Thursday, December 18, 2025
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RIP “Midnight Train to Georgia” Songwriter Jim Weatherly, Gladys Knight Says: “We were must made for each other”

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Singer songwriter Jim Weatherly has died at age 77. He wrote Gladys Knight’s biggest hits of the early 70s, including the incredible songs “Neither One of Us” and “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

Weatherly also wrote “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me,” “Where Peaceful Waters Flow,” and many other hits for Gladys and the Pips as well as many other country stars.

In 2002, Weatherly won a landmark case against Universal Music Publishing for underpaying him on royalties for “Midnight Train.”

Gladys said in an interview just this past Saturday with Clive Davis on his Zoom pre-Grammy gala that the song had originally been titled “Midnight Train to Houston.” She said, “I’m from Georgia, and that’s where that train is going!”

“Neither One of Us” was Gladys and the Pips’ exit hit from Motown. They’d already left the label and moved to Buddah Records and scored with “Midnight Train.” Someone at Motown went back and looked at their most recent album, discovered “Neither One of Us” just sitting there, and rushed it out to radio. The effect was that in 1973, Gladys Knight and the Pips — whose big Motown successes were in the late 60s — were revived big time, mostly thanks to Jim Weatherly.

Gladys wrote on Twitter: “We were just made for each other. We grew our lives together. I’m gonna miss him terribly and love him always.”

Here’s Jim and country star Lynn Anderson (“Rose Garden”) performing “Midnight Train”:

Ratings: Rachel Maddow Opens 1 Million Viewer Lead Over Sean Hannity Wednesday Night as Fox News Tumbles Again

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On Wednesday night MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow beat Fox News’s Sean Hannity by 1 million viewers.

Maddow had 3,898,000 million viewers tune in to her erudite, entertaining show.

Hannity, spewing baseless theories and alternative facts, crumbled. He invited in 2,890,000 million misinformed guests.

This was the third night this week that Maddow ate Hannity’s lunch. She did it all last week, too.

Maddow’s success spilled over onto Lawrence O’Donnell’s equally insightful program at 10pm. He scored 2,835,000 million.

His Fox News competition, Laura Ingraham, had to settle for 2,096,000.

Fox News is in a free fall. Only Tucker Carlson is pulling in an audience, and it’s unclear if they’re just snoozing until someone comes to put them to bed. What’s also happening at 8pm is that Anderson Cooper on CNN and Chris Hayes on MSNBC are splitting the intelligent audience at that hour. Their audience together is over 5 million, much larger than Carlson.

Is it really that Fox News has lost its ultra right viewers? Or are thinking people just turning away as the Republicans lose their minds, endorse racism and hate, ignore the pandemic, and unemployment?

 

 

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Contrition Ends, Congresswoman Calls Democrats “Morons” For Giving Her Time to Speak

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Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Greene must be removed from the House at once. She is demented, and off her rocker. After being stripped of the ability to be on committees in Congress, this morning Greene lashed back at Democrats. Last night before the vote, she appeared to be contrite about her racist statements and her insane theories.

But today she called Democrats “morons” for lettering her speak on the floor of Congress. She wrote on Twitter:

“I woke up early this morning literally laughing thinking about what a bunch of morons the Democrats (+11) are for giving some one like me free time.

In this Democrat tyrannical government, Conservative Republicans have no say on committees anyway.

Oh this is going to be fun!”

She also wrote: “First 10 who voted for the impeachment of President Trump.

Then 11 who voted with Democrats against me, opening the door for every Republican to be taken.

The base is keeping list of these type of “R’s.”

They’re fed up.

This type of betrayal will cost us the majority in ‘22.”

They’re going to have vote to not just censure her but remove her now. This is unacceptable.

That Was Fast! Nick Cannon Restored to All Jobs 7 Months After Anti-Semitic Comments and Farrakhan Backing

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Hollywood has a short memory.

It was only seven months ago that Nick Cannon lost his jobs with Viacom and his talk show was put on hold after he was caught making anti-Semitic remarks. He also thoroughly backed Louis Farrakhan. His You Tube channel was full of interviews supporting Nation of Islam ideals.

But then Sherry Redstone of Viacom, whose first husband was a rabbi, took offense. So Nick was fired from Viacom and “Wild n Out” show. He threatened to sue and said he owned the show. (He didn’t). He was also bounced from MTV and Viacom.

His syndicated talk show from Debmar-Mercury was put on hold.

The only company that didn’t fire him was Fox, for hosting “The Masked Singer.”

Nick started an apology tour, sucking up to rabbis and so on. He never really rebuked Farrakhan or the Nation of Islam.

But you know, that was then. This is now. Nick is back. All has been forgiven. These people are so stupid, it hurts. But there we are.

Listen, Morgan Wallen used the “N” word this week, and he’s barely suffered a scratch. If there’s money to be made, no one’s going to hold a grudge.

 

“Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” Eyes Revival with “Schitt’s Creek” Actress But No One Can Replace Louise Lasser and Mary Kay Place

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The brilliant satire from the mid 1970s, “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” is going to be revived. Good luck.

“Schitt’s Creek” actress Emily Hampshire will play an updated Mary. No other cast has been announced.

The original show, a parody of soap operas before Susan developed “Soap,” ran for two seasons (325 episodes), and was created by Gail Parent, Ann Marcus, Jerry Adelman and Daniel Gregory Browne. It was broadcast in syndication Monday through Friday at 11:30pm, five days a week. The result was a worn out cast that had to respond to overnight fame and incredibly popularity. The star, Louise Lasser, barely made it to the end.

“Mary Hartman” spun off two shows, “Fernwood Tonight” and “Forever Fernwood.” The former featured Martin Mull and Fred Willard, basically turning them into stars, as well. The rest of the “Mary Hartman” cast included Mary Kay Place, Dody Goodman, Phil Bruns, Graham Jarvis, Debralee Scott, and Greg Mullavey. Goodman and Bruns were already well known. Place — who was the hilarious aspiring country singer Loretta Haggers — has gone on to a stellar acting career of four decades. The sublime Marian Mercer and Dabney Coleman played the memorable Jeeters.

Lasser, who was burned out from “Mary Hartman,” retreated after the series into a semi-retirement. When she took the role, she was famous from Woody Allen’s “Bananas.” She was also the director’s second wife.

“Mary Hartman” depended on a kind of subversive knowledge of the culture, a sublime way to poke fun at suburbia and middle America. It’s a sense of humor that doesn’t exist anymore in the PC world. That kind of satire might exist in some indie film space, but I doubt these new people will get it, or be allowed to do it. As awful as the people of Fernwood were, that’s what America has become.

To wit: Loretta was a guest on “The Dinah Shore Show.” It was her big break. Live on the air, Dinah told Loretta she was Jewish. “Them’s the people what killed our Lord,” Loretta replied. Trust me, we’re not going to hear that now.

This will be a disaster, but that won’t stop anyone from trying to make money from it.

 

UPDATE Morgan Wallen’s Record Company Is 99% White, Maybe the Reason He’s Indifferent to Using the N Word

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America loves a good old boy.

Morgan Wallen, who’s being “shunned” and “punished” for being caught using the N word, is really suffering.

This afternoon has four of the top five albums on the iTunes chart. People have really rejected him!

How is this happening? Are his fans just ordering and ordering?

And what of Big Loud Records? I’m curious how their suspension of his contract is going. So far, so good, I’d say. Maybe later today he’ll have all of the top 5.

Big Loud’s website is worth checking out, by the way. All but one of their employees is white. Yee-hah! That could be the reason he’s indifferent to using the N word. He’s living in a bubble.  On their website they feature 21 smiling faces, all but one is Caucasian. The very last guy on the page, bottom right, appears to be non white. Whew!

 

 

Trump to SAG Prez Carteris: “I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership.Who cares!”

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Donald Trump celebrated the SAG Awards today by insulting the org’s prez, Gabrielle Carteris.

He wrote to her resigning from SAG and blasting her at the same time.

He is, to use a good juvenile word, a nincompoop.

Melania asked: “I don’t care, do you?” Now Trump says: “I don’t care!”

Thus, he is prevented from appearing on television again as a performer. Soon, he won’t be able to run for federal office again.

Says Bill Withers, it’s a lovely day.

Not April Fools! Olivia Benson, Elliot Stabler Reunion Set for April 1st on “SVU” to Launch “Organized Crime”

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This is not an April Fools joke!

NBC has set April 1st for the long awaited reunion of Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler.

“Law and Order: Organized Crime” starring Christopher Meloni will debut with a “Law and Order: SVU” crossover on that fateful day.

The two-hour event will begin with a new episode of “SVU” at 9 p.m. ET, followed by the debut of “Organized Crime” at 10. The crossover will reunite Meloni and “SVU” star Mariska Hargitay onscreen for the first time since Meloni departed “SVU” after the show’s 12th season in 2011.

The new series sees Stabler return to the NYPD to battle organized crime after a devastating personal loss– maybe his wife is dead, which will open up romantic possibilities. Stabler will aim to rebuild his life as part of a new elite task force that is taking apart the city’s most powerful criminal syndicates one by one.

That Meloni is back is great news for “SVU” fans. It’s also good news for him. When he was on the show he was in constant contract re-negotiations and was always unhappy with how NBC and Dick Wolf’s company remunerated him. But time has a way of healing everything.

Now let’s get Tamara Tunie back on the show more!

Rumor: Bruce Springsteen Will Star in Super Bowl Jeep Commercial, Which Song Will Be Used? How Much Did They Pay?

It looks like Bruce Springsteen will be the main attraction at the Super Bowl.

Reports indicate Bruce filmed a Jeep commercial in Hastings, Nebraska. It does seem like a perfect fit, doesn’t it?

The question is: which song did Jeep license for the commercial? (Not “Born to Run,” I don’t think.)

And the next one is how much did Jeep pay for this? Twenty million sounds good to me. ($50 mil for Born to Run!)

And how many Jeeps arrived at the Springsteen home?

Local reports out of Lincoln indicate that Bruce was there. His private plane was parked at the airport. A spokeswoman for Jeep-owner Stellantis, formerly called Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, confirmed to Ad Age that Jeep would run an ad in the second half of Sunday’s game.

The Associated Press also reported that a local sheriff confirmed that “a film crew shot something on the Republican River bridge south of Red Cloud and had hired a couple of off-duty deputies for security.”

Is Bruce selling out? No. There’s no touring, so there’s no income. “Letter to You” was a modest hit, but didn’t produce a huge amount of revenue. Bruce, like most rock stars, has a big payroll– all of the family, all of the E Street Band, and so on. So $20 million will go a long way to make up for no tour last year or this one.

Stay tuned!

Screen Actors Guild Awards Snub “Billie Holiday,” Revive “Hillbilly Elegy,” Chadwick Boseman Gets 4 Nominations

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The SAG nominations are in and they’re better than the Golden Globes but still lacking. The SAG members snubbed Andra Day and “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” Hopefully, Academy voters will nominate Day and the movie, overcoming this terrible omission.

SAG otherwise did pretty well. Their Best Ensemble category is a precursor to the Oscars although “Nomadland” is excluded. It’s not really an ensemble piece. And they left out “The Father” and “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Too many good ensembles this year! “NOmadland” will still win Best Picture at the Oscars.

Chadwick Boseman has four nominations! Two for acting solo, two for acting in ensembles. That’s quite a tribute to him.

“Hillbilly Elegy” was revived, with Amy Adams and Glenn Close getting nominations for their work. Deserved. That movie was maligned without reason or cause.

Jared Leto continues to surprise. His work in “The Little Things” has certainly gotten attention. I was hoping Glynn Turman would get that spot.

The SAG Awards will be held April 4th and shown on TNT.

Ensemble in a Motion Picture
“Da 5 Bloods”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Minari”
“One Night in Miami”
“The Trial of the Chicago Seven”

Actor in a Motion Picture
Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”)
Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Anthony Hopkins (“The Father”)
Steven Yeun (“Minari”)
Gary Oldman (“Mank”)

Supporting Actor
Chadwick Boseman (“Da 5 Bloods”)
Sacha Baron Cohen (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”)
Daniel Kaluuya (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
Jared Leto (“The Little Things”)
Leslie Odom, Jr. (“One Night in Miami”)

Actress in a Motion Picture
Amy Adams (“Hillbilly Elegy”)
Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”)
Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”)
Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”)
Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”)

Supporting Actress
Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”)
Glenn Close (“Hillbilly Elegy”)
Olivia Colman (“The Father”)
Youn Yuh-Jung (“Minari”)
Helena Zengel (“News of the World”)

Ensemble in a Drama Series
“Better Call Saul”
“The Crown”
“Bridgerton”
“Lovecraft Country”
“Ozark”

Actor in a Drama
Jason Bateman (“Ozark”)
Sterling K. Brown (“This is Us”)
Josh O’Connor (“The Crown”)
Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”)
Regé-Jean Page (“Bridgerton”)

Actor in a Comedy Series
Nicholas Hoult (“The Great”)
Dan Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”)
Eugene Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”)
Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”)
Ramy Youssef (“Ramy”)

Comedy Series Ensemble
“Dead to Me”
“The Flight Attendant”
“The Great”
“Schitt’s Creek”
“Ted Lasso”

Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries
Bill Camp (“The Queen’s Gambit”)
Daveed Diggs (“Hamilton”)
Hugh Grant (“The Undoing”)
Ethan Hawke (“The Good Lord Bird”)
Mark Ruffalo (“I Know This Much Is True”)

Actress in a TV Movie or Miniseries
Cate Blanchett (“Mrs. America”)
Nicole Kidman (“The Undoing”)
Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Queen’s Gambit”
Michaela Coel (“I May Destroy You”)
Kerry Washington (“Little Fires Everywhere”)

Actress in a Comedy
Christina Applegate (“Dead to Me”)
Linda Cardellini (“Dead to Me”)
Kaley Cuoco (“The Flight Attendant”)
Annie Murphy (“Schitt’s Creek”)
Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”)