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American Morning

90-Second Pop, Culture Watch

Aired August 25, 2003 - 07:51   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is time for "90-Second Pop." Our fast-talking entertainment experts will spend 90 seconds each on three hot pop culture topics.
And joining us this morning is B.J. Sigesmund. He's an entertainment for "Newsweek." Andy Borowitz is a humorist, also the author of, "Who Moved my Soap?: the CEO's Guide to Surviving in Prison." That always makes me laugh each and every time I say that. You'd think after the 10th time I'd get over it, but no, it still cracks me up. And Toure, he's a contributing editor for "Rolling Stone" magazine.

Good morning. Nice to see you, guys. It's nice to have you all here in person.

B.J. SIGESMUND, "NEWSWEEK": Good morning.

ANDY BOROWITZ, HUMORIST: Good morning.

TOURE, "ROLLING STONE": Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk movies, B.J., first and foremast. A bad week. Not one movie I'd want to see.

SIGESMUND: Pitiful. Yes, it was a pitiful week. You know that it's bad when "Freddy vs. Jason" is the No. 1 movie for a second weekend in a row.

O'BRIEN: And now by $13 million, more or less?

SIGESMUND: Yes, but the bad news for the producers of that movie is it only made $13 million. Yes, this was the worst box office weekend in four months. But anyone who looked at last week's movies would have told you that -- that it was going to be terrible.

There were three new wide releases, though, none of which cracked even the top four. "The Medallion" did the best.

O'BRIEN: Jackie Chan.

SIGESMUND: That's the Jackie Chan movie. It came in at No. 5. No. 10 was "My Boss' Daughter," the movie with the presumably hot Ashton Kutcher.

O'BRIEN: A big question mark there.

SIGESMUND: Yes, I know. But the worst one of all was this movie "Marci X," which stars Lisa Kudrow...

TOURE: Oh, God!

SIGESMUND: ... who makes $1 million a week on "Friends," but this movie made less than $1 million -- worse than "Gigli."

O'BRIEN: You wished there were a way that you could actually, like, just send money in to bolster your own movie? You know, just a couple of weeks' pay.

(CROSSTALK)

BOROWITZ: Or at least to get them to not make the movie. If we give you enough, will you guys go away?

SIGESMUND: Yes.

BOROWITZ: I mean, "Marci X" is completely this ridiculous sort of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) comedy where black people act stupid.

O'BRIEN: What's it about? I just see it looks like a hip-hop versus a white...

SIGESMUND: She's a Jewish American princess who is put in charge of a rap hip-hop line -- I'm sorry, a hip-hop record line.

TOURE: But, I mean, I don't think if you watched the movie you would still know any more what it was about than this. I mean, I ran into Chris Rock the other day, and he said this was the worst script he was ever offered. I'm like, 'Well, what about the ones that didn't get made?' No, no, no, this was worse.

SIGESMUND: Amazing.

BOROWITZ: I thought "Freddy vs. Jason" was an interesting story, though, because this weekend Freddy moved slightly ahead of Jason in the California governor's race.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, let's talk about -- this is an interesting story. Michael Jackson is offering up Neverland, which is his home...

BOROWITZ: His home, that's for $5,000?

O'BRIEN: ... to 250 people for $5,000.

BOROWITZ: Right.

O'BRIEN: ... which brings in a little over a million. So, he says he's going to give a thousand bucks per person to charity. So, a quarter of million goes to charity.

TOURE: Oh! BOROWITZ: Well, just a consumer note, Tito is offering his house for 50 bucks. I mean, that's a better deal. But, you know, I thought, you know, $5,000 is very high, because he's giving out, like, a free commemorative poster or something. But you also get a rare glimpse of Michael Jackson's original head, which actually is in a glass case. And so, I think it's worth it. I think it might be worth it.

O'BRIEN: Do we know if he's going to be there? I mean, wouldn't that be worth it?

SIGESMUND: It seems like he's not necessarily going to be there. It's hosted at, not hosted by.

(CROSSTALK)

TOURE: Hopefully not perhaps, for the sake of the kids, maybe? I don't know.

SIGESMUND: You know, a lot of people are saying that he's doing this to help him with his presumed dead, because he's allegedly got $200 million in debt. But he's only inviting 250 people. Like, why not invite 10,000 people...

O'BRIEN: This weekend.

SIGESMUND: Yes, maybe it's a test, maybe it's a trial.

O'BRIEN: We'll see it ends.

SIGESMUND: Why not invite 10,000 people and make $50 million in one day?

BOROWITZ: I'm just waiting for the "New York Post" headlines. Whenever they do a headline about him, it's always, "Whacko Jacko." So, it will be Jacko's Whacko Shacko.

SIGESMUND: Also, I wanted...

O'BRIEN: You know they're going to steal that, right?

SIGESMUND: I wanted to mention one other thing, too. This is going to happen the same weekend as the presumed J.Lo-Ben Affleck wedding. So, if you're invited to that...

O'BRIEN: Didn't he say it was going to be (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SIGESMUND: ... this is going to be a tough...

TOURE: A touch choice.

SIGESMUND: ... a tough choice to make if you're invited to that wedding.

(CROSSTALK)

BOROWITZ: I've been wrestling with this all weekend now.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's turn and talk, Toure, about the California governor's race and actors. You know, here I am thinking...

TOURE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... that they're a loving, close bunch supporting each other?

TOURE: They always want to get into political race anyway, so, good. Don't let Arnold just use his celebrity and just bully his way through the race, which he's already losing anyway. But, I mean, like, let some other stars come up, and so people are, like, OK, there's star power on both sides.

O'BRIEN: There are a bunch of actors, we should sort of get that story here, come out saying that they're heavily against Arnold Schwarzenegger and CAA (ph) donating any time and effort and resources to his candidacy.

TOURE: Yes, yes, good.

BOROWITZ: Well, David Schwimmer, I guess, said that he's against it. You know, it's funny, because when I heard that, I thought David Schwimmer should stay out of politics (UNINTELLIGIBLE). But I remembered, I wanted him to get out of Aspen too.

SIGESMUND: But what I didn't understand, I mean, show business is filled with Democrats, so this shouldn't be surprising to anyone. But why did it take them this long? I mean, they're only now galvanizing. It's been weeks that we've been talking about Schwarzenegger.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: They were doing other projects.

BOROWITZ: I don't understand that.

TOURE: Yes, and we have a Democrat like Rob Lowe joining in with Arnold?

BOROWITZ: Yes, I mean, Cruz -- Bustamante came out against "Marci X." There's a lot of (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

O'BRIEN: You know what?

TOURE: But I think more people want to see Cruz than want to see "Marci X."

O'BRIEN: You guys can continue this conversation, but we're out of time. They're yelling at me from the control room. B.J. and Andy and Toure, as always, nice to see you guys. Nice to have you. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired August 25, 2003 - 07:51   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: It is time for "90-Second Pop." Our fast-talking entertainment experts will spend 90 seconds each on three hot pop culture topics.
And joining us this morning is B.J. Sigesmund. He's an entertainment for "Newsweek." Andy Borowitz is a humorist, also the author of, "Who Moved my Soap?: the CEO's Guide to Surviving in Prison." That always makes me laugh each and every time I say that. You'd think after the 10th time I'd get over it, but no, it still cracks me up. And Toure, he's a contributing editor for "Rolling Stone" magazine.

Good morning. Nice to see you, guys. It's nice to have you all here in person.

B.J. SIGESMUND, "NEWSWEEK": Good morning.

ANDY BOROWITZ, HUMORIST: Good morning.

TOURE, "ROLLING STONE": Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk movies, B.J., first and foremast. A bad week. Not one movie I'd want to see.

SIGESMUND: Pitiful. Yes, it was a pitiful week. You know that it's bad when "Freddy vs. Jason" is the No. 1 movie for a second weekend in a row.

O'BRIEN: And now by $13 million, more or less?

SIGESMUND: Yes, but the bad news for the producers of that movie is it only made $13 million. Yes, this was the worst box office weekend in four months. But anyone who looked at last week's movies would have told you that -- that it was going to be terrible.

There were three new wide releases, though, none of which cracked even the top four. "The Medallion" did the best.

O'BRIEN: Jackie Chan.

SIGESMUND: That's the Jackie Chan movie. It came in at No. 5. No. 10 was "My Boss' Daughter," the movie with the presumably hot Ashton Kutcher.

O'BRIEN: A big question mark there.

SIGESMUND: Yes, I know. But the worst one of all was this movie "Marci X," which stars Lisa Kudrow...

TOURE: Oh, God!

SIGESMUND: ... who makes $1 million a week on "Friends," but this movie made less than $1 million -- worse than "Gigli."

O'BRIEN: You wished there were a way that you could actually, like, just send money in to bolster your own movie? You know, just a couple of weeks' pay.

(CROSSTALK)

BOROWITZ: Or at least to get them to not make the movie. If we give you enough, will you guys go away?

SIGESMUND: Yes.

BOROWITZ: I mean, "Marci X" is completely this ridiculous sort of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) comedy where black people act stupid.

O'BRIEN: What's it about? I just see it looks like a hip-hop versus a white...

SIGESMUND: She's a Jewish American princess who is put in charge of a rap hip-hop line -- I'm sorry, a hip-hop record line.

TOURE: But, I mean, I don't think if you watched the movie you would still know any more what it was about than this. I mean, I ran into Chris Rock the other day, and he said this was the worst script he was ever offered. I'm like, 'Well, what about the ones that didn't get made?' No, no, no, this was worse.

SIGESMUND: Amazing.

BOROWITZ: I thought "Freddy vs. Jason" was an interesting story, though, because this weekend Freddy moved slightly ahead of Jason in the California governor's race.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: All right, Andy, let's talk about -- this is an interesting story. Michael Jackson is offering up Neverland, which is his home...

BOROWITZ: His home, that's for $5,000?

O'BRIEN: ... to 250 people for $5,000.

BOROWITZ: Right.

O'BRIEN: ... which brings in a little over a million. So, he says he's going to give a thousand bucks per person to charity. So, a quarter of million goes to charity.

TOURE: Oh! BOROWITZ: Well, just a consumer note, Tito is offering his house for 50 bucks. I mean, that's a better deal. But, you know, I thought, you know, $5,000 is very high, because he's giving out, like, a free commemorative poster or something. But you also get a rare glimpse of Michael Jackson's original head, which actually is in a glass case. And so, I think it's worth it. I think it might be worth it.

O'BRIEN: Do we know if he's going to be there? I mean, wouldn't that be worth it?

SIGESMUND: It seems like he's not necessarily going to be there. It's hosted at, not hosted by.

(CROSSTALK)

TOURE: Hopefully not perhaps, for the sake of the kids, maybe? I don't know.

SIGESMUND: You know, a lot of people are saying that he's doing this to help him with his presumed dead, because he's allegedly got $200 million in debt. But he's only inviting 250 people. Like, why not invite 10,000 people...

O'BRIEN: This weekend.

SIGESMUND: Yes, maybe it's a test, maybe it's a trial.

O'BRIEN: We'll see it ends.

SIGESMUND: Why not invite 10,000 people and make $50 million in one day?

BOROWITZ: I'm just waiting for the "New York Post" headlines. Whenever they do a headline about him, it's always, "Whacko Jacko." So, it will be Jacko's Whacko Shacko.

SIGESMUND: Also, I wanted...

O'BRIEN: You know they're going to steal that, right?

SIGESMUND: I wanted to mention one other thing, too. This is going to happen the same weekend as the presumed J.Lo-Ben Affleck wedding. So, if you're invited to that...

O'BRIEN: Didn't he say it was going to be (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

SIGESMUND: ... this is going to be a tough...

TOURE: A touch choice.

SIGESMUND: ... a tough choice to make if you're invited to that wedding.

(CROSSTALK)

BOROWITZ: I've been wrestling with this all weekend now.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's turn and talk, Toure, about the California governor's race and actors. You know, here I am thinking...

TOURE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... that they're a loving, close bunch supporting each other?

TOURE: They always want to get into political race anyway, so, good. Don't let Arnold just use his celebrity and just bully his way through the race, which he's already losing anyway. But, I mean, like, let some other stars come up, and so people are, like, OK, there's star power on both sides.

O'BRIEN: There are a bunch of actors, we should sort of get that story here, come out saying that they're heavily against Arnold Schwarzenegger and CAA (ph) donating any time and effort and resources to his candidacy.

TOURE: Yes, yes, good.

BOROWITZ: Well, David Schwimmer, I guess, said that he's against it. You know, it's funny, because when I heard that, I thought David Schwimmer should stay out of politics (UNINTELLIGIBLE). But I remembered, I wanted him to get out of Aspen too.

SIGESMUND: But what I didn't understand, I mean, show business is filled with Democrats, so this shouldn't be surprising to anyone. But why did it take them this long? I mean, they're only now galvanizing. It's been weeks that we've been talking about Schwarzenegger.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: They were doing other projects.

BOROWITZ: I don't understand that.

TOURE: Yes, and we have a Democrat like Rob Lowe joining in with Arnold?

BOROWITZ: Yes, I mean, Cruz -- Bustamante came out against "Marci X." There's a lot of (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

O'BRIEN: You know what?

TOURE: But I think more people want to see Cruz than want to see "Marci X."

O'BRIEN: You guys can continue this conversation, but we're out of time. They're yelling at me from the control room. B.J. and Andy and Toure, as always, nice to see you guys. Nice to have you. Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.