daily reporters
L.A. TV NEWS PIONEER
MAKES HISTORY AGAIN
After 50 years of daily newscasts and quarterly TV specials, longtime KCBS and KNBC news personality David Sheehan is making history for the second time.
In 1970 Sheehan was the first entertainment reporter-critic on a newscast in the history of television.
Now, Sheehan has fashioned what he calls his "swan song show”, a Pre-Oscar video special entitled "AND THE WINNERS ARE …”, which turns out to have more major stars (25) than any hour-long show in the history of television.
"AND THE WINNERS ARE …” is a fast-paced 60-minute spectacular featuring 25 of Sheehan’s movie star interviews of the most famous Oscar winners (and losers) from the past five decades, including screen icons Marlon Brando, Woody Allen, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sylvester Stallone, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Robin Williams, Al Pacino, and ten more.
The show’s opening segment very poignantly deals with the Oscar controversy over African-Americans being completely left out of the nominations this year, and last. Will Smith, who fostered the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite trending social media protest (with wife Jada Pinkett), is the leadoff star, while Oscar winners Denzel Washington, Halle Berry and Morgan Freeman are on hand as reminders that the Academy Awards weren’t always so whitewashed.
"AND THE WINNERS ARE …" also pays tribute to famous faces now gone, with a “best of” series of interview insights from Marlon Brando, Robin Williams and Paul Newman. Multiple Oscar winners like Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Woody Allen, and Clint Eastwood are part of the festivities, and actors in the Oscar ‘losers’ category include John Travolta, Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio (who looks likely to attain ‘winner’ status Sunday night).
The outspoken thoughts and feelings of the stars, including the impact of fame on their humanity, offer a bristling kaleidoscope of attitudes about Oscar, ranging from outright hatred and disdain to loving the acclaim and even enjoying the race.
"AND THE WINNERS ARE …” launches Thursday, February 25, 2016 streaming on YouTube, Facebook, Starz, JLTV and three different popular social media platforms in Italy, France and Spain, with a worldwide audience estimated to potentially be more than 100 million. A half-hour version of the show will also be broadcast one-time-only on local television station FOX13 in Los Angeles at 11pm ‘the night before the Oscars’ Saturday February 27.
All proceeds from "AND THE WINNERS ARE …” go to benefit the noble work of Sheehan’s three favorite
charities: Children of The Night in Van Nuys, California; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee; and the Los Angeles Mission in downtown L.A. and Hollywood.
“AND THE WINNERS ARE …” is a production of Hollywood Close-Ups, Inc., written and produced by David Sheehan, with noted editor/producer Derek Bloom, additional editing by John Diamond and Tod Hilman, coordinating producer Susan Haymer, associate producer Jeffrey Jacobs and executive producer Kellyann Chippendale.
The show is sponsored by Carnival Cruise Lines with its 10 world’s leading cruise brands, the Disney Company with its new March movie “Zootopia”, and VCI Home Entertainment with its newly minted DVD release of “Pippin”, the Tony Award winning Broadway musical by Oscar winner Bob Fosse, who happens to be one of only three directors in "AND THE WINNERS ARE …”, the other two being Eastwood, and Italy’s Federico Fellini.
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