Thursday, December 18, 2025
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ABC Kills Its Golden Goose, Moves “The Conners” from Tuesday to Wednesday and Loses 20% of Audience

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Maybe ABC wants to give Roseanne Barr the last laugh after all.

The network moved “The Conners” from Tuesday to Wednesday this season, aired the opener at 9pm instead of 8pm, and lost a sizeable chunk of its audience.

Over 20 percent of “The Conners” fans from last season didn’t show up for the Season 3 premiere on Wednesday. It was the wrong night and the wrong time. For some reason, ABC put on back to back half hours of “The Goldbergs” as the lead in for “The Conners.” The latter show had been ABC’s strongest comedy hit on Tuesdays at 8pm. So, of course, they moved the “Roseanne” spin off to see if they could kill it.

All of this changing schedule has to do with having “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Bachelorette” on air at the same time. They used to alternate on Mondays at 8. But with the two shows on, one had to move to Tuesdays. So ABC sacrificed “The Conners.” Last spring’s season finale had 6 million viewers. Wednesday night’s premiere brought 4.9 million.

You could say baseball interfered, with the World Series on Fox. But really, there is no cross over or commonality between those audiences unless Roseanne herself was singing the national anthem.

ABC had better move “The Conners” back to Tuesdays at 8pm. No one at network TV has ever subscribed to the adage, If ain’t broke, don’t fix it. They might give that a try.

 

Jerry Jeff Walker, Writer of “Mr. Bojangles,” Beloved Country Western- Pop Music Star, Dies at 78

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Jerry Jeff Walker has died at age 78. Kind of a wild Texas musician with a great talent for story telling in his songs, Jerry Jeff– whose real name was Ronald Clyde Crosby (Clyde is such a great name) — wrote the massive hit, “Mr. Bojangles.” he song launched the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, whose rendition of it went to the top of the charts in 1970, two years after Jerry Jeff’s original recording. The song made Jerry Jeff so identified with the group, I always thought he was part of them. Shortly after the NGDB’s hit, Sammy Davis Jr. made the song his own, as well. From the stories you can read on Twitter and Facebook, Jerry Jeff lived his life the way he wanted, hard and fast. Two and a half years ago he was diagnosed with throat cancer and nearly died, but he persevered for as long as he could. Rest in peace, Jerry Jeff.

 

 

How to Get Rid of Anna Wintour? Send the New York Times to Do a Hit Piece on Fashion Editor’s Stand on Race

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It’s not easy getting rid of Anna Wintour at Vogue. Like a South American dictator, she’s not going to leave on her own. Falling circulation and ad sales aren’t even doing the trick. So the New York Times has sent an assassin in the form of reporter Edmund Lee, who’s published a lengthy take out piece called “The White Issue: Has Anna Wintour’s Diversity Push Come Too Late?”

Adding insult to injury, the Times has illustrated the article with a terrible picture of Wintour without her trademark sunglasses, eye looking tired and puffy, her face in distress. The stage is set. The assassin’s gun is loaded. And then it’s just bullet after bullet.

Lee writes (they capitalize the word black, which I think is wrong): “Black journalists who have worked with Ms. Wintour, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution, said they had not gotten over their experiences at a magazine whose workplace mirrored its exclusive pages…Under Ms. Wintour, 18 people said, Vogue welcomed a certain type of employee — someone who is thin and white, typically from a wealthy family and educated at elite schools. Of the 18, 11 people said that, in their view, Ms. Wintour should no longer be in charge of Vogue and should give up her post as Condé Nast’s editorial leader.”

Got that? Eleven people said Anna should be out.

Wintour responded to all the criticism– only Naomi Campbell supported her– with a statement: “I strongly believe that the most important thing any of us can do in our work is to provide opportunities for those who may not have had access to them. Undoubtedly, I have made mistakes along the way, and if any mistakes were made at Vogue under my watch, they are mine to own and remedy and I am committed to doing the work.”

As Lee sets about dissecting all of the photos of black people in Vogue as racist in one way or another, he notes this: Anna Wintour, who is lily white, is head of Conde Nast’s diversity and inclusion council, was “conspicuously absent” from a company meeting on race in June.

A couple of other notes: there’s a supportive quote from Radhika Jones, who’s wrecked Vanity Fair at Anna’s instruction. And of course, there’s a chime in from Andre Leon Talley, who’s made the take down of Wintour his main job since she unceremoniously ousted him and left him high and dry. Talley says:

The party is almost over.

“Seinfeld” Cast Members Raise Over $600K on Zoom Telethon for Texas Democrats, Larry David Reveals Show He Could Never Do

Jerry Seinfeld and Michael Richards were AWOL, but Julia Louis Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and co-creator Larry David were interviewed by Seth Meyers in a 90 minute zoom call for donors to Texas Democrats. The result was $600,000 added to the til to turn Texas Blue.

Special guests on  “A Fundraiser About Something” who zoomed in included Beta O’Rourke, Julian Castro and his twin brother, Joaquin, and Texas Democratic leader Cliff Walker.

Alexander used a green screen so he could have a Zoom background of the Seinfeld set that he said he found online. Larry David, newly married, never looked more relaxed or happy or less curmudgeonly. JLD was, as usual, the star of the show explaining important things like how he came up with the terrible dance routine in the show that Donald Trump recently seemed to emulate in real life.

Who cracked them up on stage the most? The answer was Jerry Stiller, who played Frank Costanza. I never knew this before, but they’d originally hired the famed actor John Randolph to play Frank but after a few scene they knew it wasn’t working. Stiller was called in immediately.

Larry David revealed that the show went far enough to  cover masturbation in “The Contest” episode but there was one subject he thought about and never did. “We never going to do an Incest Survivors Group,” he said, which everyone quickly acknowledged was not a good idea.

Each of the main guests got to choose a favorite episode. JLD’s was “The Soup Nazi,” Jason Alexander chose “The Marine Biologist,” and Larry David’s was “The Contest.” David also revealed that maybe his all time favorite line in the show’s run was Alexander, as George, pretending to be an architect who designed the Guggenheim Museum. “I always loved it when he said, “It didn’t take very long.”

Fans of the show should and can watch this 90 minute special. This is the link to contribute for replays. What’s really lovely is that you can contribute any amount, from $5 to whatever. It’s completely worth it. And each of the trio will either call a donor, or in Alexander’s case, he’s picking 10 random people to make outgoing voice messages for.

 

 

 

What Year Is It? 1978? Disco Legends Desmond Child & Rouge Are Back With a Remixed “Our Love is Insane” and Remastered Albums

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Since Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 “Dreams” is back, why not more from that era? Desmond Child is known to us now for writing hit after hit for Bon Jovi, Ricky Martin, Katy Perry and so on. But back in the day– 1978– he fronted the cult disco legends Desmond Child & Rouge. They had a massive club hit called “Our Love is Insane,” which was heard from Studio 54 to Xenon and all the really cool hot spots like Reno Sweeney, Trax, and CBGB.

So Desmond has remixed the original single and it sounds as fresh and new as anything on Z100. He’s also released the group’s two albums, remastered, and sparkling. In addition to the albums (on amazon, Spotify, iTunes) Desmond is publishing a memoir next year called “Livin’ on a Prayer: Big Songs, Big Life.” And trust me, he has the stories!

Meantime, it’s 1978 again. Dance, dance, dance!

Our Love Is Insane XX (2020 remix)

Our Love Is Insane (1978)

NYC Strand Bookstore SOS from Millionaire Owner Not Getting Sympathy After She Bought a Lot of Amazon Stock

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Nancy Bass Wyden, owner of the Strand Bookstore in the East Village, sent out an SOS this afternoon. The Strand like all businesses, is in trouble. She says revenue is down 70% and that the business–after receiving PPP loans– is “unsustainable.”

Bass is the wife Oregan Senator Ron Wyden, who I told you months ago looks like a crusading liberal on the outside but has his own agendas.

Bass does, too. Her “bat signal” this afternoon was met with a lot of skepticism. That’s because she’s been buying hundreds of thousands of dollars in Amazon stock while complaining that Amazon is destroying the independent book selling business.

The rationale? Amazon is a good buy, and the money she makes from the stock helps her keep The Strand running.

Last year, Bass–who inherited the store from her father– fought the Landmarks Commission when they wanted to name the 11-story Renaissance revival building at 826 Broadway, which dates back to 1902, as a landmark. She said it would doom The Strand in its fight with Amazon and other online booksellers. But the Landmarks Commission went ahead and did it anyway, so 826 Broadway could never be torn down. (Good thing, too, since Bill DeBlasio is leading a campaign to destroy Soho and Noho and let developers do whatever they want.)

If you don’t have much sympathy for Bass Wyden, it’s understandable. I don’t either. But New York it as a crossroads. Either we support her, or we stand to lose The Strand. It sounds from all her mishegos that she wouldn’t mind shutting down and spending her days watching tumbleweeds in Oregon. So we’ve got no choice.

The Strand has a very good online presence, and ordering books from them is as easy as ordering from Amazon. So why not just do it? I’m going to go over there tomorrow and buy some books in person. But just replace Amazon with them on your phone or computer. Saving the Strand is more important than taking it out on Bass Wyden. She has us over a barrel.

 

Israel’s Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu Refuses to Mock Joe Biden on Call with Trump in Front of Press

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Donald Trump was on a speaker call today with Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu. Trump called Joe “Sleepy Joe” and tried to get Netanyahu to support his mockery of the Democratic Presidential candidate. The event in the Oval Office was to announce normalization of relations between Israel and Sudan. Listen as Bibi — knowing reporters are in the Oval Office– refuses to do this, and won’t play along with Trump’s game.

Trump: “Do you think Sleepy Joe could have made this deal, Bibi?”

Netanyahu: LONG PAUSE “Well, Mr. President, one thing I can tell you is we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America.”

Add Netanyahu to a long list of politicians who are no longer kowtowing to Trump’s childish name calling and disrespect of others.

Beautiful.

Final Presidential Debate: ABC Wins the Night with 9.5 Mil, NBC Follows with 8.9, CBS Third with 4.8

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The rough numbers are in for the networks on the final Presindetial debate.

ABC won the night with roughly 9.5 million viewers between 9 and 11 pm.

NBC, whose correspondent Kristen Welker moderated, followed with 8.9 million. CBS was third with 4.8 milliion.

Numbers for CNN, Fox News, and other cable outlets will come later today.

It’s interesting that NBC didn’t take the lions share considering it was their reporter who did such an excellent job of trying to maintain sanity.

CBS was the only one of the three broadcast networks that didn’t precede the debate with an hour long special. They aired the idiotic “Big Brother” at 8pm. I guess their rationale is that on Sunday they’ll get the audience with “60 Minutes.”

The good news is the debate on ABC and NBC from 9 to 10pm trounced NFL Football. So at least men were watching the debate. Maybe they finally understood that Trump lies like a rug.

 

Michael Jackson Exonerated as Judge Dismisses James Safechuck Case, Wade Robson Will Be Next

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Michael Jackson should be pleased wherever he is today. The first of two cases brought against him posthumously by men who said they were abused by the singer in their teens was dismissed.

The case of James Safechuck was dismissed on demurrer, meaning just through paperwork, on Tuesday.

Judge Mark Young wrote, explaining demurrers: When considering demurrers, courts “are required to construe the complaint liberally to determine whether a cause of action has been stated, given the assumed truth of the facts pleaded.”

You can read the Judge’s complete finding here. But he didn’t buy that Safechuck, as a child, worked for Michael Jackson or his companies, and that Jackson failed “to warn, train, or educate” him. Safechuck’s case, like that of his pal Wade Robson, was concocted to get money from the Jackson estate because Michael– who died suddenly– failed to leave them anything in a will.

The judge wrote that: “Plaintiff [Safechuck] alleged that Jackson was “hired” by Defendants to coach, teach, and mentor minors interested in the entertainment industry. Setting aside Plaintiff’s allegation that Jackson was the President of both Defendants, Plaintiff has failed to allege specific facts detailing what such mentorship looked like (or was supposed to look like) from 1988 through 1992.”

The case has been tossed and it’s not coming back.  Howard Weitzman, Jackson’s estate lawyer, said in a statement to Showbiz411: “We are pleased that the court agreed that James Safechuck case should be dismissed because [they] had no grounds to pursue his lawsuit.”

Robson’s case will be decided next. Each of these men participated in the disastrous documentary “Leaving Neverland,” in which they described– without evidence or backing or a chance for the estate to refute–child molestation at the hands of Michael Jackson. This was a decade after they’d attended Jackson’s funeral, many years after Robson testified for Jackson in a child molestation trial. They each seemed motivated to find money at the expense of truth.

The documentary, shown on HBO, has been derided by Jackson fans who’ve meticulously pulled it apart and examined all the testimony of Safehuck and Robson. It’s like having a thousand Perry Masons working at once. Now the film’s director, not satisfied to have participated in one painful farce, is trying to make sequel. Since the Jackson estate is still suing HBO, it’s unlikely he’ll find a home again there anytime soon.

 

Rudy Guiliani Says His “Borat” Scene is Faked, But It’s Not, and When Fans See It They’ll Know What Happened

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Rudy Giuliani says his compromising scene in “Borat” was faked or fabricated. But it wasn’t. As I wrote this morning, I’ve seen the movie and played his scene a few times to make sure what happened wasn’t some figment of my imagination.

When fans see “Borat 2” on Amazon Prime beginning Friday, they’ll know the truth: Rudy Giuliani is a dirty old man.

The fact that Giuliani is stupid enough to agree to be interviewed for Kazakh TV is just the beginning. That he went to some dreary motel room to do it is another. He’s the attorney for the President of the United States. Is he so desperate for fame and attention?

Apparently yes.

You will see in the segment how Giuliani is easily flattered by actress Maria Bakalova, who is pretending to be a journalist. She fawns over him, says “I feel just like Melania.” Come on. She touches his knee. They hold hands, fod god’s sake. You’re not doing that with Savannah Guthrie or Lesley Stahl.

Even worse, Rudy poured himself a drink. He’s holding a neat Scotch in his hand. He’s drinking during an interview– with a Russian, basically.

When Maria suggests they go into the bedroom for a drink, Rudy is lit like a candle. He’s into it. In the bedroom, by the way, I do not think he’s playing with his genitalia, as UK papers blared. They are taking his microphone off. But in a bedroom? On his back? On a bed? Giuliani thinks he’s getting lucky, and he’s ready. He makes a total fool of himself.  If Maria hadn’t been an actress, and Sacha Baron Cohen hadn’t stopped them, Rudy would have been popping blue pills and trying to make a go of it.

The man who cheated on three wives was busy cheating on his girlfriend, Dr. Maria whoever she is. If she’s stupid enough to believe the excuse that this was fabricated, someone should check her medical credentials. I was the reporter who caught married Rudy on a date with Judith Nathan in April 2000, the day after his cancer diagnosis. It turned out his real illness was hubris. It’s incurable.

PS Thanks to everyone who lifted from “Borat” review this morning including pictures. As Borat would say, “Niiiiice!”