I couldn’t help but get an overwhelming feeling of deja vu when I saw this announcement which, among others, VARIETY’s Todd Spengler dropped at the top of this past week: Pete Distad has a new gig after the shutdown of sports-streaming joint venture Venu Sports. Fox Corp. has hired Distad as CEO of the company’s … Read more
NOTE: This musing also appears today on our sister site, Double Overtime. Please visit it regularly for coverage of sports of all sorts plus occasional articles on technology. Two supposedly struggling “mainstream” networks somehow found a few spare shekels to reward a couple of their personalities yesterday. In an era where their owners are literally … Read more
You’ll forgive me if there happen to be a few more typos that usual in this musing. I’ve got some egg on my face and some of the yolk may at times drizzle into my eye. Like quite a number of eager reporters and experts who waited all day Monday eagerly for the ratings results … Read more
The news that emanated yesterday from CBS management should have simply been considered surprising. It’s not easy to generate what by most conventional standards is considered a hit these days, so at least my eyebrows were raised when I saw stories like this from the venerable Rick (THE HOLLYWOOD RE-)Porter: CBS is cutting the ranks … Read more
It’s already afternoon on the East Coast and here in balmy LA the minority of apartment dwellers in my neighborhood who actually venture outside on occasion are already gone off to work or run yet another errand. I can tell because from where I sit I can see my street and I actually see vacancies. … Read more
UPDATED 6:28 PM PT MONDAY WITH RATINGS RESULTS. There were some truly talented and photogenic people on display last night during the 97th Oscars. And there were enough high points and some genuinely engaging moments to keep me engaged and awake–well, the first three hours at least. Memo to self: never mix migraine medication and … Read more
Judging by the number of angry e-moji faces I’ve been getting on some of the social media responses to the overwhelming amount of posts in my feed reacting to the sh-tshow in the Oval on Friday I’m apparently almost as popular with some folks compelled to express their sadness about being an American as the … Read more
There’s an awful lot of basketball on screens these days, and it’s not just because we’re about to enter March Madness. Even streaming platforms where such rights aren’t ubiquitous are devoting some quality time and algorithm build to it, not that that’s news unto itself. After all, in consecutive years we’ve had the Roman Candles … Read more
At least my news feeds were awash with breaking news yesterday about how the world of television was about to be forever changed. It was apparently significant enough that the NEW YORK TIMES’ Los Angeles-based John Koblin enthusiastically channeled his source’s sales pitch in how he chose to report it yesterday morning: “Wheel of Fortune” … Read more
Consulting and working from home may be your idea of personal nirvana, and bully for you if your life is such where that’s a desirable choice. I’m not quite so fortunate and at the rate this industry and world are going, I’m extremely dubious that’s ever going to change. And that’s even with others actually … Read more