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“Saturday Night Live” had been on a hot ratings run this fall, bringing in as many as 6.9 million viewers with host John Mulaney and singer Chappell Roan two weeks ago.
Lorne Michaels has been booking star after star, with Billie Eiliish, Stevie Nicks, Coldplay, and Jelly Roll all major attractions.
But this past weekend “SNL” sank like a rock to its lowest numbers so far. The show with Bill Burr as host and completely unknown musician mk.gee tracked only 4.42 million. It was a shade lower than the Coldplay episode which had Nate Bargatze as host. Burr and Bargatze are talented, but they are not the caliber star the show needs to score ratings.
This week, pop star Charlie XCX is both host and musical guest. Why? Who knows? Her “Brat” album was a thing all summer, but that’s over now. Will she be a draw? We’ll see.
A big loss for “SNL” is Maya Rudolph playing Kamala Harris and Andy Samberg as Doug Emhoff. The election debacle has rendered them moot. Hopefully we’ll see a lot of James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump as the sadly elected winner starts adding his cronies to his cabinet. So far, Trump has managed to find the biggest idiots in his circle to run the country.
Jon M. Chu’s part 1 of 2 volumes of the long time Broadway hit has been screening this week for press and the various guilds. No reviews until next week, however, no matter how many people have seen it.
“Wicked” comes from Universal Pictures and is one of very few big studio movies set for the holidays and things like the Oscars. Because of last year’s strikes, there are few blockbusters around that can also be awards factors. Much as we all adored “Deadpool and Wolverine,” let’s be real. We’re counting on “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” to catch on like crazy and balance out indie films like “Anora,” “A Real Pain,” “Emilia Perez,” and “Conclave,” not to mention the daunting “The Brutalist.”
At screenings here in New York, there are hardcore “Wicked” fans who’ve seen the Broadway show many times. I saw it once, years ago, and the appeal went over my head. Still, we live with “Wicked” TV commercials in New York, so the main songs — like “Gravity” and “Popular” — are always in the background.
The main focus of “Wicked” will be on Cynthia Erivo. A Tony winner, Grammy winner, and past Oscar nominee, Erivo is a star. We all know she can sing and act. Her Elphaba — the OG story for the Wicked Witch of the West — takes up half of the first movie. She steals the end of the film thoroughly. Will that put her in the Oscar race for lead actress? Could be. She’s not supporting anyone so that category would feel wrong.
“Wicked” is going to come on like gangbusters when it finally hits theaters on Thursday November 21st. Will it cast a spell on audiences? I think so.
Honestly, I did not think much would come of an original enw musical starring Darren Criss of “Glee” TV show fame.
I was very wrong. “Maybe Happy Ending” is the most charming new show I’ve seen in ages, a gem full of wonderful songs, a clever book, and inspired direction. If you don’t like this show, there’s nothing that can be done.
The musical is amusingly about a young couple falling in love, although this time around they are robots. Or Helperbots, as they are called, who’ve been put in the equivalent of retirement homes after they’ve reach obsolescence. Their owners don’t need them anymore. Criss is Oliver, who hasn’t left his tiny apartment in years. Helen J. Shen, a real find, is Claire, the girl across the hall whose personal power supply is broken. She knocks on Oliver’s door in the futuristic equivalent of asking to borrow some sugar.
Will Aronson and Hue Park wrote the book, music and lyrics, setting the show sometime in the future in Seoul, South Korea. Considering all the really dreadful songs I’ve heard on stage in the last few seasons — except for “Suffs” — it’s almost a miracle that there are tunes galore, In an interesting twist some of them are crooned by a fictional lounge singer named Gil Brentley, a made up kind of unknown jazz star whose records — among many– have been left to Oliver by his former owner.
Oliver pines to be reunited with his owner, even though he’s been retired from service by a man named James Choi. This leads him and Claire on a journey to find James. Claire has her own reasons for instigating the trip. But the writers’ reason is to bond this odd couple of humanoids before power sources expire.
The show is helped by director Michael Arden’s witty take on the actors, their unusual scenic design and lighting, and video projections that add to the proceedings rather than appear as lazy diversions (see “McNeal” or “Sunset Boulevard”).
The trio of primary performers can sing like crazy, so luckily they have a lot of melodies with hooks. From the opening “Why Love” through almost two dozen newly composed old fashioned sounding songs, the swoony seduction of robots proceeds. This is a soundtrack we will want to hear on CD or streaming immediately. One song, “When You’re in Love,” a duet, sounded like a radio hit to me if it’s discovered by a — not kidding — Billie Eilish and Charlie Puth.
Is there a future for Oliver and Claire? Well, they are in the future, and somehow these things work out. Is there a box office future for “Maybe Happy Ending? Let’s hope so. It seemed to me like a path forward after a lot of last year’s lumbering, listless shows. “Maybe Happy Ending” is the bright light at the end of the tunnel.
No one really knows how many people watched “Yellowstone” return on Sunday night.
CBS says their 10pm showing brought in 5.4 million fans. Paramount Global says that including CBS and the Paramount network, the total was 16.4 million.
There were a lot of problems involved. A lot of people had no idea where to watch the show, or at what time.
And then, more said they tuned out at the beginning when Kevin Costner’s John Dutton was found — presumably — dead.
Will they come back? The second week ratings are more important, actually, although at this point “Yellowstone” has made its money for CBS and Paramount. These last 8 episodes are just play offs.
The series is streaming, and on Amazon.com for $2.99. We’ll see what happens this coming Sunday. But 5.4 million is low but on a par with “The Equalizer,” which preceded it at 9pm. “Yellowstone” will not air the rest of its episodes on CBS, just on the Paramount Network.
Clint Eastwood’s possible final movie is a hit everywhere around the world. Except here.
International sales come to $9.6 million. This is in places like France, the UK, and Spain. There, the Eastwood film was given a decent release.
In the US, “Juror Number 2” barely exists. It’s playing in about 30 theaters, and none near you. Warner Bros. has refused to post numbers, so no one knows what it’s made. Eventually it will hit MAX streaming, and then forgotten about.
What a travesty: Warner’s has nothing else for the Oscars. “Joker Folie a Deux” imploded. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is a hit, but it’s not Oscar material. “Juror Number 2” should be their prestige release. It’s a scintillating thriller with top notch work from Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette. The screenplay is excellent. And the direction, by Eastwood, is as good as we get.
Eastwood has had countless hits for Warner Bros, and won Oscars for movies like “Unforgiven,” “Mystic River,” and “Million Dollar Baby.” He deserves better than this. And so does the audience. If it had been presented properly, “Juror Number 2” would have been a theater draw. Too bad. In this case, Warner Bros is “unforgiven.”
The Songwriters Hall of Fame is sputtering at this point.
Today they announced a list of potential inductees to be voted on. Most of them have been on the ballot since I was on the nominating committee more than a dozen years ago.
You’ve got to feel bad for a lot of these people. They’ve been around for years, deserve the accolade, and haven’t gotten it. David Gates of Bread fame, Stevie Winwood, Tony Macaulay (he wrote “Build Me Up Buttercup”). Some have died like Sonny Curtis. Others like Walter Afanasieff (he wrote Mariah Carey’s hit including “All I Want for Christmas”), Steve Barri and PF Sloan, Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter have just been waiting a lifetime.
It’s embarrassing. I don’t know how the committee can sit and discuss the same names for decades without gasping for air.
This year they threw in Eminem and Sheryl Crow. They’ll get in because they’re current and their music publishers will pay for tickets at the SHOF gala. Maybe Boy George this time. Maybe Tommy James (he’s also a perennial).
And what is the Songwriters Hall of Fame? It’s not a physical place, you can’t go there. It’s just a way to back slap and throw a dinner. In its heyday, the SHOF event was also good for a live show produced by the late Phil Ramone. But he’s gone, and so are the number of songwriters who are eligible.
“Songwriter” is now a fungible term. Most pop songs are sampled or interpolated from material of long ago. Most “Songs” are “written” by teams of producers and writers. A lot of singers get credit for changing a word. The days of Goffin and King, Bacharach and David, Lennon and McCartney are way in the rearview mirror.
But for God’s sake, this time give to Gates, James and Winwood. This is a joke that they’re not in.
EXCLUSIVE Back on March 27th, the Associated Press announced that actor Donald Sutherland would be publishing his memoir on November 12th.
“Made Up, But Still True” was coming from Crown Books, part of Penguin Random House.
But then the lavishly praised Sutherland — who had a Lifetime Achievement Oscar for movies like “MASH,” “Klute,” “Ordinary People,” “The Hunger Games” series, “Don’t Look Now” — died in July at age 88.
If you’re looking for the book today, however, you’re out of luck. Very quietly, the memoir has been moved to February 2026.
What happened? Crown has never announced the change, and the book was in their catalog for today.
But now friends say a lot happened. For one thing, Sutherland’s family, including his wife of 50 years and his famous actor son Keifer, knew anything about it.
Then it turned out that manuscript wasn’t just a genteel remembrance of Sutherland’s award winning past. Married three times, and father of five children Sutherland — I’m told — was incredibly indiscreet about all his relationships including past lovers.
In the early 70s, for example, Sutherland had a two year affair with his “Klute” co-star, Jane Fonda. The affair broke up his second marriage, to Shirley Douglas, with whom he had Kiefer and his sister, Rachel.
In the book, Sutherland is said to have been way too candid about his sex life. Despite the actor being known for his noble bearing, he is said to have let his hair down a bit too much in print. Indeed, Sutherland had previously confided in an interview that with GQ that when the couple visited the Chelsea Hotel in the early ‘70s “when the moonlight caught her perfect breasts,” he “stopped breathing.” In another interview, he told Entertainment Weekly “a juicy, not-fit-for-print story.”
I ran into Sutherland in 2018 in New York at Joe Allen’s restaurant when he was promoting an FX series called “Trust,” in which he played J. Paul Getty. Crochety is an understatement for his demeanor. Was he well when he was saying all these things and writing his book? Or was he just being himself?
Anyway, I’m told we’ll see a toned down version of “Made Up, But Still True” in 2026. Donald Sutherland’s reputation will remain in tact. Whew!
When he fired his best friend, Kevin Reynolds, and took over directing “Waterworld,” he managed to spin it in his favor.
When “The Postman” tanked, it was someone else’s fault. When “Horizon” sank beneath the horizon, again, someone else was to blame.
What about Kevin tried to turn the sacred land in South Dakota that he filmed “Dances with Wolves” on into a casino and hotel project? Oh yeah, that.
Today, Costner says he’s “surprised” his character, John Dutton, allegedly committed suicide on “Yellowstone.” He says he didn’t know anything about it. LOL.
Last year, Costner’s side in the “Yellowstone” promoted the idea that Taylor Sheridan couldn’t write him about because of a “moral exit clause” in his contract. Remember that? No. If people remembered what happened two days ago, they would have voted a lot differently, too.
Sheridan said he wouldn’t do anything untoward to John Dutton. Remember that? Well in June 2023 Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter: “I don’t do fuck-you car crashes. Whether [Dutton’s fate] inflates [Costner’s] ego or insults is collateral damage that I don’t factor in with regard to storytelling.”
Uh huh. Except now John Dutton has “died” in a fuck you way. Suicide? Killed by his son, Jamie? Or what else? He said in an interview today: “They’re pretty smart people. Maybe it’s a red herring. Who knows? They’re very good. And they’ll figure that out.”
Costner knew exactly how Dutton would be “Killed.” He’s the one saying it’s a red herring, meaning he knows that John Dutton will somehow rise from the grave.
Will all this publicity help the ratings? Or keep fans tuning in? Did Costner come to terms with Sheridan? I’d say yes. But really, everyone, try and remember what was said last week, month, or year ago.
And they did. Jamie, his son, had the deed committed and they made it look like a suicide.
Kevin Costner is gone. We knew that for more than a year. Wasn’t anyone paying attention?
Costner left to leverage his “Yellowstone” popularity and make his film, “Horizon.” It bombed, the sequel has never been released, and two more chapters are on the drawing board.
The show will end with this season, or be migrated into a new iteration with some of the existing actors.
This is Costner’s fault. Online, fans were freaking out that Taylor Sheridan, the show’s creator, had done something awful. Many blamed Costner. Let’s say fault was on both sides. But what else could happen? They weren’t going to recast John Dutton. Sheridan got rid of him, like clearing the underbrush. It reminded me of when Julian Fellowes knocked off Dan Stevens when he left “Downton Abbey.” It was a decisive move!
Meantime, fans on Twitter X had a lot of trouble finding “Yellowstone.” It aired on the Paramount Channel on cable at 8pm, but not on CBS until 10pm and not on streaming until today. A lot of people went to the Paramount Plus thinking it would be there, or to Peacock. They were disappointed to say the least.
“Yellowstone,” a crazy knock off of “Dallas,” could have gone on for years. Costner could have just cooperated and made the series, and filmed movies during the hiatuses. But he had to make “Horizon,” a movie no one wanted. and this is the result.
A documentary about the late “Superman” star Christopher Reeve, and another about Will Ferrell’s road trip with his best friend tied for Best Documentary last night at the 9th annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards.
Among the guests and presenters in the packed Edison Ballroom in New York last night were Chelsea Clinton with the amazingly brave Amanda Zurawski, Ron Howard, Bruce Springteen director Thom Zimny, Jerry Seinfeld, Jeremy Piven, Bridget Moynihan, Lorraine Toussaint, and Dapne Rubin-Vegas. Erich Bergen emceed the show and Bill McCuddy was the announcer.
Rory Kennedy won the Pennebaker Award, presented by Chris Hegedus, for Lifetime Achievement.
Joey Berlin and Bob Bain have turned the CCA Doc Awards into one of the best awards shows of the year. You can watch the whole thing below.
WINNERS OF THE NINTH ANNUAL CRITICS CHOICE DOCUMENTARY AWARDS
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE (TIE)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
Will & Harper (Netflix)
BEST DIRECTOR
Ian Bonhôte & Peter Ettedgui – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST NEW DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER(S)
Natalie Rae & Angela Patton – Daughters (Netflix)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Iris Ng, Eunsoo Cho, Justin Turkowski – The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
BEST EDITING
Otto Burnham – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST SCORE
Ilan Eshkeri – Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST NARRATION
Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces (Apple TV+)
Written and performed by Steve Martin
BEST ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY
The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix)
BEST BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTARY
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, HBO Documentary Films, CNN Films)
BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY
Music by John Williams (Walt Disney Studios)
BEST POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
BEST SCIENCE/NATURE DOCUMENTARY
The Last of the Sea Women (Apple TV+)
BEST SPORTS DOCUMENTARY
Simone Biles Rising (Netflix)
BEST TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY
Sugarcane (National Geographic)
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Netflix)
BEST LIMITED DOCUMENTARY SERIES
Simone Biles Rising (Netflix)
