Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings soar thanks to Baldwin’s Trump and McCarthy’s Spicer

President Donald Trump is making “Saturday Night Live’s” ratings great again. NBC’s long-running late-night sketch comedy program is having its most-watched season in 22 years, thanks in large part to Alec Baldwin’s impersonation of the 45th president of the United States and, more recently, Melissa McCarthy’s devastating take on White House press secretary Sean Spicer. […]

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Theme Song for ‘The Last Laugh’

By Laurie Baron SAN DIEGO−While Michael Flynn frantically tried to destroy his DVD of From Russia with Love, the San Diego Jewish Film Festival is entertaining audiences day and night at a variety of venues in the city through February 19th.  I had the honor to introduce The Last Laugh, a documentary about comedians and

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Lawrence Baron, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Trivia, Humor & Satire

Why are we attracted to violence?

By Natasha Josefowitz, Ph.D. LA JOLLA, California –Humans have always been attracted to acts of graphic violence. In Roman times, the Coliseum was filled with people ready to be entertained by gladiators fighting to the death or Christians being eaten by hungry lions. A few centuries later, public beheadings were a popular entertainment—Marie Antoinette and

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Natasha Josefowitz, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food

‘Late Night’ host Seth Meyers riffs on Trump in Morristown

MORRISTOWN — Seth Meyers once riffed, with Donald Trump in the audience, about Trump someday running for president — not as a Republican, but as a joke. “Some people have actually blamed me for the fact that Donald Trump decided to run,” Meyers said of his 2011 roasting of Trump at the White House Correspondents’

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

McCarthy threatens the press as Sean Spicer on ‘SNL’

The sharp-tongued, sputtering rage actress Melissa McCarthy deploys to hilarious effect in a slew of Hollywood hits turns out to be perfect to lampoon the already toxic relationship White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has with the media. RELATED: Ansari hits ‘lower-case KKK’ backing Trump on ‘SNL’ McCarthy was a surprise performer on this weekend’s

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

SD Jewish Film Festival chair kvells over this year’s selections; 74 films to be screened Feb. 8-19

By Eva Trieger      LA JOLLA, California –“Like a proud mama, showing off her new baby,” crowed Chris Fink, in response to my query about how she felt as this year’s Chairperson for the San Diego Jewish Film Festival.  The 27th annual festival runs from February 8-19, and boasts films from twenty one different countries,

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Eva Trieger, San Diego Calendar, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Trump Treasury pick Steven Mnuchin sued in revived film fraud case

LOS ANGELES — President Donald Trump’s treasury secretary nominee, Steven Mnuchin, has been sued again by a film financier that accuses Mnuchin and others of fraud related to the collapse of movie and TV company Relativity Media. RKA Film Financing, in an amended complaint filed Thursday in New York County Supreme Court, renewed its claim

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Donald Trump Didn’t Really Want To Win, Says Howard Stern

Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency of the United States might’ve been nothing more than a stunt to get a bigger contract on “The Apprentice,” according to his close friend Howard Stern. The president never actually wanted to win the election, and instead, was hoping there was still a chance his opponent will take over,

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Schwarzenegger to Trump: Let’s Switch Jobs

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Celebrity Apprentice host and former California governor, on Thursday morning asked President Donald Trump to switch roles, after the commander-in-chief mocked the actor’s low TV ratings while addressing the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. Related: Trump blasts Apprentice ratings on Twitter, Schwarzenegger fires back “Hey Donald, I have a great idea,”

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

Oprah Winfrey joins CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ as a special contributor

Oprah Winfrey is joining the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” as a contributor. The talk show host, actress, cable network owner and producer will appear in several segments a year on the program starting this fall, CBS News announced Tuesday. “I’ve been a big admirer of ’60 Minutes’ since my days as a young reporter,” Winfrey

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Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA

SAG Awards: A night when politics trumped the prizes themselves

LOS ANGELES — Anyone tuning in to the SAG Awards on Sunday thinking they might be escaping news headlines for a couple of hours was quickly disabused of that notion as winner after winner used the platform to speak out against President Donald Trump’s immigration ban. “This immigrant ban is a blemish and is un-American,”

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Middle East, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, USA