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Tag: Entertainment

  • Jon Stewart’s teleprompter is working again

    After 100 days without writers, TV shows began to return to normal yesterday after most of the striking writers voted to return to work.

    Writers for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show were back to work on Wednesday morning, making Jon Stewart one of the first late-night hosts to return to his pre-strike glory.

    Before cameras rolled in the Manhattan studio, Stewart seemed pretty pumped up. Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” blared, and he mouthed lyrics and drummed along on his desk while looking over his first script in more than three months. (Story continues below interactive map.)

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    Stewart began his newscast musing, “Words in the prompter, script on my desk, vending machine upstairs out of Funyuns … The writers are back!” After a celebratory dance, and loud cheers from his studio audience, he announced, “It is no longer ‘A Daily Show’ It is once again, The Daily Show! We’re back, baby!”

    The Associated Press reports that ratings for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report haven’t actually been hurt by the strike. The Daily Show has had around the same number of viewers this January as in 2007 (1.6 million), and The Colbert Report viewers have gone up 6 percent from last year.

    It’s possible that Stewart and Stephen Colbert can pull off their own jokes without relying as heavily on their writers.

    At yesterday’s Daily Show, Stewart and Colbert riffed for a while via telecast before settling in to tape the segment the writers had prepared for them, which joked about a coffee-getters union strike. The joke was a little forced in comparison with the hosts’ off-the-cuff banter.

    After The Daily Show wrapped for Wednesday, the studio audience got to watch Stewart tape the introduction for The Daily Show: Global Edition, which is filmed once a week. This time, Stewart’s opening joke was improvised, inspired by a question an audience member asked him before the show began.

    Is it possible that Stewart’s better without a script?

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  • Kerry Killinger sets the tone at Washington Mutual

    Troubled Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings and loan, has seen its stock price nearly double from its lows over the past month. Takeover speculation has certainly helped, as have the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts.

    But don’t discount the importance of the message chairman and CEO Kerry Killinger sent when he decided not to take a 2007 bonus that he had earned. Executives at other companies caught in the real estate mess — Countywide Financial and D.R. Horton, for example — have not set the same tone of accountability. (Story continues below interactive map.)

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    Killinger, who also sits on the board of Safeco, qualified for a 2007 bonus of $1.2 million, about a third of his target level, based on Washington Mutual’s financial performance for the year. His 2006 bonus was $4 million.

    President Stephen Rotella and CFO Thomas Casey will receive bonuses for 2007, but Washington Mutual said its executives would forfeit two-thirds of their restricted stock awards for the year.

    This week, Killinger estimated that Washington Mutual’s net interest income increases by $150 million for every quarter-point cut by the Fed. Doing the math, the 1.25 points the Fed shaved in January equals $750 million.

    More Fed cuts could follow.

    In late December, we wrote about how the directors at Washington Mutual were staying the course in troubled times. Five weeks later, that appears to be a solid approach.

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    • #1.   steven copp 02.02.2008

      wm is more soild that you think ,in if fact you will see $25.00 stock within 60 day even before the next fed cut .there were push down hard with cfc news now jump on before you miss out

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  • Microsoft offers $44.6 billion for Yahoo!

    Such a deal has long been speculated about because of Yahoo’s sagging prospects. This morning Microsoft made it a reality by offering $44.6 billion ($31 a share) for Yahoo! That’s more than a 60 percent premium over Yahoo’s closing price Thursday.

    Henry Blodgett over at Silicon Alley Insider calls it a “brilliant” move by Microsoft. (Story continues below interactive map.)

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    The two companies currently share a strong direct link. Maggie Wilderotter, a member of the Yahoo! board of directors, is a former senior vice president at Microsoft.

    She is chairman and CEO of Citizens Communications and a director for Xerox and Tribune Co.

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    ← Bert Fields, celeb lawyer, terrorizes opponents 
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  • Gore & Hyatt taking media company public

    The media company co-founded by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt five years ago plans to go public.

    Current Media, which operates a TV network and a web site aimed at young audiences, notified the SEC of its intentions today.

    The company launched Current TV in 2005. The TV network now has about 51 million subscriber households, according to SEC documents. (Story continues below interactive map.)

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    Current Media also unveiled a website, Current.com, in October 2007. Combined revenues in 2007 were $63.8 million, with losses of $6.1 million. Gore, Hyatt and programming president David Neuman each received salary and bonuses of about $1 million in 2007.

    Current Media aims to fill what it describes as a programming gap for young adults. “Young adults need and want news and information about what is going on in their world; however, they have not had a news and information source on TV that speaks to them,” the company said.

    The SEC documents underscored Gore’s importance in the venture, particularly in relationships with key distributors. However, the company said, “Mr. Gore has a number of other commitments that limit the amount of time he can devote to our business.”

    Gore’s many commitments include being a director of Apple, a partner at Kleiner Perkins and chairman of Generation Investment Management, which invests in green companies. While his time is limited, his connections have obviously paid off. Gore is also an adviser to Google, which supplies content to Current Media.

    Yet he isn’t the only high-profile personality in the company. Co-founder Joel Hyatt founded Hyatt Legal Services and recently became a director of Hewlett-Packard.

    Billionaire Ron Burkle, a close friend of Bill Clinton, is a director of Current Media, as is investment banker Richard C. Blum, husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

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  • Herb Sandler and son-in-law back Democrats

    Two California groups, Vote Hope and PowerPac.org, are drawing national attention, and boisterous complaints from opponents, for their support of Barack Obama’s run for the presidency.

    Both are operating outside the Obama campaign as 527 organizations, taking advantage of tax-code provisions that exempt them from federal spending limits. And both were founded by Steve Phillips, former president of the San Francisco School Board and son-in-law of billionaire banker Herb Sandler. (Story continues below interactive map.)

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    Sandler is one of the lucky ones who cashed out before the mortgage crisis. Wachovia bought Sandler’s company, Golden West Financial, for $25.5 billion in October 2006. Forbes estimated his personal worth that year at $1.2 billion.

    Like his son-in-law, Sandler is an active contributor to Democratic causes. He gave $2.5 million to Moveon.org in 2004, and has contributed more than $100,000 to the Democratic Senate and congressional committees in recent years.

    He is also a backer of the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank headed by John Podesta, Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff.

    The Sandler Family Supporting Foundation has supported medical research, with an emphasis on asthma. It also pledged $15 million to Human Rights Watch in 2005.

    Sandler also founded a nonprofit journalism organization called ProPublica, which promises to produce “truly important stories with moral force.” ProPublica, based in Manhattan, is run by former Wall Street Journal managing editor Paul Steiger.

    Slate’s media writer, Jack Shafer, has cast a cynical eye on the venture, suggesting that most self-made billionaires don’t give away pots of money without expecting some control over the results.

    “If I were an editorial writer,” Shafer wrote in October, “I’d call upon Herbert Sandler to provide ProPublica with 10 years of funding ($100 million), and then resign from his post as the organization’s chairman so he’ll never be tempted to bollix up what might turn out to be a good thing.”

    Vote Hope and PowerPac.org, meanwhile, are definitely partisan. PowerPac is running TV spots in California, where it is hiring organizers to get out the vote for the Feb. 5 primary. Phillips has said that he hopes to raise $2 million for Vote Hope.

    The Obama campaign on Friday released a letter sent to Phillips on Dec. 28, urging that Vote Hope be disbanded. Phillips declined.

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  • Jerry Springer: The Opera comes to New York

    Jerry Springer: The Opera had its New York debut last night, as part of a two-night only stint at Carnegie Hall.

    The scaled-down production, billed as a concert, was a test to see if American audiences would embrace the controversial show. Although it had a successful run in London’s West End, when the BBC decided to air a TV version of the musical, Christian groups protested loudly. (Story continues below interactive map.)

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    Hundreds of demonstrators assembled outside BBC headquarters the day Jerry Springer: The Opera aired on television. After threats were made to BBC executives, requests for police protection were made. The High Court ended up denying the request of Christian Voice, a Christian evangelical group, to prosecute the director general of the BBC for blasphemy.

    The New York version had a smaller ensemble than the original production and lacked a full set. However, it’s likely that the response from these two shows will dictate whether or not Jerry Springer: The Opera will make the transition to Broadway.

    The Carnegie Hall production was directed by Jason Moore, famous for his work the on Tony-award-winning musical Wicked. Musical direction was done by Stephen Oremus, who has also done Avenue Q. Harvey Keitel stars in the title role, and is joined by Broadway greats Linda Balgord, Lawrence Clayton, Katrina Rose Dideriksen, Max Von Essen, Patricia Phillips, and Emily Skinner. David Bedella is the only original member of the London cast to join the New York ensemble.

    The first act is a colorful, musical portrayal of the Jerry Springer show. Guests include a transvestite, a pole dancer, and two diaper fetishists. The first half of the show ends with a tap-dance number performed by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

    However, the most controversial aspects come in Act II. Jerry is shot, and arrives in the after-life to present a new version of his show, Jerry Springer: In Hell, where he has to try to mediate the long-standing conflict between Satan, Jesus, Mary, Adam, Eve and God. Jesus is wearing a diaper, and says he’s “a bit gay.” Mary is introduced as “the teenage mother of Jesus” and the chorus chants that she was “raped by God.”

    Considering the lyrics, it’s not surprising that Catholic League president Bill Donohue has spoken out about the show, saying: “Never before in its illustrious history has Carnegie Hall been home to Christian bashing, but that is all about to change on January 29 and 30. Incredibly, it is allowing a patently obscene and viciously anti-Christian musical to be performed on its stage. Thus has it got into bed with the bigots, making a mockery of art in the process.”

    An hour and a half before the show’s start time last night, picketers had already arrived with signs that read: “Stop blaspheming our God.”

    The crowd outside didn’t hinder the star-studded audience, which included Keitel’s Taxi Driver co-star Robert DeNiro. Other audience members included Joy Behar, Mario Cantone, Norah Jones, John Leguizamo, and Carson Kressley.

    For unexplained reasons, the finale was dropped from last night’s performance. Nevertheless, the show closed with a standing ovation. Even DeNiro got to his feet.

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  • Boeing and Lockheed Join Forces on Bomber Project

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  • Bert Fields, celeb lawyer, terrorizes opponents

    You’re in trouble. You want a lawyer. And not just any lawyer. You want a scary lawyer.

    Pick up the phone and call Bertram “Bert” Fields, who is known as “L.A.’s scariest lawyer.”

    Fields, 78, has been representing entertainment celebs for more than 50 years. (Story continues below interactive map.)

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    Just the short list of his clients includes Edward G. Robinson, Jack Webb, The Beatles, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Jackson, Elaine May, Michael Ovitz, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg and Paramount Pictures.

    Fields’s luster has been tarnished lately by his connection to Anthony Pellicano, the private investigator who goes on trial in federal court next month. However, the scary lawyer is still getting lots of work.

    Recently, he’s been in the news as attorney for Tamara Mellon, the co-founder of the Jimmy Choo luxury shoe empire who is suing her mother, Ann Yeardye.

    Fields also represented publisher Judith Regan, who recently reached and out-of-court settlement of her wrongful termination suit against HarperCollins and its parent company, News Corp.

    The Regan suit pitted Fields against a former client, News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch. Typically, that association did not lead Fields to soften his rhetoric.

    “They’ve chosen war and they will get exactly that,” he said in December after the suit was announced. “She (Regan) won’t take this lying down.”

    This wasn’t the first time Fields compared litigation to war.

    “If I were a general, I would attack, and keep pressing the attack — to throw the opponent off balance to change the odds and make a settlement your way much more favorable,” he told The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta in 2006. “…It forces the other side to think. ‘Hey, I may lose this case. Let’s settle it.’”

    Fields grew up in Los Angeles, the son of a surgeon who included Mae West and Groucho Marx among his clients. Fields graduated from Harvard Law School in 1952. He taught briefly at Stanford Law School and then served in the Air Force as a lawyer. In 1955, he began practicing law in Los Angeles.

    From the beginning, he fashioned a take-no-prisoners style.

    “If he’s on the other side, he’s a nightmare,” one Fields client told Auletta. “He’s going to make your life miserable.”

    At the same time, Fields told Auletta that he was careful to keep the volume down in the courtroom.

    “A jury doesn’t want some guy shouting at them,” he said. “Even when you think the other side is a scumbag – it doesn’t win you points.”

    A partner in the Los Angeles firm of Greenberg, Glusker was charging $900 an hour in 2006, according to Auletta.

    In addition to his practice of law, Fields is the author of two non-fiction works on history and of two mysteries. Written under the pseudonym of “D. Kincaid,” the novels feature Harry Cain, a lawyer.

    Fields and his firm had a long association with Pellicano, the private investigator who was charged in 2006 with wiretapping, racketeering, bribery and other charges.

    Fields has said that he had no knowledge of Pellicano using illegal methods to obtain information during the course of his work for the firm.

    Pellicano’s trial, in which he will represent himself, begins on Feb. 27.

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  • Henry Louis Gates Heads New Washington Post Site

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