Support independent journalism, free from the trades and other publications that are part of the tinsel town machine.
For 12 years, Showbiz411.com has been covering Hollywood, Broadway, the music business and the business of celebrity. Ads are our main source of funding, but contributions (not tax exempt) from readers who enjoy the scoops, exclusives, and fact based reports are always welcome and very appreciated. To inquire about ads, email us at showbiz411@gmail.com.
In the last two weeks, unknown singer Oliver Anthony has placed 14 songs on iTunes and become an overnight sensation. His song, “Rich Men North of Richmond” is number 1. He’s become the (sorta) Bob Dylan of the summer of 2023.
The Republicans were so gassed up they used his song for the Fox News debate. Everyone assumed Oliver was a redneck right wing Republican. Turns out, he’s not.
Last night he posted a video and several messages to social media explaining that the people he’s singing about “are the ones up on that stage” — and that the “rich men” — are all politicians. He’s not a Biden supporter but he’s not endorsing the Republican squad of lunatics. Whatever else he believes or stands for is still up in the air. But he did say he turned down a big record contract to stay independent.
So who watched the glorious spectacle of Donald Trump being arrested?
On cable news, the winning network was MSNBC. Rachel Maddow led her team to victory starting at 7pm.
But MSNBC lost the key demo to CNN, of all things even though they finished last in prime time viewers.
MSNBC had 2.8 million total prime time viewers to Fox News’s 2.6 million. CNN scored 1.6 million.
But CNN’s victory was in younger viewers. In the 25-49 range, they beat Fox and tied CNN. That’s a flicker of hope.
MSNBC solidly won the 7pm and 8pm hours with Maddow running the show. Fox couldn’t keep up with them. At 9pm, Alex Wagner and Sean Hannity were neck and neck. At 10pm, Lawrence O’Donnell’s erudite commentary was too much for Greg Gutfeld.
Earlier, Ari Melber and Nicolle Wallace led MSNBC to victory over Fox News.
As MSNBC heads into the arraignments, trials, etc they have the advantage over Fox because their viewers are smarter and want the actual news. Last night Fox was busy talking about Hunter Biden while the first ex US President history had his mug shot taken. They’re in a fantasy land.
Donald Trump lies like a rug, and that’s not being nice to rugs (or the one on his head).
He just dumped on Fox News, falsely claiming the GOP debate on Wednesday night had perhaps the lowest ratings ever.
In fact he is wrong. The GOP debate fetched a total of 12.8 million viewers on Fox News and Fox Business.
It won the night and surprised quite a few people with its high numbers. Would the spectacle of Trump bloviating on it added to the numbers? Undoubtedly. But he chose not to participate and instead did an interview with Tucker Carlson on Twitter X.
That interview scored only
800,000 likes on 257 million views. The likes are the actual number of people who watched it all the way through– a fraction of the Fox number.
And Donald Trump weighs just 215 lbs. LOL.
In the continuing saga of Scooter Braun losing a raft of stars from his management company there’s been spin about his role at HYBE.
HYBE is the Korean company that bought Braun’s SB Projects last year. They manage all the big K-Pop stars like BTS and its various solo members. Braun became the CEO of HYBE US, and a big deal was made of that.
But the truth is, K-Pop records don’t sell a lot of records in America. So the idea that Scooter is leaving the management of a half dozen superstars for the world of KPop is absurd. To wit: this year the big HYBE hit has been a song called “Seven” by Jung Kook of BTS. Total US sales so far: 700,000 streaming equivalent. Only 200,000 paid down loads.
So let’s get a grip.
Other HYBE acts so far this year sold even less: BTS sold 800,000 streaming, just 234K in downloads. And it’s just like that for Jimin, another BTS member, and a girl group called New Jeans.
Those numbers are a fraction of their hype, and also minor numbers compared to what Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and so on would sell if they were properly managed.
Meantime, HYPE bought SB Projects because they thought they were doing business with the manager of the aforementioned acts. If they’re gone, what interest would HYBE have in Scooter and his company?
So don’t believe the hype about HYBE even if they told a Korean journal they sold 55 million albums total so far this year. That’s all over the world, and maybe even including other planets.
PS Jung Kook’s EP, released today, and containing the hit single, is stuck at number 27 on iTunes. Fans who wanted that song have already downloaded or streamed it.
The song is called “Used to Be Young,” and I see the PR machine has hyped up the idea that Cyrus wrote the catchy new hit.
But in reality, Cyrus went back to her “Flowers” hitmakers Michael Pollack and Gregory Hein. Top songwriter Greg Kurstin also contributed to “Used to Be Young.”
I’m sure the composers of “Used to Be Young” are less than amused that not a single press release or story about the song mentions them. They only wrote it!
“Used to Be Young” has the same cadence as “Flowers,” and it’s just as memorable. It’s all about getting back to simple melodies and hooks. Sony couldn’t break a follow up single to “Flowers” so they went with this instead.
“Flowers” is still on the charts, and will get a slew of Grammy noms. “Used to Be Young” could easily follow in its footsteps. Miley — who has a great voice — has found a formula that works!
My gosh. Today would have been Regis Philbin’s 92nd birthday. Kathie Lee Gifford has put up a lovely tribute to him on Twitter.
I think about Regis all the time. He and his wife Joy were a big part of our New York social lives. He was always so funny and ingratiating. He wanted to know what was going on in my life. He was a very unaffected celebrity which was amazing considering he’d hung with the Rat Pack. But Joey Bishop didn’t treat him well, and I think Regis remembered that when he himself finally became a Big Deal. I think Joy only helped him make him even warmer as a human, and even when he left his show he remained an imp, with a twinkle in his eye. He used to say, “I’m only one man!” It’s a line I say to myself every day in his memory.
PS All the success of his “Live” show now with Kelly and Mark is attributed to Regis. He invented the show, and the talk intro with two hosts. Every show like “Access Hollywood” or “Extra” — any of them — should bow down to him. There was only one Regis Philbin.
It never gets easier to say goodbye. Missing you everyday Regis, still. So grateful for everything you meant in my life. pic.twitter.com/ifWDVQZM8N
You’ve got to hand it to the front page editors of the New York Times.
Instead of running a huge version of Donald Trump’s mug shot, they minimized him but making the picture from his Atlanta booking the size of a postage stamp.
The main photo on page 1 is of
The crashed plane carrying Putin enemy and Russian dissident Yevgeny V. Prigozhin. The message there is that we all know what really happened to the former Wagner leader. When Vladimir Putin doesn’t like you, the choices are poison, falling out an open (or closed) window, or a crash of some kind.
As for Trump, the Times laughs in his face. A small face, at that.
Two people from the world of soaps, daytime and nighttime, must get appropriate send offs.
David Jacobs died this week at age 81. He created both “Dallas” and “Knots Landing,” the two most popular nighttime soaps of all time. David was beloved by everyone who worked on both shows, and the mark of that is that the casts of both shows remain close and continue to be friends, they have such great feelings about their time together.
Jacobs pitched “Knots Landing” first to CBS in the mid 70s, but they wanted something with a little pizzazz. So he came up with “Dallas,” which took off after about 5 episodes. The Ewings combination of new money and country style Texas living skyrocketed. The show was supposed to be about Romeo and Juliet — Bobby and Pam — but antagonist JR Ewing played by Larry Hagman lit a fire. Hagman, previously nice guy astronaut Tony on “I Dream of Jeannie,” was delicious in his evil. When his character was shot, the show went through the roof. Meantime, Jacobs invented JR’s loser brother Gary to spin him and his family off for “Knots Landing.” The trick worked and “Knots” lasted a stunning 14 seasons.
David had nothing to do with the CBS reboot of “Dallas.” I wrote in 2012:
David Jacobs, creator of “Dallas” and “ Knots Landing,” tells me he’s been excluded entirely from the coming reboot of the famous series on TNT. He will get to keep his “created by” credit, but nothing else, no money, and no participation. “I’ll get the $714 Writers Guild fee for a sequel,” Jacobs says. Jacobs tells me found out that “Dallas” was being restarted second hand. When he inquired about it, he says he told everyone — including new head writer Cynthia Cidre–that he was essentially retired and didn’t want to write the show. “I didn’t want any authority,” he told her at their one lunch. But he did think a consultancy wouldn’t be out of the question since basically, “Dallas” relies on all the characters he created in the 1970s–JR Ewing, Bobby Ewing, Sue Ellen, and their family, even the same Southfork Ranch set.
“All I said was that I’d like to be a presence. I told her if you need anything on the back story, I’m there. I never heard anything from her again until I heard TNT ordered a pilot.” Jacobs was involved with the failed John Travolta movie version, because the movie and TV rights had been separated in his original contract. “In the early 2000s, we took the movie to Warner Bros. They passed, and then New Regency bought the movie rights. But they didn’t make the movie.”
NANCY FRANGIONE has died at age 70. Nancy lit up NBC’s “Another World” for the first half of the 1980s and then returned many times during the 90s. Her character, Cecile, ran through husbands, at one time was the princess of a small country. She was entirely self-centered which only worked because Frangione was beguiling in her lack of guile. She was a rich girl with no money who was constantly on the prowl to make a big score. The audience loved her. Prior to “Another World” she played a good girl on “All My Children,” but that was just rehearsal for her reign of terror as Cecile, a larger than life soap temptress and villianess. What a shame she’s died so young.
If you were hoping to see “Dune Two” soon, you’ll have to keep waiting. Warner Bros. is pulling it from the fall and moving the sequel to “Dune” to next year.
The reason? Ostensibly because with the strikes, the very expensive, intricate movie cannot be promoted properly.
But Warners will go ahead with three releases this fall, rolling the dice that the strikes will end and the world return to normal.
The musical version of “The Color Purple,” the updated “Wonka,” and the “Aquaman” sequel will proceed on schedule.
“Dune” may do better anyway with some breathing room and away from “Wonka,” which also stars Timothee Chalamet. Could there be Chalamet overkill?
Moving Denis Villeneuve’s epic to March 15, 2024 also means it will miss the Oscar season this time around. Doing this, Warner’s clears the way for “Barbie” to secure a Best Picture nomination without question.
The move also helps “The Color Purple” in its chances. I’m hearing it’s very good.
Donald Trump has been arrested for the 4th time. He became the first ex US president to have a mug shot taken. On his booking record he said he weighed 215lbs, which means no one weighed him.
What a glorious moment. This is what Trump deserves for everything he’s done in his life but most certainly since he started questioning Barack Obama’s place of birth. For every name he’s called his opponents or others in government, for enabling hate, and coming close to destroying the US. Does he have a conscience? No. But every other human being in the world knows the truth.
Trump has so little dignity that he’s already posted a copy of the mug shot with the words “Never Surrender!” LOL.
