The Oscars are getting more and more eclectic. They’ve added Shaun White, Kelly Slater, and Tony Hawk to the list of presenters. Also DJ Khaled.
This is going to be an interesting show, that’s for sure. A lot of the presenters have nothing to do with movies. But producer Will Packer is obviously trying to broaden the audience.
Also new to the list are Bill Murray, Tiffany Haddish, singer HER, and Jennifer Garner.
The Oscars are this Sunday on ABC.
SNL is returning April 2 with three consecutive weekends of shows.
For April 16th they’ve got Lizzo as host and musical guest.
April 9th will be Jake Gyllenhaal and musical guest Camila Cabello.
But first we get Jerrod Carmichael and Gunna. Who? We can write off the ratings on that one.
Maybe Pete Davidson will be back for these shows. Dressed as an astronaut.
We took a poll the other day.
The question, on Twitter, was Have you bought Kanye West’s Stem Player with his new album, “Donda 2”? The album is only available on the player.
The answers could be Yes or No.
Of the 68 people who responded, 92.9% answered No. Yes answers were 7.4%.
I think that answers our question in this very informal test. “Donda 2,” if it’s been heard, hasn’t come from the Stem Player.
Kano Computing of London, owned by Alex Klein and his dad, Saul Klein, must have a lot of those little blinking beige objects that resemble Bayer aspirins sitting in a warehouse. Blimey!
“Donda 2” is going to have to be released properly if Kanye ever wants his fans to hear it. Or maybe one day it will be part of a box set costing hundreds of dollars as a collectible.
Adele bombed in the Sunday night ratings.
Her “Another Night with Adele,” filmed in London last November, scored just 2 million viewers for NBC between 9 and 11 pm.
“American Idol,” overlapped from 8 to 10pm on ABC, and scored about 5.2 million.
The Adele special was cut badly from the London version with abrupt switches to commercials. It was also used as a wrap around for a night of promotion for a new NBC singing competition with Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg. Some of the latter’s segments seemed longer than Adele’s.
The result was NBC finished in third place behind ABC and CBS.
“60 Minutes” on CBS stole the night with 9.39 million.
Adele turning up on NBC suggests that she didn’t make an overall deal with CBS this winter when her Oprah special aired. But it’s hard to imagine she won’t be featured on the Grammy Awards April 3rd. Her “30” album needs a boost. Last night’s show sent it up to number 2 on iTunes. It had been down around number 30 just prior to that.
When the pandemic started, Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont closed to hotel guests. All its facilities closed down except to residents.
But that won’t stop Jay Z and Beyonce. They’re going to have their Oscars after party at Bar Marmont, which is also closed and has been for the last two years.
Their party will feature Black Hollywood’s top actors and rappers. It seems they haven’t read the Hollywood Reporter story from September 2020 that claimed “Employees portray the hotel as an institution defined by racial prejudice.”
So it’s a an odd choice for Jay Z and Beyonce.
From the article: “The leadership operates in a perpetual state of racism and unconscious bias,” says Rosemary West, a white sommelier and manager who worked at the restaurant for six years until she, too, was laid off. “The hotel has been allowed to dismiss BIPOC concerns for years as there is no HR department. Fear of retaliation was an absolute concern at the property. Many qualified personnel were passed over for promotions to be filled by white personnel.”
I’m surprised, I always loved Chateau Marmont. But a) it’s closed and b) this has never been resolved.
Also from the article:
“There were times when we’d have a Black couple who was trying to have dinner and we had room to accommodate them,” [a staffer] says. “We would call upstairs, we’d say, ‘an African American couple,’ they’d ask if they were celebrities, and if not, they’d say, ‘We can put them in the dining room,’ which is secluded and where newcomers are seated. The main spot to dine is the garden area, so people seated [inside] felt isolated. Oftentimes they’d go, be disappointed, and then we’d offer them Bar Marmont or we’d say, ‘Come by on Sunday or Monday,’ which are our less busy nights.” He adds, “Black people weren’t taken care of as much as white people.”
“CODA” picked up another award today, this one with the Writers Guild of America for Best Adapted Screenplay. Director Sian Heder, who wrote the script, accepted and frankly this movie is on a roll. Of course, some films were ineligible, like “The Power of the Dog,” but this is good news.
The surprise in original screenplay was Adam McKay winning for “Don’t Look Up.” McKay beat Paul Thomas Anderson and “Licorice Pizza.” Alas, “Belfast,” which I think will take the Oscar, was ineligible. But kudos to McKay.
TV Awards went to “Succession” for drama and “Hacks” for comedy. “Mare of Easttown” won for Original Adapted Long Form TV.
Ron Carlivati and his team won the daytime drama award for “Days of our Lives,” the NBC soap that’s been on since 1965. Carlivati’s show is very inventive and deserves it for trying new things all the time no matter how preposterous. They manage to leaven the crazy with the dramatic.
Congrats also to “Conan” writers Matt O’Brien; Writers: Jose Arroyo, Glenn Boozan, Daniel Cronin, Andres du Bouchet, Jessie Gaskell, Skyler Higley, Brian Kiley, Laurie Kilmartin, Todd Levin, Levi MacDougall, Conan O’Brien, Andy Richter, Frank Smiley, Mike Sweeney. Such a good show, they worked so hard– and beat John Oliver.
Maria is not going to the ball.
Rachel Zegler, the much praised star of Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” is not attending the Oscars.
Despite the movie getting 7 nominations, Zegler was not one of those cited. She responded to a fan on social media who asked what gown she would be wearing. Zegler replied: “I’m not invited so sweatpants and my boyfriend’s flannel.”
On another post she wrote: “I will root for west side story from my couch.” She added: “I hope some last minute miracle occurs and I can celebrate our film in person…”
It is a strange plot twist seeing that Disney released this movie and is hosting the Oscars on ABC. She’s also the star of Disney’s “Show White,” currently filming in London. So this seems more like a Disney issue than an Academy one.
The Academy had to cut back tickets by at least 800 seats this years thanks to COVID restrictions, which means a lot of regular ticket holders are out of luck. But the principal casts of the 10 nominated Best Pictures would seem like locks for first turn downs after all the actual nominees.
Still, Zegler, I’m sure would be welcome at Oscar viewing parties like Elton John’s AIDS Foundation if she were in town. And Showbiz411 would take her to Craig’s on Melrose for dinner. The flatbread there is delicious!
Hey, Rachel, I wasn’t invited to two “West Side Story” premieres in New York. I know you how feel! Only the Haus of Mouse knows for sure.
I wrote a story about how HBO’s “The Gilded Age” was only attracting an audience over the age of 55.
I immediately got attacked on Twitter by an account called @thischairrocks. An author named Ashton Applewhite came after me liking a Tweet that admonished me. (Hey– I was just reporting the ratings.)
I thought, I know that name. And I sure do. In 1985, when I was at Ballantine Books, Ashton Applewhite had a massive paperback hit called “Truly Tasteless Jokes.” It was such a bestseller that there was a second volume, a calendar, and lots of other merchandise. The author was “Blanche Knott”– get it? This was Applewhite’s pseudonym.
The books were garbage but they sold like crazy. They’re out of print now, but guess what? Applewhite, now an ageism activist and very PC, still sells them on Kindle. So I downloaded one.
And the book has jokes with the “N” word. In fact, one of the jokes not only has the “N” word, it’s ageist!
I can’t reprint it even redacting “N” word because the same joke also has other language not permitted here.
A lot of time has passed since 1985 as far as cultural attitudes. Even then these jokes were not acceptable. But no one was canceled for telling them. The book became a beach read, a hit at dinner parties. People were reading them aloud. Ballantine, a division of Random House, was thrilled! My ex bosses (hey Claire Ferraro remember these good times?) were already making money publishing psychics and Garfield the cat. Actually literature was a thing of the past.
Applewhite has a whole website called www.thischairrocks.com. She writes on it: “I led the team that developed Old School, a clearinghouse of anti-ageism resources. I am the voice of Yo, Is This Ageist? (Go ahead, ask me.) I’ve written a consciousness-raising booklet. And I speak widely. All tools to help catalyze a movement to make discrimination on the basis of age as unacceptable as any other kind.”
Consciousness-raising! Hello! What do you call a black Frenchman? Jacques Custodian.
How about a Polish joke? They seem perfect right now when the Polish people are risking their lives to help emigree Ukrainians.
Did you hear about the Pole who locked his family in the car? He had to get a coathanger to get them out.
So all this is so much worse because the books are still available on Kindle! And making money, presumably! The Kindle editions are $3.99. The money goes right to Applewhite, er, Knott.
Yes, Applewhite is a serious thinker now. She’s against ageism — because she’s 65.
Oh well, I will redact. Here’s a joke about racist old people.
Two old white farmers, Royce and J.T., had picked the same day to do a little hunting. Royce looked up and said to J.T., “Sh*t! Dat’s de biggest goddam bird I eva seen!” “Let’s get em,” said J.T. They fired off several rounds, but the glider floated serenely over the trees and out of sight. “Hell, Royce,” said J.T., “I b’lieve we dusted dat bird.” “Sh*t, I know we dusted em,” said Royce. “Did you see how fast it dropped dat [N word]?”
Knott, Blanche. Truly Tasteless Jokes One (p. 31). Ashtonia LLC. Kindle Edition.
Crunchyroll was very tasty this weekend.
The Sony-owned anime house scored a massive hit with “Jujutsu Kaisen 0,” already a blockbuster around the world.
“Jujutsu” made $17.7 million in the US over the weekend, more than almost all the Oscar- nominated Best Picture entries for this year. The anime release already had $107 million worldwide.
And this was without streaming!
And “The Batman” crossed the $300 million mark after just three weeks.
Keep refreshing for more box office…
Big upset tonight at the Producers Guild of America Awards. “CODA” won Best Produced Feature.
“CODA” is now set up to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards next week. Sian Heder’s emotional film about a teenage girl who discovers she has a beautiful singing voice– but her deaf family can’t hear her– has captured the minds and hearts of everyone in Hollywood.
Apple Studios could be the first streaming service to win the Oscar for Best Picture, besting Netflix’s “The Power of the Dog.”
It’s an amazing accomplishment. “CODA” has never really played in theaters and most people still don’t know it’s on Apple TV. The PGA win is a watershed, coming right in the middle of Oscar voting.
Apple’s investment paid off mightily. They paid a record $25 million at Sundance in January 2021 for the rights to “CODA.” The movie stars Oscar winner Marlee Matlin and soon to be Best Supporting Actor Troy Kotsur as well as Emilia Jones, who sings the heck out of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now.”
A full list of PGA winners is coming. “Succession” won Best Drama, TV, “Ted Lasso” took best comedy, “Mare of Easttown” was best limited series, “Encanto” was best animated film, and “Summer of Soul” was best documentary. The Beatles’ “Get Back” won Best TV documentary series.
More notes from the night coming later Sunday morning.
Congratulations to the producers of Coda, winners of the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures! #CODAFilm @PhilRousselet #PGAAwards pic.twitter.com/Lp5gy4OLzl
— Producers Guild of America (@producersguild) March 20, 2022