| | What's news: As the dust settles from Monday night's Emmys, broadcast TV should be worried about its future. Plus: Tom Arnold opens up about his alleged assault by Mark Burnett, Julie Chen is leaving The Talk and Brie Larson blasts off as Captain Marvel in its first trailer. — Will Robinson | | ^RIP broadcast relevancy? The Emmy Awards delivered a big night for streaming services Monday, but not for the broadcast networks — both in terms of awards won and, for NBC, the number of people watching, Rick Porter reports: | + Ratings fall: The first set of ratings numbers for the Emmy telecast has the show with a 7.4 household rating in metered markets. That's down about 10 percent from the 2017 Emmys on CBS, which narrowly avoided being the least-watched on record. Full ratings will be out later this morning. | + Minor wins: Saturday Night Live won the variety sketch award for the second year in a row, and ABC’s The Oscars won for best direction of a variety show (that award's winner, Glenn Weiss, stole the night with his on-stage marriage proposal), but other than that CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and PBS had nothing — nothing — to show for their work of the past year, Scott Feinberg writes. | * Lorne Michaels' counter: "In 1975 when we started, there were a lot of articles for most of that decade about how the networks wouldn't be here much longer," Michaels said while accepting SNL's statuette. "And here we are: It's 2018, and we're the Emmys, and we're on NBC." | + HBO returns for top prize: Game of Thrones returned from a year away to reclaim the top drama distinction from Handmaid’s Tale (which was surprisingly shut out on the main telecast), as well as best supporting actor honors for Peter Dinklage (his third time winning for Thrones). The network’s other nominated drama Westworld was the surprise winner for supporting actress, with Thandie Newton prevailing in that category | + Netflix's drama push: Netflix scored its biggest wins yet in the drama categories when The Crown's outgoing monarch Claire Foy won best actress and Stephen Daldry won for his direction. The service's limited series Godless' lead actor Jeff Daniels and supporting actress Merritt Wever — both past winners for other shows — also walked away with statuettes. | + Amazon's strides: Amazon Prime ran the comedy tables with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel — winner for series, directing and writing (both to the top-hatted Amy Sherman-Palladino), lead actress (Rachel Brosnahan) and supporting actress (Alex Borstein). Prime became the first streamer ever to win a comedy series prize, a year after Hulu became the first streamer ever to win a drama series prize, for Handmaid’s. Full analysis. | + How was the show?: "The chosen winners, some excellent and some a little disappointing, muddled the narrative of what could have been a Hollywood rally on behalf of Hollywood," Daniel Fienberg writes. "The general feeling was, instead, one of Lorne Michaels making the Emmys all about him and his friends, with entirely too many conspicuous missteps." Broadcast review. | + Red carpet review: The 2018 Emmys will go down in red carpet history as the night the men out-peacocked the women. From RuPaul’s Calvin Klein optic white uniform jacket and pants with Andy Warhol’s Statue of Liberty print, to Darren Criss’ custom Emporio Armani evening suit with gold brocade accents, Booth Moore reviews. | | | Chen Leaves 'The Talk' | | | Departing as moderator: The wife of ousted CBS chairman Leslie Moonves, is expected to say her goodbyes to the show via videotaped message Tuesday, Rick Porter reports: | + Initial leave of absence: After Moonves was ousted from CBS following a Sept. 9 New Yorker story detailing additional sexual misconduct allegations against him, Chen took a leave of absence from The Talk. Chen's co-hosts on The Talk have discussed Moonves several times during her absence. | + No Big Brother change: Chen is expected to continue as host of CBS' reality series Big Brother, which is about to wrap its 20th season. She returned to host Big Brother's live eviction episode last Thursday. She didn't directly address the allegations on the show, but signed off by saying, "I'm Julie Chen Moonves." Full story. | Meanwhile at CBS... | ► Interim CBS CEO tells staff "no reason to wait on reassessing our culture." Joe Ianniello told employees that an outside investigation into the company's culture, conducted by two law firms, is "ongoing." | Elsewhere in TV... | ► Comcast, Fox battle for Sky looks headed for auction. The European pay TV giant's stock hit a multi-year high early Monday as Britain's Takeover Panel could soon unveil the process for a sealed-bids climax given a key Saturday deadline, Georg Szalai reports. | ► Viacom CEO sees more upside "without consolidation." Bob Bakish tells the Royal Television Society conference in London that he expects the Paramount Television production business to reach $600 million in revenue next year, and discusses regulation of digital platforms. | ► BBC boss insists "we need to find more money." Tony Hall tells the Royal Television Society conference in London that amid the rising cost of premium TV, the public broadcaster had to "spend significantly more just to stand still." | ► SNL taps Adam Driver, Kanye West for season 44 premiere. Driver previously hosted the show in January 2016. West has been the musical guest six times before, most recently in February 2016. The show's new season debuts Sept. 29. | ► Roseanne Barr (maybe) spoils her Conners exit. That Roseanne Conner will be dead on ABC's The Conners is not new information: Star John Goodman said as much in late August. The manner of her death, however, is in question. Possible spoilers. | Digital digest... | ► Netflix names Axel Springer CEO Mathias Dopfner to board of directors. As boss of the European publishing giant, Dopfner oversees titles including Politico Europe and Germany's Bild and Die Welt. | ► Canada's CBC News launches on Snapchat. The public broadcaster is chasing younger Canadians with mobile news and video content delivered five times weekly to the Discover platform. | | ^No publicity stunt: In a pre-Emmys party tussle that nearly stole headlines away from the show, Tom Arnold and Apprentice producer Mark Burnett had a physical confrontation, which Arnold tells THR was unprovoked and not a stunt for his upcoming Viceland show, Seth Abramovitch and Matthew Belloni report: | + Last-minute invite: Arnold had not initially planned on attending the Evening Before party, an annual fundraiser bash hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg and benefiting the Motion Picture & Television Fund. But his friend, director Bryan Fogel, called him on Sunday asking if he'd like to tag along as his plus-one. | * Expected no interaction: Despite the bad blood, Arnold says he never anticipated that things could get violent at an industry party attended by hundreds of stars and executives. "I thought he’d just blow me off and not speak to me," he says. "People just shun me, which I’m used to." | + Trouble when he walked in: According to Arnold, Burnett then proceeded to "straighten out and eyeball me." Undeterred, Arnold then ascended the venue's staircase and, he says, quickly got the sense that Burnett was "moving in [his] direction." After getting in Arnold's face, he claims, Burnett took Arnold's throat in one hand — what he calls a "kung-fu grip" — and began to choke him. Details. | + Police report filed: Arnold on Monday morning filed an assault charge against Burnett. Roma Downey, actress and wife of Burnett, said Sunday on Twitter that Arnold was the aggressor and that she suffered a hand injury in the midst of the scuffle, which resulted in a bruise, which she shared via a photo with her social media message. | About that Viceland show... | ► The Hunt for the Trump Tapes With Tom Arnold, reviewed: "After watching two episodes, I'm inclined to be a little generous and accept that although there's no intent for it to be as bad as it is," Daniel Fienberg writes, "it would practically undermine the entire show if it were good, since the idea of Arnold as an investigative reporter is supposed to be just as absurd as the idea of Trump as president." Review. | Talking points... | ► Brett Kavanaugh & accuser to testify before Senators. Just hours after GOP leaders signaled their preference for private, staff telephone interviews of Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said his panel would hold a hearing next Monday with both of them. | ► Elon Musk sued by diver who helped with Thai cave rescue. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court Monday seeks more than $75,000 in damages and a court order stopping Musk from making further allegations against Vernon Unsworth. The Tesla CEO called the diver a "pedo" in a tweet to his 22.5 million followers. | Fox spinoff company names chief legal officer. Viet Dinh will serve as the chief legal and policy officer for the new Fox, the arm of the entertainment empire that isn't included in the Disney merger. |
| | L.A. Outpaces NYC for Jobs | | | L.A. ticks up: The film and digital media industry in Southern California is also becoming increasingly diverse, but has not welcomed more women into its ranks, study authors concluded, Katie Kilkenny reports: | + Booming industry: A central finding of the Beacon Economics study is that L.A. county's FDMI employment is growing faster than the nationwide average and New York City's, with jobs increasing by 23 percent between 2011 and 2016. (In New York employment grew by 12 percent, while that of the nation grew by 15 percent.) | * Revenue pie slice: Today, direct FDMI jobs and jobs created by the industry account for 17 percent of L.A. County's total workforce, while the business has a $158.3 billion economic impact on the county. | + Changing demographics: Between 2006 and 2016, the number of Hispanic employees grew by 37 percent, that of Black and Asian employees grew by 26 percent and 61 percent, respectively, and other racial groups grew by 74 percent. That's compared to a 24 percent rate of growth for non-Hispanic white workers. | * Gender gap ever present: For every 100 men in the workforce, there were 60 women. (In New York City, by contrast, the study found 75 female workers for every 100 male workers.) Though women's wages were found to be rising faster than men's in the industry over 10 years' time, women still earned 80 cents on every dollar their male colleagues made in L.A. County. Full study. | Elsewhere in film... | ► Bryan Singer in talks to direct Red Sonja for Millennium. The X-Men: Apocalypse helmer, who has battled bad PR, lawsuits and continued scrutiny in the post-#MeToo era — none of which seems to have stuck — would take the reins on a big-screen adaptation of the 1970s comic book. | ► Angelina Jolie to star in revenge thriller The Kept. Imperative Entertainment has picked up the rights to the novel by James Scott and set Alice Birch to pen the adaptation. | ► Jennifer Lawrence parts ways with CAA. Sources tell THR that the departure is amicable. Lawrence is remaining agent-less and will continue to be represented by manager Rick Yorn at LBI Entertainment, with whom she signed in April. CAA had been with the 28-year-old actress for just over a decade, negotiating her first Oscar-nominated role in 2010's Winter's Bone. | ► Patrick Stewart to play Bosley in Charlie's Angels. In a twist on the usual proceedings, the project seems to have multiple characters named Bosley, who in the past acted as the face of the enigmatic and never-seen owner of the detective agency, Charlie Townsend. Director Elizabeth Banks is playing Bosley with sources telling THR that Kristen Stewart is also playing a Bosley. | ► Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan join sci-fi thriller Synchronic. Mackie and Dornan are to play two New Orleans paramedics whose lives are ripped apart after a series of horrific deaths linked to a designer drug with bizarre, otherworldly effects. The film will be produced by David Lawson Jr., along with Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson for Rustic Films. | ► Joker movie casts Brett Cullen as Bruce Wayne's father. After Alec Baldwin exited the role last month, Cullen (Narcos) is stepping into the shoes of Thomas Wayne in Warner Bros.' supervillain pic starring Joaquin Phoenix. | | ^Fan Bingbing scandal widens as famed director is cut from high-profile film. The removal of a cameo featuring legendary filmmaker Feng Xiaogang from Cannes favorite Ash Is the Purest White has lit up Chinese social media and spurred speculation that he could be the next brought low by the controversy, Patrick Brzeski reports. | ► Man charged in extortion plot against Kevin Hart pleads not guilty. Each count a felony, the charges stem from Jonathan Todd Jackson allegedly trying to extort Hart for an undisclosed amount between Aug. 25 and Aug. 30 of last year. Jackson, according to authorities, allegedly possessed a videotape of the actor engaged in sexual activities with a woman — not his wife — in Las Vegas. | ► San Sebastian fest to sign pledge for gender parity and inclusion. Promoted in Spain by CIMA, the country's leading association representing women in film and television, the initiative calls on the festival to compile statistics by gender, regarding both the number of films received for the selection and those chosen and programed in order to obtain reliable data about projects headed by women. | In memoriam... | ► RIP Josh Roth. The former art law attorney, 40, led UTA Fine Arts since its 2015 launch. A source close to him said the cause of death was heart failure. | ► RIP Pasquale Buba. The film editor on Day of the Dead and several other efforts from the zombie movie maestro George A. Romero died Wednesday of cancer at his home in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 72. | Coming attractions... | ► Trailer: Emily Blunt uses magic to help Banks family in Mary Poppins Returns. A sequel to the 1964 film, the 2018 musical fantasy film follows grown-up Jane (Emily Mortimer) and Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw). After the death of Michael's wife, Poppins (Emily Blunt) returns to help raise the new generation of Banks children. Watch. | ► Trailer: Claire Foy faces estranged twin The Girl in the Spider's Web. Based off the novel of the same name by David Lagercrantz — the fourth installment in the Millennium series — the film is directed by Fede Alvarez and also stars LaKeith Stanfield, Sylvia Hoeks, Stephen Merchant and Claes Bang. Watch. | Trailer: Captain Marvel brings Brie Larson into the MCU. Marvel Studios has unveiled its first look at Captain Marvel, which stars Larson as pilot-turned-superhero Carol Danvers. The film is set in the 1990s and picks up after Captain Marvel already has acquired alien powers and is working with the alien race the Kree and must face a threat from the shape-shifting Skrulls. Watch. |
| Buying Into Leo's Inner Circle | | | Deep pockets: In 2009, Leonardo DiCaprio developed an unlikely friendship with some obscenely wealthy Hollywood wannabes, whose millions in gifts to the Oscar winner became a focus of the largest corruption case in U.S. history, Tom Wright and Bradley Hope write in their new book Billion Dollar Whale: | + The allure: DiCaprio didn’t really need the favors, the chartered plane ride to South Africa or a box at the soccer World Cup Finals in 2010. How Jho Low differed from other Hollywood hangers-on, though, was the sheer scale of his wealth and his willingness to spend it. | * Wolf of Wall Street's chance: Martin Scorsese spent five months annotating Terence Winter’s script in preparation for filming and grumbled to people in the industry that it was wasted time. In the midst of this stalemate, Jho Low entered DiCaprio’s orbit. The Malaysian’s money offered an alternative solution, one that could provide DiCaprio and Scorsese with the Hollywood holy grail: boundless financing coupled with unfettered artistic control. | + Alarming Cannes party: Himself no stranger to fraud, Wolf of Wall Street subject Jordan Belfort thought something wasn’t right about this 2011 fete. The event must have cost at least $3 million, Belfort calculated. And the movie hadn’t even gone into production! “This is a fucking scam — anybody who does this has stolen money,” Belfort told his girlfriend Anne. “You wouldn’t spend money you worked for like that.” Full excerpt. | What else we're reading... | — "Bob Greenblatt Saved NBC. Now What?" Josef Adalian interviews the Peacock's chief: "Honestly, I didn’t know if it was even possible in five years. Things were trending so badly for the network — and for other networks. Cable was exploding. NBC was in a singularly bad place." [Vulture] | — "Brawn again: Why Hollywood's muscle heroes are bigger than ever." Alex Hess admires: "If you were feeling unsure about a society that chooses a showbiz star as its president, how about one whose cultural icons look more like cartoon characters than people? Strange times indeed – made even stranger by the fact that we’ve been here before." [The Guardian] | — "A Premature Attempt at the 21st Century Canon." Vulture's editors rank: "A panel of critics [and authors] tells us what belongs on a list of the 100 most important books of the 2000s... so far." [Vulture] | — "Bustle Owner Plans to Double Down on Gawker." Benjamin Mullin reports: "Some of the new [$30 million in] funding will go toward hiring 'dozens of writers and editors,' with the balance of the money going toward acquiring new media properties to fold into the larger portfolio company." [Wall Street Journal] | — "Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s Battering Ram." Paige Williams profiles: "Sanders had also shown an uncanny ability to adopt the voice of the person she was representing. ... With Trump, she would need a more bombastic approach." [The New Yorker] | What else we're watching... | + "Lip Sync Charades with Reese Witherspoon, Lenny Kravitz and Zoë Kravitz." [Tonight Show] | + "Julianne Moore was embarrassed to sing in Bel Canto." [Late Night] | + "How racist is Boston? A Daily Show investigation." [The Daily Show] | From the archives... | + On Sept. 18, 1965, NBC entered the spy game with its satirical series Get Smart, created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry: "It’s all a lot of tomfoolery not to be taken seriously. ... It’s a fun show for those who want to forget the problems of the day." Flashback review. | Today's birthdays: Billy Eichner, 40, Sara Haines, 41, Jason Sudeikis, 43, James Marsden, 45, Jada Pinkett Smith, 47, Aisha Tyler, 48, Fred Willard, 79. |
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