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Media Mayhem as Big Personalities Are Tossed for a Variety of Reasons: Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon, Jeff Shell, More to Come?

Roger Friedman
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Media Mayhem as Big Personalities Are Tossed for a Variety of Reasons: Tucker Carlson, Don Lemon, Jeff Shell, More to Come?

It’s been a red letter day for media mayhem.

In the space of a weekend, well known media faces, plus the head of a huge company, have been tossed out for a variety of reasons.

Of course, at Fox News, there’s still no mention of Tucker Carlson being fired. At Rupert Murdoch’s NY Post, the Carlson story is buried but Don Lemon getting fired at CNN is splattered all over the website.

Then there’s the saga of NBC Univeral CEO Jeff Shell, who was fired because he was having an affair with a CNBC correspondent, Hadley Gamble. Will she be fired, too? Stay tuned…

All of this comes not that long after the two anchors of “Good Morning America” in the afternoon, each married, were having an affair with each other.

Add to that soon “Dr. Phil” and “Rachael Ray” are going off the air — with no scandals. The entire landscape of media is changing fast, for good and for bad.

CNN has wanted to get rid of Don Lemon for a long time. Just before the announcement about his departure, CNN announced that Gayle King and Charles Barkley are getting a weekly prime time show, and Chris Wallace’s weekly show is being moved into prime time. With Carlson gone at 9pm, CNN has lucked out.

Next move for CNN: Bring John Berman back to the morning show. Next move for Fox: fire Maria Bartiromo and Sean Hannity.

And Don Lemon Out at CNN: Fired for Misogyny and Other Bizarre Statements on Air

Roger Friedman
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And Don Lemon Out at CNN: Fired for Misogyny and Other Bizarre Statements on Air

Don Lemon is out at CNN. On a morning when media personalities are getting the axe on both sides, Lemon couldn’t survive his incident of on air misogyny and other bizarre statements.

Lemon got in a load of trouble recently when he declared on air that announced presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who’s 50, was “past her prime.” His co-anchors were furious and chaos ensued.

It’s a shame because Lemon is a good journalist. When he had his 10pm show, Lemon was in good shape. But moving him to the morning and allowing Lemon to speak freely on non political topics led to a mess.

Tucker Carlson Fired at Fox News! Ousted After Company Loses $787 Million in Lawsuit Judgement! Bartiromo Next?

Roger Friedman
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Tucker Carlson Fired at Fox News! Ousted After Company Loses $787 Million in Lawsuit Judgement! Bartiromo Next?

Tucker Carlson has been fired by Fox News. He’s been punished for being a cause of the company’s embarrassing $787 million lawsuit judgement won by Dominion Voting.

Maria Bartiromo may be next. Sean Hannity should be looking over his shoulder, too, Fox News is about to go through a sea change of major proportions!

Carlson — it was shown in depositions — knowingly lied about the 2020 election being stolen. His lies were nightly and they have been for years.

Rupert Murdoch obviously approved this monumental change since Carlson’s show is number 1 on Fox News. It’s amazing. It was only two weeks ago that Carlson, the chief conspiracy theorist, was interviewing Donald Trump. But Carlson had been quoted as privately criticizing Trump. Is Murdoch making this decision for Trump or against him? Time will tell.

Here’s the statement from Fox News:

FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.

Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.

FOX News Media operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Digital, FOX News Audio, FOX News Books, the direct-to-consumer streaming services FOX Nation and FOX News International and the free ad-supported television service FOX Weather. Currently the number one network in all of cable, FNC has also been the most watched television news channel for more than 21 consecutive years, while FBN ranks among the top business channels on cable. Owned by Fox Corporation, FOX News Media reaches nearly 200 million people each month.

Review: Sweet Horns Soaring, Timeless Chicago Triumphs At NYC Hard Rock with Classics

Roger Friedman
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Review: Sweet Horns Soaring, Timeless Chicago Triumphs At NYC Hard Rock with Classics

The big surprise last night at the Musicians on Call gala? The lady, the legend Dionne Warwick came as a guest and nearly stole the show!

The gala featured some other legends — Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Chicago — who blew the roof off the Hard Rock Cafe with all their hits like “25 or 6 to 4,” “Beginnings,” and “Baby What a Big Surprise.”

But the big surprise was during the live auction, Warwick bid $6,000 and won a signed guitar from all the members of the band including 50 year originals James Pankow, Lee Loughnane, and Robert Lamm. Dionne knows how important Musicians on Call is, bringing music to hospitals around the world.

What a night! Chicago was brought to Columbia Records in the late 60s under Clive Davis in the spirit of Blood, Sweat, & Tears. Their early albums (before lead singer Peter Cetera got out of control with soft rock) were so cool, full of jazz rhythms and so much life. (Sorry– I love “Saturday in the Park”).

Last night they played all the hits except for “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” (I do.) Full of soaring melodies, their songs have stood the test of time beautifully.

Great night! Great charity!

Great Comic Actor Richard Lewis Announces Parkinson’s Diagnosis, End of Stand Up Career (But Not Retirement!)

Roger Friedman
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Great Comic Actor Richard Lewis Announces Parkinson’s Diagnosis, End of Stand Up Career (But Not Retirement!)

You know Richard Lewis from “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” He’s such a great comic actor and droll comedian. He says on social that he’s been diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease, and that his stand up career is over.

But he’s not retiring! Lewis appears in the next season of “Curb.” And, in his 70s, he can look back at a great career. Below, see the announcement and beneath that, Richard on Johnny Carson 41 years ago! Love him!

“Succession” Post-Mortem with Spoilers: Alexander Skarsgard Gets Not One But Two Meta Jokes

Roger Friedman
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“Succession” Post-Mortem with Spoilers: Alexander Skarsgard Gets Not One But Two Meta Jokes

SPOILERS INCLUDED

Ok. Now that episode 5 of “Succession” has ended, there are a couple of meta jokes at Alexander Skarsgard’s expense. I didn’t want to give them away during the week.

The first is when his character, Matsson, tells Shiv that he’s been sending blood to his comms lady, Ebba. Forget that he’s involved in a big MeToo situation. Skarsgard is famous for playing a vampire on “True Blood.” He hasn’t given up his vampire ways.

Second, at the retreat Matsson is surprised to learn Greg is a cousin. “Are you all related to each other?” he asks. “How many of you are there?”

This is really meta. Of course people keep saying this about the Skarsgard family. Father Stellan is a very busy respected actor, known from “Good Will Hunting.” Brother Bill has emerged as another busy actor, currently in “John Wick 4.” There’s another, Gustaf, and who knows how many are waiting out there? It was very funny.

Great episode. Shiv and Roman were heartbreaking. Greg may know more than he’s saying — how did he know about the Kill List? The writing remains impeccable, as does everything else.

And somehow they’ve pulled off two episodes without Logan.

“60 Minutes” Profiles Nicolas Cage 20 Years Too Late, Ignores All the Good Stuff like 5 Wives, Lawsuits Galore, Dozens of Bad Movies, Arrest

Roger Friedman
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“60 Minutes” Profiles Nicolas Cage 20 Years Too Late, Ignores All the Good Stuff like 5 Wives, Lawsuits Galore, Dozens of Bad Movies, Arrest

If “60 Minutes” had profiled Nicolas Cage in 2004, they would have been right on time. That was the year he appeared in “National Treasure,” an “Indiana Jones” rip off.

In the 19 years since then, Cage has appeared in dozens of flops, B movies, some so bad they have no rating at all on Rotten Tomatoes, some with Zeroes or single digit ratings from critics. None have been hits, not even “Pig,” which picked up a cult following a couple of years ago.

“60 Minutes” should stay away from showbiz profiles. Cage has been a walking box office disaster for two decades. On tonight’s show, he appeared wearing heavy make up and lipstick. He looked embalmed. He’s been married five times (number 4 was annulled after a couple of days). His first marriage was to eventual Oscar winner Patricia Arquette. His second was to Lisa Marie Presley. Those marriages, plus the three that followed, are more interesting than his movies. “60 Minutes” ignored them. He also has a child named Kal-El, Superman’s real name from Krypton.

Kathleen Turner hated Cage so much from making “Peggy Sue Got Married,” she actually got in a lawsuit with him over things she wrote in a memoir. The movie was directed by Cage’s uncle, Francis Ford Coppola, another fact ignored by “60 Minutes.” Plus, the really juicy stuff– playing Monopoly with real estate, losing massively expensive properties he couldn’t afford– was all glossed over. They also skipped over a 2011 domestic abuse arrest. (As a friend of mine used to say, None of this makes him a bad person!)

Sharyn Alfonsi usually does a respectable job with straight ahead news pieces. She was out of her depth with this one. If she did it thinking Cage’s new movie, “Renfield,” would be a hit, she was wrong. Panned by critics, “Renfield” has made just $13 million in two weeks.

Hats off to whatever publicist pulled off this magic trick. Cage should buy them an island!

Shell Shock: NBC Universal CEO Ousted Over “Inappropriate Relationship” With Female in the Company

Roger Friedman
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Shell Shock: NBC Universal CEO Ousted Over “Inappropriate Relationship” With Female in the Company

Jeff Shell is out at NBC Universal as CEO. The reason? At least for now the reason given is an “inappropriate relationship” with a female in the company. In other words, he was having an affair with someone who worked for him.

It’s actually hard to believe in 2023 that no one has learned their lesson. After Shell himself had to fire Universal’s Ron Meyer, CBS booted Les Moonves, CNN got rid of Jeff Zucker, Warner Bros. had their problem with Kevin Tsujihara, and on air personalities like Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose were shown the door — you’d think the message was clear. It’s not 1955, we are not living in a John Cheever novel. That party is over with a capital O.

“Today is my last day as CEO of NBCUniversal,” Shell — who’s been married a long time — wrote in a memo to staff. “I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret. I’m truly sorry I let my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues down, they are the most talented people in the business and the opportunity to work with them the last 19 years has been a privilege.”

Have none of these people ever seen the movie, “Network”? The whole thing has become a huge cliche at this point. And just wait for more to come out about what was really going on. For Comcast to let this out on a Sunday means they couldn’t wait another minute.

Box Office: “Air” Remains Aloft, “Super Mario” Still Super, “Beau” Scared to Death

Roger Friedman
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Box Office: “Air” Remains Aloft, “Super Mario” Still Super, “Beau” Scared to Death

Weekend box office:

Ben Affleck’s “Air” is notable in that continues to make money and have very little fall off — just 29% — from last week. Still headed nicely to $50 million and then some, “Air” shows a steamer — in this case, Amazon — did the right thing to put their quality film into theaters first before going onto their platform.

“Super Mario” — yes, $434 million. The goal of $500 million is in focus.

“Beau is Afraid” is up to $3.1 million, adding 965 theaters where a lot of people were obviously perplexed at how this movie got made. If you’re waiting for Broadway star Patti Lupone to appear as Joaquin Phoenix’s mother, I’m told it’s two hours before you see her. Two hours! I guess you could go see “Air,” then sneak into “Beau.”

Guy Ritchie’s “The Covenant” made $6 million, so that’s over. MGM strikes again. “Evil Dead Rise” made $23 million in its debut. Horror works if it’s not self indulgent, and three hours long! Beau would be more afraid if he were in that movie!

Folklore: Taylor Swift Sold 225,000 Albums Last Week with EIGHT Entries in the Top 50

Roger Friedman
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Folklore: Taylor Swift Sold 225,000 Albums Last Week with EIGHT Entries in the Top 50

Taylor Swift is on tour, selling out all her venues. Her fans are going crazy.

How do we know? Last week, Taylor placed seven albums in the top 50. Seven! From her most recent, Midnights (62,469) to Fearless – Taylor’s Version (14,088 copies).

When I called a local record store today to ask if they had something else for Record Store Day, a recording came on saying they weren’t taking calls, but they did have Taylor Swift in stock and “plan accordingly.”

WTF?

Most of these records sound alike to me, but this isn’t my generation. Obviously, Swift is THE star of hers, especially — I would guess — among young ladies. Well, she’s smart, successful, wily, good in business, no one’s fool, and just vengeful enough to take notes for songs during relationships. Good for her!

PS She also outfoxed all the record execs, re-recording her albums so she owns the new master recordings. And they’re selling better than the originals!

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