Friday, December 19, 2025
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Watch Lindsey Graham Tell Chris Wallace That “We Just Elected a Two Term African American President”

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read the rest of today’s entertainment headlines here

Lindsey Graham, who I think is a United States Senator, seems confused today about who recently won the Presidential election. He tells Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that “we just elected a two term African American president.” He’s unaware of Joe Biden having been elected.

Lady G, as he’s known in some circles, may have been time traveling back to 2012 during his interview. Experts also said this week that not enough sleep can cause dementia. Is Lady G not getting enough sleep before interviews? Was he up late Saturday night watching TCM?

All I know is, Roger Ailes woke up in his hot surroundings and said Obama still president? Let’s get rid of him!

UPDATE “CBS Sunday Morning” Glossed Over Jon Voight’s Crazier Aspects, Referred to Him as a Trumper

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Here’s an update on the “CBS Sunday Morning” profile of Jon Voight.

TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz (grand-nephew of “Mank’) glossed over Voight’s loonier stuff and stuck to his career. He did called Voight a “Trumper,” and mentioned his nutty “Roe v. Wade” movie, but didn’t get into it very deeply.

On the Trump front, Mankiewicz omitted Voight’s real devotion to Trump, how he spoke at the 2016 Inauguration — lone among actors — and eventually was rewarded with a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Voight did not get to opine on a number of things that would have made “Sunday Morning” viewers’ hair stand up straight.

Voight is real dilemma because he is charming and an excellent actor. When you talk to him in person, he glows, and he’s a lot of fun. But then the politics start, and you want to run for the hills. The “Roe v. Wade” movie is an abomination. But if there’s more “Ray Donovan,” and he returns, that’s always welcome.

I must say, I enjoyed the pieces this morning on Merry Clayton and Russ Tamblyn a lot more. Buy Merry’s album on Amazon. It’s wonderful.

 

 

Scott Rudin’s Biggest Mistake: Insulting Rita Wilson, aka Mrs. Tom Hanks, Making Her Feel “Worthless, Unvaluable, and Replaceable”

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Rita Wilson speaking on the record about Scott Rudin. Don’t take this lightly. This is a major headline.

Rita Wilson tells the New York Times of Rudin: “He is the kind of person who makes someone feel worthless, unvaluable, and replaceable.”

Rita starred in a Larry David play, “Fish in the Dark,” on Broadway produced by Rudin. She tells the Times that Rudin “lamented” she might miss Tony voting season because she was having treatment for breast cancer.

Got that?

“I felt like he was trying to find a way to fire me legally,” Wilson told the Times, noting that Rudin asked to see her medical records. Why? In case she was lying about the breast cancer? The treatments? Who knows?

Rita Wilson is known in Hollywood as a stand up person. She speaks her mind, she doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She’s kind of a leader among celebrity friends. She’s also married to maybe the King of Hollywood, Tom Hanks. And she and Tom are BFFs with Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw. This is Rita Wilson, who produced a massive hit, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” She’s also got a great music career. You do not insult Rita Wilson.

For Wilson to feel comfortable enough to unload to the New York Times about her shabby treatment means Scott Rudin is toast. When you think about it, you wonder how he thought he could treat her that way in the first place? Did he not understand the impact of his actions? Did he think she’d never mention how she was treated? Forget the New York Times, how about her friends? Her husband?

Let’s not brush by this moment. Rudin has been accused of throwing people out of cars, tossing baked potatoes at them, instigating a suicide, and no end of obnoxious behavior. It was one thing that he didn’t regard underlings seriously or respect anyone around him. But making Rita Wilson feel bad — and I’m serious, not being facetious — seems like the stupidest move he could have made. And I thought even Rudin understood Hollywood politics. I guess not.

Some things you might be able to overcome. The flying potato, the nervous breakdowns. But not this. This may go down as the fatal mistake.

And PS Rita was really good in the play!

 

 

Remembering “Midnight Cowboy,” The Only X Rated Film to Win Best Picture (and 2 Other Oscars As Well)

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The Academy Museum sent out a Timeline featuring many “firsts:” among them citing “Midnight Cowboy” (1969), the first X-rated film to win Best Picture. With Glenn Frankel’s new book, “Shooting Midnight Cowboy,” much has been written clarifying that X-rating: “Few had high expectations that an X-rated movie about an aspiring male prostitute made in New York…  would do well in the Hollywood-centric Oscars.”

But a more unusual circumstance for the film’s Oscar success was that it won with almost no campaign to shepherd it along with Academy voters—certainly, as Frankel notes, it had “no money for the lavish events that Universal and 20th Century Fox” hosted for “Anne of a Thousand Days” and “Hello, Dolly!” — the kind of thing that in recent years Peggy Siegal did so well, hired by the studios to host luncheons that featured filmmakers and actors in high-minded conversation about making art.

Instead, the “Midnight Cowboy” producers made sepia-toned stills, using different ones for each ad. Frankel quotes Gabe Sumner at United Artists, “It was a terrific movie. We didn’t need anyone to stand up and give a speech. We knew what we had.”

Director John Schlesinger, shooting “Sunday Bloody Sunday” in London, did not attend the ceremony. As Frankel notes, his win for Best Director was the biggest surprise of the evening. Jon Voight picked up the award for Schlesinger, and speaking on behalf of the director thanked writer James Leo Herlihy for his novel. Waldo Salt won Best Screenplay for his adaptation.

Sylvia Miles was famously nominated for Best Supporting Actress for just a few memorable minutes of screen time as Cass. She delicately out-hustled hustler Joe Buck out of $20 “cab fare” after sex, but lost to Goldie Hawn in “Cactus Flower.” Miles used to say, she was nominated over other women in “Midnight Cowboy”—namely Brenda Vaccaro, because Brenda wouldn’t be naked onscreen. Glenn Frankel, interviewing costume designer Ann Roth, tells the story that she found a way to “dress” Vaccaro, in a fur, suggesting the nudity underneath. In any case, for Miles, demure Vaccaro — who went onto other successes– missed the mark.

“Midnight Cowboy” won 3 out of 7 Oscars and remains the only X rated film to win Best Picture.

UPDATED: Outside Producers Move in for the Kill as Scott Rudin Exits Broadway League Under Dark Cloud

UPDATED MONDAY MORNING APRIL 26TH
The vultures are circling Scott Rudin’s shows.

Revealed in a New York Times article this afternoon was news that Rudin has resigned from the Broadway League. He’s really out, done, it’s over at least for now. He’s giving up running a slew of hit shows.

Now outside producers are vying to take over “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “West Side Story,” “Book of Mormon,” and so on.

I’m told that Barry and Fran Weissler, of “Chicago” fame, may have already stepped in on Mormon. But a “Mormon” spokesman says it’s not true. “No one is stepping in.”

Matt Stone, who created “Mormon” with Trey Parker of “South Park,” says in the Times article that he and another producer told Rudin he had to relinquish his role in the show.

Of course, what all producers want is to get their hands on “The Music Man” with Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster. “It’s the perfect show for our times,” a top Broadway producer told me today. “Coming out of the pandemic, with all that upbeat singing, and Hugh Jackman. It’s a gold mine.”

Rudin also has some new productions waiting to go forward including “Our Town” with Dustin Hoffman, which will be a hot ticket. And Denzel Washington is set to star in August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson.”

But what about Rudin? A top Broadway producer who comes from corporate America praised the way Rudin has handled his scandal. “He didn’t deny it, and didn’t resist. He just said Ok, I’m guilty, I’m leaving, I’m out. He definitely took a crisis manager’s advice, unlike Harvey Weinstein or Les Moonves. It was brilliant.

“The question now,” says the theater veteran, “is who takes over? Scott has unique access to Hollywood and Broadway. He also had vision. Who can fill that void? I don’t know.”

And the bigger question: Can Scott Rudin come back? “If anyone can,” says this observer, “he can.”

 

“Saturday Night Live” Announces Elon Musk as Next Host, Fans Respond Negatively on Social Media

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“Saturday Night Live” doesn’t learn its lesson.

They announced this afternoon that the next host of the show, on May 8th, is billionaire Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX fame. The musical guest is Miley Cyrus.

News of Musk’s gig was met with disdain and mockery from viewers who still won’t forgive “SNL” for letting Donald Trump host a few years ago.

One wrote on Twitter: “Next week on SNL: Robert and Rebekah Mercer hosting, Slipknot is musical guest.”

Another posted: “Lorne Michaels helped humanize Donald Trump, too, by sticking him on “SNL” and Jimmy Fallon. Coming next season: Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin!”

New York comedian Judy Gold opined: “You want to know what I find infuriating? The fact that @elonmusk is hosting @nbcsnl and #CarolBurnett has never been asked to host #SNL in the over 45 years they have been on the air.”

And so on.

Musk is an unpopular choice, not a hip one, which is what I think Lorne Michaels was going for. He is not hip, nor funny, and no one wants him. But “SNL” is struggling to find hosts at a time when no celebrities are promoting movies. Also, their ratings are at dangerous lows– 3.6 million two weeks in a row, far below an acceptable 4.2 or so.

As for Miley Cyrus, who knows why she’s coming? Her most recent album was a dud, but she always puts on a good show. She’s not selling anything in particular this time around. And being on “SNL” hasn’t done much for record sales recently anyway. Nick Jonas introduced two new songs from a new album two months ago. The whole project sank like a stone.

Will there be sketches about Tesla’s exploding without drivers? SpaceX rocket ships needing to be rescued? Stay tuned…

“Star Trek” Writer Michael Chabon Recalls Producer Scott Rudin “Demeaned My Wife” Among “Fury, Vitriol and Vituperation”

Before author Michael Chabon got involved as a writer on the recent “Star Trek” TV off shoots, he was a very acclaimed literary novelist. One of his books, “Wonder Boys,” starring Michael Douglas was was turned into a terrific film produced by the now embattled Scott Rudin.

Chabon worked with Rudin for twenty years on and off, also trying to get movies of his other books like “Kavalier and Clay,” produced for film.

Now Chabon says, writing on Medium.com, that Rudin was a horror.

Chabon writes: “I didn’t even break with Scott when, in 2010, he turned the fury, vitriol and vituperation against me, in a dispute over the terms of a deal, in a series of potent Rudin email bombs packed with nails, razor blades and personal insults. It wasn’t until some five years later, when he began — behind our backs — to demean and shit-talk my wife, that I finally drew a line, and resolved not to work with him again.”

Chabon’s wife, Ayelet Waldman, also a respected writer and producer, last night re-Tweeted out her husband’s column. I suspect things were even worse than Chabon says.

Chabon saw during his meetings at Rudin’s office what was going on with the staff. He remembers Kevin Graham-Caso, whose brother posted an emotional video about Kevin’s suicide last fall.Chabon says:  “He was a sweetheart — and it was a gut-punch to learn, from his brother David’s recent video, about his suicide, following years of struggle with PTSD.”

“I regularly, even routinely, heard him treat his staff, from the new kid doing the coffee run to the guy just under Scott on the SRP organizational chart, with what I would call a careful, even surgical contempt, like a torturer trained to cause injuries that leave no visible marks. And I saw him throw a pencil, once, at an assistant as the young man fled Scott’s office and Scott’s shouting. The pencil struck the back of the assistant’s head, eraser end first, and fell to the carpet. A minute later, Scott called me into his office, and we started talking, as if nothing untoward had happened, about whatever script we were working on at the time.”

Many people who’ve worked with Rudin haven’t said a word so far. Their silence is deafening. There’s also been a muted response from some press people who obviously fear Rudin will rise from this scandal unscathed. They want to stay on his good side.

Carpet bombs in the New York Times, Vulture, and some Broadway website have fallen on Rudin this week like it’s the blitz in London all over again. There’s destruction, but as you can see London rebuilt from the rubble.

 

 

Awards Show Ratings Disaster as Indie Spirit Special on IFC Fails to Make Top 150 Cable Shows of Thursday

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Is it possible? I actually had a feeling this would happen.

With little promotion or attention, the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards shown live last night at 10pm on the IFC Channel were a spectacular failure.

The two hour special didn’t make the list of top 150 cable shows for Thursday.

Total viewers came to 73,000. And that was being generous. The numbers are tracked by Showbuzz Daily.

In recent years, the Spirit Awards show was able to find around 100,000 viewers. A couple of years ago they were down to 65,000. But those shows were Saturday at 2pm, the day before the Oscars. Why they went with Thursday at 10pm Eastern is beyond me.

The lowest rated show that was monitored on cable at 10pm last night was something on Fox Deportes, with 63,000 viewers.

This is really the season of bad karma. Scott Rudin is gone, there’s upheaval everywhere, and now Film Independent, a group with no good will, has seen broadcast disaster.

In case you don’t know, “Nomadland” won Best Picture. But in a year full of Black actors, none won. The best actors were Carey Mulligan, Riz Ahmed, Youn Yuh-Jung, and Paul Raci.

We Dodged a Bullet: Report that ABC Won’t Go Ahead with Kelsey Grammer-Alec Baldwin Sitcom

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Did you hear that ABC ordered a series starring Kelsey Grammer and Alec Baldwin? It was not going to be called “Kings of Bombast,” but it could have been.

Now Deadline reports that we viewers dodged a bullet. ABC is not going forward with it. Thank god is all I can see. Much as it would have been fun to write about, “Bombast”– my title– would have been an excruciating half hour.

The premise was Alex and Kelsey, more or less the same age, as old college buddies who reunite “to live the lives they always wanted.” I don’t know what that means. Is it La Cage aux Folles? Are they gay? And there was a third roommate, named Alec Mapa, who I think is a real life gay comedian. Can you imagine what this would have been? And the great James Burrows was going to direct and produce.

Whew! Deadline says this might have been a “companion show” to “The Conners,” even though ABC has done everything to kill that show. It needs to move back to 8pm on Tuesdays before it’s dead for good.

A little Kelsey or Alec solo goes a long way. The idea of the two of them in the same space…this was the universe speaking. No. Please. No.

“Queen’s Gambit,” “Bridgerton,” “Mrs. Maisel” Among Winners for 1st Ever Aspire Home & Decor Awards: Designer Derek McLane and Star Chazz Palminteri Among Judges

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Netflix’s original series “The Queen’s Gambit” was the big winner of aspire design and home magazine’s 2021 “Best Dressed Rooms in TV and Film Awards” winning for categories including Best Use of Lighting, Best Use of Small Space, Best Hotel Rooms, Coolest Design Detail for Plot Enhancement and Best Living Room.

Judges included Oscar-nominated actor Chazz Palminteri, Tony and Emmy award winning Derek McLane, who designed “Moulin Rouge” as well as the Oscars from 2013-2018, interior designers Kit Kemp, Gail Davis and Katie Ridder, set decorators Melinda Ritz (“Will and Grace”), Beth Kushnick (“The Good Wife”), and Lydia Marks (“Sex and the City”), applauded how “The Queen’s Gambit” set decorator Sabine Schaaf cleverly transformed the living room in chess prodigy Beth Harmon’s (Anya Taylor-Joy) Kentucky home.

“Because we are spending so much time indoors, we’ve all been talking about what TV shows to watch and ways to redecorate, which inspired this idea,” says creator Jill Brooke, a former CNN entertainment reporter and aspire design and home magazine’s floral editor. “People are appreciating and focusing on design more than ever so it’s a perfect marriage and perfect timing. Plus, we get to show some editorial love to the set decorators and floral designers who rarely get the credit they deserve.

“A well-executed, well-dressed set is tantamount to a starring role. Its richness and
authenticity is integral to creating a mood, a place in time that communicates the ensemble,” says Amy Sneider, Founding Editor-In-Chief of aspire design and home magazine.

“We look forward to this being an annual celebration of design,” adds Steven Mandel, President of Hudson One Media, which owns national magazines aspire design and home and Galerie in addition to a stable of regional and custom publications.

Best Contemporary Design
Winner: The Undoing

Best Costumes to Enhance Decor
Winner: Bridgerton

Best Lighting Ambiance
Winner: The Queen’s Gambit

Best Rooms to Evoke Nostalgia
Winner: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Best Use of Public Space
Winner: The Crown

Best Floral Design
Winner: Bridgerton

Best Living Room Design
Winner: The Queen’s Gambit

Best Artwork Display
Winner: The Undoing

Best “Cheap Chic” Design
Winner: Schitt’s Creek

Best Design Detail for Plot Enhancement
Winner: The Queen’s Gambit

Best Dining Scenes
Winner: The Crown

Best Hotel Rooms
Winner: The Queen’s Gambit

Best Bedroom Design
Winner: The Great

Best Period Design
Winner: The Crown

Best Use of Small Space
Winner: The Queen’s Gambit