Chelsea Handler Inks Mega-Deal for Netflix Late Night Show

by Lacey Rose

As part of the multi-tiered deal, the outgoing E! host will also front a stand-up special in October and four docu-comedy specials in 2015.

Chelsea Handler is taking her late-night brand to Netflix.

Upon wrapping her long-running Chelsea Latelyseries on E! in late August, the outspoken comic will kick off a multi-tiered deal that includes a stand-up special, docu-comedy specials and the streaming service’s first-ever talk show. The latter, mere speculation until this point, is set to begin in early 2016, and will debut simultaneously in all Netflix territories.

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“If I was going to continue working in this industry, I knew I had to do something outside the box to keep myself interested. I wanted to sit with the cool kids at lunch so I approached Netflix to make sure they were as cool as I thought they were, and when I confirmed my suspicions, like with any other future lover, I made my move,” said Handler in a statement announcing the news Thursday, adding: “I’m more excited than I’ve been in awhile, and the team at Netflix is the most forward thinking, alert group I’ve sat down with in ages. No offense to the Shahs Of Sunset.”

The pact begins with an hour-long stand-up special on Oct. 16, which will be based on her sold-out tour, Uganda Be Kidding Me Live. She’ll be taping the special in Chicago June 20 at the Harris Theater. Handler will continue the following year with four new docu-comedy specials, which will feature her efforts to gain a better understanding on a variety of subjects including NASCAR, politics, Silicon Valley and the NBA draft. While the 2016 talk show’s format will be updated, a Handler entry will still include her often unfiltered opinions on topical entertainment and cultural issues, as well as guest interviews.

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“The Internet has disrupted many of the conventions of traditional television and together with Chelsea Handler, Netflix is looking forward to reimagining the late night talk show for the on-demand generation, starting with the late night part,” said Netflix Chief ContentOfficer Ted Sarandos. “Chelsea has built a huge following on tour, on nightly TV and through her best-selling books, and we can’t wait to introduce her breathtakingly honest and irreverent voice to our global membership.”

The news comes three months after The Hollywood Reporter first reported that Handler was looking to part ways with her cable home of nearly a decade. At that time, her managerIrving Azoff noted that Handler, who spoke openly about his disdain for the reality fare that lines E!, had multiple suitors. At that time, he suggested Handler's post-E! act could includes either a radio presence or a series at another network or digital service.

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Though her terms of her Netflix deal were not disclosed, the company is known to pay top dollar and it will allow Handler to do a series without the pressure of ratings. (Her E! series, part of a pact that paid her about $9 million a year, garnered about 572,000 viewers a night.) Handler will produce each of the Netflix projects with her Borderline Amazing production company partners, Tom Brunelle and Brad Wollack.  

For Netflix, this represents a continued pushing into original programming for its growing global subscriber-base of more than 48 million. In a recent interview with THR, original content VP Cindy Holland was asked about the possibility of late night, to which she noted she wouldn't shut the door on any kind of experimentation and that her colleagues have no preconceived notions about what will and won't work on the service.

KASEM WAS AN ISLAND OF CALM IN SWIRL OF POP MUSIC

BY ANTHONY MCCARTNEY AND DAVID BAUDER

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

In pop culture, Casey Kasem was as sweet and dependable as a glass of warm milk and a plate of chocolate chip cookies, which only made the ugliness of his last few years of life seem more bizarre and tragic.

The radio host of "American Top 40" and voice of animated television characters like Scooby-Doo's sidekick Shaggy died Sunday morning at a hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington. He was 82. He suffered from a form of dementia, and his three adult children from his first wife fought a bitter legal battle with Kasem's second wife, Jean, over control of his health care in his final months.

That made Kasem a fixture on news outlets that feed on the sleazier side of celebrity life at a time when it wasn't clear he was aware of it or even able to understand.

This wouldn't seem all that remarkable for a bad-behaving pop star or actor who shed spouses with the frequency of changing characters. But this was Casey Kasem, whose work epitomized the gentler, romantic side of pop culture, of a time when stars were admired for their celebrity and worshipped for their talent.

"American Top 40," with Kasem's soft, homey voice counting down the hits, was a refuge from shock jocks or the screaming big-city radio voices. It was dependable, broadcast on some 1,000 stations at its peak, so if you were driving in Connecticut or Kansas, California or Kentucky, you could always take a measure of the pop charts with Casey.

Kasem weaved stories around the songs, anecdotes about interactions with fans or gee-whiz tales about how stars got their starts. Seldom was heard a discouraging word, unless it was a starting point for a narrative about coming back from hardship, the darkness before the dawn.

Interspersed in the countdowns were the long-distance dedications, songs played for a long-lost or distant lover in the hope a heart would be stirred. You'd wince at some of the hokey song selections, but only the truly cynic would laugh at the emotion that spilled out of the letters Kasem read.

At the end of the show, always, would come Kasem's signature words of advice: "Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars."

On the first "American Top 40" in July 1970, Kasem counted down to Three Dog Night's "Mama Told Me Not to Come" at the No. 1 spot. As the years went on, Kasem progressed through disco and punk, arena rock and rap. All were welcome under Casey's big tent.

Kasem was of Lebanese descent, born in Detroit as Kemal Amin Kasem, and he spoke out on issues promoting greater understanding of Arab-Americans throughout his life. He made his name as a disc jockey, and when his career blossomed in the Los Angeles area, he took on other voice work. He was Robin in the animated "Batman" series. He once said his work on "Scooby-Doo" would outlast anything he did.

He was succeeded at "American Top 40" in 2004 by Ryan Seacrest, a fan who said he used to imitate Kasem counting down the hits when he was a boy.

"When decades later I took over his AT40 countdown show, it was a surreal moment," Seacrest said in a statement. "Casey had a distinctive friendly on-air voice, and he was just as affable and nice if you had the privilege to be in his company. He'll be greatly missed by all of us."

"Scooby-Doo" may last longer, but we'll bet Kasem will most be remembered for "American Top 40" and his place in the continuum of pop music accounting, from "American Bandstand" to "Soul Train," `'Total Request Live" to Spotify playlists.

Hard feelings being what they are, it's difficult to imagine the fight between the people Kasem is leaving behind will simply end with his death. Kasem, at least, is at peace.

And instead of thinking about squabbling, his fans can imagine what it would have sounded like to hear Casey Kasem counting down to John Legend, Pharrell Williams and Iggy Azalea.

ASEM WAS AN ISLAND OF CALM IN SWIRL OF POP MUSIC

Movie Stars Have Become an Endangered Species

Peter Bart

Summer blockbusters make studios happy, but they make stars nervous. That’s because a lizard is the real star of “Godzilla,” not an actor. And in franchises like “Captain America,” “Spider-Man” or “X-Men,” the superhero is the brand, while the casts seem interchangeable. The several tentpoles that emerged from “Pirates of the Caribbean” enhanced Johnny Depp’s salary, but the Depp brand didn’t enhance “Transcendence” or “The Lone Ranger.”

The art of managing a star’s career has become challenging in Hollywood’s New Economy. In years past, major projects could be pre-sold worldwide on star names, but distributors know they can’t be monetized to the same degree any more. Warners may pour $200 million or so into “Batman v Superman,” but its potential success won’t depend on Ben Affleck’s chemistry with Henry Cavill.

That’s why I have come to admire the aggressiveness, and unorthodoxy, with which young actors likeJonah Hill or Seth Rogen have set about building their careers. I even grudgingly respect the rampant egomania of Seth MacFarlane and James Franco. Rather than wait for roles to come along, these actors are so prolific in cobbling together their own projects that their fans don’t have time to notice the occasional missteps.

And there are a few: “Neighbors” is a big hit, but can’t Rogen recruit a sleek stunt double to do his sex scenes? Does MacFarlane really believe he’s the next Charlie Chaplin (Charlie also wrote, acted, directed and composed the score, as MacFarlane did in “A Million Ways to Die in the West”). In the same vein, does Franco really want to set a Guinness record for sheer ubiquity?

By contrast, Hill could easily obsess on “Jump Street” sequels, but he keeps turning up in ambitious films like “Moneyball,” “Wolf of Wall Street” or his upcoming picture about Richard Jewell, the security guard at the Olympics in Atlanta who was famously framed (Leonardo DiCaprio is again his co-star).

I also respect those stars who yearn to direct, though that is a still riskier path. Ryan Gosling found that out in Cannes where his “Lost River” got lost. Jon Favreau got clobbered by critics for directing “Cowboys & Aliens,” then made a superb new film, “Chef,” about a culinary artist’s battle with a malevolent critic. Angelina Jolie moved from her “Lara Croft” action films to directing the ambitious but box office-challenged “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” then rebounded with the idiosyncratic “Maleficent.”

Favreau’s disdain for critics is shared by other talent, including MacFarlane. “Trying to please critics is like putting on a puppet show for your parents,” the “Million Ways” director said recently. Critics, he noted, are not fueled by laughs but “by outrage.”

Then there’s Adam Sandler, arguably the most productive star in terms of generating product, but one who is so consistently hammered by critics that he won’t even talk to the print media. A.O. Scott of the New York Times, in his latest Sandler savaging, expressed shock at “the sheer audience-insulting incompetence” of his new film, “Blended.”

The best way to have the last laugh, of course, is to make a good movie. That’s what Mike Myers has done in a new documentary oddly called “Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon,” which traces the bizarre career of the fabled manager who first repped Alice Cooper and other rock stars, then became the guru of celebrity chefs.

Myers admires odd careers. He stopped making “Austin Powers” movies more than a decade ago, and got bruised in films like “The Love Guru,” which bombed.

I would ask Myers why he’s been absent for so long — except he doesn’t talk to the media either.

FILED UNDER:

 

• Godzilla
• Johnny Depp
• Jonah Hill
• Weekly Online

Warren Beatty Wraps 74 Day Shoot on Howard Hughes Movie

by Roger Friedman

Good news: Oscar winner and legend Warren Beatty has wrapped principal photography on his Howard Hughes movie. Total shoot came to 74 days according to sources. The much anticipated film stars Beatty, Lily Collins and a big cast including Annette Bening, Taissa Farmiga, Candice Bergen, Matthew Broderick, Chase Crawford, and Martin Sheen. No one knows the exact plot line, but apparently it’s about Hughes’s late in life affair with a young girl (Collins, daughter of rocker Phil in real life).

I’m told that as fitting every Beatty project, “there were a lot of takes per scene.” Beatty also joked on set that shooting is done, but now starts a year of editing. Let’s hope not. If I were a betting man, I’d say the “Howard Hughes” movie would debut in Cannes, May 2015.

Beatty hasn’t made or been in a movie since he directed himself in “Town and Country” in 1991. What a shame, too. He missed 15 crucial years of face time. He was reportedly offered “Kill Bill Pt. 1″ by Quentin Tarantino, but turned it down. Otherwise, he’s been busy raising kids and talking politics.

Crossing fingers, sending prayers, and good vibes…we need this movie to be good..What to do until then? Watch “Reds,” and “Heaven Can Wait” and “Shampoo” and “Bonnie and Clyde”…

12-hour Brady Bunch "Alice" marathon airs Saturday to honor "Alice"

by Mark Frauenfelder

Join TV Land this Saturday, June 7th, in celebrating Ann B. Davis, who played lovable housekeeper and friend Alice on “The Brady Bunch.” Alice was an essential member of the Brady home -- shown by the fact that she was the center square in the title sequence!

The marathon features some of the most memorable moments with Alice and the Brady family – like when the house turns chaotic after Alice sprains her ankle; the time Alice decides to leave and the kids try to win her back; and when Alice’s cousin Emma (played by Davis) fills in while Alice is on vacation and ends up driving the Bradys insane! There’s no question that Alice is one of the most devoted and beloved housekeepers in TV Land.

Marilyn Beck, longtime syndicated Hollywood columnist, dies at 85

BY STEVE CHAWKINS

Marilyn Beck, a syndicated Hollywood columnist who for decades dished out delectable dollops on celebrities hooking up, splitting up and cracking up, has died at her Oceanside home. She was 85.

Beck, who struggled with lung cancer for three years, died Saturday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said her longtime writing partner, Stacy Jenel Smith.

At its peak, Beck's column was featured in some 500 newspapers with a total circulation of 38 million. She also was a familiar presence on television's syndicated "PM Magazine" and E! Entertainment's "The Gossip Show."

As an interviewer, Beck was genial but brash. In a TV appearance, she asked her longtime friend Barbara Walters, then in her 50s, whether she'd had cosmetic surgery. (The answer was no.) She also tried to pin down Bob Hope on the size of his fortune and discovered it was more than $100 million but less than $500 million. (Time magazine got the half-billion-dollar estimate from "some kid backstage," Hope fumed.)

Beck, who studied journalism at USC, cast herself as a reporter rather than a gossip columnist.

"News is more important to me than my own personality being reflected," she told The Times in 1986. "I feel I compete with wire services. … That means you need a staff of four, you get gray hair early and you give up social lunches."

In 1963, Beck was on location in Puerto Vallarta for "The Night of the Iguana" — and the tempestuous romance between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The two, married to others at the time, "have discovered paradise — and they freely admit it," Beck wrote.

In the 1970s, she bore witness to a Hollywood veering way left from the Brown Derby. There was, for instance, "Hank Fonda's bewhiskered, blue jean clad, long-haired son" declaring that "the world is doomed … it's in a lead-lined coffin," she wrote after a 1971 sit-down with Peter Fonda.

Beck "went through several Hollywoods," said her writing partner Smith, who will continue to write under the "Beck/Smith Hollywood" banner for Creators Syndicate.

In addition to her journalism, Beck wrote a 1988 novel, "Only Make Believe."

It opens with a woman rushing into a Las Vegas wedding chapel yelling, "You can't marry! You're brother and sister!" A Times reviewer said her work would appeal to "thousands of fans in the Advanced Panting school of literature appreciation."

Born Dec. 27, 1928, in Chicago, Marilyn Mohr was raised in Los Angeles and attended USC in the 1940s. She started her career with freelance articles for fan magazines.

Beck's survivors include her husband, Arthur Levine; daughter Andee Beck Althoff; son Mark; stepchildren Patty and Michael Levine; four grandchildren; and her brother Mitchell Mohr. An earlier marriage ended in divorce.

steve.chawkins@latimes.com

‘The Fault In Our Stars’ Matinees Exceptional After Stellar $8.2M Late Night; Move Aside Tom Cruise — ‘Edge Of Tomorrow,’ $1.8M

By ANITA BUSCH

UPDATED, Friday, 11:49 AM: Matinee numbers on the East Coast for The Fault In Our Stars are coming in right now. This little picture about love blossoming amidst sickness (notice, I didn’t say cancer … oh, darn I just said it) is not slowing down at all, and it could pull in about $20M to $23M tonight — including that $8.2M from the Thursday night show and that higher-priced simulcast — which means $40M+ and some think it’s entirely possible on 3,173 runs to hit in the high $40M’s. $44M? Saturday will take an expected hit but how much is yet to be determined.

As of 10:30 PM last night, tickets were still selling strong and showed no signs of flagging, according to Fandango, which said the movie accounts for more than 70% of all its weekend sales. It’s kicking it in Australia, too, where it opened last night, too, with about $1.4M.

Meanwhile, Edge of Tomorrow – the Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt starring sci-fi actioner (which I keep hearing is good) — on 3,490 runs could grab around $10M going into this weekend (including the Thursday night late gross of $1.8M) for a three-day around maybe $28M? The demo for this movie may end up in front of the small screen this weekend as it’s Stanley Cup, Game 2 on Saturday night and NBA finals, Game 2 on Sunday. Edge of Tomorrow bowed at 8 p.m. on about  2,800 screens last night. These are just estimates, but clearly The Fault in Our Stars is headed to the No. 1 spot. Disney’s Maleficent in its second weekend may best Edge of Tomorrow, but too early to tell at the moment. Let’s see what tonight brings …

PREVIOUSLY, Friday, 9:17 AM: Late night numbers are rolling in …  Warner Bros.’ Edge Of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise, bowed with only $1.8M in 3D/IMAX late nights while Fox 2000′s The Fault In Our Stars generated a stunning $8.2M late night gross which includes the $25-per-pop ticket simulcast in 650 theaters and late nights beginning at 9 PM IMAX who? Just simulcast with a Q&A with filmmakers and stars.

The question now for this film is … is this superfan front-loaded and how much will the drop be on Saturday, but this is on its way to a stunning weekend gross. BTW, X-Men: Days Of Future Past had a late night take of $8.1M … not saying by any means this will do their numbers as these are very different films, but what a fantastic start for Fox this weekend and, although the studio is keeping their estimates conservative, I wouldn’t be surprised if this pushed into the $40M+ arena.

Talk about a perfect marketing campaign and tremendous organic social media presence thanks, in great part, to The Fault In Our Stars’ best-selling author John Green who (with his brother Hank) already had 2.1M YouTube subscribers via their 7 year-old site Vlogbrothers. In addition, Green has 2.4M engaged Twitter followers. And, need I say it? Another star is born from the Internet — to publishing — and lands success on the big screen. Well done, Mr. Green.

The love story between kids afflicted with cancer also had a well-cut, upbeat trailer which hasn’t changed since it first bowed. And why change a good thing? If you look at the lead-up in social media all the way through last night, one can see the disparity among pics and for this type of demo, it hit the target right in the center of the social media universe. Congrats to Ms. Gabler for moving ahead on a risky film and keeping the budget small (studios says around $12M) to reduce that risk.

The activity in the last week alone was 13.2 million users across YouTube, FB and Twitter up against Edge of Tomorrow at 5.4 million and holdover Maleficent at 4.1 million. “It soared to number three against super franchises X-Men andGodzilla over the last 30-days in cume activity,” said Marc Karzen, CEO of RelishMix which tracks social engagement across the Big Three (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube). “The Fox marketing team have been pushing hard across the big 3 platforms in advance of the Thursday live simulcast, too.” Superfan and syndicated YouTube channels are posting trailers and response videos an what RelishMix calls “an explosively high earned/owned ratio of 19 to 1.”

Stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort are both fully engaged as well as 100-plus fan pages across Twitter and FB while Ed Sheeran’s 9.5 million Twitter and 6.2 Facebook and his music video are popping, too. Stay tuned for a big box office weekend.