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Emmy Awards Bellwether of Pandemic Reality: Mandatory Vaccinations, Negative COVID Tests, No Red Carpet, Limited Guests, No Parties

Roger Friedman
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Emmy Awards Bellwether of Pandemic Reality: Mandatory Vaccinations, Negative COVID Tests, No Red Carpet, Limited Guests, No Parties
In Southern California terms, I think this is called “harshing my mellow.”
The Emmy Awards on September 19th will be limited in all situations. The TV Academy just sent this note out to remind us all in the media that vaccinations will be mandatory, everyone needs a negative COVID test, there are no red carpets or parties and basically, stay away.
Of course, this isn’t their fault. This is the fault of idiots who have refused to vaccinate, thus increasing the illness and death rate and ruining life for everyone else. Many congrats!
Here’s the update:
Out of an abundance of caution and for the safety of Emmy nominees, guests and media, the number of production personnel and staff must be limited at this year’s 73rd Emmy Awards.
Consequently, there will be a very limited (approximately a dozen outlets) Red Carpet for talent arrivals. In lieu of the traditional on-site media coverage, the Television Academy has partnered with CBS to create a virtual media center for the Emmys that will allow media outlets to connect directly with Emmy winners as they are announced on the evening of Sept. 19.
Plans are still underway for the 2021 Creative Arts Emmys. Be advised that there will not be a Red Carpet at any of the three shows, but we are planning for a very limited live Media Center to host our presenters and winners each night.
We will be launching credential applications for all fours shows in the next few weeks and will forward the link when available.
On-site media, crew and vendors for all shows will be required to test negative for COVID-19 and show proof of vaccination for admittance.

What Year Is It? Vanity Fair Puts 90s Star Puff Daddy On the Cover, Warns Away the Rest of their Readers

Roger Friedman
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What Year Is It? Vanity Fair Puts 90s Star Puff Daddy On the Cover, Warns Away the Rest of their Readers

What year is it again?

The September issue of Vanity Fair has an unusual cover subject: Sean “Puffy” Combs, 90s record mogul, who is a nice guy but as not part of 2021 as possible.

The cover line for the issue: Party Like It’s 1999. Why? Who knows? (The September issue usually kicks off the fall season. Is VF telling us there is no fall season? I think so. )

Combs has made a fortune, mostly from his association with Ciroc Vodka. He hasn’t had any kind of hit record in more than a decade, or longer. His celebrity heyday is long over. (No offense, that’s almost a good thing.)

The piece is so in depth that it lacks mention of his music mentor, Clive Davis, who put Combs’s Bad Boy Records on the map 20 plus years ago; or Ron Burkle, who staked him in his Sean John clothing line. Also omitted is Shyne, the rapper who went to jail for Combs after his famous trial. You may recall when Jennifer Lopez, aka JLo, dated Puffy. They were involved in a shoot out in a Times Square nightclub before going on the lam. Also brushed from this story is Puffy’s famous Champagne bottle attack on rap exec Steve Stoute.

And where is the outrage? Puffy gave a speech at Davis’s 2020 pre-Grammy dinner putting the Grammys on notice, giving them one year to change or else. That might have been a hook here. Alas not.

Yes, Vanity Fair is really doubling down on investigation journalism. The big news is Puffy is changing his name to Sean “Love” Combs and is starting an R&B label, whatever that means.

Meantime, Vanity Fair’s circulation is in the dumps, both on the newsstand and digitally. I’m sure this cover story should fix things.

Hilarious and Spot on “Suicide Squad” Saga Opens with $4.1 Mil in Previews, Don’t Miss This On Big Screen

Roger Friedman
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Hilarious and Spot on “Suicide Squad” Saga Opens with $4.1 Mil in Previews, Don’t Miss This On Big Screen

If you love super hero or action movies, or just witty movies with lots inside jokes, you don’t want to miss “The Suicide Squad” this weekend.

James Gunn has really made a terrific piece of entertainment. Last night, previews brought in $4.1 million. It’s better to see “TSS” on a big screen, but you can access it also on HBO Max.

Margot Robbie could get an Oscar nomination for playing Harley Quinn. In the first “SS”: movie, Harley was arresting enough to give her a solo film, “Birds of Prey.” I cannot say more strongly how this is leaps and bounds beyond those films. Just forget them. She is gorgeous, glowing, cute, capable, and insane. Some have said demented, but in the best way.

Idris Elba and Viola Davis, two tremendous talents, give “TSS” heft. Elba should have been doing this kind of stuff a long time ago. Who needs Nelson Mandela when you can play the rat-fearing Bloodsport? And there are tons of cameos and featured players woven into the story.

Put on a mask. sit socially distanced, and see “The Suicide Squad.” You’ll feel better for it!

 

Royal Flop: Posthumous Prince “Welcome 2 America” Fails to Catch Fire, Sells About 60K Copies

Roger Friedman
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Royal Flop: Posthumous Prince “Welcome 2 America” Fails to Catch Fire, Sells About 60K Copies

Prince’s much ballyhooed posthumous album, “Welcome 2 America,” was mostly unwelcome sales wise.

Despite a weird segment on “60 Minutes,” the album engendered little excitement. Total sales for the week including streaming came to just 60,000 copies. Of those, only 37K were paid downloads and CDs.

Sort of everything here was done wrong. But what I don’t understand is why the people involved didn’t release the track, “Hot Summer,” three weeks ago when were having a blazing hot summer. It’s a great single, perfect for radio, jingles, promotions. They had a marketing bird in the hand and did nothing with it.

Instead, we got the title track, which was kind of meh, and another one called “Born 2 Die,” which was a downer. The album actually has four or five strong, up beat songs that could have really blown up.

Plus, it probably doesn’t matter, but the track sequencing on that album is miserable. There’s no build up as you go through it. There’s no launching place. But of course, only old people listen to an album in order, even for a few minutes per track. So this is a moot point.

If the regular priced CD only sold 37,000 copies I wonder what happened to all the special editions. I guess we’ll see them floating around amazon and ebay.

 

 

Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga Debut Video of “I Get a Kick Out of You” from Upcoming Cole Porter Album

Roger Friedman
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Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga Debut Video of “I Get a Kick Out of You” from Upcoming Cole Porter Album

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga debuted their new video today of “I Get a Kick out of You.” It’s from their upcoming Cole Porter album, “Love for Sale,” due October 1st.

Last night, Tony and Gaga played their second and final show at Radio City Music Hall. On Tuesday they celebrated Tony’s 95th birthday with the first show, which was an absolute delight.

I have no pictures from either event because our phones were locked in pouches and no one has responded to a request for such a photo. I guess they’re holding all of that until the filmed version of the shows pops up, likely also in October and maybe on CBS or Paramount Plus.

They’re using PP’s MTV, a corporate cousin, for a lot of this stuff, as if anyone watches MTV. But the great and legendary Sheila Nevins, who runs MTV documentaries, was at Tuesday’s show, so maybe that’s where all of this is headed.

Lovely video, and musical performance. Enjoy!

Kanye West’s “Donda” Is Either Coming At 1pm Or Sometime in the Future, Premiered Again Last Night

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West’s “Donda” Is Either Coming At 1pm Or Sometime in the Future, Premiered Again Last Night

Kanye West re–premiered his “Donda” album last night again at the stadium in Atlanta. From the videos it looks like either he flew around or a stand in did, or it was an illusion.

Either way, no “Donda” appeared last night. There is some idea that the album drops today at 1pm on streaming services. Or it’s coming on August 9th. Or sometime in the future.

When it does drop (if), “Donda” will have a big moment and fade quickly. Even with 30 guest stars, the album will suffer from Kanye’s “Slavery is a choice” declaration, his presidential “run,” and his backing of Donald Trump. Unless, of course, his fans have amnesia, which is always possible.

So we wait for 1pm, and Godot, who is also coming then.

TV: Ellen Burstyn Returning to “Law & Order,” Charles Shaughnessy Checking into “General Hospital”

Roger Friedman
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TV: Ellen Burstyn Returning to “Law & Order,” Charles Shaughnessy Checking into “General Hospital”

Big doings in the TV world:

Oscar, Emmy, and Tony winner Ellen Burstyn is reviving her character as Elliot Stabler’s mother, Bertie, which she started on “Law & Order SVU.”

Burstyn is returning as Chris Meloni’s mom after winning an Emmy in 2009 for playing the role on the original series. Now she’ll turn up on “Organized Crime,” maybe in a cross over with “SVU” since it was Mariska Hargitay who announced all this on her Instagram account.

“SVU” has been shooting on the Upper West Side all week, late at night. I saw them last night on upper Broadway. Anyway, if Ellen is coming back it means she’ll get another Emmy, that’s how it is, she always deserves awards, she’s heads and tails above almost everyone else around!

“Organized Crime” is breaking itself into 3 eight episode arcs this season, the last one bringing back Dylan McDermott from the first season. Hopefully they’ll add characters and stories and start opening up the seaso so it’s not just “Law & Order: Chris Meloni.”

Charles Shaughnessy, you know him from “The Nanny” as rich theater producer Maxwell who eventually marries Fran Drescher. For years and years he’s also been part of the NBC soap, “Days of our Lives” playing a spy. Now he’s going to do a gig on rival soap, “General Hospital.” Fans are a little perplexed because Tristan Rogers, who’s been with “GH” since the 80s, and plays a spy, hasn’t been on show all summer. Shaughnessy was last on “GH” also in the 80s for a minute before his “Days” run.

 

 

Gotham Awards Go Gender Neutral, No More Best Actor or Actress, Just Best Performance

Roger Friedman
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Gotham Awards Go Gender Neutral, No More Best Actor or Actress, Just Best Performance

Say goodbye to Best Actor and Best Actress.

In an effort to really complicate things, the Gotham Independent Film Awards are doing away with gender and the distinctions of men vs women in awards.

From now on, they’re just giving Best Performance in Lead and Supporting. There will be 10 nominees in each category, but  it’s entirely possible that more “men” than “women” will wind up being nominated.

“Actresses” are not going to like the outcome, I can tell you now. Every year it’s a big deal to field enough actresses in each category for all awards shows. The number of men, or actors, is always larger. So this should be very interesting.

Additional category updates for 2021 include the creation of a Breakthrough Nonfiction Series award (previously included with fiction series) and the eligibility of international documentaries in the Best Documentary Feature category. The Gotham Awards will also be adding the first acting category within its Breakthrough Series categories with Outstanding Performance in a New Series. There will be up to ten nominees in each of the three new categories including Outstanding Lead Performance,Outstanding Supporting Performance and Outstanding Performance in a New Series.
Also the Breakthrough Actor award is being changed to Breakthrough Performance.
This is new world, kids. It’s also very PC, and you’re not allowed to say a word against it. So don’t. I’m warning you.
Will the Oscars try this? I don’t think so. But you never know.

“Jeopardy” Exec Producer Chooses Himself for Host, LeVar Burton Graciously Accepts Announcement

Roger Friedman
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“Jeopardy” Exec Producer Chooses Himself for Host, LeVar Burton Graciously Accepts Announcement

“Jeopardy!” didn’t even let the numbers come in LeVar Burton, who guest hosted last week after a big fan campaign to get him the job.

Executive producer Mike Richards has chosen himself to be the new host. He also skipped over greatest player of all time Ken Jennings, who scored the highest ratings of all the guest hosts.

Burton wrote on Twitter: “I have said many times over these past weeks that no matter the outcome, I’ve won. The outpouring of love and support from family, friends, and fans alike has been incredible! If love is the ultimate blessing and I believe that it is, I am truly blessed beyond measure”

Jennings hasn’t said anything. He’s on vacation in Europe. Presumably he’s still a consulting producer on the show. But fans aren’t pleased with the Richards news, and the press is casting it as an inside job.

Golden Globes Announce New Rules But Make No Effort to Diversify Membership or Add Black Critics

Roger Friedman
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Golden Globes Announce New Rules But Make No Effort to Diversify Membership or Add Black Critics

I don’t get it. I wish someone could explain this to me.

The Hollywood Foreign Press, on August 5th, 2021 still has not added a single African American or even Black from some country member to its 90 person group.

They’ve literally lost the 2022 Golden Globes show on NBC because of their lack of diversity. Publicity companies won’t deal with them. This has been going on for months and months and no effort has been made to change their situation.

Today the HFPA announced a bunch of new rules, the details of which are not interesting to the general public. They can’t take gifts or trips, etc. They have to be nicer to each other and new members. I’m not getting into the weeds here.

What hasn’t happened is the immediate addition of multicultural members. The longer this goes on, the worse it gets. All they say today is they’re hiring an HR person, a diversity officer, and so on. About five or six new positions with salaries. But I can think of five or six qualified potential members right off the bat. I don’t know why the HFPA can’t.

 

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