What Are YOU Smoking?!?!?!?

What Are YOU Smoking?!?!?!?

I took yet another holiday weekend trip to my sanctuary of sanity. completed yesterday just in time to be back where the choice and quality of legal weed was ample enough to celebrate today appropriately (and responsibly, I assure you.  The Nets-Celtics rematch and the streaking Mets are far too attractive tube propositions for me … Read more

Success-Ish

Success-Ish

As the entertainment world and fans of BLACK-ISH say goodbye to this show tonight, I’m reminded that I came late to this party, and it was only at the personal request of the show’s creator that I did. The last time I attended an in-person convention was three winters ago, and as someone who played … Read more

It DOES Matter If You’re Black Or White

It DOES Matter If You’re Black Or White

I was somewhat disturbed when I saw some social media reaction earlier this week to the announcement of a third new daytime talk show for a fall launch, NBCUniversal’s KARAMO.  Featuring the openly gay co-star of Netflix’s reboot of the one-time breakthrough Bravo hit QUEER EYE Karamo Brown, it is a de facto replacement for … Read more

Time To Put Your Money Where Your Mouse Is

Time To Put Your Money Where Your Mouse Is

MEMO TO: BOB CHAPEK, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY FR: STEVE LEBLANG, MEDIA CONSULTANT SUBJECT: THAT FLORIDA THING Mr. Chapek, I want to preface these opinions by reinforcing they are my own exclusively, nor do I profess to know the inner workings of your company.  I certainly don’t know the nuances of the … Read more

What’s In a Name Redux

What’s In a Name Redux

A few months back, when Mark Zuckerberg woke up from a fever dream and renamed Facebook Meta, I was prompted to recall my own adventures in renaming and rebranding networks and services, and the astounding amount of time, effort and money involved in such an undertaking. This morning, Amazon gleefully announced their own contribution to … Read more

Reverence for Severance

Reverence for Severance

I extol praise on quite a number of Apple TV+ projects, and I’ll admit I’m a little pre-disposed to wanting to.  I’ve had the privilege of working directly with many of their key executives for many years, and I’ve seen first-hand their dedication to finding the right talent and the right tone for projects they … Read more

Cancel Just My Reservations

Cancel Just My Reservations

Sometimes the silliest questions provoke the most profound revelations, at least in my case.  Someone asked about some obscure daytime TV scheduling moves from decades ago, and as I typed out my response (without looking it up, of course) I realized that the network made three different programming moves in one half-hour time period in … Read more

Agape–No Agate!

Agape–No Agate!

It’s the first Sunday of baseball season, and for decades that often meant I’d begin several months spent many relaxing hours of ensuing Sundays on a beach towel or sitting in a sun chair poring over standings, team statistics, expanded and exhaustive lists of players’ individual performances and box scores.  My default paper then and … Read more

Dancing In The Right Direction

Dancing In The Right Direction

Every now and then a move is made by a major media company than even I can’t find any fault with.   Yesterday’s announcement from the Disney corporate execs that 30-season reality stalwart DANCING WITH THE STARS will move to Disney Plus this fall and will indeed continue beyond that was one of them. DWTS, as … Read more

It’s You Into Me–Into Oblivion??

It’s You Into Me–Into Oblivion??

A generation ago, the battle for time slots on local television stations for first-run syndicated shows was fierce, passionate and strategic.  As the “consigliere” to those on the front lines in the more expensive suits, I would frequently be brought into conversations and often business lunches with buyers and even competitors. While we were technically … Read more