Hulu has acquired a four-part series about Bon Jovi, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Titled Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, the project comes from Gotham Chopra’s Religion of Sports banner and will chronicle the mega-selling arena rock band’s 40-year run of riding steel horses and giving love a bad name.
Thank You, Goodnight is also the first retrospective on Bon Jovi’s history that will feature participation from all present and past members of the band. It’s set to premiere April 26 on Hulu in the United States and later in the year on Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in the rest of the world.
The announcement comes on the 40th anniversary of the release of Bon Jovi’s self-titled first album, which peaked at #43 on the Billboard 200 chart. Two years later, the band’s Slippery When Wet exploded, spending eight weeks at #1 and selling 12 million-plus copies on the backs of singles like “You Give Love A Bad Name,” “Livin’ On A Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive.” The band has placed 13 albums in the top 10 of the Billboard 200.
The docuseries will cover those highs, as well as low points and “public moments of friction” in the band via interviews with lead singer Jon Bon Jovi and other band members, personal videos, unreleased demos, lyrics and previously unseen photos.
Thank You, Goodnight is directed and executive produced by Chopra (Kobe Bryant’s Muse, Man in the Arena). Giselle Parets and Ameeth Sankaran of Religion of Sports also executive produce. Alex Trudeau Viriato produced and edited the series.
Meanwhile, Showbiz411.com's Roger Friedman has confirmed that Richie Sambora will be present when Jon Bon Jovi is honored as the 2024 MusiCares Person Of The Year, on Friday, February 2 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Friedman suggests that "since (Sambora) lives in Los Angeles, the theory is he’ll show up and strap on a guitar."
It was announced back in October, that MusiCares had named Jon Bon Jovi as the 2024 MusiCares Person Of The Year. The Grammy-winning frontman and founding member of American rock band Bon Jovi is the honoree of the 33rd annual Person Of The Year benefit gala, which will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Friday, February 2, two nights before the 2024 Grammys.
"I'm truly humbled to be this year's MusiCares honoree,” Jon Bon Jovi said in a statement. “MusiCares' work with music professionals is vitally important in creating much-needed support and wellness programs that cultivate a healthier and more vibrant community for us all. Philanthropic work has been a cornerstone of my life and has always run in tandem to my music career and achievements. Nearly two decades ago when I formed the JBJ Soul Foundation and JBJ Soul Kitchens, I saw firsthand and continue to see today the impact of charitable, community-based work. I know this for sure: Helping one's community is helping one's self."
Last mention of any sort of Bon Jovi reunion popped up last November, when Richie Sambora exclusively told People that “there's talking" taking place.
“There's a documentary that's being done about the band and stuff that I've participated in, and people want to come see us play, and it's going to make everybody happy,” the guitarist said. “I mean, essentially, that's why you do it at this point.”
Sambora continued, “I think that we wrote a lot of songs that changed a lot of people's lives just by letting them have a good time. I know that's what music did to me… kept me company. And I hope that I can reflect that in what I do.”
“So yeah, it definitely could happen,” he added of a reunion. “It's just a question of when everybody's ready to go do it. It will be a big, massive kind of undertaking.
As for timing? “I'm not sure. It's up to peoples, it's got to be right. That's all," Sambora told People.
“It's time to do it, though,” he added. “This is our 40th anniversary, but I feel younger than ever. I'm having a ball.”
Read more at People.com.
