give “The Survivor” a theatrical run before or with its HBO/HBOMax run. Ben Foster is said to be incendiary in this film, and it’s been buzzed as one of Levinson’s best. That’s saying a lot looking at his resume from “Diner” through the outstanding “The Humbling” with Al Pacino. Levinson also has an award-studded resume with HBO on films he’s made for them. And let’s never forget “Rain Man.” And “Tin Men.” And “Avalon.” And “Good Morning Vietnam.” And “Wag the Dog.” Wow.

Based on the book “Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano” by Alan Haft, the film was directed by Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson (HBO’s “Paterno,” “You Don’t Know Jack” and “The Wizard of Lies”), whose previous HBO films have amassed a combined 26 Emmys®, with a script by Justine Juel Gillmer (“The 100”).

“The Survivor” is based on the incredible true story of Harry Haft, who, after being sent to Auschwitz, survives not only the unspeakable horrors of the camp, but the gladiatorial boxing spectacle he is forced to perform with his fellow prisoners for the amusement of his captors. Unbeknownst to those who try to destroy him, Haft is driven by the most important reason any man has to survive, a quest to reunite with the woman he loves. After a daring escape, he makes his way to New York, where he succeeds in using his boxing skills to establish a name for himself in the hopes of finding his one true love. His indomitable spirit lands him in the ring with boxing legends like Rocky Marciano as he fights to make sense of his past and reclaim the life that was stolen from him.

“The Survivor” stars Ben Foster (“Leave No Trace,” “Hell or High Water”) as Harry Haft, with Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”), Billy Magnussen (“No Time to Die”), Peter Sarsgaard (“Jackie”), Saro Emirze (“Wilsberg”), Dar Zuzovsky (“Hostages”), Danny DeVito (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”), and John Leguizamo (“Latin History for Morons”) rounding out the cast.

For Levinson and Foster it’s a reunion, too. Ben got his start with Levinson in “Liberty Heights” 20 years ago.

Facebook Whistleblower Appears on “60 Minutes” and Now Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp Are Off Line: Coincidence?

Roger Friedman
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Facebook Whistleblower Appears on “60 Minutes” and Now Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp Are Off Line: Coincidence?

Right now and for the last couple of hours, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are off line. Someone’s pulled the plug. They’re not available.

Last night, Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, revealed herself on “60 Minutes” as the company’s whistleblower. Her indictment of Facebook was pretty wide ranging and backed up with paperwork. Ratings: 10 million. Huge.

Coincidence? I think not. Some people think news about Adele overloaded the system. Uh, no. Whoever did this to these social networks was pretty thorough.  Stay tuned.

Ratings: A Whopping 22 Million People Watched Tom Brady Beat the Patriots on their Field in the Rain

Roger Friedman
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Ratings: A Whopping 22 Million People Watched Tom Brady Beat the Patriots on their Field in the Rain

Yowza.

A whopping 22 million people are estimated to have watched Tom Brady beat his old team, the Patriots, on their field last night, in the rain.

NBC won the ratings night and then some. Brady’s Buccanneers took on the New England Patriots in an emotional and historic game. The Bucs won 19 to 17, and Brady hit a milestone for passing.

The end of the game was the best part, as Brady was overwhelmed by former Patriots colleagues, current players, everyone at Gillette Stadium. Even Bill Belichick begrudgingly came over for a sort of hug handshake nod.

That’s three million more than last week’s NFL on NBC. A number like 22 million is something from the old days when there were just seven channels on the TV and no internet. So people still watch TV sometimes!

Over on CBS, “60 Minutes” had almost 10 million viewers who watched the Facebook whistleblower tell us what really goes on over there. Today, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have all been knocked off line. Coincidence?

ADELE Getting Ready to Drop Music on Sixth Anniversary of Last Album? All Signs Point to Yes

Roger Friedman
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0
ADELE Getting Ready to Drop Music on Sixth Anniversary of Last Album? All Signs Point to Yes

Is “30” coming?

Adele hasn’t released an album since November 2015 and things were looking bleak.

But all signs point to a single, at least, finding us on November 19th. Taylor Swift changed the date of her “Red” re-record release moving it up to November 12th. Why? Because a little birdie may have told Universal that Sony was coming with a monster release on the 19th.

Also, many reports of a “30” ad popping up all over the place spontaneously on billboards in many cities. Adele has numbered her albums in the past 19, 21, 25. She’s 33 now, but 30 is a nice, round number for an album title. She told James Corden in a Carpool Karaoke that the next album would be called Adele, but it’s possible her label or managers prevailed to continue with the digits.

On the web, Adele.com has been redesigned and is asking for people to sign up for emails. That usually means a record is coming, if not a tour.

Another clue is that “Hello,” her big hit from six years ago, is being used by the NFL on NBC for ads. This is not a coincidence. They’re reminding everyone who she is to get us stoked for a new song or album.

So brace yourselves. An Adele drop will be like an atom bomb going off. The good kind.

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