Category: Television (Page 9 of 23)

Happy New Year, New Cher Scholar Web Sites, New Tweets, More Fanny

January 11, 2016 / Cher Scholar / 1 Comment

Happy new year!

I’m back from my work vacation which I spent most of adding analytics to my websites and giving them responsive themes so they’ll work on mobile devices well enough that Google won’t shun me in search results. Whew!

Everything went pretty well until I tried to post pictures of my Cher tree on Facebook (see left). I went to Google search my page on www.cherscholar.com about Cher doll outfits to find the name of this year’s new Cher doll dress on my tree (Gown of Paradise). It was then that I discovered my site had been hacked and was redirecting people to porn sites. On Christmas of all things!

So I spent the whole weekend after Christmas re-creating Cherscholar.com in a content managed, secured, responsive place. Anyway, along with the blog, the mama site has a whole new look and the job gave me a list of other things to update over there. So more to come.

Meanwhile, news kept happening in Cherland.

Twitterspats

Trump tweets

Tweet drama over Michigan governor Rick Snyer

Cher v. Ted Cruz

Cher's reaction to Tamir Rice ruling (Billboard, thanks Christopher)

Movie Memorializing

Mermaids: Where Are They Know (dammit I feel old).

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour

More articles appeared on the band Fanny. June Millington’s biography has come out and it’s a hefty thing I can’t afford right now but reviews so far have been good:

From Pitchfork

From NPR

The NPR article talks about how bad-ass Fanny was and how they knew how to set themselves up and carry their own equipment. The article compares Fanny to both the current band Haim and the 70s The Band and surmises the reason they never broke into success was because they were too good, not gimmicky enough, more committed to their competent jams and funky breakdowns. But being bi-racial and bi-cultural, they were ahead of their time. The article laments that in the digital music age there are no record bins for young people to browse and discover Fanny.

Here's a look at Cherscholar.com website as it has evolved over the years:

RIP David Bowie, Natalie Cole, Wayne Rogers and Pat Harrington Jr.

January 11, 2016 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Today is a sad day for rock and roll fans. David Bowie was a 1970s and 80s icon to diverse groups of people.

From The New York Times today:

"David Bowie, his generation’s standard-bearer for rock music as theater, died on Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday. He had cancer. He released his 25th album, “Blackstar,” on Friday and has a show, “Lazarus,” running Off Broadway. He’ll be honored at Carnegie Hall with a concert on March 31." Watch Cher and David Bowie in 1975.

Cher tweeted: “DEVASTATED…A LEGEND IS GONE”

Singer Natalie Cole and television star Wayne Rogers also both died on December 31.

Most remember Wayne Rogers from the show M*A*S*H although I was also a fan of his show with Lynn Redgrave, House Calls. Cher fans will remember him from multiple appearances on the Cher show. See him to the right with Raquel Welch, Cher and Tatum O'Neal.

Cher tweeted about Natalie Cole:

"NATALIE COLE …..A VOICE FROM HEAVEN HAS BEEN CALLED HOME."

And I know they say these celebrity passings come in threes, but we actually had four over the holiday. Pat Harrington, Jr. (who played Schneider on the show One Day at a Time) also died January 6.

We are losing a lot of 70s icons!

As you may know, one particular supermarket rag was once again hastening Cher's demise on its cover last week. It's the third alarming "Cher is dying" report since the illness that cancelled her tour in 2014. It is just a tabloid story but still…it can't help but make you feel nervous. David Bowie, at 69, is just a little over a year younger than Cher.

Cher in New Amazon Prime Ad

December 18, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Taking a break from the holiday break to express my glee over the fact that the Sonny & Cher song "Little Man" is being now featured in a very funny Amazon Prime ad. Mr. Cher Scholar said he saw the commercial first during football last Sunday. "Why didn't you alert Cher Scholar?" Cher Scholar asked. Apparently he had the sound turned down. Hmm.

In any case, I saw the commercial last night on A&E and flipped!

Watch it here!

Happy Holidays: Twitter Fights, Airpocalypse, George Bush and Glen Campbell

December 9, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

Happy holidays to all the Cher Zombies out there. This is my last blog post of the year! We’re coming up on my Christmas break and my somewhat bi-annual Christmas party. I’ll spend some time off CNM working on book and web site projects.

Politics and Global Affairs

What would a blog week be without some Cher Twitter kerfuffles?

There are Paris-attack tweets (Billboard) and U.S. Refugee Policy tweets (New York Daily News and Daily Mail).

Cher also recently did the voice over for a Sierra Club video that just came out. You can read about it and see the video at Mother Jones:

"Now, Cher is lending her famous voice to the fight for a better, cleaner world, in an innovative virtual-reality tour of China's environmental emergency published by the Sierra Club on Monday. Throughout the short video, Cher explains how China has become the world's leading emitter of carbon dioxide, and how putrid air filled with poisonous sulfur leads to 4,000 premature deaths every day in China (true), and two birth defects every minute (also true, but a pretty old statistic at this point)."

Mother Jones also does a play-by-play of the video's stated facts. I love their graphic of Cher on their web page with a hard hat, although it's a tad condescending.

It's a timely launch of the video, however, because Tuesday New York Times just reported this:

"Airpocalypse: Officials in Beijing have declared that the thick smog blanketing the city was bad enough to require a red alert, the first time they have raised the alarm to its highest level, angering and confusing residents."

The Sierra Club video story in also in Eco-watch.

Cher’s Old Malibu House For Sale

Not to be confused with the big house, this is a former house of Cher’s which is back on the market for a paltry $10 million dollars.

Malibu Times
LA Times (includes photos)
Realty Today

Cher Music History

Rolling Stone Magazine has been giving Cher some love lately. Previously they posted her tour-de-force video from 1978 with Dolly Parton. This week they posted her holiday duet on Glen Campbell’s variety show from 1969. They sing "Jingle Bells." Cher really rips the seams out of the song in parts and alternatively seems a bit unsure about the arrangement, which should sound familiar to us because it's the same one Cher did with Sonny on their variety shows. At the end, Glen Campbell jokes about "locking Marty Paich up in a basement for a week to get that arrangement."

Better yet, there are more great Glen and Cher duets to be found on YouTube:

Cher and Glen doing a duet of "He Aint’ Heavy, He’s My Brother." Such a great performance and apropos in light of recent events occurring in our political discourse about Muslims.
Cher and Glen doing a duet of "Bang Bang." Glen goofs up a line of the song.

Also, Cher's song "Believe" is still appearing in song competition shows.

Bono v. Bono

News came out recently that George W. Bush once thought rock singer Bono from the band U2 was the same Bono who was once married to Cher. I guess that might be confusing if you hadn’t lived through the 1970s or the 1980s. But wait…

I guess this isn't any worse than Cher once thinking the moon was the other side of the sun. I guess we have to let this one slide.

Chaz

Chaz was recently spotted with a date at The Danish Girl premiere.

New Movie, Old Cover, Tweets, Slot Machines, Letterman and CHeritage

November 19, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

This is my last post before our U.S. Thanksgiving Holiday. I hope you get stuffed!

Gardel (2017)

Cher scholar Dishy notified me of a new Cher movie that has snuck into the IMDB. These pre-production rumors often tip-toe right out of IMDB as quietly as they once slipped in. But this looks promising subject-wise and a period piece would be sweet!

"I Got You Babe’s" Punk Pedigree

Last week I finally came across “The Ramones” version of “I Got You Babe.” Been looking for this for years; so why couldn’t I find it sooner? Because The Ramones didn’t cover the song. D'oh! Joey Ramone covered it as a duet with Holly Beth Vincent, although the song isn’t on any of her albums or on iTunes or YouTube. You can catch the song on Vimeo.

CHeritage

A few weeks ago I wrote about American Indian appropriation in the outfit choices of Paris Hilton, members of The Flaming Lips and Cher. Thanks to Jack Nicholson scholar Coolia, we now have a new link about Cher’s heritage and possible controversies surrounding it: http://waitingtogetthere.blogspot.com/2013/09/chers-heritage-controversy.html

Tweetage

Cher’s comments about Ben Carson have attracted some attention.

Cher also talks about the US political response to last week's Paris attacks.

New Way to Hand Over Your Money to Cher

Slots! Thanks to Cher World for this news: there is a Cher slot machine coming to Las Vegas. Finally! Didn’t Barry Manilow get one of these like decades ago?

Cher History

Decider did a somewhat scholarly piece on Cher’s last public reunion with Sonny on The David Letterman Show.

“Back in 1987, you had to work harder for your viral moments. (Obviously, they weren’t called viral moments then, but this was clearly a predecessor of the genre.) A TV moment had to be something truly once-in-a-lifetime to earn the kind of repeated-viewing immortality that Sonny and Cher on Letterman did with a simple song.”

Movies, Musicals and Music, Oh My!

November 4, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 1 Comment

Cher, The Musical…Still in Progress

Recently Cher met with Tony Nominee Rick Elice to pen the book for her biographical musical. Read more about it at Broadway.com, Contact Music, Out.com, Yahoo!

Witches of Eastwick

Logo TV just did a series of shorts on Witches of Eastwick for Halloween. (Thank you Cher scholar Tyler!)

Cher Scholarship

If you loved volume 1, Tamara Lorenz Hampton’s book The Fabulous World of Cher Dolls Volume 2 is out just in time for Christmas.

Here's a great discography of Cher discovered by Cher scholar Dishy: http://www.45cat.com/artist/cher

Bob Mackie, Johnson Hartig Discuss Cher, Kim Kardashian at LACMA (Woman’s Wear Daily)

Here's some bad scholarship for you. Two weeks ago, I reported Cher had never been on X Factor. The scholarship gods had a laugh when I was walking on my treadmill and Cher's X Factor appearance from 2013 came up on YouTube. Who could forget that light show? Me apparently.

Because I work at a very cool place, the social media gurus at Central New Mexico Community College posted an alert about the time change this past Sunday with Cher's meme. Pulled through to our website, it looked something like this (see right).

Because I have Cher-radar, I can't help but notice it on there!

Turn Back Time: Don't forget to Cher with your friends. It's a daylight savings time tradition now.

Thanks CNM!

Cher’s Most Copied Looks, X-Factor, American Indian Appropriation

October 21, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 6 Comments

Cher Style

This week I found a beautiful article about Cher’s "most copied looks" from the website Racked. However, I don’t think they even scratch the surface. But it's always nice to see how influential those Norman Seeff sessions were. It confirms my love of them!

Dolly and Cher

There are new reports that Cher will be on X-Factor (along with Dolly Parton and Rod Stewart). I think this is the third rumor of its kind over tenure of X-Factor. None of the other rumors have panned out; so, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Does this Cher/Dolly/Rod combination remind you of anything? It should. It's the same line up (minus The Tubes) of Cher Special. Rolling Stone magazine must have been thinking this too because they recently found Cher and Dolly’s performance in the "Heaven and Hell" segment on that very same 1978 special. They name the sketch “now-infamous” but I think that’s a pretty big overstatement. It's still pretty obscure as wacky celebrity 1970s variety mash-ups go. But it's still pretty awesome! Watch it for yourself.

Peripherals

What’s Cher’s choreographer Doriana Sanchez up to now?

Is Cher’s Sarkisian family related to Steve, the USC coach who just got fired?

This reminds me, I saw Cher’s doppelganger on my employer’s website a few weeks ago. Doesn’t this nursing student from a bygone era look like Cher?

An interesting story that broke last week about Randy and Evi Quaid being captured in Vermont while trying to enter back into the U.S. from Canada. They've been on the run from "star trackers," court appearances and unpaid hotel bills in no particular order. I never did understand this story so I located a 2011 Vanity Fair article that catalogs their descent into Canada.

Interestingly, the story includes two peripheral Cher characters: Evi once modeled for Chrome Hearts back in the day and the Quaids once lived next door to Cher's one-time manager Sandy Gallin. Read the full story. See Cher and Sandy to the right.

Lesley Gore died earlier this year (in February). Did you know she wrote Fame’s “On My Own” which Cher sang at Celebration at Caesars?

American Indian Appropriation

I recently came upon this picture below in a magazine. It’s of Paris Hilton at a 2010 Playboy mansion Halloween party. She's dressed in skimpy American Indian clothing. In the magazine, the column is about offensive Halloween outfits worn by celebrities. One reviewer called Paris “gauche” and the magazine says Hilton never apologized. This is all very interesting to me in light of last years gaff involving The Flaming Lips and a similar American Indian headdress.

So we have to ask the following questions as fans of Cher:

Why is there no similar cultural push-back when Cher wears Indian inspired clothing at appearances or as part of her shows?
When did the idea of the sexy Indian woman come into play? Was it from Hollywood? Cher has exploited various ethnic identities over the last 50 years, the sexy gypsy being the most famous but not the only one. One of the more interesting facets of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour was its exploration of multicultural identities. But Cher had to be sexy within each iconic cultural role. Was that okay within the context of white, male-controlled TV of the 1970s? Is it okay now?
When did the male war bonnet suddenly get conflated with the sexy Indian woman?

I don't have the answer to any of these questions. My identification with the war bonnet is completely disconnected from American Indian cultural significance. This is one of the reasons why, I think, Anglos choose the label of "costume" or "outfit," because they're exposure to these clothes is limited to television and theater and "theatricals" involve "costumes." But many slurs aren't about ignorance and intention.

Which is why I'm interested in how it's perceived, and perceived coming from Cher particularly considering her ethnic look is Armenian and not fully Indian. At least not in the same way Sonny was fully Italian. Ideas of Armenian are confusing the issue.

Cher and Trump, an MMA Fighter, the Super Bowl, and Who is this Cher Person?

October 8, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

I recently updated my friend at work about Cher’s history of feuds with Donald Trump. Here are the links I used:

– http://www.buzzfeed.com/olgalexell/15-times-cher-gave-donald-trump-something-to-cry-a-1eadi

– http://perezhilton.com/2012-11-14-donald-trump-and-cher-twitter-feud#.Vfnswpc1Mg5 (from 2012)

This week Cher tweeted to free an MMA fighter from suspension:

Want Cher to headline the US NFL Super Bowl? Sign the petition:

Logo story: http://www.newnownext.com/petition-demands-cher-be-named-2016-super-bowl-halftime-performer/09/2015/
Actual petition: https://www.change.org/p/national-football-league-nfl-cher-to-headline-2016-superbowl

Someone on earth who doesn’t know who Cher is: http://www.kdramastars.com/articles/99760/20151005/cher-last-name.htm

Scene-stealing Stars from Sitcoms: http://www.eonline.com/news/696599/cher-victoria-beckham-brad-pitt-are-among-the-top-9-sitcom-guest-stars-relive-their-scene-stealing-episodes

Cher and Mike Douglas, Jennifer Lawrence, David Geffen

July 30, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 0 Comments

This finishes my recap of Cher-shenanigans over the last month.

Television

Someone recently sent in a question to Cher scholar asking for information on Cher's appearances on old Mike Douglas episodes, specifically with the Elijah. They sent me this photo link.

That search led me to this rare clip of Cher singing “Try a Little Tenderness” quite capably on the show during what looks like the early 1970s. Cher’s office attire hearkens back to her 1978 skit on Cher…Special.

Cher on Social Media

“Never go full Cher” is now a Twitter thing. (Twitchy)

Do you ever ponder what Cher means when she calls you Bitch. I often do; but I think for Cher the term Bitch is somewhat synonymous with Chica, more lighthearted than insulting. Am I wrong about that? Am I just being one stupid bitch? In any case, one Irish fan is confused.

Cher made an anniversary tweet on June 28 marking her 50 years in entertainment.

By the way, Richie Sambora, (the old fling), just released a cover of "I Got You Babe."

Harper’s Bazaar has just published an ode to Cher’s Twittering.

Peripherals

My friend Christopher just sent me this link to an article about David Geffen selling his Malibu house in which is referred to as "music/film mogul and Cher ex." In light of Geffen's mogulry, Christopher found this extraordinary, saying,

"I thought you would appreciate how in this article on one of the biggest power brokers in Hollywood, they choose to give equal weight to his identity as the ex-lover of Cher as they do his epic accomplishments as a "music/film mogul," making that relationship so central to his identity, even though he has identified as gay for several decades and the bisexual fling with Cher was almost forty years ago.

It either speaks to the supreme importance one can gain via association with Cher, or the reporter's mistrust of readers' knowledge of what a significant industry force Geffen is.

As she inches ever closer to the BIG 7-0, yet still more of the world revolves around Cher than she may realize."

Chaz Bono and Caitlyn Jenner: Are They Friends or Fuedin?

In Billboard, Chaz gives support but would rather talk about his acting career.

In Starpulse, it's all jealousies and mayhem.

Jennifer Lawrence Does a Cher impression

If you remember, my parents think Lawrence is very Cherlike. But I don't think this proves it.

Cherrants, Dave Letterman Tributes and Cherbits

June 7, 2015 / Cher Scholar / 1 Comment

Social Mediums

Recently I also made an effort to check out Cher’s Facebook page. Reportedly she’s been posting more there and happy to have more room to speak her mind. But she doesn't post there as often as she does on Twitter and her tweets continue to make news on an almost weekly basis:

Cher on Obama and the ISIS war: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/27/cher-is-not-impressed-with-obama-s-isis-war.html

Cher being frustrated with the black hole that is Pinterest: http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a28569/cher-pinterest-twitter/

Pure Gossip

Cher is allegedly giving advice to Bruce Jenner and Kim Kardashian vis a vis transtioning.

Peripherals

Chaz Bono is still helping out on the West Hollywood election of Heidi: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3096389/Chaz-Bono-campaigns-help-former-bandmate-try-win-local-council-election.html

Old Boyfriends: Gene Simmons talks about the Cher/Diana Ross transition: http://www.guelphmercury.com/whatson-story/5653999-gene-simmons-fell-for-diana-ross-while-dating-cher/

Music

Autotune appreciation: http://wgno.com/2015/05/26/the-invention-that-changed-music-forever/

Television

David Letterman exists late night. This was cause for many trips down memory lane for the press, including many instances of Cher on the show.

The article describes the taking of the photograph above: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/photo-cher-peeping-dave-offered-laugh-article-1.2230110

More Cher/Dave reminisence: http://decider.com/2015/05/22/today-in-tv-history-cher-made-her-first-letterman-appearance-called-dave-an-asshole/

Okay so I was not prepared for my melodramatic sobs during the final episode. For the past 20 years I’ve only watched the show if Cher was on it. I stopped watching back in the NBC days. But the exit of Letterman affected me very emotionally for many reasons, none of which have anything to do with Cher.

It was time for Letterman to retire. Just like Johnny Carson did. The new kids have taken Letterman’s comedic and talk-show achievements and are now building further on them. This is as it should be. And as the tributes of Letterman have shown, the new comics revered him as he revered Carson.But it makes me sad for Letterman anyway. There’s a melancholy rightness about it but you still want time to stand still and time to bring you new and shiny things at the same time.
Although I hadn't been watching Letterman anymore, he represented "cutting edge" during my high school and college years. He was the acceptable alternative to Johnny Carson who Gen Xers like me did not relate to. Talk about ass holes. Ask Cher to tell a Johnny Carson story. Hopefully, we’ll get a bigger and more dramatic expletive. In any case, Carson was “tired ole” and Letterman was brilliant. The end of his show marks the mortality of most of my early cool sites. These mementos of cultural significance are retiring faster and faster. To make matters worse, most of my co-workers are now too young to understand Letterman as a cultural significance for me or the idea of panic caused by losing something from your childhood and how the modern world is less emotionally significant because of it. I’ve never felt sentimental about aging before. I DO feel wiser, stronger and better able to understand the world’s dramas and political quagmires. So this feeling is new for me. And as a Gen Xer who was very emotionally attached to my television shows, this predicts rocky weather ahead for me.
Letterman is built like my dad. Same body, same big head. For years my Dad watched Letterman, back on NBC and CBS. Both are sarcastic masters. Letterman’s aging sadly reminds me of my dad’s mortality. Ugh!

Which reminds us, Anne Meara passed away last week. My earliest memory of her is on this mysterious talk or award show she appeared on with Jerry Stiller Sonny & Cher as a they joked together as a mirrored foursome. I’ve never seen that clip since. Did I imagine it? Was that a dream? Sad to see her go.

Cher Scholarship

Possible local location for the future Chersonian Institute!

Speaking of the Institute, one of my plans was to hang my Cher tapestries. Remember the Cher throw with the praying hands? The Believe-era shot from the Farewell Tour. I know I had one of these because it seriously creeped me out unfolding it, especially the back side. Over the last 10 years of moving I’ve lost it. Mr. Cher Scholar just purchased another one for me for my birthday. He said having worked at the Georgia O'Keeffe museum , he understood a "major acquisition" when he saw one. We re-opened it yesterday and I was freaked out again! That's one scary rug! Mr. Cher Scholar agreed and said it reminded him of the Shroud of Turin.

Twitterspats

Movie Memorializing

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour

Politics and Global Affairs

Cher’s Old Malibu House For Sale

Cher Music History

Bono v. Bono

Chaz

Gardel (2017)

"I Got You Babe’s" Punk Pedigree

CHeritage

Tweetage

New Way to Hand Over Your Money to Cher

Cher History

Cher, The Musical…Still in Progress

Witches of Eastwick

Cher Scholarship

Cher Style

Dolly and Cher

Peripherals

American Indian Appropriation

Social Mediums

Pure Gossip

Peripherals

Music

Television

Cher Scholarship

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