Scientology's celebrities finally getting involved with Scientology TV
Has it really been seven years that Scientology TV has been on the air, pumping out unwatchable propaganda 24 hours a day? Can you believe it?
From the start, church leader David Miscavige’s broadcast experiment on DirecTV was a big fat failure, in large part because none of Scientology’s vaunted celebrities would go near the thing.
Where was Tom Cruise? And John Travolta? Shouldn’t they be running reruns of Elisabeth Moss’s scenes from The Handmaid’s Tale or something?
Well, we kid, but seriously, this is just wretched stuff, and despite the millions and millions that Dave has thrown at it, it’s made zero impact on Scientology’s terrible reputation with the press and public.
Is that about to change? Well, Dave’s finally going to get some celebrity involvement in this thing, according to what we found in one of three new slide shows that suddenly appeared at Scientology’s website.
One of the slide shows was from the Dianetics 75th Anniversary celebration that was held on May 10 at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida. At the event, Dave revealed that a new season of Scientology TV will premiere on Monday, and one of the new shows is going to feature Veronica Mars actor Jason Dohring, titled “Dianetics: Clear Talk”…
Dianetics: Clear Talk marks the night’s next big announcement, a new talk show, filmed before a live audience on Scientology Network. Hosted by TV star Jason Dohring, and interviewing award-winning actress Erika Christensen in the premiere, the show features entertainers, entrepreneurs, athletes and more from all walks of life, sharing personal stories of how Dianetics changed their lives.
And hey, both Erika and Jason also happened to be in the front row at the event, to help Miscavige make the big reveal.
And by the way, we had wondered if Dave, the Chairman of the Board, would bother to attend this event at all. We had learned that he skipped the Dianetics 50th Anniversary event in 2000, and Alex Barnes-Ross told us he thought Miscavige might skip this one as well.
But no, C.O.B. was front and center for this shindig, and why not? He lives in Clearwater now, and it was just a short drive from the Hacienda to the hall.
Besides the Dohring show, the event also announced that Kerri Kasem is getting a podcast to talk about Scientology, which ought to be exciting as all get out.
As for the audience, we scanned the front row for celebrities, but the showing was pretty sparse. The Agamis were there — the wealthy Mexico City family of developers who built Tom Cruise’s Clearwater condo — as well as other big donors like the Atkinson-Bakers, Tom and Victoria Cummins, Jim Bridgeforth, and of course the biggest whale of all, Trish Duggan.
We spotted Jim Mathers in the second row, for those of you wondering where he’s been, and piano man Stephen Ridley was also in the crowd.
And a bit of a surprise was to see Grant and Elena Cardone in the front row. It’s been a while since we’ve seen them at an event.
Click on this shot to embiggen it, and let us know who else you spot in the crowd.
As for the substance of the event, it was the usual rah-rah about how Dianetics is the greatest book ever published and L. Ron Hubbard the most translated author in the world, yadda, yadda, yadda, and a new edition is going to outsell all the rest…
The Dianetics 75th Anniversary editions, coming this summer, will include a hardcover, a full-sized deluxe softcover and a sleek new pocket-sized book. Dianetics will also be available as an eBook on Kindle and other platforms—featuring a built-in touch-screen glossary of Dianetics terms, exactly as written by LRH. And likewise in summer, the Dianetics audiobook will launch on Audible, Apple Books and more.
Hip, hip, hooray!
Meanwhile, Dave put out two additional slide shows. One was for an event he didn’t attend, the grand opening of the Elizabeth, New Jersey house where Hubbard was living with his second wife, Sara, and their newborn, Alexis, when Dianetics was published in 1950. (Of course, there’s not a trace about Sara or Alexis at the restored house or on any Scientology website.)
We already showed you some pretty pictures from inside the restored house, but we thought you might want to see the rope-pull with the shills who had given speeches at the event…
From left to right, that’s the official from CST/Heritage Properties; an unidentified woman; Jennifer Costa, president and CEO of the Greater Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce; Thomas B. Connolly, architect; Dr. Apostle Lemmew Samuel, Evangelical Assembly founder; Capt. Steve Nagiewicz, master mariner and Explorers Club executive director emeritus; and Dr. Monica Sanchez Dean, United Nations Education Institute.
The third slide show was from the recent grand opening of an Ideal Org in the city formerly known as Port Elizabeth in South Africa. Miscavige was in attendance for the opening of the “Church of Scientology Eastern Cape,” and shared the stage not only with the usual whales, but also a couple of elephants!
We don’t recognize any of the South African folks helping Dave pull the rope, but perhaps some of our readers can identify them for us.
As for Dave, he was looking like the flight over had been a bit fatiguing.
A new Ideal Org, a new L. Ron Hubbard holy shrine, a new edition of Dianetics, and a new season of Scientology TV premiering on Monday.
This planet will be cleared in no time!
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Hmm. A couple of years ago, my daughter Jessica Baxter was receiving a birthday award as Commanding Officer Africa. She’s not in the photo of the Eastern Cape org opening, so I guess she’s no longer on that post. I’m not sure of her last name any more, but I’d appreciate your help if you know where she is nowadays. Thanks so much ❤️
Michael Roberts in the wide front row of the event photo, on the side right, I believe. He's just as diehard as they get.
The backer rows I don't recognize anyone, anymore. The shifting sands of Scientology clinger on-ers.
I think they ought to put a secret Xenu in all their group photos, so at least bored viewers of their photos and events, people would be interested to try to find Waldo type of gag. (I love to "embiggen" the photos to watch who's there. Dismal backrowers this time though. It used to be in the 80s, loads of staff were allowed closer to the stage seats, not now though.)