Archive for October, 2009

true story: when news doesn’t get it

Friday, October 30th, 2009

In my long broadcast career, I have found that the entertainment side of the industry is far more sharper, open-minded, informed and liberal than the news side of it was. Odd, isn’t it? I went into this business thinking just the opposite would be true, that the folks involved with news, the facts, would be the smart ones. The ones who didn’t have blinders on when reporting about the world around them. In my personal case, the folks who really didn’t get it were usually in the news division. Not all, mind you. Just a few. Case in point: I am not nor have I ever been a chef. Go into my bio section and read it. I was never a Bobby Flay, Paula Deen, Chef Boyardee, Martha Stewart, Emeril or Betty Crocker. When I hosted Top 5 on Food Network, I never did that show from a kitchen or near a stove. I was usually in a fancy cocktail lounge in Manhattan that we used as a set. I just introduced the video packages and did the voiceovers for them. In 100 episodes, I never so much as toasted a piece of bread. However, by the second month after the premiere of the once-a-week show, most newspeople — local and network — assumed I’d become the next Uncle Ben. As an on-air host for Food Network, I had to do publicity for the show. The press kit never stated that I was a cook. It did mention my years as a national talk show host on VH1 plus years of covering entertainment news. Few reporters read the presskit. I did a live appearance on a local ABC weekend morning news program. The anchor kicked off the segment by asking me about the nutrients in seafood. An anchor on a live CNN news show asked me about Asian cheese and then asked me for a cooking tip on a particular dish she wanted to make. I just made shit up.

Then I had to call-in as the guest on a weekday FM rock radio show with a funny morning team. The show was in the Midwest and the couple, who’d watched me on VH1, opened with “Your bio has you doing years of national celebrity interviews, reviews and talk shows. So how did you wind up on Food Network?” Yes! That’s exactly what the news people should’ve asked but didn’t. The entertainment couple in the non-cosmopolitan city got it.

I talked my way into a New York City job in 1985. I was hired by WPIX/Channel 11 news. There was a weekday morning show. I got to do celebrity interviews on it. One of my guests was famed Revlon model-turned-actress Lauren Hutton. She was promoting a goofy vampire comedy she’d made. While chatting in the make-up room before we went on the set, she asked me if she could bring her unknown leading man from the film on with her. “He’s really funny and I think he should be seen,” said Hutton, the star of the film. He was tagging along with her for her round of interviews. He was a young fellow, polite, slim and sharp as a jackknife. Very charismatic. I said to myself, “Why not?”

The rather aggravating producer of the show balked but I talked her into it. Lauren Hutton came on, accompanied by her new buddy. During our on-camera conversation, his face seemed to be made of elastic, his eyes were shining and his wisecracks broke up the cameramen. He was more cartoon character than human. I was so glad Hutton brought him along. He was delightful and he scored with the folks on the floor crew, including the host. Even those in the control room were still laughing and talking about him after the show. We all dug him. Except for the producer who said to me with a slight sneer, “He’ll never get anyplace. He’s silly.”

ONCE BITTEN, Hutton’s movie, didn’t do well at the box office. But I saw her co-star from it today on “Good Morning America” promoting his upcoming Disney film. He’ll play Ebenezer Scrooge. I never saw that producer again when I left the show in 1987 to go over to VH1. But I did see a lot more of Jim Carrey on the entertainment scene. We all did. We made him a star. I guess we all just needed a little silliness in our lives. The news producer just didn’t get it.

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Michael Jackson: The King Is Risen

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

Last night, a friend and I attended a special screening of the Michael Jackson concert documentary, This Is It.

Because of some national TV reports at the time of his untimely death, I entered the theater expecting to see a feeble, insecure, mentally diminished star in a sad attempt to rise from the ashes of a scandal for one final phoenix-like performance — a modern-day male equivalent to Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard,” if you will. After all, he was 50. He didn’t exactly act his age. He hadn’t starred in anything in quite a while. And he had a chimp. Very Norma.

My friend and I were practically speechless with surprise. The sadness came from the fact that he died way too soon. The Michael Jackson in rehearsals for a concert spectacular is fit, focused and in peak performance mode. The voice is good. The moves are fluid. You see a show biz legend, someone who’d won pop music stardom by the time he was a teen-ager, knowing what he wanted in the concert and getting it with confidence and courtesy. He understood his catalogue of hits. He knew what the music did for him and he knew what he did for the music. We also see that he fully knew the machinery of himself, as a performer, and knew how to click into it, make it work, conserve it and challenge it.

When Michael Jackson died, many called him “the greatest entertainer of our time.” Because I’m older, probably, and such a classic film geek, I didn’t quite agree with that. To me, Jackson — despite his pop music greatness — was not in the same category as Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. Those two show biz legends also were stars by the time they were teens — Garland in movies and Astaire on Broadway nearly two decades before becoming a film star himself. Garland and Astaire could sing, dance…and act. They have classic films and Academy Award acting nominations to their legacies. Jackson’s acting as Scarecrow in “The Wiz” was sweetly lame in that bloated turkey of a musical.

In This Is It, director Kenny Ortega does for Michael Jackson what director Vincente Minnelli did for Fred Astaire in The Band Wagon. He gets the best film performance from the superstar in a musical vehicle made after the performer has turned 50. In “The Band Wagon,” Astaire plays a famed movie musical star who’s attempting a comeback after a few years offstage. If Astaire ever got an Oscar nomination for one of his musicals, it should have been for this one. The whole movie is a gem. Gene Kelly was always called “athletic.” Astaire wasn’t — and that’s wrong. He, as does the character he plays, reinvents himself with a jazz beat in the film’s fabulous final number with Cyd Charisse, “The Girl Hunt Ballet.” He was in his early 50s when he made this film. Although he’s surrounded by younger male dancers in the number, you cannot take your eyes of Astaire as he nails Michael Kidd’s complicated and extremely athletic choreography. The same thing happens in “This Is It.” Astaire played a private eye in “The Girl Hunt Ballet” number. Jackson is dressed somewhat like Astaire’s sleuth in his sensational film noir approach to the “Smooth Criminal” number. A music video within the concert, Jackson interacts with Rita Hayworth vamping as Gilda plus other classic Hollywood stars from the 1940s and 50s.

Rehearsing his Jackson Five portion of the show, with backup dancers as his brothers, he seemed a bit bored with those hits. However, he ends it with a touching thank-you at the end of “I’ll Be There.” His new video for “Thriller” and the “Beat It” number would’ve been sure-fire hits with the audiences. Again, that’s the sadness. That multi-media concert, judging from his focus, fitness and form, would have kicked ass. Michael Jackson, the late King of Pop, left us wanting more and left us with a good movie. Just being Michael Jackson was Jackson’s best piece of acting which Kenny Ortega lovingly captured on camera. As my friend, Mario, said to me during the closing credits, “That wouldn’t have been a comeback. That showed he was always here.”

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Mariah Carey beats Madonna

Saturday, October 24th, 2009

Thursday night, I saw Mariah Carey do something that Madonna has not been able to do for decades. Act.

I attended a screening of PRECIOUS. This gritty drama will get lots of promotion from Oprah Winfrey on her show because she and Tyler Perry are now in the closing credits as executive producers. Not that they were involved with the making of the movie from the git-go, mind you. When PRECIOUS, skillfully directed by Lee Daniels, started gaining heat and getting awards in major film festivals, it caught Oprah’s attention.

But back to pop music diva Mariah. She has totally, fully, completely redeemed herself for GLITTER. She plays a no-nonsense counselor in the 1980s dealing with a girl called “Precious.” That poor high school girl’s homelife is brutal. She is struck regularly. Like a gong. Precious is pregnant and lives with her hateful welfare mom. Carey appears without make-up. Without fancy clothing. Without a wind machine blowing her hair around. Without singing any of those high notes that often make her sound like Flipper. One thing is evident in Mariah Carey’s supporting role. She can act. Well…two things are evident. She can act — and she’s able to grow more of a moustache than her husband can. (How old is Nick Cannon? 14?)

There’s been a lot of buzz that Mo’Nique could be a Best Supporting Actress contender for her performance as the monstrous mother in PRECIOUS. I agree with the buzz. Her vulgar, abusive character is a true horror yet occasionally funny — like a Disney cartoon villainess. The Academy loves giving Oscar® nominations to comedians or funny actors who gained fame in sitcoms and then went dramatic — Cloris Leachman was on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW when she won Best Supporting Actress for 1971’s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. Sally Field, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Jamie Foxx and Ron Howard are all sitcom veterans who also won their Oscars for dramatic work. Howard was awarded Best Director for A BEAUTIFUL MIND.

Oprah was surprised at Mo’Nique’s scorching dramatic performance. I was not. To me, it was more of a promise fulfilled than a revelation after having seen her play a drug addict in another film helmed by Lee Daniels. SHADOWBOXER starred Helen Mirren (again, brilliant) as a terminally ill hired assassin having a steamy love affair with a younger hired killer, played sharply by Cuba Gooding, Jr. Mo’Nique scored high acting marks as a drug addict who’s attracted to her doctor. Another comedienne who gets a dramatic outing in PRECIOUS is Sherri Shepherd. Her role is small but it’s some of the best work she’s ever done. The movie starts opening early next month. It’s not an easy film to sit through but it’s worth it. I’ll have more to write about it later. By the way, Lee Daniels also directed MONSTER’S BALL. That’s the film that made Halle Berry a history-making Oscar winner and got the late Heath Ledger cast in his now-iconic BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN role.

When a 16 year old Caucasian high schooler gets pregnant and has the baby, it’s a suburban comedy called JUNO. When a 16 year old African-American high schooler gets pregnant and has the baby, it’s an urban drama called PRECIOUS. I wonder if any network entertainment reporters will pick up on that too.

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The Dame Game: Women Make Movies

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

In tough times like these, you may not be able to afford dinner for two and tickets to a Broadway show plus cabfare, but you still can afford to go to the movies. Critics may be stymied as to why some lowbrow comedies open and make big bucks. The answer is simple: Folks want a few laughs. Look at the evening news and see the hundreds of fellow Americans losing their jobs or, horribly, losing their homes. After a week of jobhunting and cutting back on expenses, who wants to sit through a deepdish movie about theological psychology like the kind Ingmar Bergman used to give us? As my grandmother never said, “Oy.”

Most entertainment reporters on TV today are a bit too young to make connections to the past in reviewing some current films and filmmakers, so I’m going to give a little history with three films that had something in common — something rare when I was a kid. What is it? Women directors.

When I was a kid in the 1960s, if a Hollywood film was directed by a female, it was usually excellent actress-turned-director Ida Lupino. In the late 80s into the 90s, it was Penny Marshall. Over the summer, Drew Barrymore made her directorial debut with “Whip It.” Ellen Page, Oscar® nominee for “Juno,” played another teen-ager in this sweet movie about a Texan who would rather be a roller derby queen that fulfill her mother’s dream of becoming a beauty pageant winner. Remember the 1979 box office and critical hit “Breaking Away”? Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Dennis Christopher played working class teens in Indiana. Christopher is the teen who wants to break away from his dad and become a champion biker like Lance Armstrong. “Whip It” is “Breaking Away” with skates instead of bikes plus a Girl Power vibe. In fact, Daniel Stern is the dad to Page’s character in “Whip It.”

Back in the day, many of us grew up on double features at the movies. You saw two films for the price of one ticket. Usually, one was the big budget “A” picture and the other one was the smaller budgeted “B” picture. Many of those “B” pictures were very entertaining. Such is the case with “Whip It.” It was an enjoyable “B” picture, nicely directed by Drew Barrymore. However, nowadays, there’s no such thing as a “B” picture in Hollywood thinking. Every single release has to open big or else it’s not a hit. “Whip It” will make a good in-flight movie. It was fun — and now it’s time for Ellen Page to play more grown up women.

I’m worried about the fate of the aviatix “Amelia.” Hilary Swank has two Oscars — one for “Boys Don’t Cry” and the other for “Million Dollar Baby.” When I saw her in that first film years ago, I said to a friend that she should play the legendary and iconic flyer. If you look at the structure of Hilary Swank’s face and look at the size of her teeth, you easily could see that — with a short haircut — she’d be perfect to play Amelia Earhart. Or, with an even shorter haircut, Mister Ed.

I have been fascinated with that historical character since I read about her in elementary school. Frankly, I’m concerned about Swank’s new movie, directed by Mira Nair, the woman who gave us “The Namesake” in 2006, a good and touching film about a family’s roots. “The Namesake” is worth renting for the beautiful performance Nair gets out of Irrfan Khan as the loving father. “Amelia” is a lush budget production from a major Hollywood studio with a two-time Oscar winner and a strong director. But there’s been no buzz about this biopic that opens this coming weekend. That’s not a good sign. I was hoping this would be a hit for Hilary. I didn’t want her to win another Academy Award. Another nomination, fine, but not another win. I couldn’t take her last acceptance speech. It was longer than the movie she won for making. Why was she thanking the key grip and craft services? Just say “You like me! You really, really like me!” and go to Governor’s Ball, for goodness sake.

“An Education” was directed by Lone Scherfig. She’s a Danish director who may very well have an Oscar nominated film to her credit come early next year. This British film is opening slowly across the country. If it comes to your town, go see it! A new actress named Carey Mulligan lights up the screen in this early 1960s coming-of-age movie. She’s luminous. She’s got star quality not to mention wit, spirit, looks, charm and solid acting chops. She plays an exceptional high school senior in an economically, artistically and sexually repressed Britain before the arrival of The Beatles. Will she please her middle class parents and choose university and a possibly dull life over a chance to have some sophisticated, sexy London adventures? What passions will she follow? Trust me on this — go see “An Education.” I think Carey Mulligan is going to get a lot of attention for this performance.

Three 2009 releases. Three women directors. As I wrote, when I was growing up, it was a big deal to have one release in a year directed by a woman. One last thing, I still think there should be a scholarship and/or an award for new women in film named after Ida Lupino. Someone needs to work on that. Maybe I will one day.

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a subway scene

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

I just have to share this moment that happened on a downtown subway train close to rush hour on a weekday afternoon.

The subway car was not too crowded. A few of us were standing, as usual, on a downtown C train. I was one of the “straphangers” and facing three Black high schoolers, two girls (who were both seated) and one tall lanky fellow, standing. All three were engaged in a very animated conversation. One of the girls laughingly said to the guy, “You crazy! That’s not what she meant at all!” He replied, “Well, that’s how I interpreted it!” What were they talking about? High school gossip? Celebrity gossip? A goofy teacher? No. They were talking about a section of a book. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. That friendly trio was having a lively debate about a book read in school.

Of the two girls, the full-figured one said, “You know what else I like reading in class?” Her slim girlfriend said, “What?” We adults who were pretending not to be listening to their conversation were anxiously awaiting her answer.

“Desire Under the Elms. I loved that book!” My heart lit up. Those three kids look liked the average teens you’d see hoping to audition for “American Idol” or in the crowd at a morning network news program to see a special performance by Beyoncé, Usher or Justin Timberlake. They were talking about literature. The full-figured girl continued.

“Right now I’m reading Romeo and Juliet. It’s taking awhile, but I like it.”

The slim guy wanted to continue making his point about Toni Morrison’s book and said, “OK. Listen to this.” He began to read to them a short paragraph from the book. Then, the early 30something blond man sitting next to the two girls looked up with a slight scowl on his face. Had this been a movie scene, he would’ve been played by David Spade with a mullet. He said, “Excuse me, but that’s kind o’ bothering me. I’m not on the subway to hear somebody read out loud.”

The young man stopped reading. The two girls became quiet, their eyes downcast. From the expressions on a few faces, I’m sure I wasn’t the only adult nearby who wanted to yank that guy by the mullet and toss him out the train at the next stop. How many parents and teachers all across the country would love to be bothered by teens in such a way?

As luck would have it, Mullet Man made his exit two stops later. As soon as he did, the high school guy resumed reading, all three kids continued their energetic literary discussion, and little smiles appeared on the faces of a few of us middle-aged folks whose hearts were sparked with rays of hope thanks to three kids we didn’t even know on a C train headed to Canal Street in New York City.

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On Agents: Ten Percenters I’ve Survived

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

“YOU WERE A TOMATO! A tomato doesn’t have logic. A tomato can’t sit.”

That is one of my favorite lines from Tootsie, delivered perfectly by its director, the late Sydney Pollack, as the harried agent and friend of actor Michael Dorsey, played by Dustin Hoffman. I loved the relationship between client and agent in that comedy classic. I had a commercial agent for a little over ten years. Our relationship was, in a word, sublime. The work that she got me in local and national commercials enabled me to keep the bills paid. Linda McIntosh passed away a few years ago and I miss her a lot. She always wanted me to get a good broadcast agent to help me get more TV host and contributor work. I wanted to get one too. Unfortunately, I never quite hooked up with a broadcast agent who had her wit, imagination, common sense and heart.

If you’re a member of the major entertainment unions — like SAG and AFTRA — you can be an actor in New York City, Oklahoma City, Seattle or Santa Monica and find an agency to service your needs. But, for most of the 20 years I’ve been working in New York City, if you were basically a broadcaster — a TV host like a Tom Bergeron or a Mary Hart or a news, entertainment or sports contributor — there were only a few shops in the country that specifically could help you. Not every agency had a Broadcast Host department. Even though I’m a veteran TV performer with over 10 years of national work to my credit, I still do not have a broadcast agent — and I have met with agents in some of the top agencies of New York City. That means, I have had to work harder to get auditions and book national jobs like the one I had on Food Network and, in 2000, on Lifetime Television.

First meetings with agents are like blind dates that you pray will work out. Sometimes, they don’t. I won’t mention this particular agency, but I met with a sprightly young blonde rep in the commercial department who opened our meeting with “We do really well with black people.” I thought to myself, “Are black performers in the special needs category like autistic kids? Do you make us wear helmets and watch ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’?” I didn’t sign with that agency. Fortunately, Linda came along.

But back to the few broadcast departments and agents I’ve survived. I was with the very powerful and established N.S. Bienstock Agency here in New York for a year. I doubt that my agent ever logged on to this very website, read my bio or any of my reviews in the Press section. I’m not sure he even viewed my demo reels. We were in the last month of our one year contract and he’d not gotten me one meeting or audition for new broadcast work. This was after my VH1 stint when I’d become a very visible and, if I say so myself, popular member of a weekday morning show team on Fox’s “Good Day New York.” I’d broken entertainment stories that were later picked up by Liz Smith in her syndicated column and by Entertainment Tonight. Three weeks before our contract ended, he called with a possible new gig. He couldn’t tell me exactly where the job was because the news show position wasn’t yet available. All he could tell me was that the local newscast spot was (and I hope you’re sitting down) “…a sports anchor job somewhere in the Deep South.”

Could he possibly have been less aware of my work? That’s exactly what they’d want to see below the Mason Dixon Line — me festively saying, “Guess what, sportsfans?!?! Excitement’s coming to town and I can tell it to you in two words — Ice Capades!” I did not renew our contract.

The broadcast agent after that one was with Abrams Artists here in Manhattan, with offices conveniently located ten blocks from my apartment. I went to the agent in their Broadcast Dept when I’d just booked myself a network gig. I was the entertainment editor and weekly movie critic on an ABC News/Lifetime TV joint production called “Lifetime Live.” This live weekday afternoon magazine show aired on Lifetime TV. I had a Friday segment of about 6-8 minutes that I did without TelePrompTer — reviewing two new films, new DVD releases and highlighting a classic film that had strong images of women for the Lifetime audience. I loved that job. I was one of the few Black broadcasters in the 20th Century or this current one to have a weekly segment on a network show as a film critic. I got $500.00 a week for that job. The Abrams agent said, “You should be getting at least $1500.00 a week for that. It’s a network spot!” He called the producers. He could not get me one penny more. However, he took 10% of my $500 a week after he called unsuccessfully to negotiate. He had to that 10% per the union contract rules. Linda, my commercial agent, said that she’d wouldn’t have taken the 10% of that low salary. He did. So, there I was, breaking through a broadcast color barrier every Friday for the year that ABC News show aired, and I was taking home less than a counter clerk at Burger King.

I made excellent money when I auditioned for and booked the co host spot a free preview network cable weekend. I was asked back for another weekend at the same juicy salary. But don’t think those two bookings kept that broadcast agent from unexpectedly dropping me two days after he asked me for more demo reels. “If can’t get you work,” he said. “You’re getting older and you’re not a celebrity — like Kevin Nealon.” Kevin Nealon?!?!? I wanted to pull out a cartoon sledgehammer like in a Tex Avery feature and hammer him into the ground like the spike to a circus tent. Two months after Abrams dropped me, I was contacted to audition to be host of a new show on Food Network called “Top Five.” I booked it. The show aired from 2002 to 2008. When I got the news that I was the host, I called Linda and asked her to negotiate the contract. The Food Network reps loved dealing with her. We lost her to breast cancer the following year.

In early 2008, I was on national TV every week thanks to repeats of “Top 5″ on Food Network. I was also on national radio every week, as I was working with Whoopi Goldberg as a regular on-air member of her Wake Up With Whoopi morning show. I was invited to meet with the middle-aged head of the commercial department at…Abrams Artists, the same agency whose Broadcast Dept. head had kicked me to the curb in 2002. That’s show biz. I went in with a new attitude. The week before our meeting, I sent over the usual headshot/resumé along with info about this website plus a demo reel. I felt very good about that meeting. The agent graciously opened with, “So what are you doing?” I proudly and succinctly told her that I was doing national morning radio with Whoopi Goldberg — covering entertainment and adding laughs — and also still seen hosting a show every week on Food Network. The agent was holding my headshot/resumé in her hand when she asked, “How long has that been going on?”

I answered, “Top 5 premiered in 2002. We shoot 100 episodes. So it’s been on for about six years now.”

She replied, “No. Since when have you been doing TV host work?”

My eyes became the size of silver dollar pancakes as I waited for her to please say, “Joking! Just joking!” She wasn’t. I pointed to my resumé in her hand and said, “Nationally, I started in 1987/1988 when I had my own prime time talk show on VH1.”

I’m not making this up, you know.

That’s show biz. It’s a gamble. And a journey. If it’s meant to be, I’ll attract a broadcast agent who believes in me as much as I believe in myself.

www.youtube.com/BobbyRiversTV

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“Late Night” Drama

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Can you believe this David Letterman scandal? A network news producer for CBS has been charged with that extortion plot!

I hear that CBS is now going to the change the name of “48 Hours” and start calling it “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”

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