Friday, December 19, 2025
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Review: Ryan Murphy’s “Impeachment” Is Addictive Entertainment If Not Exactly Relevatory

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Ryan Murphy’s latest offering, back on FX this time, is an addictive, entertaining  and cringey can’t-take-your-eyes-off car wreck.

After watching the first seven episodes that are available to critics, Murphy’s latest installment of “Crime Story”  I can tell you that “Impeachment” has a bit less bite than  its predecessors but definitely has its own kind of dirty quirky charms. It’s a debauched saga that is addictive to watch.

The actors are across the board terrific especially Beanie Feldstein who plays Monica Lewinsky in as  immature but endearing.  Real-life Monica is a producer and script consultant, so the result of that is that it leans heavy on  Lewinsky’s  story flaws and all.

Co-star Sarah Paulson, a Murphy stalwart and an executive producer, plays Linda Tripp. She’s always terrific and throws herself into the role.  This role is made heavier for the actress as she burdened by prosthetics, a much talked about fat suit and heavy make-up but she still manages to make Tripp both sympathetic and vile.

Some of the same challenges affect Clive Owen who plays President Clinton with a down home and smarmy charm. Cobie Smulders nails the mad meanness of Ann Coulter. Billy Eichner plays Matt Drudge as the digging, quippy press soothsayer he indeed was. Annaleigh Ashford expertly plays Paula Jones with depth.  She doesn’t go for the obvious mocking of small town Paula as she easily could have. Judith Light is perfection as the opportunistic Susan Carpenter McMillan, who wormed her way into the Paula Jones drama to garner whatever press she could get for herself.

The stellar cast also includes Mira Sorvino as Monica’s protective Mother, Blair Underwood as Clinton fixer Vernon Jordan, Elizabeth Reaser as Kathleen Willey who accused Clinton of sexual assault, Rae Dawn Chong as Clinton’s elegant and loyal secretary Betty and more recognizable faces.  Edie Falco plays tough as nails Hillary, although critics didn’t see much of her, as we only had up until episode 7 of the 10 episodes in full.Margo Martindale is sensational as book agent Lucianne Goldberg.

The series gets punchier with each episode.  Beanie does a beautiful job showing us this young woman in her early 20’s who is naïve, flawed, vulnerable in a ‘relationship’ which is one sided and sad. Your understanding of Monica does bring up empathy instead of the punchline she’s long been in popular culture. The series sometimes teeters on camp, but then it hits you with meaningful and unjust scenes that make you indeed cringe.  “Impeachment: American Crime Story” bottom line is again, addictively entertaining to watch.

Revealed: In New 9/11 Doc Martha Stewart Catered Food to the FBI During Crisis When They Swooped Into Her Office Building

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The one new 9/11 documentary I want to see airs this Thursday on Paramount Plus. It’s called “26th Street Garage: The FBI’s Untold Story of 9/11,” and it’s the story of how the FBI set up an instant headquarters in the garage of the Starrett-Leigh Building on West 26th St. and the West Side Highway.

No one knew about it or where it was, but the 26th Street Garage became the center of all activity.

No one knew except Martha Stewart, of course. Her offices were in the building, and when she realized what was happening she became their caterer. Martha’s OmniMedia has kitchens and resources that came in handy. I don’t think we’ve ever heard that story before.

Of course, it was a year and a half later that Martha was arrested by the Feds in her insider trading scandal. She wound up going to jail. You’d have thought she’d earned some good points for her 9/11 work. I think she’s owed an apology.

My old pal, Anne Beagan, is an executive producer. Another old friend, Elaine Kaufman, would be so proud!

Drizzy Tizzy: After Initial Slow Start, Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” Soars with 325K Copies in 3 Days

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MONDAY UPDATE: After an initial slow start on Friday, Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” soared over the weekend. Total sales since Friday are 325,000 according to Buzz Angle.

The ratio of streaming to actual sales though is 10 to 1. That’s just 31,000 copies in paid downloads. The rest of it is all streaming.

The singles are selling, thanks to streaming. “Girls Want Girls” is 150,000, all streaming. Individually, all 20 tracks take up the Spotify top 20. They’re all above 100,000 streams since Friday. On Buzz Angle, Drake has the top 5 tracks, period.

But no one is buying “CLB.” What’s the difference? Royalties, yes, are much higher on downloads and CDs. But also, so far no wants Drake’s album in their home, in their hand, on their phone. They’re paying a subscription price to the streaming services and hitting the play button over and over.

Meanwhile, to stoke sales, Drake and Kanye West are having some kind of “feud” totally manufactured, set up, organized to keep interest in their respective albums. “Donda” had a big first week, now has cooled off considerably. “CLB” will do the same. “Donda” has sold 42,500 copies since Friday.

And who’s happy? All the people Drake sampled, which is a long, long list starting with the Beatles. Paul McCartney must be smiling wide this morning.

RIP Jean Paul Belmondo, 88, Star of the French New Wave, Broke Through with “Breathless” and “Man in Rio”

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Jean Paul Belmondo, the biggest thing to come out of France since fromage, has died at age 88. The famed actor has his breakthrough role in Jean Luc Godard’s “Breathless” in 1960 and never looked back. He became a superstar of the French new wave and international cinema.

Belmondo starred in action films, comedies, rom coms and worked like crazy in the early to mid 60s. He is said to have wanted to come to Hollywood but never learned English and remained a French and international star. He worked several times with Godard, and with every famous French director including Louis Malle, Claude Chabrol, and Francois Truffaut.

Belmondo’s last film was around the year 2000, but by then he had become a successful producer as well. He was married three times, had many famous lovers, and during the height of his fame had a seven year relationship with Ursula Andress (who had her own wild romantic life). His last child was born when he was 70 and in his second official marriage.

He won the Cesar, the French Oscar, in 1969, for Claude Lelouch’s “Itinerary of a Spoiled Child.”

More Bad Pop News: The New ABBA Singles Are DOA, Although “Dancing Queen” Is Back on the Charts

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More bad pop news:

That big worldwide ABBA launch on Thursday? Introducing the first two singles in 40 years? And a new album and tour?

Fizz. Pfft.

“Don’t Shut Me Down” has sold 6,200 copies since Thursday afternoon. “I Still Have Faith in You” totals 6,700 copies.

That’s it.

This is the problem for legacy groups, no matter how much publicity you generate. And certainly we gave ABBA all the attention they desired.

But the songs aren’t very good, and are far from sounding like their hits. “I Still Faith in You” is a snooze. “Don’t Shut Me Down” picks up the pace a little but isn’t much better.

It was certainly obvious from the press conference that the women of ABBA really want nothing to do with this except the money. They didn’t join the guys for the Q&A. Funnier still is that their voices lead the new singles, as if that was a deal they made to get the whole “Voyage” project done.

Does it matter? The whole press conference did the trick. It got “Dancing Queen” up to number 40 on iTunes and sent all the albums up the charts again. It’s all about catalog and the tour. Period.

 

 

Brit Sensation Singer Yola Gets COVID Despite Vaxx, Cancels US Dates This Weekend

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Brit soul singer Yola, a sensation, has had to cancel dates this weekend in the US. Why? She has COVID despite being fully vaccinated. Her tour picks up next Sunday and hopefully she’ll be feeling well enough to perform. You have to see her, she’s amazing. Her tour continues next year as well in the US but so far no dates in New York. What are we, chopped liver?

Bang! “Shang Chi” Sets Labor Day Weekend Box Office Weekend, First Asian American Super Hero

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“Shang Chi” has made $71 million for the three day weekend and set a record for Labor Day box office. It’s first the Asian American super hero movie.

For Marvel, it’s a low number for weekend sales, but the good news outweighs the not so bad. “Shang Chi” ranks at the low end of Marvel openings, but who cares? It was never going to be “The Avengers” or “Black Panther.”

By mid week or late in the week it will cross $100 million. Who can say that isn’t a massive success? Believe me. if “The Suicide Squad” had gotten those numbers, there would be a ticker tape parade down Broaday.

The rest of the weekend box office is watery and not of much interest. I keep getting updates on something called “PAW Patrol.” And all the quality movies like “Stillwater,” “Flag Day,” and even “Respect,” are dead. Muerte.

Tomorrow is Labor Day and then welcome the Oscar movies, blockbusters, and so on. We’re ready!

 

Time’s Up for the Big Names on Time’s Up Board: Shonda Rhimes, Et Al Wave Goodbye to Troubled Group

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Two weeks ago, Times Up chief Tina Tchen threw in the towel after being accused of smoothing over accusations of shilling for Andrew Cuomo. Board chair Robert Kaplan also exited. Now the big hitters on the board are leaving the troubled group.

The whole thing has unraveled. I told you this would happen last February.

“Time’s Up is ready for new leadership, and we want to move forcefully toward its new iteration,” said exiting board members Shonda Rhimes, Eva Longoria, Jurnee Smollett, Christy Haubegger, Hilary Rosen, Michelle Kydd, Katie McGrath and interim board chair and super lawyer Nina Shaw in a statement posted online today.

“We have strong faith in the talent and dedication of our interim CEO Monifa Bandele as a leader,” they added. The full statement is below.

“TIME’S UP was created to support the goal of safe, fair, dignified work for all women.

“It is crucial to us as a board that the organization remain in service to this seismic, global work to demand equity and disrupt systems that foster discrimination, harassment and abuse. We see the current crisis within TIME’S UP as an important opportunity for growth and change.

“TIME’S UP is ready for new leadership, and we want to move forcefully toward its new iteration. We have strong faith in the talent and dedication of our interim CEO Monifa Bandele as a leader. As has been announced, Monifa will be overseeing a comprehensive assessment of the organization, in collaboration with an outside consultant, and the input of our stakeholders: survivors and those who work for survivor justice and gender equity in the workplace and beyond.”

“To mark the establishment of a new TIME’S UP, the organization will have a new and reconstituted board. To that end, the members of the existing board will be stepping aside over the next 30 days, giving our CEO the ability to refocus the organization’s leadership to suit its mission and needs. As we do so, we commit to making sure TIME’S UP has sufficient financial resources to do its important work. And we have asked four existing board members— Colleen DeCourcy, Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, Ashley Judd and Gabrielle Sulzberger—to remain during this period to help ensure a smooth transition.

“TIME’S UP belongs to all women. Its mission must continue – until we live in a world in which no woman ever needs to say #timesup again.

Beloved Today Show Weatherman Willard Scott Passes Away at 87, Turned Being 100 Into a Celebration

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Al Roker reports on Twitter that Willard Scott has died at age 87. The beloved Today show weatherman turned being 100 into a national celebration. Tributes are coming. I spent some time with Willard and his wife, Paris, and they were just wonderful. Condolences.

Here’s the NY Times obit.

Did StubHub Cheat Preet? Former US Attorney for NYC Paid for Springsteen Ticket, Never Got It

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Former US Attorneys. They’re just like us.

Preet Bharara, ex US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is panicking with good reason. He says on Twitter that he bought a ticket to tonight’s final “Springsteen on Broadway” and that the seller has not sent it. This is not going to end well if that ticket doesn’t show up pronto. Bigger question: why is this famed attorney/author/podcaster going on StubHub? Why didn’t he call Springsteen’s PR or manager? This is not going to end well for StubHub or for the seller!

Bharara adds: “The wait time to speak to someone at @TeamStubHub is currently three hours”