Peloton was quick. They clapped back at the death of Mr. Big in “Sex and the City” with a commercial starring Chris Noth. “He’s alive!” is the tag line.
Very clever. Mr. Big died from a heart attack after riding his Peloton too hard. Peloton stock immediately tanked on Friday when word spread. Here is their rejoinder. Whatever they paid Chris Noth to undo Mr. Big’s death was worth it!
And just like that…he's alive. pic.twitter.com/bVX8uWypFZ
— Peloton (@onepeloton) December 12, 2021
It’s not just that critics don’t like the new “Sex and the City” series.
“And Just Like That,” on HBO Max, has a lowly 61 on Rotten Tomatoes among critics. So that’s not great. But what about the people? They have also spoken to Rotten Tomatoes. The audience meter is just 32%. Ouch!
This is in contrast to HBO’s “Succession.” Critics 96, Audience 82. That’s what the numbers are supposed to be when a show is a hit. And “Succession” only gets 600,000 viewers in a good week with rave reviews bolstering it.
So imagine what “SATC”‘s audience might be this time around. And all we can do is imagine it, because there are no published ratings for HBO Max. Like all streaming, it’s a mystery wrapped in a shroud.
The responses from viewers then is twice as bad as the one from critics. The fans don’t like it. They didn’t like the killing off of Chris Noth’s Mr. Big. They really don’t like the absence of Kim Cattrall as Samantha. And they don’t like the forced narrative of the Politically Correct.
Wait: they’re really not going to like it when Miranda becomes “fluid” with alcohol problem, which is clearly coming.
Did the producers of the show make some mistakes? Seems like it. Because the show, despite being well written, doesn’t matter any more. It worked in its era. But in pandemic New York, with inflation booming and so many stores and restaurants closed, “Sex and the City” doesn’t work.
One lingering problem: they just killed off Mr. Big with a weird funeral. Soon actor Willie Garson’s death will have to be dealt with. He plays Stanford Blatch, Carrie’s best friend, who tragically died from cancer while they were shooting. So there may be a second funeral before the 10 episodes are over.
Chris Wallace is leaving Fox News. Or rather, he’s escaping the far right network for CNN’s streaming services, CNN Plus.
The announcement came at the end of his show today on Fox. But the NY Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, omits the CNN part of the story as does Foxnews.com, which hides the news of Wallace’s departure on its website.
Wallace says in a statement from CNN: “I am thrilled to join CNN+. After decades in broadcast and cable news, I am excited to explore the world of streaming. I look forward to the new freedom and flexibility streaming affords in interviewing major figures across the news landscape—and finding new ways to tell stories,” said Wallace. “As I embark on this adventure, I am honored and delighted to join Jeff Zucker and his great team. I can’t wait to get started.”
Wallace’s departure is not a surprise. He’s been at odds with the Fox News philosophy for a long time. But losing him means that Rupert Murdoch’s “Fair and Balanced” is over. Wallace was the last reasonable voice in a fog of conservatism that often ditches truth for whatever agenda is at hand.
Going to CNN at this time is also interesting given that CNN has lost Chris Cuomo after his scandals involving defending his brother, former governor Andrew Cuomo, and possible sexual harassment. Right now Wallace is set for just CNN Plus it could turn into more. At 74, he’ll be the oldest news man at CNN, a year older than the network’s elder statesman, Wolf Blitzer.
At Fox, there is nothing left of journalistic balance. Wallace was often critical of the Trump administration and scored some of the best political interviews in the 2016 and 2020 campaigns. With him gone, there is no one willing to challenge the Fox News manifesto. If Trump runs again, and it looks like he may, he might as well be given his own show on the network.
Wallace has been with Fox News for two decades. His statement reads:
After 18 years — this is my final FOX News Sunday,” Wallace said. “It is the last time — and I say this with real sadness — we will meet like this. Eighteen years ago, the bosses here at Fox promised me they would never interfere with a guest I booked or a question I asked. And they kept that promise. I have been free to report to the best of my ability, to cover the stories I think are important, to hold our country’s leaders to account. It’s been a great ride. We’ve covered five presidential elections, interviewed every president since George H.W. Bush, travelled the world — sitting down with France’s Emanuel Macron and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. And I’ve gotten to spend Sunday mornings with you. It may sound corny, but I feel we’ve built a community here. There’s a lot you can do on Sundays. The fact you’ve chosen to spend this hour with us is something I cherish. But after 18 years, I have decided to leave Fox. I want to try something new, to go beyond politics to all the things I’m interested in. I’m ready for a new adventure. And I hope you’ll check it out. And so —for the last time, dear friends — that’s it for today. Have a great week. And I hope you’ll keep watching FOX News Sunday.”
Fox responded with “Whatever.” They will rotate hosts until they find a proper puppet.
Sunday night, 9pm HBO. It’s the ninth and final episode of the short and definitely not sweet season of “Succession.”
This is the drama or comedy, depending on how you look at it, about the Roy family, a satirical take on the Murdochs — Rupert and his children — as they vy for their father’s affection and inheritance.
“Succession” is a cult hit, never attracting more than around 600,000 viewers at a sitting. It’s not “Yellowstone,” with over 7 million, because there is nothing mainstream about it. The Roys are psychological warriors playing a “Game of Thrones” mental chess game with each other until only one is left.
The whole of the cult fan base is waiting for Sunday night because it seems like something bad is going to happen. There may be a death, or worse, permanent expulsion from the Roys’ inner circle. The two most vulnerable candidates are Kendall Roy, the second son, but the first from Logan Roy’s second marriage. Or Geri, the loyal company attorney who has been made CEO during a crisis.
The relationships are brutal. The average person tuning in, unaware of what’s going on, will either be fascinated or frightened. intrigued or repulsed. There is no middle ground. There’s a reason that the Roy daughter, apple-cheeked, freckled Siobhan goes by the unapologetic nickname of “Shiv.” She tells her fairly clueless husband, Tom, in episode, “I may not love you.” She waits a half a beat and follows up with: “But I love you.” And squints back at him.
Shiv’s older brother, Kendall, is certainly a candidate for death, likely suicide. Or thinking too much. Played brilliantly as if he were Hamlet by Jeremy Strong, Kendall has been humiliated and debased for all 8 episodes as he’s tried unsuccessfully to topple his father. Even his own mother, at her wedding to a lout, has dismissed him. At the end of episode 8, the camera lingers ominously from beneath him as Kendall floats on a clear plastic raft in a Tuscan swimming pool. We are meant to fear something has happened.
Then there’s Geri, the lawyer, all business, played with eloquence and sympathy by J. Smith-Cameron. Geri has spend season 3 dodging the raunchy approaches of Kendall’s younger brother, Roman (Kieran Culkin), who is 25 years her junior and has an uncertain romantic life. It’s certainly sexual harassment but Geri, the only straight shooter in the Roy circle, has chosen just to ignore Roman and push forward. Has this been a mistake? It’s revealed in episode 8 that she’s been receiving lewd emails from him — “dick pics” — which may be the straw the breaks the camel’s back. She’s painted instantly as a villain and victim.
A “Succession” cliffhanger I don’t think would be like “Who Shot JR?” “Succession” isn’t a physical show. It’s all in the head. It’s about being “shivved.” You won’t feel the knife until it’s in. HBO didn’t offer a press preview of the final episode. We’ve got to wait and see.
Of course, fans don’t want anyone to leave the show. Certainly not J. Smith Cameron. She’s too important to our mental health. And Jeremy Strong is the centerpiece character. Strong is in the middle of a real life contretemps over a New Yorker profile in which he’s depicted as aloof and ambitious. The writer says Strong claims Kendall is Hamlet. His friends, Jessica Chastain and Aaron Sorkin, are defending him on social media as a good guy.
I met Strong years ago when he played Lee Harvey Oswald in a movie called “Parkland” (not mentioned in the New Yorker piece). He was sensational in the film and has never been anything less than friendly and open. The writer of the profile may have confused him with Kendall, for which he’s won an Emmy. The writer got lost in the fiction. But Kendall, suffering from mental anguish, has been the most disturbing character to penetrate television in a long time.
So listen out your window Sunday at 10pm. There’s going to be some noise. It will be subtle. But it will be distinct.
PS On that Hamlet thing. Now I’d pay to see Strong play Hamlet at the Public Theater in a Shakespeare melange. And Brian Cox, aka Logan Roy, as King Lear. And Sarah Snook, Shiv, as either Goneril or Gertrude. And so on. Where is Christopher Durang when we need him?
“Big Sky” remains the show no one will watch no matter how much ABC invests in it.
The ABC drama, part “Twin Peaks,” part “Lost,” had just 2.4 million viewers on Tbursday night, down 13% from its last outing on November 18th. “Big Sky” was not a big hit last year, but ABC owns it so they keep flogging it hoping someone will watch.
For some reason, the touted star– Ryan Phillippe — was dumped after the first episode. Then they let John Carroll Lynch’s character become a psycho, and they killed him. This season, they revived him but it was too late. If they’d kept Phillippe they might have had a chance. Since he left there are two female leads, and they’re not very compelling.
Season 2 started with just 3.1 million viewers and has gone downhill subsequently. “Big Sky” was beaten soundly on Thursday night by Chris Meloni: “Law & Order” aka “Organized Crime.” Earlier, “Law & Order: SVU” basically tied “Grey’s Anatomy.” Of the two “SVU” is the far better show, moving forward with stories, while “Grey’s” keeps mining its past hoping it will trigger viewer nostalgia.
“Red Rocket” allegedly opens this weekend, somewhere. If you’re up for a terrific indie film with a hard R rating, then it’s for you. I was totally charmed by it.
Simon Rex, in the 1990s, was an MTV Personality and a sometime adult film star. So he is perfect casting for Mikey, Sean Baker’s creation, a washed up porn star who’s been kicked out of Hollywood. He arrives in Texas City, Texas, basically nowhereland, bloodied and bruised, with no money or possessions. All he has are hardened good looks and a motor mouth. He can’t stop talking. A professional con man, Mikey just talks and talks. And plots.
He talks his way into a shack of a house next to an oil refinery with his estranged wife (Bree Elrod) and her cranky mother (Brenda Deiss). Their center of entertainment is a donut store with a 17 year old teen cashier named Strawberry (a remarkable Suzanna Son) who Mikey sees as a potential porn star. He starts grooming her for his revival in L.A. At home, he’s sleeping with the wife, Lexi, and dealing drugs courtesy of his mother-in-law’s engaging friends (Judy Hill and Brittany Rodriguez).
Sean Baker’s last film was “The Florida Project,” another indie gem that felt vibrant and refreshing and still does, set in a Florida swamp with lots of little poor kids and their mothers living in a motel. Baker is great at finding local people who either think they’re actors or becomes ones in his process. So he has done here, too. Every single one of the people Mikey meets are completely endearing. You root for them not to be taken in by this charming hustler.
But to Baker’s and Rex’s credit, you root for Mikey, too. He can sell sand to the Arabs, as they say, or water to fish. Because even as he’s cadging free rides around town from his pathetic neighbor (Ethan Darbone)– they are now best friends– you know his demise is near. The center will not hold when all of the people he’s defrauding finally meet up from their separate story threads.
And be advised: this is a movie not afraid to throw in full frontal male nudity with abandon. But why not? Mikey is a clothing-averse. He’s a porn star after all. He unwittingly exposes himself to his mother-in-law, and later, to the world, without thinking twice. And you think– as everyone says to him– put on some pants.
“Red Rocket” got limited love from the Gotham Awards, it might get some from the Spirit Awards. Baker is the king of the intimate genre of filmmaking. Unlike Chloe Zhao, of “Nomadland,” I hope he never makes a Marvel movie.
SUNDAY MORNING UPDATE: Weekend total came to $10.5 million. There was intense interest on opening day, and then subsequent declines on Saturday and Sunday. Disney’s marketing geniuses had better come up with a plan to save “WSS” instantly. This is the Best Picture of 2022.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON The first song from :West Side Story” is “Tonight, tonight…” But the second line shouldn’t be “We’ll be spending $58 on a pair of movie tickets tonight.”
Yet, Disney has made a huge miscalculation with the price of tickets for Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.” At New York’s Upper West Side AMC Cinema at Broadway and 68th St. — the same corner at which “West Side Story” takes place in 1957 — seats are on sale for $27.99. That’s in the regular theater, not IMAX. The Senior Citizen price is $26.49 and the price per child is $24.99. Per child. Add in popcorn, soda, and maybe a baby sitter and you’ve got a $100 experience for a couple going to the movies– or more.
Prices are similar across the country, too. In big cities, where “West Side Story” should be crowding in audiences today, business is understandably slow. But $16.50 per adult in most other cities is just as much of an obstacle, especially when Americans have been trained to stay home and stream movies.
Last night,”WSS” made $3.3 million. Add in $800,000 from Thursday previews and Disney is looking at a shameful $10 million opening weekend. And this is supposed to be the movie of the year.
But for people hard hit from the pandemic, already weary and maybe out of work, struggling with record inflation at the supermarket, a $20 movie ticket is discouraging to day the least. To top that off, large sections of the country have been with severe storms this weekend, certainly a huge deterrent for buckling up and heading to a movie theater, showing a vaccination card, putting on a mask, etc.
And let’s not even talk about the price of gas.
“WSS” should have been a big family event, with discounts and encouragements. For one thing, this isn’t “Star Wars” or even “Fast and Furious.” It’s a musical. Without stars. And despite having young actors, the material is from 60 years ago. It’s music by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, two people no one under 40 have heard of. It’s not Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande.
What is going on here? How could Disney, the family studio, have so misunderstood the mission? And what will they do about it, quickly? Because they’re now facing a slew of stories on Monday morning that won’t be very positive. It’s a head scratcher, all right. They can only hope that a huge number of nominations announced on Monday from the Critics Choice Awards will spur audiences back into theaters. But not at those prices.
Adele remains at number 1 today for the third week in a row with her “30” album.
“30” sold another 187,000 copies, most of which were from CDs sold and paid downloads. Only 44,000 streaming equivalent copies are included.
The album dropped 34% from its second week. The hold is good as we head into the holiday season. “30” is likely a good stocking stuffer.
Prognosis is strong because on the current release schedule there are no big new albums coming from recording artists who are stars. Adele has a clear shot right now through February unless someone surprise drops a new album. Beyonce, are you listening?
Meantime, tickets for Adele’s Las Vegas concerts are selling for as much as $40,000. And Adele is promoting her boyfriend’s line of plain white sneakers on Instagram. They’re made by New Balance, which is sort of anti-hip. But good for the actual hips!
“Diana: The Musical” is done.
Producers have announced a closing notice for December 19th.
The musical received horrendous reviews when it finally opened last month. It was postponed from the spring of 2020.
To make some money, producers filmed the show for Netflix where it aired in October also was panned across the board.
When it ends, “Diana” will have played 33 performances and 17 previews. Most days and nights, “Diana” has been playing to empty houses. Even though producers have not been giving out grosses, it was evident from looking at advance ticket sales that “Diana” wasn’t attracting an audience.
No one likes to see a Broadway show close. But the story of Princess Diana has proved to be a difficult sell both on Broadway and at the movies. The film, “Spencer,” has made only $6.5 million in release after a lot of publicity and praise for its star Kristen Stewart. But as with the musical, there was limited interest in spending money on a story the public could probably re-tell as quickly as they would know their own personal history.
In the case of “Diana: The Musical,” the show was weighed down by ridiculous songs that minimized all the players and showed not a bit of understanding for who were they were or are. The sad thing here is that “Diana” will live on in that filmed version forever.
Good news! Kate McKinnon is returning to “Saturday Night Live” tomorrow night.
McKinnon has not been on the show this entire season because she’s been shooting her “Joe Exotic” series in Australia. But she was seen on the red carpet at the Kennedy Center Honors induction ceremony last week at which Executive producer Lorne Michaels was American knighted.
With McKinnon away, Cecily Strong has really had a chance to be showcased. She’s always been a little under McKinnon’s shadow. But she’s totally stepped up and showed off her star power. Her Judge Jeanine Pirro sketches are classic. And Strong is a strong musical performer, too. This month, outside of the show, Strong takes on Lily Tomlin’s one woman show “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life” at the Shed in Hudson Yards.
Billie Eilish hosts tomorrow night’s show and is the musical guest. I’m sure brother Finneas will be nearby. Sounds good.