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Yesterday’s cable news ratings aren’t in yet, but Monday’s are and they paint a bleak picture for Sean Hannity.
On Monday, the night before Donald Trump’s arrest and arraignment, Hannity finished fourth among Fox News shows for the evening.
Even worse: He was beaten by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC.
Hannity’s 2.469 million viewers wasn’t enough to overcome Maddow’s very liberal 2.515 million. Maybe if he weren’t spouting fiction, he’d do better.
Maddow handily took Hannity, Brett Baier and Laura Ingraham. She also pulled up the numbers for MSNBC shows hosted by Ari Melber, and Lawrence O’Donnell.
Hannity has been posting low numbers for weeks now, not able to much above 2.5 million at all, and nowhere near his old 3 million. He and other Fox News anchors have lost major credibility since it was revealed in the Dominion-Fox lawsuit that they lied about January 6th to their viewers.
The top three cable “News” shows on Monday were Tucker Carlson, The Five, and Jesse Watters. The latter two are essentially comedy shows — without laughs. The first one is entertainment for the mentally impaired.
At least Karen McDougal has a sense of humor. The former Playboy model is a large part of the 34 felony count indictment of Donald Trump that came down yesterday. McDougal sold her story of an affair with Trump (yuck) to the National Enquirer.
The publisher, according to the indictment, then shelved the story but featured her for a while in minor stories so that the story wouldn’t come out. The payment– $150,000–is cited in the indictment as a way money was used to suppress negative information about Trump to help him in the 2016 election. If McDougal’s story of a 10 month affair came out, Trump might have lost voters, and/or the election.
Now McDouglas has gotten a little cheeky this morning. What did she miss yesterday? Anything?
(Exclusive) Woody Allen’s 50th film is in French, shot in France, and has only French actors. I’ve seen it. The irony is that after a long and legendary career as a humorist and wordsmith, Woody could wind up with an Oscar for Best International Feature.
The 90 minute film, shot by the great Vittorio Storaro, is one of Woody’s best. I can’t say it’s a murder mystery, exactly, but it’s the story of a murder that takes place outside of Paris. Woody is 86 years old. The screenplay is as sharp as “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” which he made 34 years ago. It also has a surprise twist that no one who sees it can give away. The movie ends with a gasp.
“Coup de Chance” — its French title — stars Lou de Laâge, a hot French actress who speaks English I am told. This is a breakout role for her on the world stage. Her husband in the film is played by four time Cesar Award nominee Melvil Poupaud, France’s hottest leading man. There’s also Valérie Lemercier, this past year’s Cesar Best Actress, who will get an Oscar nomination out of this if things work out.
I watched this film with a few people who I think were in distribution. I can tell you the air in the room was filled with suspense. I was on the edge of my seat worrying about certain characters. And yes, there is humor. If you pay attention, Woody throws in some lines that lighten up the mood.
As the French say: “Super!”
PS Look for “Coup de Chance” to be included in the Cannes Film Festival. It seems an obvious choice. The French love Woody, and he’s given them an incredible gift.
With the Alec Baldwin “Rust” trial looming, you may remember the sad story of Sarah Jones. The young production assistant was killed in 2014 on the Georgia set of the Gregg Allman biopic “Midnight Rider.” Seven others were injured badly. The movie was never finished, and director Randall Miller pleaded guilty in 2015 to manslaughter for maintaining a careless set. He went to prison for a year and got 10 years’ probation. The terms of his probation: that he was not to serve as a “director, first assistant director or supervisor with responsibility for safety in any film production.”
But Miller was evidently “confused” about those terms. In 2019 he made a film in London and Serbia called “Higher Grounds.” When this was discovered, he was dragged back to court for probation violation. (He appeared by Zoom.) He said he thought the terms were unclear, and that he could indeed make films. It was a sorry excuse, like “the dog ate my homework.”
The judge, Anthony Harrison — who sounds like Fred Gwynne from “My Cousin Vinny” –had been very specific: a decade of probation, no films, directing films. Harrison told Miller, “You’re not to act as a director, period.” But at the 2021 hearing, Harrison relented. He said Miller didn’t violate his probation, that he might have indeed been confused about the wording after all. Still, Miller wasn’t allowed to make any more movies.
Apparently, no one asked what happened to “Higher Grounds.”
So now here it comes, on March 21st, to streaming platforms. Only, it’s been re-titled “Coffee Wars,” so that anyone who remembers “Higher Grounds” won’t realize it’s the same movie. According to a press release, “It’s extremely rare from a narrative film perspective but proceeds from the movie are 100% being donated to environmental and animal welfare charities.”
Um, that doesn’t mean 100% of the proceeds are going to charity, just so we’re clear. An unknown amount of the proceeds are being donated, and we don’t to what charity. The people involved are “100%” sure of that.
Imagine being Sarah Jones’s parents. Their daughter is dead. The director whose set she worked on has resumed his career. And while “Coffee Wars” has no stars, no theaters, and is probably not very good, Miller has gotten away with it.
PS The executive producers, the men who didn’t mind that Miller might not be able to make a movie, are a Georgia lawyer named Michael Melroy Smith and a money manager named Jay Karandikar. They put up the dough so a convicted felon could defy a judge’s order and make a D movie.
In an episode right out of “Succession.” the Roys– er, the Murdochs — have taken measures in their father’s life.
Vanity Fair reports that Rupert Murdoch’s recent engagement to Daisy Dukes, er, Ann Lesley Smith, is over. He’s 92, she’s 66. Her last husband died after they were married just three years. He was really rich.
James, Lachlan, and Elisabeth Murdoch — who inspired Kendall, Roman, and Shiv Roy — are not stupid. They probably read the engagement announcement in Cindy Adams’ column and had multiple heart attacks. After all, they only recently pried Jerry Hall out of a marriage to their doddering Dad. Remember that wedding? All the Jaggers and Murdochs? They weren’t going to go through that again.
Smith, 66, is a former dental hygienist turned conservative radio host. I wrote about her here. Murdoch told Cindy Adams: “I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love—but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy. Then he gave Smith an 11-carat diamond engagement ring said to be at least $2.5 million.
If you watch “Succession.” that’s when Shiv, Kendall, and Roman would get Geri to step in and nip this thing in the bud. And so they have. The last thing they needed was to deal with Smith in probate court as a widow, no matter what she signed.
And so it ends. Can’t they just find him a sex worker to keep him busy? Poor Rupert. Of course, Logan Roy would have married the fiancee anyway, and cut them all out of his will!
Keen eared country music fans may have heard a change of lyrics Sunday night during the all star performance of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s famous “Sweet Home Alabama.”
ZZ Top”s Billy Gibbons, asked to sing the third verse of the song, changed the lyrics. As everyone knows the song says “I hope Neil Young will remember/A Southern Man don’t need him around anyhow”
This was always considered a “diss” of Neil Young’s famous 1971 classic. The honky tonk Skynyrds didn’t like Canadian Young carpetbagging their turf.
But that was all 50 years ago or so. On Sunday, Gibbsons was part of the tribute along with Cody Johnson, Paul Rodgers, Slash, Chuck Leavell, Warren Hayes, Wynonna Judd, and LeAnn Rimes.
I’m told: “The producer asked Billy to lend his vocal to the third verse of “Sweet Home Alabama” which has long been construed as a “diss” to Neil Young and his “Southern Man” song. Billy said he didn’t want to call out Neil by name as he considers him a friend and a neighbor so he took it upon himself to fudge the lyric a tad and sang “neighbor” instead of Neil.”
You can hear Billy garble Young’s name on purpose at around 3:23 in the video below. Good for Gibbons! He’s a mensch! Neil should send him a case of beer!
Donald Trump, unbelievably once the president of the United States, has been indicted, arrested, and arraigned on 34 counts of business fraud relating to the Stormy Daniels pay off.
Trump, unrepentant liar and criminal, has finally been brought to justice. Even if these charges result in fines, he’s been publicly humiliated and disarmed for the moment. I told you in 2016 the idea of this person becoming president after his horrid history in New York was a joke. But he appealed to the lowest common denominator, the bottom of the cess pool, and engineered a win.
Now, Trump loses. He returns to his wife, arrested for having an affair with a porn star. Does Melania care? We’ll see soon enough.
Watching “Succession” is a treat for its fans, including this writer, who love the language and mind-gamesmanship.
But “Succession” remains a niche hit, a guilty pleasure for a select few. It’s far from a mainstream hit.
To wit: Sunday night’s episode, the second of the final season, was down 21% in total viewers from the previous week. Total came to just 481,000 on the main HBO channel. That’s down from 598,000 the week before.
Where did 100,000 viewers go? I don’t know, but they missed some amazing writing, as well as all other disciplines. Sunday’s outing was exceptional in every way. Did “Succession” viewers suddenly decamp for “American Idol”? Unlikely. Other shows seem like chalk screeching on a blackboard compared to the nuances of Roman Roy.
HBO will offer numbers from HBO Max and “other platforms” in the millions, and I hope they’re right. But I think the main channel tells the real story. For god’s sake, people, you can jump in any time. Some people say to me they missed two seasons and they’re afraid to tune in now. Nonsense. But maybe HBO could offer an online summary special, a “Succession for Dummies” before the series finale.
“Saturday Night Live” is listing to the side a little from some unexciting choices.
This weekend’s installment with “Abbott Elementary” star Quinta Brunson and rapper Lil Yachty brought in 4.21 million viewers. That was down a skosh from the 4.24 million of Jenna Ortega’s hosting effort two weeks ago.
Something’s wrong with the combinations of hosts and musical guests. I wish they’d mix it up a little, There’s also a little misguidance about who’s hot and will draw ratings. Maybe the show doesn’t care as long as they stay above 4 million. After all, “SNL” isn’t going to be cancelled. But still, homeruns are better than dribbling hits.
I really like Quinta Brunson, but “Abbott” is not a big ratings hit. And it translated over to “SNL.”
You do remember we had 8– eight– Harry Potter movies, right? Because it seems like everyone reporting this story tonight has forgotten there were EIGHT of them, each based on one of JK Rowlings’ books.
So now, Bloomberg and others report that Warner Bros and HBO are negotiating with Rowling to start ALL OVER AGAIN. This time, they will make a seven year TV series based on the seven books. (The 8th movie was the second part of the 8th book.)
So DESPITE all the iconic acting, writing, producing, and directing in the movies, there’s going to be a whole NEW VERSION of this thing to squeeze money from.
It doesn’t matter that Amazon already tried this trick with “Lord of the Rings,” which entirely unnecessary. Amazon spent 400 BILLION DOLLARS remaking Peter Jackson’s award winning films into a TV series that no one cared about. No one. It was just there, on Amazon, if you had nothing to do and couldn’t remember what happened in the movies or wanted to see it stretched out even longer than the three hour films.
We don’t have time for nostalgia anymore. Someone, somewhere wants to remake another perfect movie, Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” Again, no one asked for it, nor wants it. But original ideas are not available, so this is what’s happened.
What will Warner’s tell Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and all the other actors who put their lives into the “Harry Potter” movies? Answer: Thank you, next.
