Goodbye Calabasas? Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker both expressed interest in ditching Hollywood for Tennessee.
04.11.2022 - 03:35 / deadline.com
I had just arrived at a small dinner party several years ago when a surprise guest, Johnny Carson, seated himself across from me and promptly invoked the dreaded “L” word. “We haven’t met before, so I should explain that I’m not a very ‘likable’ dinner companion,” he advised. “I’m paid to be entertaining on TV but dinner is a ‘no laugh’ zone.”
I appreciated his warning: A new survey of “likability” ratings was stirring controversy at that moment and, despite an erratic personal life, Carson was still a revered TV presence.
The comedian would be amused to learn that it’s all being reenacted today, again triggered by the behavior of late-night hosts (I’ll review Carson’s own dinner performance below).
According to the new likability index, James Corden is no longer the “Mr. Nice Guy” of late-night because of allegedly nasty restaurant behavior – that is, if you believe the waiters (and proprietors).
But there are broader symptoms: The Cate Blanchett movie Tár is generating op-ed debates because of her performance as an abrasive celebrity whose behavior helps ruin the lives of fellow stars.
Issues of likability are even impacting Ellen DeGeneres nearing the end of her long and successful TV career. And John Mulaney, occasionally on Saturday Night Live, is currently touring his new show titled “Likability Is a Jail.”
Are TV personalities locked in that jail? A critic for the Los Angeles Times, Mary McNamara, points out that likable characters do not inhabit one of the mega-budget shows dominating TV, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. They are “diabolically morose” and reflect an “epic humorlessness” (the elves in Rings of Power might protest).
At another level, political candidates presently dominating the
Goodbye Calabasas? Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker both expressed interest in ditching Hollywood for Tennessee.
A mountain lion that frequents residential areas in the Griffith Park-Silver Lake-Hollywood area is apparently growing more aggressive.
Three rite-of-passage movies are vying for attention this week at a moment when the rewards of maturity seem to be offering more gratification than the agonies of youth.
Dreams really do come true!
Dolores Hughes, a star of the 2014 reality show Hollywood Hillbillies known as Mema, has died at 76.
EXCLUSIVE: Actress Sandrine Holt (American Gigolo) has signed with Silver Lining Entertainment for management.
The “what if?” game has always fascinated me: What if Donald Trump had been cast in Shark Tank rather than The Apprentice (it was Mark Burnett’s call)? He likely would have been broke rather than president.
EXCLUSIVE: Deadline hears that a global zoom meeting was held for Warner Discovery employees this morning, on which CEO David Zaslav introduced the new DC Studios Co-Chairmen and CEOs, James Gunn and Peter Safran. This was their first appearance together before the company since being named to their posts on Oct. 25.
Moving forward, the public holiday will be called the King’s Birthday in honour of King Charles III, who is now the head of the British Monarchy.
While director Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction”) is one feature film away from retirement—at least if his ten film proclamation stands— he still has many projects in the works. Tarantino’s aim when he retires is to focus on writing books and directing television projects —maybe he’ll finally make that “Bounty Law” spin-off from “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” he’s been threatening to make.
He spoke in a raspy monotone that was at once commanding, yet menacing. Howard Strickling officially was the public relations boss of MGM during its heyday, but his real responsibility, he would explain, was protection more than publicity.