MEMO TO: CHRIS LICHT, INCOMING CHAIRMAN AND CEO, CNN GLOBAL FR: STEVE LEBLANG. MEDIA CONSULTANT RE: REQUEST FOR INFORMATIONAL INTERVIEW Dear Chris, First of all, may I be the millionth or so person in the last 72 hours to congratulate you on your appointment to this prestigious position. Based on your accomplishments of the past … Read more
For the first time in far too long the entertainment industry held a good old fashioned fancy awards ceremony. The 28th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were handed out last night in Santa Monica, with actual human beings wearing actual dress clothes on an actual red carpet and eating actual food which almost looked a … Read more
Last night I spent sunset reconnecting with long-lost friends and business colleagues at the foot of the Pacific Ocean, thankfully in person and most without masks. Tragically, it took yet another premature death to make that happen. Unless you lived the lives of the beautiful people in these photos, you likely never heard of Tim … Read more
Perhaps the most surprising success story of this fractionalized television season has been ABBOTT ELEMENTARY, a mid-season ABC sitcom that quietly launched with its pilot as a lead-0ut from the LIVE WITH A STUDIO AUDIENCE special in early December which then migrated to Hulu over the Christmas holidays. Airing on the half-hour, the show got … Read more
I just got back from a wonderful and much needed respite away from the torture chamber I call Los Angeles. While the temperature was far colder, the reception was warmer. Dear friends became closer, a beautiful special friend in particular, and I learned I should never, ever allow myself to be talked into Little Caesar’s … Read more
I’ve never spent a minute serving my country and given my artillery skills we’re all probably better off for that. I’m hardly an expert at what the impact on war can be on a family or an individual. But I do believe I know what war can do for a media entity. Which is why … Read more
Welcome to the next period of my life and my passion. No, my passion may not be the one you were thinking I’d say. For as much as love, health, entertainment, politics and desire for relevance and human interaction fuel my livelihood and essence my passion is, unabashedly, sports. I don’t play many, and I’m … Read more
A new season of THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL dropped this weekend on Prime Video. For me and millions of other devotees that was big news, and you better believe I found time to watch it. For each of the show’s first three seasons, that devotion produced a dilemma of the proportion of the angst that … Read more
Recently I engaged in an online debate with a fellow game show geek who insisted on referencing the anniversary of the birth of a now deceased celebrity as a birthday. My argument, admittedly snarky, referenced the fact that the person whose date of birth was being honored was no longer able to have a presence … Read more
My poor little surgically altered stomach can’t quite handle spicy foods, so I’m typically frustrated when I get a craving for a snack and see more different variations of flamin’ hot chips, popcorn, burgers and pizza at my local strip mall. I’m well aware that the likely reason these flavors dominate the shelves is because … Read more