Mailbag for July 19, 2024
Ariana's "ascension" with Love Island USA, what left me gobsmacked, Fassbender's well-timed "break", Brooke Shields on hold, Jon Hamm's best, Reservation Dogs and the Emmys, and some LG nostalgia
Dear Squawkers,
I have never watched an episode of Vanderpump Rules. During the early seasons, when I heard some of my colleagues talking about it, I thought it was about the restaurant industry? Maybe it still is? Whatever, don’t care. I’m only telling you this because I want to establish that I have no background on the people from Vanderpump. Of course, I know about Scandoval, because it was inescapable, but beyond the facts of the matter – that Ariana was with one of the Toms for years until he cheated on her with her best friend Rachel or Raquel – I am far from an expert. For our purposes today, the only reason why Scandoval is relevant is because… holy shit, what a career turn for Ariana Madix. Which, naturally, brings me to Love Island USA season six.
This is the breakout hit of the summer in North America. Per Variety, the show “was the No. 1 most-watched streaming original series in the U.S. during the week of July 5-11, hitting 919.1 million minutes watched, per Luminate. While Season 6 has consistently ranked on Luminate’s charts since its debut during the June 14-20 window, this has been its biggest week by far, marking a 61% jump in viewership from the previous week and a 257% increase from its debut week.”
Again, in its SIXTH season. This is rare. And also… it’s on Peacock! Probably the lowest tier streamer. And still, somehow, people are finding it. A lot of people are finding it. More people are streaming Love Island USA than any other show right now. And considering that the OG, Love Island UK, has until now always been seen as superior, the student, it would seem, has surpassed the master.
I’ve been watching Love Island USA since season one. In fact, USA was the first season of Love Island anywhere that I’ve ever watched. So I’ve been able to track the dramatic improvement in production and storytelling season over season. They’ve made such smart decisions, not just with the casting but with the pacing and the game play. Games on Love Island used to be stupid throwaway time killers. This season almost all the games had teeth and direct impact on the Islanders’ relationships. Also… that twist with Casa Amor and giving the boys a choice to go or to not go – brilliant. I would love a documentary one day on how they make Love Island. But, for now, executive producer Simon Thomas did an interview with Rolling Stone this week and there’s so much Show Your Work in this piece about how the show runs behind the scenes. Remember, they’re basically doing this in real time, turning around hours of footage in a day or less and doing it for over a month straight, resulting in a smash hit. Kathleen sent this to me yesterday, it’s hilarious, but it’s facts!
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That’s just one of soooooooo many social media posts over the last month about Love Island USA and it’s become gold for Peacock and the producers. Love Island USA dominates my group chats; it’s the only thing Kathleen and I have been texting about for over a week; it’s practically the only thing Jacek and I talk about. We make sure we are free and clear every night at 9pm sharp to see what new fuckery these people have been up to over the last 24 hours. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, when there are no new episodes, our lives feel empty, LOL.
Last night was family night and Odell Beckham Jr actually showed up for Kordell and he’s talking about being at Michael Rubin’s Fourth of July party in the Hamptons with all those celebrities and all of them are coming up to him only wanting to talk about Kordell and Serena and Love Island USA. The show is hitting with civilians and celebrities, all classes everywhere.
So to go back to Ariana, and the fucking timing (!) of her joining the show as the host THIS season in particular?! It’s only been 15 months since Scandoval. And in that time, she’s been on Dancing With The Stars and performed on Broadway and she’s secured brand partnerships, so it was already a major upswing but then, then she went and got the job hosting the most successful show of the summer?! It’s a spectacular lemons-to-lemonade situation.
Ariana made a cameo appearance last season and there was already a hint then that she’d be great as a regular because the Islanders were obsessed with her. But the hosting job was taken at the time – Sarah Hyland was in her second year. Sarah, however, couldn’t do both Love Island USA and Little Shop of Horrors, so the producers offered it to Ariana, another genius move.
Paper Mag called Ariana’s Love Island debut an “ascension”. She is serving looks! She’s never looked better! The hair, the makeup, the body…
And she’s really good at the fire pit. She’s collegial and warm when she needs to be. She is stern when she needs to be. She is impatient on occasion, and it makes for good television. Because she has good reality television instincts having had her own experience. That said, not every reality star makes for a good television presenter. See Kim Kardashian. Ariana, however, is killing it.
And now here we are, she’s attached to another franchise that, in its sixth season, has seen explosive growth. Which, in a much more devastating way, is also what happened with Vanderpump and Scandoval. That show was moderately successful before the scandal. That scandal was one of THE biggest stories of 2023. She’s the common denominator in both. And that makes her… an MVP.
Love Island USA’s season six finale airs on Sunday. You know what’s going to happen when it’s over? Aaron and Rob will be looking not for love but for their next reality tv opportunities.
OK, it’s mailbag time!
Question from Jenn:
You may have received this question or a variation of it in the past, but what celebrity new stories over the years have left you gobsmacked? I know you've seen a lot over the years, but is there a story in particular that was so out of character with a celebrity persona that it left your jaw on the floor?
Lainey’s Answer:
I may have received a variation of this question but probably my answers always change? So thank you for asking it.
This is not a good memory for anyone but, like, I feel like we were all gobsmacked, as you say, over Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars, right? Had it been Russell Crowe or Sean Penn, totally not a surprise. But Will Smith!? Will Smith is/was Mr Congeniality. Will Smith was on that campaign for months and hadn’t stepped a foot wrong. Hadn’t stepped a foot wrong in 30 years. Will Smith pretty much KNEW he would win that night. And then suddenly, on live television, on Hollywood’s biggest night, he just snaps?!
Everyone I know, and we were madly texting that night, was confused, in disbelief. Did I… did he… was that… ?
Surreal is an understatement. Looking back, I’m still not entirely sure it happened and wasn’t just a fucked up dream. I think that pretty much checks off all the boxes of your question, right?
Gobsmacked? Absolutely.
Out of character with a celebrity persona? 100%
It’s also interesting to think about that incident and the reaction to it in hindsight. And I hope we can talk about it with some nuance now that two years have passed. Looking back, I think our coverage was fair. We called out Will’s behaviour, but we also tried to focus on Jada Pinkett Smith’s experience – how something she is sensitive about (alopecia) was mocked on that stage, how hurtful that must have been, and then to watch her husband, in a misguided attempt to defend her, embarrass himself like that. At no point we were justifying Will’s actions, but Sarah and I did extensively discuss what the tone of our reporting should be. And we were determined not to vilify, not to just be like, HE’S A TERRIBLE PERSON FUCK HIM FOREVER …even though, honestly? Our inboxes were filled with outrage from people, some of them demanding that we write more harshly about Will. Others told us they were disgusted with us that we weren’t calling for his arrest and shaming him more.
It was, frankly, illuminating. There was one regular site visitor and regular emailer who would message every single day for two weeks like it was her job to convince us that Will Smith was a criminal. She’d never put that much energy, or any energy, into Johnny Depp’s fuckshit or Brad Pitt’s mess but here she was, consistently, with email after email about how Will Smith Is A Problem. I’m sure I don’t have to spell out for you what my takeaway was – and it proved again what I always say about gossip: that it reveals more about us than it does about the people we are gossiping about.
Question from Phyl:
Fassbender is in The Killer on Netflix. Where has THAT guy been? And Alicia Vikander? They seemed to disappear for a while. What’s the gossip?
Sarah’s answer:
Well, the gossip is that Fassbender’s ex, Sunawin Andrews, filed a restraining order against him in 2010 alleging physical abuse, and the allegations resurfaced in 2018 during the #MeToo movement. Fassbender was busy throughout the 2010s—with those allegations on his public record the whole time—but he didn’t appear in anything in 2018, which meant he never had to sit in front of the entertainment media when he was a heatscore for alleged abuse. He then appeared in X-Men: Dark Phoenix in 2019, where no one asked him any uncomfortable questions, and then he “retired”, which turned out to be a four-year hiatus while he pursued auto racing. So this is where he’s really been: living his Paul Newman fantasy, competing in motorsports.
Alicia Vikander worked consistently during that time, including appearing in The Green Knight, Firebrand, and Rumours, which just premiered at Cannes this May. She also starred in HBO’s remake of Irma Vep, but no one watched it. On her side of the line, I think it’s more an instance of the work she’s doing isn’t catching on in the mainstream, but she has had new projects out every year, even 2020, when many actors don’t have any official credits.
Fassbender’s break was timed perfectly. I think he was, to some extent, disillusioned with the direction his career was going—neither X-Men nor the Alien franchise were particularly beneficial to him—but I also think he ducked out just when the heat was getting turned up on him, and hey, it worked. He went away, never said anything on the record about any of it and returns just as whatever gains made by #MeToo have been reversed and the culture, at least, has moved on from those conversations (for now). He and Alicia are good at disappearing between projects—they live in Portugal, not exactly a hotbed of paparazzi activity—which he used to his advantage during a very difficult time.
Question from Bentia:
I think it's worth talking about Brooke Shields being an actual labor boss now since she is President of The Actor's Equity Association representing theater actors and stage managers. She's taken over at an interesting time as the union has ceased giving out development contracts as negotiations with The Broadway League have stalled. Oh and Disney theme park performers have just voted to unionize into TEA so she needs to deal with that as well.
Sarah’s answer:
This is a wait and see situation. We just have to see how Brooke Shields handles the negotiations currently on her plate, and those coming in re: the Disney park employees. No one had much of an opinion about Fran Drescher as a labor boss until she came out swinging when the actors went on strike last summer and proved to be the leader needed for the moment. Once Ms. Shields shows her work, we can assess it.
Question from MCarmona (in one of the daily chats):
"Did anyone notice that Jon Hamm gave his best television performance since Mad Men on Fargo season five?" Yes! Yes I did 👋🏻 give Jon Hamm all the prizes, pleasethanxbye
Lainey’s Answer:
I don’t watch Fargo, and I know, I know, I should. But there is so much TV, sorry! I’m still trying to get caught up on Hacks and Loki and make time for my beloved C and K-dramas. Anyway, yes, I’ve heard about Jon Hamm, and he’s just become a double Emmy nominee again for his performances in both Fargo and The Morning Show and in both roles, he’s once again morally ambiguous (to say the least), which is the kind of creative DNA he was excavating as Don Draper. So this, clearly, is where Jon Hamm thrives.
In light of this recent recognition, though, it’s worth briefly reviewing Jon’s career overall since Mad Men. And the big point I want to make is that he wasn’t in a hurry to find the next Don Draper/Mad Men. Not only was he not in a hurry, he wasn’t all about his ego in what parts he took on.
Mad Men ended in 2015 and, after 15 nominations, he won his first and only Emmy for that final season.
After that? A lot of his work has been in supporting roles. And sometimes goofy roles. Seems like he said yes to opportunities that may not have been great quality but just to work with people he enjoys? He pops in randomly at SNL. There’s been voice work. A lot of ensemble work. Top Gun: Maverick. He doesn’t need the money after Mad Men, so he doesn’t have to sweat the finances. And I appreciate that he’s not stomping around Hollywood all like “I WAS DON DRAPER, GODDAMMIT” and demanding to be #1 on the call sheet every single time. He also didn’t take out an ad campaign announcing that he’d quit TV and was looking for an Oscar.
All of this has served him well, so that when these two roles in Fargo and The Morning Show came along, he was primed for another double nominee run at the Emmy. Which, frankly, he probably won’t win. But it’s a reminder of Jon Hamm’s talent that’s actually different from what he gave us as Don Draper, which is that he’s actually a character actor with a matinee idol face.
As for what he’s like offscreen, I read a comment in the chat about how there are rumours that he’s a dick in real life. I’ve heard this, too, but not from any sources I regularly talk to, and it hasn’t been my personal experience, either. I’ve interviewed Jon Hamm twice. The last time was for Top Gun: Maverick, and it was virtual. Even virtually, when it’s hard to make a connection with someone, he was great – lively, funny, cheeky. Whatever that’s worth.
Sarah’s answer:
I will diagnose Jon Hamm with a 50% case of Leading Man Syndrome (idol looks, character actor talent), because he IS a good leading man. See also: Confess, Fletch, which is his best role since Mad Men, period, but as it’s a film, I excluded it from the Emmy/TV conversation. Jon Hamm CAN lead a project; he just doesn’t seem to want to. Not all the time, anyway. Some actors are happiest in an ensemble, Jon Hamm seems to be that type.
Question from Nadya:
I am having a hard time being excited about the Emmy’s when I think about how Reservation Dogs is treated compared to, say, Modern Family. I understand Modern Family was both good and impossibly broad in the beginning, BUT STILL. Why does Reservation Dogs never seem to get FYC momentum? It’s all over my Instagram, but granted I follow half the cast.
Sarah’s answer:
Racism! I mean, there IS a “too much TV” problem, and Emmy voters are no different from us, they can’t watch everything, either. But there is also something to Reservation Dogs being SO widely lauded—making significant Top 10 lists and being nominated by other significant bodies like the Peabody, Gotham Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, Critics Choice Awards, Writers Guild, and American Film Institute, while the Emmys ignored them. And a LOT of those organizations were on board since day 1, so what was the Emmys’ problem?
They do have a problem nominating new stuff, especially if said stuff isn’t an instant smash hit (like The Bear). But over the last few years as my own frustration with their lack of recognition mounted, I have discussed this with people I know who work in the industry, a couple of whom are Emmy voters, and they all said a variation on the same thing—the show makes people feel bad. And not because the show itself is a bummer—it’s no more a bummer than The Bear, and considerably less stressful—but because it’s an inescapable example of how Hollywood has failed Indigenous talent since, basically, forever.
This came up re: Lily Gladstone and her Oscar nomination. The Academy voter in my life thinks there was a cohort within the Academy who resented the “do the right thing” attitude many people took toward her nomination, that awarding her an Oscar was one way of atoning for the poor treatment of Indigenous people, both on screen and off, in the film industry since time immemorial. He said he’d heard more than one person dig in their heels about “only the performance matters” and discarding any larger socio-cultural implications of a Native American woman winning an acting Oscar. (Fine if that’s your attitude, but then don’t complain when people criticize the Oscars for being out of step culturally. That’s my problem—the same people who say “it’s just about the performance” also get mad when people criticize them. Can’t have it both ways!)
This is not to say all Emmy—or Oscar—voters are racist. And it’s not to discard the very real problem the Emmys, specifically, has with an overwhelming amount of quality material to consider every year. But it IS worth noting that Reservation Dogs ALSO has to deal with people within the industry who do not like being held accountable for the history of their industry. It’s a microcosm of a larger problem within America where we don’t like to reckon with our past in any kind of meaningful way. It is the ONLY problem? No. Is it A problem? Yes.
Question from Betts:
What’s the origin story of the What Else? Section. I love the desire to drive web traffic to other sites and vice versa, especially given what you all have outlined about the challenges facing publishing. Did you ever discuss it with those sites or have an explicit agreement?
Lainey’s Answer:
Your question is giving me licence to get nostalgic, Betts. So thank you. And I’ll explain.
We started LaineyGossip over 20 years ago, and I still double take whenever I say or write that because how the FUCK did it go by so fast? It doesn’t feel that long, but it has indeed been that long. We are OGs, I’m an OG (!), in that we were among the first wave of gossip blogs in the early 2000s alongside Perez Hilton, Dlisted, Fug, The Superficial, Socialite Life, PopSugar, JustJared, PinkIsTheNewBlog, etc.
Most of us just started doing it as a hobby, we had no idea what it could become. “Blogging” wasn’t even a real profession but we all turned it into one. In those early days, we were just trying to get noticed, and some of us reached out to each other, in the spirit of sharing and supporting, and we agreed to do link exchanges. That meant that we would try to send readers to each other to help each other grow.
At LaineyGossip, this was the genesis of the daily post called “Smutty Tingles”. At Dlisted, Michael K’s version of it was “Night Crumbs”. God, I miss him so much. Michael K is a fucking legend, and it’s heartbreaking to me that the volatility of the internet and how hard it is now to keep a website going has led to his departure from our gossip lives.
Smutty Tingles turned into What Else? when we launched a site redesign in 2017. Since we were giving LaineyGossip a glow-up, I wanted to add more value to what was then the Smutty Tingles section. Smutty Tingles, as an expression, felt like something we’d evolved away from. The early days of LaineyGossip, as you know, were dirty, for lack of a better word. And there’s a lot of regret that I have over so much of that content, which I’ve mentioned many times before. But in the years leading up to the redesign, we were growing, maturing, becoming more thoughtful and responsible with our coverage. It felt like it was time, with the relaunch, to move away from the word “smut” and live up to what I’d been crusading about where gossip is concerned: that it is not smut but sociology! And that’s why I changed the name to
What Else? and instead of writing just one line for each link, I put more thought behind what I was linking to. So that with every post on LaineyGossip, even if we’re sending you somewhere else, we’re always saying something, sharing an idea of our own that corresponds to the ideas we’re recommending to you.
The intention behind What Else?, however, remains the same as its predecessor Smutty Tingles in terms of supporting other sites. Occasionally I might link to an NYT piece, if it’s an article I’m thinking seriously about, or Rolling Stone, or a major outlet. But the majority of those links are meant to encourage people to visit smaller sites, like ours, running on limited/small budgets. We want them to survive, we want to survive with them. We believe that the internet needs small to medium sites like ours. And the viability of those sites is being threatened. So in producing a What Else? post every day, we are trying to do our part to make sure we can share as much as we can with our partners.
This is what’s making me nostalgic. Jacek and/or I have connected with the people behind each and every one of these small websites we link to. We have so much respect for our colleagues. When I think about Michael K and The Superficial’s Mike Redmond (who now writes at Pajiba) and Heather and Jessica at Fug and others who were around in 2003/2004, it’s pure affection. I don’t know them well, personally, but it’s about being at the same place at the same specific time and fucking having gone through it for two decades now and appreciating the tiny contributions we’ve made to this chaotic, terrifying, and thrilling thing called the Internet.
So thank YOU for riding with during these years. We hope you stay with us, at LaineyGossip but also here, at this community we’ve built together at The Squawk.
Keep squawking and keep gossiping,
Lainey and Sarah
I've been following LG and the Fug gals from the beginning, so I was walking down memory lane with you -- "Smutty Tingles" made me giggle to think about. I like the evolution LG has made, and that you consistently recognize and take responsibility for being a little snarky back in the day -- the entire culture was so snarky in the 'aughts. While I wouldn't want to go back to those meaner days of the early web, I have to admit I miss Ted Casablanca's blind items (Ted could have told Taylor that she and Toothy Tile would never last) and Television Without Pity's hilarious recaps.
And Jon Hamm! My favorite role of his, post Mad Men is definitely Rev. Richard Wayne Gary Wayne in The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; such a goofy role, and he totally commits. He's also great -- so menacing! -- in the latest season of Fargo. Never get tired of watching Jon Hamm. (I think too often about those photos where he was possibly going commando.)
Michael K!!!! I miss him so much. DListed and LaineyGossip have been my go to gossip sites forever. When he shut down DListed, I may have actually cried. No wait, I did cry. For real. Wherever he is, I hope he is doing well and knows how much he was and is loved.