Tattle: Oprah Winfrey remains atop Forbes celebrity earnings list
So what if OWN is searching for viewers the way presidential candidates are searching for undecided voters, Oprah still topped this year's Forbes celebrity-earners list, netting $165 million in the fiscal year ending in May.
Yes, it's $125 million down from the year before, but here at Tattle, once we pass $150 million, we stop counting.
Only $5 million behind Oprah is "Transformers" director Michael Bay ($160 million), and then it's a fairly steep drop to director/producer Steven Spielberg ($130 million). Next up is ubiquitous movie and TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer ($115 million) and music producer Dr. Dre ($110 million, mostly from the sale of part of his stake in the Beats by Dr. Dre headphone company).
The rest of the Top 20 includes Tyler Perry ($105 million), Howard Stern ($95 million), prolific author James Patterson ($94 million), George Lucas ($90 million, from "Star Wars," not "Red Tails"), Simon Cowell ($90 million), Glenn Beck ($80 million), Elton John ($80 million), Tom Cruise ($75 million), Penn alum and "Law & Order" guru Dick Wolf ($70 million), Rush Limbaugh ($69 million), boxer Manny Pacquiao ($67 million), Dr. Phil McGraw ($64 million), Donald Trump ($63 million), Ryan Seacrest ($59 million), Britney Spears ($58 million) and Tiger Woods ($58 million).
Tattle has no idea what to make of this list. Although it's clear that talent is a help, it is by no means a necessity.
ABC becomes Spike TV
The Los Angeles Times repo! rts that ABC has acquired the TV rights to Spike Lee's upcoming Michael Jackson documentary, "Bad 25," the network announced Tuesday."This will be a very special Thanksgiving for all families to enjoy the genius of Michael Jackson," Lee said in a statement. "Big thanks to ABC for allowing people to witness the making of Michael Jackson's 'Bad' album."
"Bad 25" will premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival.
*Investigators have determined that a fire at filmmaker Tyler Perry's Atlanta studios was caused by careless smoking.
When is smoking not careless behavior?
Don't bootleg 'Lawless'
Writer Matt Bondurant hit town a few weeks ago to help promote "Lawless," based on his fictionalized family history The Wettest County in the World, touching on his forebearers' activities as Virginia moonshiners during Prohibition.See the movie review on Page 32.
It wasn't an easy history to uncover. Although descendants knew superficial details, Bondurant discovered some of the more choice and violent details through arduous research.
"There's no oral history, really, to draw from," he told People Paper movie critic Gary Thompson. "You don't talk about moonshine, in general. It's not something you sit around and chat about. In the old days, you could get in a lot of trouble for that. Silence has always been part of the culture."
Through old news clippings, he learned his Virginia relatives had fought a mini-war with government agents looking for a cut of the business, a story that attracted the attention of John Hillcoat, fresh off his adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
"I heard there was some interest, but didn't think much of it, because 99 percent of the time, nothing comes of it," Bondurant said. Then he read trade-industry reports that Hillcoat was officially attached, along with some talent.
!"I sta! rted to believe it might happen when I saw Shia LaBeouf was on board, because I knew he had some weight." LaBeouf plays one of three Bondurant brothers (along with Tom Hardy and Jason Clarke) who end up making a stand against corrupt officers of the law.
TATTBITS
*Will.i.am has premiered his new single - from Mars.The NASA rover Curiosity beamed to Earth his new song "Reach for the Stars" on Tuesday in the first music broadcast from another planet, to the delight of students who gathered at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to listen.
The song had been uploaded to the rover, which landed near the equator of Mars, and played it back - a journey of some 700 million miles.
And it sounded clearer than your wireless phone.
Will.i.am, who promotes science and mathematics education, was among more than a dozen celebrities who were invited to the laboratory to watch Curiosity's landing earlier this month. Others included Wil Wheaton, Philadelphia native Seth Green and Morgan Freeman.
In 2008, NASA beamed the Beatles' "Across the Universe" into the cosmos to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the song.
*Scott Wilson, an actor on the TV show "The Walking Dead," has been charged with driving drunk in Georgia, where the show is filmed.