‘BATTLE’ IS WON
LL Cool J surprised as anyone that lip sync show’s a hit
Even rap royalty like LL Cool J must do what he can to keep the boss happy.
LL Cool J says that he needed to get a thumbs-up from CBS chief Les Moonves before being allowed to host Spike’s new hit show “Lip Sync Battle.”
Recounting his chat with the president and CEO of CBS, the star of the network’s hit “NCIS Los Angeles” tells us: “We talked about it for a while and he said, ‘You know what? Do it.’”
“He gave me a pass to do it,” LL says. “He was into the concept. He was supportive of it and I definitely never, ever cheat ‘NCIS’ in terms of time. It’s still my main focus, but I love this show as well, so I balance them.”
Having a recognizable star on different shows on different networks is typically frowned upon. That’s why LL went straight to the CBS honcho to seek permission in the first place.
“Lip Sync Battle” is a spinoff of the “Tonight Show” skit, created by Jimmy Fallon, John Krasinski and Stephen Merchant (the latter two of “The Office” fame). The new series features two celebrities lip-syncing famous songs, sometimes complete with choreography and props.
Before Thursday’s edition, a video from the Spike show of Anne Hathaway performing Miley Cyrus’ hit “Wrecking Ball” was viewed close to 10 million times on YouTube.
And this was a show that every single programming executive at NBC and its cable channels passed on, believing the concept to be “too small,” sources said.
“It’s insane,” says LL. “You never know what’s gonna hit.”
It’s a thought echoed by “Game of Thrones” creator, George R.R. Martin, who says TV executives rejected his ideas for years.
“Everything I did, the powers that be would say, `It's too big, George, this is going to be too expensive, make it smaller. I got fed up and figured I would return to prose and make it as big as my imagination. I said to myself, ‘It’ll never be filmed, it will be impossible to film, but I don't care,’” he says.
Martin says that the wild success of the hit HBO show and the books it is based shows that TV executives are not always as smart as they think. “All of this just proves, PROVES to me that nobody knows anything,” Martin says. *** Legendary “Face the Nation” anchor Bob Schieffer, 78, is hanging up his microphone early this summer after nearly 50 years with CBS News. He will be missed.
“Some of the biggest things that ever happened to me, happened after I was 65 years old,” Schieffer told us. “That’s an age when most people retire but I wrote three books — two were best sellers — anchored the evening news for two years and moderated three presidential debates. I think if I was a race horse they would say I’d have ‘late foot’ — I get a big kick out of that.”
Schieffer is one of the classiest acts on television and he’s straight out of the old school, answering his own phone and still doing most of his own legwork on stories.
“I can’t throw the fast ball as hard as I used to,” he says. “But I can still throw it pretty good.”