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Simply the Best: Tina Turner Jumps into First Place in Rock Hall Fan Vote, Jay Z is Dead Last with Less than 100,000 Votes

Roger Friedman
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Simply the Best: Tina Turner Jumps into First Place in Rock Hall Fan Vote, Jay Z is Dead Last with Less than 100,000 Votes

Roger Davies, Tina Turner’s manager, gets a pat on the back today. His decision to make that HBO documentary “Tina” has proven to be a win win win.

Our beloved Tina has jumped into first place in the fan voting for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She’s about doubled her votes since the documentary premiered on HBO. (Applause.)

Tina now has more than 463K votes, and leaps ahead of world music influencer Fela Kuti, who was leading the vote until the doc aired last month.

The Go Gos’s, Iron Maiden, and the Foo Fighters round out the top 5. Number 6 is Carole King, the only other act to have more than 300,000 votes.

Dead last? Rapper Jay Z, with just 99,512 votes. If Jay Z gets in via the Nominating Committee there will be an outcry. Jann Wenner, who used to manipulate the vote, isn’t in charge anymore but I wouldn’t put it past him to try some trickery from the outside. RRHOF: don’t do it.

Tina’s ascent to number 1 is really lovely. She’s already in the RRHOF with ex husband Ike Turner. But her solo career far outweighs the one with Ike, and Ike’s history of abuse would almost qualify him for expulsion. (Almost, because his musical contributions can’t be overlooked, even by Tina.)

It’s unlikely Tina would come to the Hall induction in Cleveland given the pandemic and her health. But the show’s producers can get the great Adrienne Warren from Tina’s Broadway show, to do the honors.

Hunter Biden’s Confessional Book “Beautiful Things” Is a Sales Bust After First Week Despite PR Push

Roger Friedman
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Hunter Biden’s Confessional Book “Beautiful Things” Is a Sales Bust After First Week Despite PR Push

The book is a lonely Hunter.

“Beautiful Things,” the confessional memoir by Presidential ne’er do well son Hunter Biden is a flop after one week.

NPD Book Scan says the book, in Hunter whines about being a drug addict who slept around and has no memory of fathering a child, has sold just 10,000 copies in its first week. For a celebrity book with so much PR, TV appearances, etc, that’s not a lot.

On Amazon, “Beautiful Things” is ranked at number 130 now 177, now 208.

Nevertheless, an early surge of sales based on Biden’s appearance on “CBS Sunday Morning” puts “Beautiful Things” at number 4 on the New York Times Bestseller list that comes out today. But that will be short lived. Last week, “Rock Me on the Water,” a terrible book about cultural trends in 1974, hit the list after its “Sunday Morning” plug. It’s gone this week.

Hunter’s TV appearances on CBS were embarrassing. He came off like Eddie Haskell from “Leave it to Beaver”: cloying, unsympathetic, whiny, sycophantic. Hunter has a sad story, certainly: when he was a child his mother and sister were killed in a car accident. As an adult, his brother died from cancer. So Hunter turned to crack cocaine, slept with his sister-in-law, and fathered a child with a woman he doesn’t remember. Forget about his questionable business life. The guy is a creep. Instead of honoring his family, he brought them disgrace.

Meantime, NPD Bookscan reports that four of the bestselling books so far this year, and also in March, were by Dr. Seuss. They are: “The Cat in the Hat,” “Oh the Places You’ll Go,” “Green Eggs and Ham,” and “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.” This was after Dr. Seuss’s estate withdrew six of his old books because they had outdated racist images. That decision turned out to be the best sales PR ever!

Hunter should have called his book, “Oh the Places I Went!”

Read: COVID-19 Treatment Breakthrough in Canada

“Moulin Rouge” Star Karen Olivo Says Won’t Return to Broadway Show Because of Scott Rudin: “Unacceptable. That’s a monster”

Roger Friedman
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“Moulin Rouge” Star Karen Olivo Says Won’t Return to Broadway Show Because of Scott Rudin: “Unacceptable. That’s a monster”

OMG Standing ovation for Karen Olivo! The Tony winning actress (“West Side Story” 2009 she was incredible) says she will not return to Broadway’s “Moulin Rouge” because of “monster” producer Scott Rudin. She is amazing. Watch this video she posted to Instagram!

I hope every producer hires her for the fall or winter or spring. wow.

She writes: “Humanity is more important than my bank account.”

Full transcript coming. Wow. Wonderful!

By the way Karen is a Tony nominee for “Moulin Rouge” for Best Actress in Musical. They’ve never given out the award, maybe she’s a permanent nominee!

Justin Bieber Million Dollar Paris Publicity Blitz, Full Court Press for Tour That May Not Happen

Roger Friedman
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Justin Bieber Million Dollar Paris Publicity Blitz, Full Court Press for Tour That May Not Happen

There’s a yin and a yang to Justin Bieber’s trajectory right now.

Despite the fact that tickets aren’t selling to his 2021 concert commencing in less than two months, Bieber is on a PR tear.

He’s on the cover of GQ babbling about Jesus and whatever, Hailey Baldwin, etc. It doesn’t matter. He’s rich, he’s lonely, he’s depressed. He used to be an asshole, now he feels he isn’t. That’s his mantra.

Meantime, yesterday, Bieber and a pretty extensive crew flew to Paris and put on a “show” on the rooftop of the Hotel Crillon, which he calls the Krill-on. The wife went, all the pals, etc. The Crillon is about the most expensive hotel in Paris, so this trip, including private planes, had to cost a million bucks. Maybe more.

And the result? Odd. After about 24 hours, well under 1 million views on YouTube for the full video. Something billed as the Afterparty, on YouTube premium, has just 42,315 views. The individual songs averaged about 360,000 views. So it wasn’t a breaking down of doors to see this expensive croissant play itself out.

Promoters are telling me they’re still waiting to get the word that the 2021 tour, which was the 2020 tour, will be the 2022 tour. What if Paris and GQ and all the rest of it ends up with another postponed tour?

Hey, be a Belieber! Anne Frank was.

 

Great News! French TV Sensation Series “Call My Agent” Getting a Feature Film and Unexpected Fifth Season

Roger Friedman
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Great News! French TV Sensation Series “Call My Agent” Getting a Feature Film and Unexpected Fifth Season

Sacre bleu!

We all thought “Call My Agent,” the sensational French TV series was finis. Over after four seasons.

But now comes news that “Call My Agent” will get a feature film and then a fifth season. What unexpected, fantastic news.

All of this will come from Netflix, which has had tremendous success with the series about Paris talent agents dealing with movie stars and so on. The show is a must see for people in the industry, and has a cult following beyond that.

The film will come first, then the 5th season. There’s talk of shooting in New York, and bringing in some American stars. I caution the creators not to do this, or do it very lightly. The whole appeal of the series is that it’s in French, set in Paris, with an international feel. It would be so easy to jump the shark by bringing it to America and losing all the panache.

I am such a fan of this show and the whole cast starting with Camille Cottin as Andrea, and the whole gang at the ASK agency. I am convinced that Liliane Rovère has based her character of Arlette on the famous French press agent Yanou Collart. (She’ll probably never admit it!)

But all the interactions between the agents and their clients is so spot on and hilarious. The show is so well written by by Fanny Herrero and her team (from an original idea by Dominique Besnehard and Michel Feller) it’s as if they’d been flies on the walls at CAA, WME, and UTA!

Again,  I beseech them not to let Americans persuade them to interfere with their gourmet recipe. Too often great French chefs come to New York and make that mistake!

PS So interesting how all the best TV series are coming from Europe and the UK. “Lupin,” “Last Tango in Halifax,” and so on. The shows are beautifully developed with strong characters, real situations, witty humor. And they don’t have to be in English for us to enjoy and love madly!

It’s only a matter of time before “Lupin,” returning this summer, becomes a movie as well.

Taylor Swift Projected to Sell a Whopping 300,000 Copies of Re-recorded “Fearless” Album in Debut Week

Roger Friedman
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Taylor Swift Projected to Sell a Whopping 300,000 Copies of Re-recorded “Fearless” Album in Debut Week

Jeez Louise.

Taylor Swift, you know, sold the most records last year with not one but two albums, “Folklore” and “Evermore.” That was right on the heels of her “Lover” album. I’m talking millions. Like it was 20 years ago, not the current horrid state of the music biz.

Not streaming. I’m talking hard sales. CDs and downloads.

Now hitsdailydouble and Buzz Angle predict that on Friday, when the cows come home, Swift’s re-recorded “Fearless” album will hit the 300,000 mark on its debut. That will be 200,000 CDs and downloads, and another 100,000 streaming equivalent.

“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” will be the so far biggest release of 2021, biggest debut, biggest everything.

And it’s only April. My guess is we get at least one original album more in 2021, and one more re-release, of either “Red” or “1989.”

One day soon, when Taylor writes her book, it will be something. I hope she’s filming all this recording (I’m sure she is) for a documentary. Good for her! She’s a role model for all us lazy asses out there!

 

Just What We Needed: Paulina Porizkova Wants Our Attention, So She’s Posing Naked, A Lot

Roger Friedman
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Just What We Needed: Paulina Porizkova Wants Our Attention, So She’s Posing Naked, A Lot

Ex supermodel Paulina Porizkova wants our attention. So she’s posing a nude, a lot, on Instagram, and on a foreign edition of Vogue.

Paulina was married to Cars rocker Ric Ocasek until he got sick. The, Ric said in his will, Paulina “abandoned” him for “Bill and Ted” screenwriter Ed Solomon. Then Ric died on Solomon’s birthday. Paulina said in interviews that the morning she discovered Ric was after he was left alone all night at home despite being gravely ill. She was bringing him coffee when she came home and found him.

Paulina once starred in a very good indie film called “Anna” that got Sally Kirkland an Oscar nomination. Now she appears on Instagram and other social media, claims to be broke even though the townhouse she shared with Ric– she’s technically his widow– sold for $10 million. He claimed to have a small estate, but he may have hidden his assets in trusts away from her.

Being a rock wife ain’t easy. Being a rock widow? A little better.

Oscars Voting Begins Tomorrow, Front Runner “Nomadland” Victim of Negative Campaigning, of Course

Roger Friedman
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Oscars Voting Begins Tomorrow, Front Runner “Nomadland” Victim of Negative Campaigning, of Course

Oscar ballots go out tomorrow, April 15th. Academy voters have five days to do their thing.

This means it’s time for last minute negative campaigning. Suddenly, front runner “Nomadland” got hit with a big, nasty article in the LA Times yesterday. This beautiful piece of cinema about a woman’s loss and her foray into the world of people living in RVs is suddenly anti-labor. I nearly fell off my chair laughing.

I didn’t need Perry Mason to figure out the culprit here. Their fingerprints were all over it. Perry needn’t ask Paul Drake or Della Street to investigate. We’ve been here before. “Someone” has a motive to try and knock off “Nomadland” from its perch.

Can you imagine if Perry had all the movie publicists and Oscar specialists in the courtroom at the same time? He’d be grilling an executive on the stand when one of them would stand up and shout out, passionately, “I didn’t meant to do it. I couldn’t help myself!”

So Josh Rottenberg of the LA Times says that “Nomadland” is being criticized for not depicting ‘gig life” properly, and not investigating Amazon’s seasonal work force. I have news for Josh, who is a good reporter I enjoy reading: “Nomadland” is not a documentary. It’s a work of fiction inspired by true stories. It’s the saga of Fern, a widow without money, who is trying to adjust after her husband dies and her town shuts down. It’s a film so full of light and hope, I can’t believe anyone would go out of their way to criticize it.

But this anti-“Nomadland” campaign serves two purposes. It attacks not only the film, but Amazon, which — though it does have warehouse workers who I’m sure need better care — also has movies in the Oscar race. So tossing Amazon into the story has the value added benefit of making Oscar voters consider not voting for their movies. It’s brilliantly evil.

Look, “Nomadland” is the best film of the year. Since Frances McDormand has stepped back from the Best Actress race, I vote for Viola Davis in “Ma Rainey.” Emphatically. “Nomadland” will win Best Director for Chloe Zhao, and maybe cinematography and editing. I’m sorry Swankie wasn’t nominated for supporting actress, and David Straithairn, under-appreciated, for supporting actor. A great film, one above a group of excellent 2021 films.

Watch this great video about “Nomadland”:

Afternoon Emergency: Ellen DeGeneres Daytime Talk Show Drops to All Time Low Ratings, Down 11% in One Week

Roger Friedman
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Afternoon Emergency: Ellen DeGeneres Daytime Talk Show Drops to All Time Low Ratings, Down 11% in One Week

Ellen DeGeneres is really having a serious problem now. Maybe that’s why she keeps flipping $40 million houses.

For the week of April 4th, Ellen’s afternoon talk show hit an all time low in the ratings– just 800,000 viewers average for those five days. That’s down 11% from the prior week, and around 300,000 viewers off since the beginning of the season.

By contrast, “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” which airs earlier in the day, averages 1.8 million. Ellen is now being beaten by low quality shows like Wendy Williams and Maury Povich.

At the same time, her weekly NBC nighttime show, “Game of Games,” has lost half its audience this season, sinking to around 1.5 million viewers per week.

Most of this can be attributed to the reports of backstage chaos and a toxic work environment, producers being fired, and celebrities complaining about their treatment.

Some of it can be tallied to overall low viewership for syndicated shows in the last couple of weeks. Constant interruptions for news bulletins and hearings, press conferences, etc are a big problem for afternoon shows.

Still, Ellen keeps pulling in A list stars. But they have less and less to promote because of the pandemic curtailing movie releases, etc. All of this is a bad omen heading into May sweeps.

 

Photo c2021 Showbiz411 by Norah Lawlor

 

“Jeopardy!” in Jeopardy as Dr. Oz Week 2 Sinks to Lowest Ratings Ever, More Than 1 Million Fans Have Left In Last Two Months

Roger Friedman
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“Jeopardy!” in Jeopardy as Dr. Oz Week 2 Sinks to Lowest Ratings Ever, More Than 1 Million Fans Have Left In Last Two Months

Where the heck is Ken Jennings?

“Jeopardy!” is in jeopardy since Dr. Oz took over as guest host. His second week at the podium sank the venerated game show to 4.9 million viewers. Dr. Oz’s first week was higher by 300,000.

When Ken Jennings took over from the late Alex Trebek in January. he kept the ratings at a steady 6 million. But when Jennings left, Katie Couric came in and numbers started to dip. Couric’s run caused some damage, but Dr. Oz– who the fans petitioned against– has left the show in a precarious situation. In between there was show EP Mike Richards.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is on now, and we won’t know what’s happened with him until next week. But the PR machine issued an interview with Richards yesterday loading praise on Rodgers. That’s a sign they know things aren’t going well. The interview read like an act of desperation.

There are still weeks and weeks to come of guest hosts starting next week with Anderson Cooper, then Bill Whitaker of “60 Minutes.” actress Mayim Bialik, and Savannah Guthrie, followed by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. There’s no plan for Levar Burton, who has a big fan following. It looks like “Jeopardy!” will wait till Labor Day to announce Jennings, or some new permanent host. I wonder if they can wait that long.

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