58 | FEBRUARY 2 • 2023
CELEBRITY NEWS
ARTS&LIFE
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
BRADY’S FANS, THE ARK,
DAILY SHOW GUEST
HOSTS, GRAMMYS
80 for Brady opens in the-
aters on Feb. 3. It’s based
on a real story. Four Boston-
area senior women bonded
over the fact that they were
all fans of Tom Brady, then
the New England Patriots
star quarterback. Long story
short: Brady became aware
of the “Brady Club” and
he befriended them. A few
years ago, he got Paramount
to “greenlight” a movie
about the group. He pro-
duced 80 and he appears in
the film as himself.
Four big stars play the
club members: Jane Fonda,
85; Rita Moreno, 91; Detroit
native Lily Tomlin, 83; and
Sally Field, 76. The sup-
porting cast includes Bob
Balaban, 77, and Sara
Gilbert, 47.
In case you were wonder-
ing: Moreno’s late husband
was Jewish (one child), and
Field’s (second) ex-husband
is Jewish (one child).
The screenplay was
co-written by Emily Halpern,
42. She is a Boston-area
native and a Harvard grad.
She’s been writing TV shows
and films since 2005. Her
credits include co-writing the
hit film Booksmart (2019).
Halpern authored a beau-
tifully written article com-
paring her emotions during
the height of the pandemic
to her feelings after her
adored father died while
hiking in bad weather. She
was 15 and he was 50. (To
read the article, Google:
Emily Halpern plus “Modern
Loss”). Here’s hoping that 80
is as well-written. Too many
comedies about seniors are
way too cute. Seniors aren’t
pets or toddlers.
The Ark premiered on the
SyFy cable channel on Feb.
1 (easy to catch-up). It is a
10-episode series set 100
years in the future. It follows
the crew of a spacecraft,
known as Ark One, who
struggle to survive after a
catastrophic event kills many
crew members and damages
the ship.
Lisa Brenner, 48, stars as
Commander Susan Ingram.
The series was created by
Dean Devlin, 60. Devlin
is best known for pro-
ducing and co-writing the
Independence Day films,
which had major Jewish
characters.
Devlin, the son of a Jewish
father and a Filipino mother,
is a practicing Jew. Brenner
(born Lisa Goldstein) married
Devlin in 2003 and they
have two children. Brenner
has appeared in many guest
shots and in several recur-
ring TV roles.
Trevor Noah decided to
stop hosting The Daily Show
and he left his Comedy
Central show on Dec. 8.
Since then, guest hosts have
taken Noah’s place. The line-
up of guest hosts includes Al
Franken, Sarah Silverman
and Chelsea Handler.
When Franken will appear
hasn’t yet been announced.
However, Handler and
Silverman’s hosting dates
were just released.
Handler, 47, will guest host
on Monday, Feb. 6 (11 p.m.)
though Thursday, Feb. 9.
Silverman, 52, will host from
Monday, Feb. 13, through
Thursday, Feb. 16. If you
don’t have Comedy Central,
go to YouTube, where the
channel posts long Daily
Show excerpts.
Interest in the Grammys
has declined for decades
as have the viewership
numbers for the awards
ceremony. Of course, every
broadcast show has declined
in ratings due to competition
from streaming channels,
etc. But there are many more
factors. Too many to list here.
Suffice it to say that the
biggest reason is that the
music market has fragment-
ed. Most people older than,
say, 35, don’t even know the
names of bestselling musi-
cians anymore. Most fans of
one genre (like rap) really
don’t pay attention to any
other genre.
Fifteen years ago, there
were scores of Jewish
nominees. That’s not true
today and I don’t know all
the reasons. No doubt, “the
aging” of the Jewish popula-
tion has a lot to do with this.
Popular music popularity is
mostly confined to young
performers, songwriters and
producers.
That all said, here are
some of the Jewish nom-
inees for 2023 Grammys.
The ceremony will be broad-
cast on CBS, on Feb. 5, at 8
p.m.
Greg Kurstin, 52, is
3x-nominated for three
recordings sung by Adele
(producer, record of the year
and the album of the year;
and he co-wrote the song of
the year, “Easy on Me”); The
Black Keys band, featuring
Dan Auerbach, 43, for best
rock performance and best
rock album. Auerbach’s
father was Jewish; rock
group Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs,
for best alternative music
album. Their drummer is
Brian Chase, 44; (Aubrey)
Drake, 44, is up for six
awards, all in the rap cate-
gory; Janis Siegel, 70, has
been a member of the vocal
group Manhattan Transfer
since it was founded in 1969.
The Transfer is nominated
for best jazz vocal album;
Asleep at the Wheel (band)
for the best Americana song
performance. The band’s
front guy is Ray Benson, 71;
and Mel Brooks, 96, for best
audio book — reading All
About Me!: My Remarkable
Life in Show Business.
U.S. SENATE PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO
Al Franken
ALI SHAKER/VOA
Sarah Silverman
US DEPT. OF EDUCATION
Chelsea Handler