Can we change? I've been running for 32 years -- in and out of prison like a junkie jack-in-the-box. Change? Strength of an ape. Let's see, where was I? Oh, right, change, change rising from -- Oh, this doesn't turn out good. Can we change? I'm Jerri Blank and this is my story. STRANGLERS WITH C -- guess we'll never know.
A film we love, new on streaming last week, opens with that passage.
Sometimes you can change. Sometimes the answer's no. Wanting to change doesn't mean you change but it can help.
We say all that to note that change isn't something that concerns the current administration.
Sure,
they'd like to change the topic away from Donald Chump's relationship
with the late pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein; however,
they've tried to do that for four weeks now and Donald's decision at the
end of last week to move convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine
Maxwell to Federal Prison Camp, Bryan isn't going to change the topic
anytime soon. That glorified day care in Texas is for those serving
short terms (Maxwell is sentenced to twenty years) and has "the
lowest security rating of all the federal institutions, other than
community corrections centers as those are known as halfway houses. Due
to the low classification, most of these facilities have no fence and a
low staff-to-inmate ratio."
So she got what she wanted from Chump, didn't she?
The Eurotrash didn't get what the American justice system wanted her to have because Chump rescued her.
Just like Chump got what he wanted -- a huge $35 million bribe from Shari Redstone. July 24th, Senator Elizabeth Warren's office issued the following:
Washington, D.C. – Today, in response to the news that the Trump administration approved Paramount Global’s (Paramount) $8 billion merger with Skydance Media (Skydance), U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement:
“Bribery is illegal no matter who is president. It sure looks like Skydance and Paramount paid $36 million to Donald Trump for this merger, and he’s even bragged about this crooked-looking deal. I’ve been ringing the alarm bell for months, launching a Senate investigation into possible corruption, and this merger must be investigated for any criminal behavior. It’s an open question whether the Trump administration’s approval of this merger was the result of a bribe.”
Senator Warren has led the charge to determine if Paramount bribed President Trump in exchange for approval of its multi-billion-dollar megamerger with Skydance, and has fought relentlessly against President Trump's corruption:
- On July 23, Senator Warren published an op-ed in Variety: “Elizabeth Warren on Colbert 'Late Show' Cancellation: Is the Paramount Trump Payoff a Bribe?”
- On July 21, Senators Warren, Sanders (I-Vt.), and Wyden (D-Ore.) pressed David Ellison, CEO of Skydance, about reports of a secret deal between Skydance and President Trump — and how it may be related to Paramount’s recent multi-million-dollar settlement agreement with Trump.
- On July 17, Senators Warren and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), along with Representatives Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Melane Stansbury (D-N.M.), and lawmakers in Congress unveiled the Presidential Library Anti-Corruption Act to close loopholes that allow presidential libraries to be used as tools for corruption and bribery.
- On July 2, Senator Warren called for an investigation into Paramount’s settlement with Trump.
- On May 19, Senators Warren, Sanders, and Wyden wrote to Shari Redstone, Chair of Paramount, with concerns regarding whether Paramount may be engaging in potentially illegal conduct involving the Trump Administration in exchange for approval of its megamerger with Skydance.
###
PARAMOUNT+
wants to be a streamer but it really doesn't have much. Were it not
for Lucille Ball, they wouldn't have the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and STAR
TREK film and TV franchises that provide content for the streamer. Back in the 70s, the studio was building up to something
but it never really arrived. Dawn Steele had a vision but she left for COLUMBIA. Sherry Lansing delivered hit films but Les Moonves regularly destroyed CBS -- repeatedly making advances to women and then cancelling their shows because they wouldn't have sex with him. Start stop. Stop start. They never got anywhere, just idled loudly at a red light that never changed.
Stephen Colbert has worked at PARAMOUNT
and its subsidiaries for decades and the question now is why?
Eddie
Murphy was to PARAMOUNT what Goldie Hawn and Clint Eastwood were to
WARNER BROTHERS. The studio worked to build a relationship with him.
But that was long ago. Eddie's more likely to work with DISNEY, AMAZON
or NETFLIX. Tom Cruise? PARAMOUNT had a long standing relationship
with Tom before Sumner Redstone tries to destroy Tom's career. What
Sumner couldn't do, age has. It's not TROG time but most people assume
Tom's at least getting ready for his WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?
period. They've got nothing.
Who hangs a shingle at PARAMOUNT anymore? Who has a boutique deal with PARAMOUNT these days?
STRANGERS
WITH CANDY is a great TV show. It ran for 30 episodes on COMEDY
CENTRAL in the 90s and was created by Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Amy
Sedaris and Mitch Rouse and starred Stephen, Paul and Amy. When the
third season wrapped up in the fall of 2000, that wasn't it. A 2005
film followed written by Paul, Stephen and Amy -- it's the film we quoted at the top and will be referencing throughout this essay.
What was
STRANGERS WITH CANDY the TV show? A spoof of those after school specials and scared
straight specials. Following her release from prison, 46-year-old
Jerri decides to go back to her high school and apply herself this time.
In the film, Jerri introduces herself to the teenagers she's now going to be in school with declaring:
Hello, I'm Jerri Blank and-and I'm an alcoholic. I'm also addicted to
amphetamines as well as main line narcotics. Some people say I have a
sex addiction but I think all those years of prostitution was just a
means to feed my ravenous hunger for heroin. It's kinda like the chicken
or the nugget? The point is, I'm addicted to gambling. Thank you.
The film's not for everyone -- probably the show isn't either. But our main point here is the failure of PARAMOUNT.
They
carry the TV show. It's one of their more popular offerings in the last
five years. But the film? It came out last week on streaming finally.
We had it on DVD and watched it often but wanted it on streaming. SHOUT
TV has it for streaming purchase on AMAZON.
SHOUT TV.
Not PARAMOUNT+.
How does that happen? How do you not have the streaming rights to the movie made by WORLDWIDE PANTS and COMEDY CENTRAL? How do you not have those rights?
Can SKYDANCE explain that? They're the ones wanting to buy the mess that is PARAMOUNT. Do they really know what they're purchasing?
A
lot's being made of the deal -- a merger -- about to take place whereby
PARAMOUNT+ gets absorbed by SKYDANCE MEDIA but a lot seems to be
missed.
Elaine's noted that
the rush to kill Stephen Colbert's late night show has created ill will
and that the company does not benefit from that. What does it benefit
from? THE GOOD FIGHT? A show so bad that the streamer had to rebrand
from CBS ALL ACCESS to PARAMOUNT+ just in the hopes of distancing
itself? That six season hot mess never won a single award despite The
Water Cooler Set trying to hype it. It couldn't garner awards and it couldn't find viewers.
PARAMOUNT's assets are widely overvalued.
It's library of TV and film exclusives remains a sad joke.
For the last three years, one of
PARAMOUNT's top streaming films has been . . . 2004's MEAN GIRLS.
Despite
launching over a decade ago, PARAMOUNT just can't seem to nail down
streaming success when it creates streaming TV shows. It has no HOUSE OF CARDS, it has no GRACE & FRANKIE, it has no HANDMAID'S TALE, it has no THE BOYS. It's created nothing that's sparked the country's interest.
When they seem to be on the verge of finally delivering, they drop the ball. Most recently? WOLF PACK, for example, showed promise, got buzz,
brought Sarah Michelle Geller back to series television and . . .
"ended." That's the fate of pretty much all of PARAMOUNT's programs.
SKYDANCE
seems to be the one risking a lot by buying PARAMOUNT. You have to
wonder why they weren't advised to wait a year or more when PARAMOUNT+
et al would be worse even less than it currently is?
Jerri Blank: Are you the grief counselor?
Peggy Callas : Oh, god, it never ends. Have a seat. I should tell you up front, each student gets ten minutes, that last student took fifteen, so you get five.
Jerri Blank : Well, that's not fair!
Peggy Callas : Take it up with Les. He's the one that's frigid.
That's from Jerri's scene with Sarah Jessica Parker who plays Peggy Callas the grief counselor. And plays the role very well. It's right up there with her performances in ED WOOD and FIRST WIVES CLUB. The film charts Jerri's lack of growth throughout the three act structure and along with Amy, Paul, Stephen and Sarah, the film also has, among others, Matthew Broderick, Allison Janey, Gregory Hollimon, Justin Theroux, Kristen Johnston, Philip Seymour Hoffman and a fat assed Chris Pratt before the stylists gave him a working hair color and eye brows that looked mannish.
Jerri wants to be on the science team -- convinced working on a winning project will pull her father out of a coma. However, her teacher Mr. Noblet (Stephen Colbert) doesn't want her on the team and kicks her out of the classroom.
That's when she accesses the services of the grief counselor.
Okay, so who do we have that we can take up the actions of the administration with?
Specifically, who's going to address our concerns regarding the country's security?
Chump
nominated (and the GOP controlled Senate rubber stamped) a list of
losers for security positions. The Director of National Intelligence is
the woefully unqualified Tulsi Gabbard, Loose Lips Hegseth is the
Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State and acting National Security
Advisor Marco Rubio . . .
None
of those people instill trust. Especially not Tulsi who launched a ludicrous claim that Barack Obama committed treason in 2016. Her evidence was neither new nor accurate. But she shrieked and hollered
like only a crazed cult member can. And it all just reminded us that
while she spent all her time in the last six months focused on nine years ago, who the hell
was focusing on the very real threats to the United States right now?
9/11
was a shock to many. Even to the Bully Boy Bush White House, you could
argue, since they weren't overly concerned about August 6, 2001 PDB "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US."
We were told never again but how secure do you feel with Chump and his goons in the White House? You read Tom Nichols' "The Pentagon Against the Think Tanks" (THE ATLANTIC) and how secure do you feel?
A wide swath of Defense Department officials fear that new rules banning employees from participating at think tank and research events
— a key way the Pentagon delivers its message and solicits feedback —
will leave the military muzzled and further isolated from allies.
The
move, according to more than a dozen officials and think tank leaders,
hampers the department’s ability to make its case both in Washington
policy circles and to allies struggling to understand how they fit into
President Donald Trump’s worldview. That’s particularly important now as
the Pentagon assesses whether to end decades of U.S. policy and remove
thousands of troops stationed abroad.
“The
DOD can’t tell its message,” said Becca Wasser, a former Army official,
now a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a national
security think tank. “They can’t tell the critical points they want the
general public to know. This is essentially shooting themselves in the
foot.”
Uh, it's shooting us in the foot too.
Hegseth
and company are neither educated nor enlightened enough to get by
without input from others. They weren't prepared to do the actual work
required and now any assistance or education that could have been
provided by think tanks is out the window.
Jerri Blank: I'm Jerri Blank and my daddy's in a coma.
Peggy Callas: You know what, Jerri? I wish my daddy was in a
coma. He's dead, Jerri. He was executed for war crimes, but for
insurance purposes, we say he was eaten by wolves. Anyway, my point is,
Jerri, somebody's always got it worse.
Yes, somebody's always got it worse. And, sadly, right now that's the American people.
=====================
Note: This piece mentions Stephen Colbert but does not focus on him. Offline, one of us (C.I.) is offering feedback and advice to a member of Colbert's legal team.
