The Left Coast Report: A Political Look at Hollywood
By James Hirsen
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Schwarzenegger Took $200 Million Hit to Play Governator
2. CBS Frets About Its Charlie Sheen Problem
3. Anderson Cooper Stung by Presidential Oil Panel
4. Caroline Kennedy Put the Kibosh on ‘Kennedys’ Miniseries
5. George Soros-Backed Group Demands Glenn Beck’s Firing
1. Schwarzenegger Took $200 Million Hit to Play Governator
Amid a dustup over the last-minute pardon of a legislative ally’s son, Arnold Schwarzenegger has handed the keys to the California governor’s mansion to Jerry Brown.
Now the former Hollywood superstar is engaged in some cost-benefit analysis of his political career. He recently alluded to a feeling of what some might call buyer's remorse.
The ex-Governator took a look back at the amount of money it cost him to become a public servant.
“In all it is probably more than $200 million,” Arnold told the Austrian newspaper Krone. “I'm not sorry, it was more than worth it.”
Schwarzenegger claims that if he had continued his film career rather than entering politics, which involves numerous out-of-pocket expenditures, he would have much more money than he presently does.
In addition to lost revenue, Schwarzenegger pointed out that being a politician has had an adverse effect on his personal life. Perhaps his most important role now will be that of repairing and restoring his relationship with his family.
Arnold may have thought that after battling aliens on a movie set, Sacramento would be tame.
But he discovered firsthand what veteran pols know: Politics is a contact sport that grows rougher by the minute. And that goes double for those on the right.
2. CBS Frets About Its Charlie Sheen Problem
Charlie Sheen, CBS’ biggest star and lead of a highly profitable show, is pretty much a disaster waiting to happen.
His self-destructive off-camera behavior is causing anxiety in the corporate offices of the Tiffany network.
Sheen pleaded guilty last year to assaulting his wife while vacationing in Aspen, Colo.
He also damaged a Gotham hotel suite as a panic-stricken porn star locked herself in the bathroom.
His most recent porn-star party took place in Las Vegas. But unfortunately for CBS, what happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas.
Addressing the Television Critics Association in Pasadena, CBS programming chief Nina Tassler said, “We have a high level of concern — how could we not?”
With tongue in cheek, Tassler told the press, “I really didn't expect that question this morning, so I'm really taken by surprise.”
The executive telegraphed the network's trepidation about Charlie and his family “on a personal level” — but, Tassler added, “you can't look at it simplistically.”
“Charlie is a professional. He comes to work. He does his job extremely well. . . . It's very complicated.”
Tassler indicated that she has “tremendous trust and respect” for the way in which Warner Bros., the production company for “Two and a Half Men,” has been “managing the situation.”
She also gave assurances that the network is not planning to take the show off the air.
If Warner Bros. truly has been managing the situation, it appears to have been doing so extremely ineffectively.
Still, even though Charlie has been providing plenty of material to the tabloid media, “Two and a Half Men” remains TV’s top-rated sitcom.
3. Anderson Cooper Stung by Presidential Oil Panel
Anderson Cooper prides himself on his so-called objective reporting.
Consequently, the final report from the Presidential Oil Spill Commission must have been especially stinging for the cable news anchor, daytime talk show host, and former host of “The Mole.” The report stated that Cooper had asked a local official to find an angry, out-of-work oil worker for his news program, according to the New York Post.
Cooper’s spokesperson said that the findings as they pertained to Cooper are “completely false.”
Not only did the government report state that Cooper had asked a parish president to bring a laid-off oil worker to his show, but it also included the info that when the official could not guarantee that the worker would be “angry,” the invites to both were rescinded.
This sounds like it might make a good story for an objective investigative journalist.
4. Caroline Kennedy Put the Kibosh on ‘Kennedys’ Miniseries
Camelot is apparently still a force to be reckoned with, even though no member of the Kennedy family currently holds political office.
After spending more than $25 million producing “The Kennedys,” with Tom Cruise’s spouse Katie Holmes and Greg Kinnear starring, A&E Television Networks suddenly yanked the miniseries off the schedule of the History Channel, one of its affiliates.
The cable channel released a statement saying that “we have concluded this dramatic interpretation is not a fit for the History brand.” It is interesting to note that History’s lineup includes a show about a pawn shop (“Pawn Stars”) and another program dealing with a search for extraterrestrials (“UFO Hunters”).
Sources close to the Kennedy family reveal that Caroline single-handedly stopped the series, which was created by one of the industry’s few conservatives, Joel Surnow (Fox’s “24”).
Caroline used her leverage with Disney, which has an ownership stake in A&E Television Networks, to pressure the company, according to the New York Post.
Disney subsidiaries ABC and publisher Hyperion were planning a fall release of conversations with Caroline’s mother, Jackie, which had never before been heard.
Caroline let it be known that unless A&E canceled “The Kennedys” she would call off the release of the audio recordings.
The Post noted that the Kennedy family was unhappy with the idea of promos and previews that would make the famous family look like “an episode of ‘Dallas.’”
Caroline's literary agent, Esther Newberg, was reportedly the family spokesperson who called Hyperion and made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.
5. George Soros-Backed Group Demands Glenn Beck’s Firing
With a petition signed by 10,000 people, a group launched an attack on Fox News host Glenn Beck, demanding that Beck be fired.
The Fox host featured nine people of the last century who had been contributors to what Beck characterized as the “era of the big lie.”
The group, Jewish Funds for Justice (JFJ), claims that Beck’s show was anti-Semitic.
One of the people Beck focused on was George Soros, a billionaire currency trader. Beck referred to him as the “puppet master.” The other eight figures were of Jewish heritage, including Sigmund Freud and Walter Lippmann.
A look at the funding for JFJ provides insight into the possible motivation for the attack on Beck. The group gets its money from Soros’ Open Society Institute, which gave the group $150,000 in 2009 and $200,000 in 2010. Its website is filled with the language of the left, including phrases such as “economic justice” and “social change.”
Soros is increasingly becoming a player in the media, particularly within the film industry. He entered the world of documentary production in the mid-1990s with his Soros Documentary Fund, dedicated to creating films that dealt with “social justice and human rights.”
In 2002 Soros moved the personnel and mission of his documentary fund to the Sundance Institute and Robert Redford, and granted a startup fund of $4.6 million to the endeavor.
The institute doles out millions each year for propaganda-style films designed to massage minds.
In 2006 Soros shelled out $900 million for 59 films that constitute the DreamWorks SKG library, obtaining a valuable set of film rights while gaining a power position as an entertainment media mogul.
With all that in place, he can pull a lot of strings.
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