Dave Chappelle Loves Ohio

Hye, maybe he can do something about their screwed up elections. Anyway, Chappelle introduced some musical acts and told jokes at a concert in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He's had a home there for years (in fact, a good chunk of Dave Chappelle's Block Party was filmed there) but when Chappelle says he loves the town and is staying put, this is picked up by the traditional media as some sort of new development. And now that time has passed, I have to say I feel a little more empathy for Chappelle about the demise of his show. Not in how he handled it or just disappeared without even phoning his WIFE until he was in Africa, not in his annoying "white people were laughing too much at my jokes" excuses, none of that. But seeing the truly lame, bottom of the barrel scraps that Comedy central put on the air, and watching Chappelle's old buddies feed off the carcass of those scraps for a few more bucks and few more minutes of fame, I felt angry at them too. That junk should never have seen the light of day. Chappelle was right about one thing: the new season wasn't going to measure up and he needed to pull the plug.

Bush Assassination Film Coming To US

Newmarket -- the distributor that handled Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" -- picked up "Death Of A President" at the Toronto Film Festival for a reported $1 million. They plan to release the film quickly in the next few months. (Will it be before the midterm elections?) Expect right wing outrage over the hypocrisy of the left for not condemning this film. Two problems, some Democratic politicians have indeed denounced the film. More importantly, unlike "The Path To 9/11," this is a fictional story about the aftermath of a Presidential assassination and the rights we have given up in a post 9-11 America. It doesn't distort recent history because it has nothing to do with history. Nor does it revel in the assassination of Bush. The film is primarily about the manhunt to find the killer, the tools that a complacent Congress has given to the government and the assumptions that are made (it must have been someone Arabic, etc.) about who the killer might be.

Dragons In Peter Jackson's Future?

In London, they're auditioning hobbits for the stage musical version of "The Lord of the Rings." It flopped in Toronto, closing three months early. Now it's opening early next year, with the show shortened and tightened and otherwise fiddled with.

Meanwhile, MGM says they HOPE Peter Jackson does the movie version of "The Hobbit" they want. But what project is Jackson actually developing? Along with "The Lovely Bones," (the book he optioned and is working on a screenplay with his partners on), Jackson has just optioned the Temeraire series of books by Naomi Novik. These clever books (she's written three) envision the Napoleonic Wars in a world where dragons exist. Combine dragons with naval battles and you are talking a VERY expensive movie. The books are solid fare for fantasy buffs, with the first one okay and the second two improving on the idea in every way. It's easy to see why Jackson would be interested.

Nicole Richie's Dad Releases New CD

Yes, Lionel Richie is back. The New York Times says most kids today know Richie through his daughter Nicole's appearance on reality show "The Simple Life" and then implicitly criticizes him for using that connection. "He's done little to distance himself from his daughter," they write. Uh, should he? Besides, Lionel has too much fun talking in the third person when talking to hot young music producers. “I asked them, ‘What does Lionel Richie sound like in 2006?’ ” Mr. Richie said, “And they said, ‘The same way he sounded like in 1976 — we’ll just bring you new beats.’ ” At least he's keeping his sense of humor: “I’m waiting for the Viagra people to call me and ask to use ‘All Night Long.’ ”

But in my never-ending fight against lazy use of record company hype, the New York Times claims Richie has sold more than 100 million albums (not records, which might include singles, but albums). Let's look at the facts: as a solo artist, Richie's debut sold 4 million copies in the US, "Can't Slow Down" sold 10 million and "Dancing On The Celing" sold 4 million. None of his other CDs have gone more than platinum. With the Commodores, none of their albums are certified more than platinum. Being generous, with the Commodores and as a solo artist, Richie sold 30 million albums. Assuming he did almost as good overseas, that would equal 50 million albums worldwide or at most 60 million. That's a big, impressive number, but it's not even close to 100 million albums. Where did the NYT get its figures? Probably from a record company press release. And not to kick a man when he's down, but "Can't Slow Down" won the Grammy for Best Album when a better winner would have been the Police's "Synchronicity," Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man" (his best album), or about ten other albums that weren't nominated.

"The Path To 9/11" -- Wins Monday Night With Modest Ratings

According to Mediaweek's Marc Berman, the overnight ratings for "The Path To 9/11 were almost identical to Sunday's. It scored an 8.1 rating, just a sliver behind the 8.2 overnight rating it scored for Part One. Unlike Sunday, when it was trounced by football, Monday's edition was the #1 program for the night. Except for Fox -- which had new episodes of "Prison Break" and "Vanished" -- the docudrama was facing repeats. (The new fall season begins for most networks next week.) In short, a preseason TV movie like this wouldn't be expected to score big ratings. Still, with all the hype, not a lot of people tuned in on Sunday. But everyone that did came back Monday night, so they liked what they saw. President Bush gave his speech at 9 p.m. -- and more people watched it on ABC than any other network.

In the UK, "The Path To 9/11" did poorly. On Sunday, it drew 2 million viewers to BBC2 -- falling way behind other shows like "Where The Heart Is" (6.4 mil viewers), a docudrama about the pirate Blackbeard (4.6 mil viewers) and even a rerun of the Farrelly Brothers' movie "Shallow Hal" (2.4 mil viewers). But again, the people who watched it liked what they saw. Monday's showing of Part Two on BBC2 grew to an average of 2.2 mil viewers. Still, this was far behind other shows like BBC1's "Dalziel and Pascoe" (6.6 mil viewers) and ITV's "Life Begins" (5.4 mil viewers).

"The Path To 9/11" -- Ratings Meagre

CNN headlines the ratings news for ABCs "The Path To 9/11" with "Clinton, Most Americans, Skip ABC's 9/11 Miniseries." Their figures say part one of the TV docudrama drew 13 million viewers. NBC's Sunday Night Football had far more: 20.7 million viewers. In fact, ABC's two-part movie did only slightly better than CBS's THIRD airing of its 9/11 documentary "9/11," which was seen by 10.6 million viewers. Mediaweek says the overnight ratings are even tighter: it gave NBC's football a 15.1 rating, with "The Path To 9/11" and CBS's RERUN tied at an 8.2 rating. And that was just a whisker ahead of the 18th season debut of "The Simpsons."

Putting it all in perspective: Since it was airing before the fall TV season began for most networks (Fox starts early), ratings for any TV movie right now should be lower. But clearly it was an expensive, ambitious project. And with the massive media attention, ABC should have hoped for a much higher curiosity factor. All it got were modest ratings. We'll know better tomorrow after the second night's ratings whether the people who watched Sunday were hooked or couldn't be bothered to come back for night two.

Finally, the actors and crew involved should be fonts of fun information: two former FBI agents reportedly quit after a month as advisers because they felt no one cared about accuracy, Harvey Keitel insisted on rewriting his own dialogue and wouldn't say anything he didn't believe to be true and the director was walking around with a copy of the 9/11 Commission Report to try and fact check things. I'm also intrigued by the presence of Amy Madigan as a CIA agent who is furious and ashamed in the movie when they don't kill Bin Laden. She is a major leftie and it'll be intriguing to see how she feels about the project now.

"The Path To 9/11" -- Already Spreading Lies To The New York Times

If ABC's miniseries "The Path To 9/11" hoped to sow confusion about the facts, it's certainly succeeded. Even the New York Times got their facts wrong. TV critic Alessandra Stanley was the one of the few critics who claimed the docudrama was "even-handed." Then Stanley made a huge error by claiming the movie was right to say Clinton was distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal and took his eye off Bin Laden -- and Stanley insisted the 9/11 Commission Report backed them up. In fact, the report says THE EXACT OPPOSITE, as anyone reading any of the dozens of stories written in major media outlets or looking online would have known. The New York Times corrected her error on Saturday, which is very quick by their standards but the least read paper of the week. The BBC also does a poor job of laying out the facts in the case, writing a "he said, she said" story when there is no debate about what the 9/11 Commission Report stated versus what the movie got wrong.

"The Hobbit" Without Peter Jackson?

In a story about the rebuilding of MGM, they mention briefly about developing "The Hobbit" which they say will be made in one or two installments and which the studio head HOPES will be directed by Peter Jackson. The rights to Tolkien's classic have been confused for years, but presumably with the stage musical by Saul Zaentz and the recent movie version by New Line, everyone agrees that MGM (which I believe made the clunky animated Ralph Bakshi version) has the rights to "The Hobbit." I'm not sure "The Hobbit" should be split up into two movies. (Where would they stop? After the Misty Mountains, when Bilbo and the dwarves and Gandalf were rescued by the Great Eagles?) The tone is very different from "The Lord of the Rings" and the tale is much simpler, with just a hint of the darkness to come. A sprightly three hours (if that's possible) seems right to me. But making it without Peter Jackson is unthinkable unless he flatly turns it down. Jackson has several other projects in the works and it's almost a no-win proposition for him. But surely the thought that someone else might make it will spur him on. And the sooner the better: Ian McKellen isn't getting any younger and he must play Gandalf.

Jackie Chan: I'm Not Just Mr. Chop-Socky

Jackie Chan is tired of being pigeonholed as a "martial arts" guy. A bit late for second thoughts, isn't it?

"When people come up to me in the street in America they say 'Ah, Jackie Chan!' and do all the action moves," he said. "No one does that to Robert De Niro."

True, but they do say, "You talkin' to me?" ad nauseum.

UK Charts -- Scissors Sisters At #1

The new single by the Scissor Sisters leaps (playfully) to #1. Maybe now they feel like dancin'? On the album chart, Beyonce debuts at #3. But what I love about the British is how even a casual appearance of an old song can inspire people to hit the stores. Surely "Make It With You" or "If" must have been used in a TV show or advert -- how else to explain why "The Sound of Bread" collection would pop in at #18?

Lunch Without Peter O'Toole

The aging and ailing actor doesn't show up for an interview about his new movie "Venus." But he dominates this charming profile. Of course, if this Oscar hopeful were about an aging man lusting after a young man instead of a young woman, it would be a tragedy a la "Death in Venice" rather than a heart-warmer. (And if the brief quote from a note by O'Toole intrigues you, do check out his feverish but engrossing memoirs.)

Spike Lee Filming New Orleans-set TV Pilot

It's called "NoLa," and the potential NBC series will focus on the post-Katrina lives of people from many backgrounds in New Orleans. Obviously, the success and satisfaction of doing HBO's "When The Levees Broke" (the most acclaimed work by Lee in many years) inspired him to do more. Most interesting of all, Lee will include some of the people in the documentary in the show playing fictionalized versions of themselves. Phyllis Montana LeBlanc -- who popped off the screen during her interviews -- is one of them. Lee also cites Italian neo-realism (the source of many a blockbuster TV show) as inspiration behind his approach. He'll be filming in New Orleans of course. "We don't have to build sets," Lee said with irony. "Things there still look like the city's been bombed out."

"All The King's Men" -- The First Reviews

The first reviews are in for "All The King's Men," the much-delayed remake of the political pot boiler about a Huey Long-like campaigner. The Hollywood Reporter thinks Sean Penn is magnificent, even if the movie he's in can barely contain his performance and is ultimately a mess. Variety just sees a mess and mocks just about every aspect of the film, including wide range of accents among the actors, the score, the costumes, etc. Sounds like a misfire.

Priest Threatens Madonna Concert With Bomb Hoax

Because nothing says "good Christian" like calling in fake bomb threats and trying to terrorize people.I must have missed that passage of the Gospels.

"Robin Hood" Robbed Blind; But Tapes Recovered

The new BBC TV series "Robin Hood" has tried to play down the theft of footage from the series for weeks now. But clearly the robbers got a serious amount of film. The premiere of the show had been pushed back and the actors admitted they'd been reshooting a number of scenes stretched out over various episodes. Now, happily, the footage has been recovered. That should make for a fun DVD extra: which version will they use for those re-shot scenes? Were the new ones better, a good possibility since they'd had time to really absorb the roles by the end of the shoot? How did they differ? Here's hoping the footage gets included as an extra.

Helen Mirren Crowned At Venice

Dame Helen moves one step closer to an Oscar nomination for "The Queen" by winning Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. On the other hand, Ben Affleck will have to take his Best Actor win as a consolation prize for how poorly "Hollywoodland" did in its opening weekend. An Oscar nod seems doubtful, Ben, but good hunting!

The Bestseller List -- Women On Top

Anna Quindlen tops the fiction charts with her new novel "Rise and Shine" while Nora Ephron heads the nonfiction list with her humorous essays in "I Feel Bad About My Neck." Also on the nonfiction list is "Enough" at #12, a cry from the heart by senior NPR correspondent Juan Williams about the culture of failure in the black community. Read it with paperback bestseller "The Covenant With Black America."

If God Wrote TV Shows

He might make something like "Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip." Actually, Aaron Sorkin's return to TV is probably more hyped than God's foray would be: at least Sorkin has a track record in television. (God's certainly been a hit in publishing. His first and only book is the bestselling title of all time.) The big problem I see is that making a sketch comedy show doesn't carry quite the same gravitas as being President and may not stand up to the floridness of Sorkin's writing. Mind you, the same problem existed on "Sports Night," which critics loved but audiences ignored.

Meanwhile to some "The Simpsons" is God. Depressingly, creator Matt Groening doesn't see any reason why the show couldn't keep going on forever.Here's one reason: Groening's too busy. He's got "The Simpsons," their feature film debut next summer (yeah, they waited too long but it will still be huge) and then "Futurama" comes back with original episodes on Comedy Central in 2008.

Weekend Box Office -- No Winners

It was one of the slowest weekends at the box office in many years. It's probably my fault -- I wanted to see "The Covenant" (a male spin on "Charmed") but didn't. The Top Ten:

1. The Covenant -- $9 mil total
2. Hollywoodland -- $6 mil
3. Invincible -- $5.8 mil ($45.7 mil total)
4. The Protector -- $5.0 mil
5. Crank -- $4.8 mil ($19.9 mil total)
6. The Illusionist -- $4.6 mil ($18.1 mil total)
7. Little Miss Sunshine -- $4.4 mil ($41.6 mil total)
8. Wicker Man -- $4.1 mil ($17.5 mil total)
9. Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby -- $3.0 ($142.2 mil total)
10. Accepted -- $2.6 mil ($32.4 mil total)

ABC's Miniseries Will Have One Ad After All: Bush

Bush has decided to address the nation on the fifth anniversary of 9-11 and anyone who suggests this has something to do with the mid-term elections (I don't recall him addressing the nation last year in primetime) is just being churlish. This means that ABC's highly controversial documentary will air for one hour on Monday, break for a 20 minute or half hour speech from Bush and then go right back into a "docudrama" designed to downplay Bush's failings and pin blame on Clinton with lies and half-truths. ABC better hope the Republicans maintain control of the House and the Senate or they're gonna find very little welcome in DC for anything that the Disney conglomerate wants.

Current Movie Rundown

Just some thoughts on the movies out in theaters, if you're wondering what to see.

Sherrybaby -- Maggie Gylenhaal's best performance yet. She really elevates this familiar material, but there isn't quite enough there to put this in a league with Half-Nelson.

Half Nelson-- the best thing out there right now. Ryan Gosling is sensational as a crack-addicted teacher who befriends a young female student. Pure Afterschool Special, if it weren't so honest and direct. In one late scene, the student sees Gosling doing drugs and he just looks at her. Gosling could have played it angry or ashamed or devil-may-care-ish or a million other ways, but he looks at her with the slightest hint of defiance. This is who am I, he seems to insist. It would be so much easier for him to give in if she would give up on him, too, I think. A dozen other scenes are just as absorbing and -- rare for an American film -- ambiguous.

The Protector -- someone here gave me shit for not respecting the genius of "Ong-Bak" and its star Tony Jaa, the heir apparent to Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. I enjoyed "The Protector" more, though it remains defiantly, absurdly un-cinematic, maybe even post-cinematic. Sure, it's on a super low Thai budget. But you'll find scene after scene where, for example, our hero is running down a street away from bad guys and in the next cut he's in a speed boat and they're in speed boats behind him trying to catch up. Why waste time showing him finding a boat and jumping in (and perhaps tossing out the owner) and then speeding away, etc.? What you want is the CHASE and what they give you is the chase and nothing but the chase. You'll catch up. It's almost bold, though I think it's more lazy. Unlike "Ong-Bak" Jaa's every spectacular stunt isn't replayed three times in super-slo-mo, thank God. And the stunts are spectacular, though Jaa breaks so many bones in so many opponents that it too almost became comical. I also enjoyed the fact that Jaa is too-pretty and they acknowledge it with a wry comment or two. Good, silly fun.

A Cantor's Tale -- I haven't seen it but it comes highly recommended from fellow IRA-member George Robinson.

Mizoguchi at Film Forum -- apparently I'm a fool and a rube for never having seen Mizoguchi. Only a peasant would prefer Kurosawa. We'll see.

This Film Is Not Yet Rated -- Half a very entertaining documentary on the wily-nily inconsistencies of the MPAA and their bias against sex (and especially gay sex) and their perverse love of violence; the other half is a creepy stalker film where they out the secret members of the ratings board. An excessive reaction to a silly group.

Lassie -- better than you'd think; not as good as you'd hope.

The Illusionist -- not a success, but a much better failure than I appreciated, thanks to Edward Norton, a plummy Paul Giamatti and the appealing world of Victorian stage magicians.

Ellen: Bad Idea, Says Tom O'Neil

The LA Times awards show guru Tom O'Neil says Ellen Degeneres is a bad idea to host the Oscars. Why? She ain't Hollywood enough and she only got good reviews for her post-9-11 Emmys braodcast. The other times she's hosted awards, reviews have been lukewarm. True, but the reviews are wrong and Ellen is a charmer who -- like Johnny Carson -- can deflate the pomposity of the room without anyone feeling threatened or belittled. The main problem with the Oscars isn't the host anyway: it's the show as a whole. Here's hoping Ellen doesn't fill a room with comedy writers and try to create 20 minutes of fillers, skits, audience interviews and so on. The Oscars is THREE HOURS LONG -- it doesn't need comedy sketches. It needs Ellen to come out, do 6-8 minutes of humor and then politely HOST -- simply smooth things along with the occasional aside. That's ALL. Do that and people will love you, Ellen. (Also, get the producers to show substantial clips of the top acting and picture nominees, cut out banter among presenters (who should just stride quickly to the podium to show what they're wearing and then announce the nominees), have only ONE tribute (not two; they do drag and having two undercuts both) etc, etc. Anyone with half a brain could improve the Oscars dramatically, given a free hand. (Aye, there's the rub.)

Variety: ABC Might Yank Miniseries

NOTE: Mediaweek says the miniseries is still scheduled to air.

This story was first posted yesterday, so it's unclear how up-to-date it is. But Variety did report that ABC is actively considering yanking the entire 9-11 miniseries. Like many outlets, Variety is now painting this as bloggers or partisans or Clinton officials versus ABC.

But much in the same way right-wing groups mobilized to attack CBS' "The Reagans" a few years ago, Democratic partisans were doing everything they could to discredit ABC's "The Path to 9/11."

Actually, no one had to do much to discredit it -- ABC took care of that itself by making an error-riddled film it pretended was based on the 9-11 Commission Report. In fact, the outcry has come from the left and the right; it is widespread and it is consistent: ABC played fast and loose with the facts over a national tragedy that is still fresh in the minds of all Americans. That's why they are in trouble. Variety also refers to "alleged inaccuracies" when in fact they're not "alleged" at all. The inaccuracies are incontrovertible -- ABC first tried to defend them as creative license; now they are editing some of the more egregious ones out. Here's where they truly get it wrong:

At least one Hollywood producer empathized with ABC, noting the firestorm of criticism is the latest example of partisan groups attempting to use their clout to bully nets and producers into serving up noncontroversial portraits of political and social matters. Even if the Dems are right in their criticism, the producer noted, ABC should be able to air its take.

"How many miniseries have there been on the Kennedys? Did anybody complain as they dragged them through the mud?" the producer said. "Starting with 'The Reagans,' everything is now political. It's become so divisive and nasty. It's very sad."

Nice try. No one is raising an uproar because they made a film about 9-11. People are in an uproar because ABC made a film about 9-11 that distorts and lies about the fact. ABC made a film with a writer with an acknowledged right wing agenda and they knew exactly what they were doing because they reached out ONLY to right wing bloggers and Republicans. Again, there have been DOZENS of documentaries, docu-dramas, fictional films, books and even comic books depicting 9-11. The BBC just aired a documentary last night. NONE OF THEM created a firestorm of protest because they all strove to be non-partisan and get the facts right. (The lone exception: Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9-11" and only two brief moments in that film have ever been questioned on the facts. Moore spouts a lot of opinion, but the facts he presented were basically accurate and on the public record.) ABC politicized a national tragedy and they probably didn't think anyone would care because Bush has been getting away with that for the past five years.

Here are some of the works presented on 9-11 that DIDN"T create controversy:

The 9-11 Commission Report
World Trade Center
United 93
National Geographic: Inside 9-11
9-11: The Twin Towers (last night's BBC documentary)
The 9-11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon
Endless TV specials and reports

Just remember, you can cover 9-11 with a respect for the facts. When you don't (and ABC is the biggest media outlet to do so with such reckless disregard for the truth), you will pay a price.

Disney's Next Big Musical: "The Little Mermaid"

"Tarzan" is looking to keep its head up on Broadway. "Mary Poppins" (which was a hit, but not a blockbuster, in London) opens soon. But Disney is already eyeing its next Broadway stab at smash-dom. "The Little Mermaid" opens in Denver next summer. The most intriguing element: Doug Wright (author of the wonder "I Am My Own Wife") is writing the book. Disney continues to push the envelope as far as collaborators are concerned. All credit to them: instead of pushing out safe, cookie cutter material they do at least strive for something original. They don't always succeed. (Hello, "Aida.") But they do convincingly try.

The Streets -- UK's best rap artist

Like most people, I've found the new album by The Streets to be of the annoying "how difficult fame is" variety. But this interview with Mike Skinner reminds me how smart and interesting he is. And presumably others have said this before, but Skinner's comments on maintaining a long-term career are spot-on:

It’s a matter of replacing creativity with skill,” Skinner reckons. “That’s what all artists with longevity do. They start off with that initial explosion of talent, and then they gradually learn to apply the skills they’ve learnt.” This accounts for his current fascination with country music. “

In songwriting terms you can learn a lot from country music songs. People laugh at Kenny Rogers, but everyone can take something from a lyric like The Gambler or Coward of the County.”

"The Wire" -- What Are You Waiting For?

A very good LA Times article on one of the best shows on TV -- ever. And another rave review, this one from USA Today.

Star Of "Little Britain" To Marry His Partner

The only thing annoying about this friendly story is that the Evening Standard put "marry" in quotes, like it doesn't count. And if you don't know "Little Britain," it's the latest in the endless series of quirky sketch comedy shows with oddball characters a la "League of Gentlemen" and the great "Monty Python."

9-11 Film: The Reviews

Don't let your heads explode, but the New York Times' Alessandra Stanley thinks it's basically fine. The New York Post's Adam Buckman also thinks it's the best for now. But NY Post opinion columnist John Podhoretz (a longtime conservative voice who gave me some work when he was at The Weekly Standard) thinks it's a bad movie and confusing and misses the real story. The New York Daily News? No review is posted online.

More Journalists Sell Their Souls To Bush

A story in the Miami Herald broke the news that at least 10 journalists who proselytized against Castro were being paid off by Bush's government to the tune of up to $175,000. Apparently, the journalists involved are BIG names in the local Latin community. Didn't Bush promise this evil undermining of our free press was going to stop? How many other journalists are on Bush's payroll? Here's the original Miami Herald story, which includes the lame defenses of the journalists and the amazing fact that one of them confronted Castro, who turned around and demanded to know if they were on the payroll of Bush. Apparently, Castro is better informed than we are.

U2 and Green Day Recording A Duet

Green Day is the heir apparent for title of "band that matters" so this makes sense. The only problem is that U2 ain't going anywhere. U2 is also recording their new album with Rick Rubin, who SHOULD be working with Bill Withers, like I told him too.