Mention the name Ari to any fan of media and one’s mind immediately goes to the surname Gold, the irascible and tenacious father figure to the bros from Queens who rode the coattails of Vincent Chase to conquer Hollywood in the beloved HBO series ENTOURAGE. But it was the real-life Ari on whom Jeremy Piven’s … Read more
It has not been a banner year so far for the Walt Disney Company. No theatrical release has clicked, ABC is only now starting to show signs of life as its veteran scripted series are finally returning to their schedule and Disney +’s attempt to put some of the $71B of former Twentieth Century Fox … Read more
There hasn’t been much available in theatres so far this year to justify the significant expense of time and money to schlep out of the comfort of one’s home. Anyone who questions whether or not climate change is real should consider the rash of spring snowstorms and West Coast rainstroms and compare that to the … Read more
When I saw the teaser for this new Apple TV+ documentary earlier this month while waiting impatiently for my MLS match, I immediately booknoted it. With a title like STEVE!, I felt obligated to watch no matter what. But in this case, the name just happens to be applied to someone who is arguably a … Read more
P.T. Barnum perhaps said it best when he offered up the memorable observation of his circus-hungry audiences: There’s a sucker born every minute. The days of that circus are long gone; sadly, the only circus of consequence that seems to exist these days is the one surrounding politics in America. It has become nearly impossible … Read more
Maybe I’m late to this particular party, but in the last couple of days it’s become far more apparent to me that there are two newspapers in Los Angeles that are unapolgetically biased in their coverage of UCLA sports. One is the school’s longtime house organ, THE DAILY BRUIN. The other, apparently more so than … Read more
It was an emotional Good Friday for the cast and crew, let alone the small but passionate fan base, of GOOD MORNING, FOOTBALL. It’s actually been airing for seven and a half years, live from New York, weekday mornings on NFL Network. Even among sports networks, it was an afterthought in a daypart where yelling … Read more
A well-meaning friend tagged me on social media to call my attention to a Tik Tok video which has become a viral sensation of late, and not a moment too soon considering the possible fate of the platform in the U.S. Entitled HOLLYWOOD IS BROKEN, authored by user ProducerPatrick, it’s garnered more than 10,000 comments … Read more
Amidst a somewhat tumultuous week for certain divisions of NBCUniversal (make sure you return that IPad, Ronna, not that you were around long enough to have it set up for you), some news came out of the Peacock camp that seemed to trumpet that they found the secret sauce to streaming success. Put a … Read more
Dan Schneider has basically spent almost his entire life within the vicinity of a soundstage. As a teen actor, he was part of the ensemble cast of the modestly successful ABC sitcom HEAD OF THE CLASS, where he portrayed, as Wikipedia described him, the overweight, wisecracking cynic Dennis Blunden , a computer whiz whose fields … Read more