The Oscars are being given out tonight, restored to its Hollywood venue, a full-fledged red carpet and rife with anticipation that TV rating downtrends of recent years will be reversed. A lot of attention has been paid to a precipitous ratings decline that reached dumpster-fire proportions last spring, when the muted Union Station affair failed … Read more
I have to admit I’m not a fan of The Foo Fighters, but I am a fan of talent and, humbly, an expert on what and why people are popular. So when the news broke yesterday of the untimely passing of their drummer Taylor Hawkins at the tragically young age of 50, I knew it … Read more
It has been a pretty eventful week for my friends and aspirational colleagues at the Nielsen Company. In the same week that their board rejected a buyout offer from Elliott Management that was reportedly $6 billion below the previously reported valuation, they were informed by the Media Rating Council that they still would not reinstate … Read more
If it hadn’t been for William Shatner and a long Shea Stadium ticket line, today wouldn’t be the strangest anniversary to celebrate. OK, let’s unpack this. My all-time favorite game show is PYRAMID, which back in 1975 was just a $10,000 triangle. Among its more exuberant players was Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. While a … Read more
This is sort of a milestone for this space, the 150th of these exercises since we started dabbling roughly ten months ago. As I have struggled to find a voice and an audience, topics have wavered between, as one astute observer shared with me, “pop culture, media insights and a personal journey”, three words have … Read more
I debated about this entry on my flights home yesterday (yes, ye who troll, I committed the cardinal sin of traveling on planes during a pandemic yet again; would you like a full report?). The person I will call out here tacitly reminded me that to do so might be seen as disparaging many people … Read more
I’m gonna preface this one by reaffirming that many of the current executives and staffers at The Nielsen Company are longtime professional and personal friends, whose talents and humanity are unparalleled. None of what I’m about to write should be taken as judgement on those of you I already know. The company and those in … Read more
MEMO TO: FRANCES BERWICK, CHAIRMAN, ENTERTAINMENT NETWORKS, NBCUNIVERSAL TELEVISION AND STREAMING FR: STEVE LEBLANG, MEDIA CONSULTANT RE: THE COURTSHIP — S1 E2 Dear Frances, These are the types of internal memos that are difficult for me to write, since I attempt to be creator friendly. Months of research, development, casting and post-production goes into the … Read more
March Madness is back, with no crowd restrictions in multiple venues across the country and, for the first time, a women’s bracket fully endorsed by the NCAA with similar bloating (68 teams) and branding to the men’s field. So if you’re a hardcore gambler , a casual fan or even a non0fN just someone trying … Read more
Caught The Batman this weekend (thanks for the treat, roomie) in an actual movie theatre, a momentary escape from the hellish week of still more rejection and impatience I endured. Roomie’s first-take observation was “good, but very woke”. Mine’s a bit more detailed and complex. Unlike most of the superhero franchises currently in vogue, the … Read more