By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Sonny, Mykelti & Titanic News
Waking up to the news each morning continues to offer unpleasantsurprises these days. Yesterday, it was two hard-working, decent men suffering at their own hands. Sonny Bono may have been ahippie-turned-Republican. He may not have sung as well as Cher andcertainly needed plastic surgery more than she did. But he did whatfew men in show business could. He recreated himself, moving fromon-air buffoon to legitimate Congressman with the kind of hard work and perserverance that has made John Travolta more than just another moviestar. I guess that going on the slopes at 62 isn’t the worst fate, but it’s sad nonetheless.
Meanwhile, actor Mykelti Williamson has been arrested on charges of stalking and assault. We all should reserve judgment on the stalking chargewith so little information available to us. But, we do know thatWilliamson allegedly stabbed another man with a butcher knife,forever marginalizing himself as “that guy who stalked his wifeand stabbed that guy.” Tragic. After what would normally be a star-making turn as Bubba in Forrest Gump, Williamson found himself stuck in secondary roles in movies like Heat, Con Air and TNT’s Buffalo Soldiers.
In less tragic news, there are reports that NBC has bought the TV rights to Titanic and it looks like they got a real bargain. Rumors place the deal at $30 million for six showings. No doubt, the network will be going wall-to-wall from 7 P.M. to 11 P.M. some Sunday night in the year 2000.Figure that TV ad rates for top programming will be well over $1,000,000per minute by then and that the net will pull at least 32 minutes of adtime from the four-hour extravaganza. Can you smell the profit?