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This is the time when the TV companies send out expensive gifts to promote their shows for Emmy nominations.
On social media, the affable Patton Oswalt offered us a look into what Apple TV is using to persuade Academy members to vote for Seth Rogen’s hot show, “The Studio,” a satire about Hollywood.
Patton’s video is almost self-parody on the part of Apple. You could see Rogen sending something like this to movie academy voters for one of their fictitious movies.
The very expensive box — labeled “Old School Hollywood Buffet” — includes two Apple mini pod speakers, two pairs of pajamas, a ceramic popcorn bowl (that can be used for anything), plus several other goodies, as well as a script from the show.
What? No AirPods? No Macbook?
The mini speakers retail for $299. But of course, Apple TV probably got them for a deep discount. The PJ’s, unless they’re made of polyester, have to be $50 apiece at a minimum. The ceramic popcorn sifter also looks from similar pictures online to be around $50. The Momofuko Tingly Salt retails for $12.
Oswalt notes that box itself is so nice “Martin Scorcese must have designed it.” In fact, the box looks like one that might house an iMac or some other sleekly designed Apple product.
So what else is Apple doing for Emmy voters? They have a bunch of other shows including “Shrinking” and “Severance.” If you see more of this, please pass along to showbiz411@gmail.com.
You think Patti Lupone spills the beans, and the tea?
Ellen Barkin does not hold back. The star of movies like “Sea of Love,” “Switched,” and “Diner” — also a Tony Award winner — just mic dropped on Robert Kennedy Jr.
Responding to a social media post about Kennedy removing COVID vaccines for anyone under 65, Barkin wrote:
“You know what he really should have removed? His hand from up my skirt.”
When a follower on X asked, “Did that really happen?” Barkin wrote back “Yup.”
If only the outspoken star would write a book about her life, it would be a best seller. A hot commodity from her first role, Barkin was first married to actor Gabriel Byrne. They had two kids. After they split she was married Revlon owner Ronald Perelman. That ended acrimoniously (well duh). More recently he left the TV series “Animal Kingdom” after stealing the show. She also won that Tony for “The Normal Heart.”
Ellen would know a lot about Kennedy as a New York celebrity. She wasn’t part of his sex diary in the New York Post, but she absolutely was in social settings with him. I’m still waiting for another actress, from TV, to fess up about her illicit relationship with Kennedy. Such a nice person, she should tell the truth already.
Is it any wonder Truth Social stock has dropped to $23?
Right wing country singer John Rich has now used the social media platform to call Senator Lindsay Graham “they/them.”
He says Graham is the “Bud Light of Republican senators.” Then he adds “Treat they/them as such.”
The attempt at a gay slur is posted just to Trump’s site. On Twitter, Rich is careful to call Graham “him.”
Rich used to be part of the group Big & Rich. He’s since gone on to become a virulent conservative and a huge Trumper.
Meantime, Trump Media stock has fallen off a cliff in the last 24 hours as the Trump family announced a $2.5 billion investment in crypto. The current price is $22.62. The stock has fallen 12.5% in the last month.
Trump Media stock holders are being left in the dust.
Poor Lindsay Graham. So loyal to Trump. Must be a sadist.
The first ever revival of the musical, “Chess,” is coming to Broadway.
But it may never get to the Kennedy Center. The main character is named Freddie Trumper, aka The American.
Freddie is not based on Donald Trump’s late father or brother. He’s supposed to represent Bobby Fischer, the chess master, and is referred to in the show as The American.
New book writer Danny Strong may be urged to change that name in his update.
This “Chess” will star Aaron Tveit as Freddie, with Lea Michele and Nicholas Christopher. They will not be playing Ivanka and Jared.
The songs in “Chess” are from Tim Rice and the Swedish pop group, ABBA. The big number is “One Night in Bangkok.”
Director is Michael Mayer. The characters will be his…pawns!
“Chess” is no “Oklahoma!” or even “Mamma Mia.” But this production has a new book by Danny Strong, so the potential is there for a much better show this time around.
Also coming to Broadway: “Hamilton” star Christopher Jackson is stepping into “Hell’s Kitchen” as the father character. Jackson is also featured in the new season of “Sex and the City: And Just Like That.”
Legendary music mogul Clive Davis, 93, hosted his annual three day event at his beautiful home tucked away in leafy Westchester County.
The event is almost as legendary as Clive himself, with big dinners each night, brunch during the day, and a talent show on Sunday.
This year, guests included Chevy Chase, famed Motown songwriter Valerie Simpson, Paul Shaffer, and Henry Wayne Casey aka KC of the famed Sunshine Band. Also on hand: Republic Records co-chief Monte Lipman, influencer and entrepreneur Nikki Haskell, MSNBC producer Ron Dodd, famed Broadway producer Fran Weissler, WABC weatherman Sam Champion, theater writer Michael Riedel, and Jerry Wonda of Fugees fame, among others.
I was lucky to be included, and got to talk to the most unusual visitor: the great actor Brian Cox aka Logan Roy of “Succession.” He and his wife, actress Nicole Ansari-Cox. (I was seated next to Francine Lefrak, Broadway producer and such an innovative charitable giver that she and husband Rick Friedberg had just been part of the Time 100 dinner for philanthropists on Thursday night!)
Yes, I had a lot of questions for Cox, who I met 25 years ago when starred in a film called “L.I.E.” His co-star was a very young Paul Dano.
Has he seen Sarah Snook on Broadway in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”? Snook played Shiv Roy, his daughter on the series.
“Of course! She’s marvelous! What a job she did!” He agreed with me when I mentioned how Snook is without ego despite her acting gifts. “We love her!” he said.
Cox hasn’t had a chance to see Kieran Culkin yet in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” he’s going soon. Cox had nothing but praise for Culkin, who played Roman Roy. Cox was blown away by Kieran’s work in Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain.”
“He’s had an incredible year, and I’m so happy for him,” Cox told me.
I did ask him about voicing the McDonald’s commercials. Does he enjoy it? “Totally,” he declared. “I want to do more!”
The Saturday dinner — for well over 100 guests — included an entertainment surprise. The person most surprised was the entertainer herself, Valerie Simpson, who wrote dozens of hits with late husband Nik Ashford. Minutes before the guests were seated, Clive enlisted her to play a couple of songs on his beautiful piano.
Simpson, always up for a challenge, rose to the occasion and serenaded us with two of her famous songs. One was the first hit she and Nik wrote for Ray Charles, “Let’s Go Get Stoned.” She told us, “We wrote it as a joke, but Ray loved it. And it changed our lives.”
Val told us she was shocked, watching the Met Gala, when that huge group of singers on the red carpeted stairs serenaded the celebrities with one their songs. That was “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” appropriate since Diana Ross made her first Met Gala appearance in years. (See below, with party co-host Greg Schiefer as talented mic holder.)
As for Clive, who just turned a youthful 93, he remains the host with the most. Over dinner he told a story about how he revived Miles Davis’s career in 1970. The famed jazz trumpeter was doing small shows around the country. Clive encouraged him to record the landmark “Bitches Brew” album, which became a huge bestseller. It propelled Miles into big venues — including Bill Graham’s Fillmore West — and cemented his fame.
The best part of the Clive story is the kicker: Miles was going to be presented with his gold record and demanded that Clive give it to him at the ceremony. Only, he told Clive that he could not come in his signature blue blazer and — Clive quoted Miles — “those fucking khaki pants.”
Davis told Davis he’d pick out the music mogul’s outfit himself.
The result: a picture of them made the cover of Cashbox magazine, You can see it below.
And beneath that, my picture of Chevy Chase underneath a portrait of Aretha Franklin. Clive reminded us that during his Arista Records days he produced the only “Saturday Night Live” comedy album. Of course!
They’re going to headline the 2nd One Fine Day event, in Philadelphia this September. The first one, back in 2023, was a huge hit.
Their charity partner is St. Jude Research Hospital in Nashville.
One Fine Day is described as a full day of eclectic music featuring a diverse artist lineup across two stages returning exclusively to The Mann in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, PA, on Saturday, September 6, 2025.
Great guest stars booked already include O.A.R., Marcia Griffiths, and Chance Emerson; The Original Wailers featuring Al Anderson, Big Freedia, and Sophie Grey.
Sting and Shaggy have made for a great tag team in the last few years producing music together and performing in tandem. They’ve had a hit single out for the last few months called “Til a Mawnin'” that is now stuck in my head!
I keep seeing reports about Kelly Clarkson and her talk show.
Her staff is worried that she’s going to leave them behind and return to being a pop star.
Someone should tell her it’s a bad idea.
Clarkson released a single a month ago called “Where Have You Been?”
In the end, no one cared. Or everyone knew where she’d been. The single sold 20,000 copies including 8,000 downloads. The rest was from streaming. It just never took off.
Clarkson has her own label with distribution deal at Atlantic Records. That gets Atlantic off the hook for most of the work. Kelly’s coming with a new album next month, but if the songs are as dreary as “Where Have You Been?” it’s not going to fly. At least with the talk show, she has a forum
Sad to say famed guitarist Rick Derringer has died at age 77.
Rick was famous for the song, “Hang On Sloopy” when his band was called The McCoys in the mid 60s.
He struck gold again in the mid 70s as a solo artist with a monster hit, “Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo.”
Around the same time, Rick had a total Renaissance, playing with the Edgar Winter Group on their huge hits, “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride.” His credits include dozens of other albums and singles you can look up in Wikipedia.
I knew Rick a little bit. For many years he was married to Liz Derringer, a PR maven and popular New York celebrity herself. They were a hot rock couple of the 70s.
Liz tells me: “Rick was not only an amazing guitarist, he was a great person. We spent 25 incredible years together. I am so saddened by his passing. He will remain in my heart forever.”
Condolences to Liz and Rick’s entire family. He was a star.
Arabella Stanton, Dominic McLaughlin, and Alastair Stout are your new Hermione, Harry, and Ron for the HBO series based on the original books by JK Rowling (who everyone hates now) and the movies.
Two acting greats — John Lithgow, Janet McTeer — plysy Paapa Essiedu, Nick Frost, Luke Thallon, and Paul Whitehouse have already been cast as the Hogwarts adults.
The producers of the series say: “After an extraordinary search led by casting directors Lucy Bevan and Emily Brockmann, we are delighted to announce we have found our Harry, Hermione, and Ron. The talent of these three unique actors is wonderful to behold, and we cannot wait for the world to witness their magic together onscreen. We would like to thank all the tens of thousands of children who auditioned. It’s been a real pleasure to discover the plethora of young talent out there.”
A whole new generation of “Harry Potter” fans will have access to the stories that made the books and movies so popular. After all, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint are a little long in the tooth to reprise their roles!
If I see Bensom Boone do one more flip on stage, I will flip — out.
Boone’s one trick pony show continued tonight on the American Music Awards, the first edition in a few years.
Jennifer Lopez hosted for no reason, wandering in looking beautiful after performing a pedestrian medley of other people’s hits.
Dylan Efron, Zac’s brother, is being turned into a pitchman. He introduced commercials.
The totally strange set up was saved only by three veterans who put their all into the show: Rod Stewart, Janet Jackson, and Gwen Stefani.
Otherwise, there was no show. Several winners weren’t present but sent videos because these awards are not surprises. The whole thing always was and is still rigged. SZA and Boone were pretty much guaranteed wins because they were there in person.
Janet Jackson really pulled off a great commercial for her live touring show. She just turned 59 but God bless her, she’s still got it.
Rod Stewart sang his Bob Dylan collaboration, “Forever Young.” But he included live bagpipes and violin playing hotties. Rod’s voice is sporadic but his enthusiasm is undimmed. The whole thing was a hoot.
Rod was greeted on stage by several of his adult children, who he didn’t expect to see. Who was missing? Wife Penny Lancaster. She wasn’t even sitting with him in the audience. He was stuck between two unidentified brunettes.
The AMAs are Walmart to the Grammys’ Tiffany’s. Tonight they only gave out a few awards, the rest were a mystery. The show stopped short at two hours. It was all very random. Many presenters were “influencers” no one has heard of.
I didn’t expect much, so I wasn’t disappointed. There was enough time to switch over to the Yankees-LA Athletics game, so I’m grateful.
Were there winners? Who knows? Who cares? CBS filled a couple of hours cheaply, which seemed to be the point.
