Mucho Rudd, He-Man Movies Return, Dokoupil & Tur

“Power Ballad” opened in a very limited theater release on May 29 and opens “wide” on June 5. Here is the ‘official’ premise: Rick Power (PAUL RUDD, 57), a wedding singer, meets washed up former boy band singer Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas) at a wedding one night, and they bond over a jam session. After the jam session, Danny steals one of Rick’s songs, and it becomes a number one hit. This brings Danny back into popularity, leading to Rick seeking out revenge and recognition. (Footnote: Jonas was really a boy band star with his two brothers).

It’s a long time since I profiled Rudd. Here’s a bio re-cap: He was born in America. His parents are English Jews who settled in America. His father worked as a guide for the TWA airline. His father was mostly stationed in Kansas City, Missouri and the family lived in Lenexa, Kansas, a suburb.

Paul had a bar mitzvah and he majored in theater at the Univ. of Kansas. He’s a ‘rabid’ lifelong fan and supporter of Univ. of Kansas sports and Kansas City, Mo. pro sports. After college, he studied at a top acting school and he earned money as an emcee (often really funny) and a disc jockey at bar/bat mitzvahs.

His career took off pretty quickly. His breakthrough role was in “Clueless” (1994), a huge comedy film hit. He co-starred with ALICIA SILVERSTONE, now 49. Unlike Silverstone, he never stopped being in film hits—and he never appeared to age.

Years ago, I ferreted out his wife, JULIE YAEGER, 57, is the daughter of a Jewish mother and non-Jewish father. They wed (2003) before a rabbi (even though Rudd has said he isn’t “very religious”.) The couple have two children. After their marriage, Yaeger became a producer and screenwriter.

“Masters of the Universe” opens in theaters on June 5. It’s a fantasy action movie. He-Man began as a Mattel toy (1978), followed by illustrated novels, and then a big hit TV animated series in 1983. A He-Man movie opened in 1987 and it flopped.  Almost 30 years later, a new He-Man movie is here.

Nicholas Galtizine plays hero Prince Adam, AKA “He-Man.” He has some super powers. He battles with the fiendish Skeletor (Jared Leto). ALISON BRIE, 43, co-stars as Evil-Lyn, a secret sorceress who is an ally of Skeletor. But, as “Evelyn”, she pretends to be a friend of Adam.

Perhaps you’ve followed the goings-on in the CBS newsrooms. There are so many Jews involved in it, directly or a bit indirectly, I can’t even summarize it here. Let’s start with the new “CBS Evening News” anchor, TONY DOKOUPIL, 45, and his wife, KATY TUR, 42, the MSN afternoon news program anchor. They married in 2017. They have two children.

Dokoupil is of Greek, non-Jewish ancestry. His first wife, and the mother of his first two children, was a Jewish woman. He converted to Judaism and even wrote a “New Republic” article about his conversion and his “symbolic” 2nd circumcision. The marriage ended in 2015 and his ex-wife and the children moved to Israel.

In 2024, he had a heated exchange about Israel-Palestinian issues with journalist Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates. ‘It’s said’ that BARI WEISS, 42, who was made CBS News head, in Oct. 2025, picked Dokoupil to be the Evening News Anchor because of his pro-Israel on-air stance. (Weiss’s ‘history’ is very complicated. It’s fair to note that the pro-Trump, new CBS network owners gave Weiss the CBS news head job even though she never had a TV journalism job).

As I write this, Dokoupil’s ratings have declined since he began in January, 2026 and he, and Weiss, may not be there “forever”.

Tur wrote a memoir: “Katy Tur: Rough Draft” (2022). Her father, ROBERT TUR, is Jewish. He came from a poor family. My sense from Katy’s book—he had little Jewish background—and Katy had no religious background.

Her mother, Marika, is not Jewish. During Katy’s childhood, Robert became a (pioneer) helicopter pilot news reporter. Manika flew with him. The couple’s big coup (1994) was overhead filming O.J. Simpson, driving his car, as he fled his arrest. But other things, like money, went sour. The couple divorced in 2003.

Then, in 2014, Robert had a “gender change” operation and his name is now “Zoey Tur”. In 2015, she was on a talk show with conservative host BEN SHAPIRO. Tur got repeated junk ‘jabs’ about her gender change from Shapiro. She strongly grabbed his neck and she warned Shapiro he’d be in an ambulance if he kept on “jabbing”.  Interview over.