I really don’t like to spend my time lamenting about how things used to be. Plenty of folks in my demographic bracket tend to go that route, and while I’m as much of a fan of nostalgia as anyone, I usually get far more excited about something I haven’t seen before. There’s nothing any of … Read more
It wasn’t a particularly great weekend to be part of the movie business. Especially if you were part of the Universal team that had to deal with the kind of Debbie Downer news that proliferated in the wake of yet another box office disappointment. As VARIETY’s Rebecca Rubin mournfully reported on Sunday: “The Fall Guy,” … Read more
I like live TV. Be it sports, news or comedy, I like the possibility of seeing something occur in real time, unvarnished, unexpected that will give me a momentary advantage on most of the world for being aware of something at least buzzworthy, if not historic. So I’m still one of the Luddites that at … Read more
I missed the Vietnam War era on my college campus by a few years. I didn’t have anyone like Hanoi Jane nor Abbie Hoffman. But I did have Mike and Hugo. Mike and Hugo were the closest things to activists on my frigid campus. Mike also happened to have been elected student body president the … Read more
MEMO TO: DUNCAN CRABTREE-IRELAND, NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CHIEF NEGOTIATOR, SAG-AFTRA FROM: STEVE LEBLANG, MEDIA CONSULTANT RE: NIELSEN STREAMING VIEWING DATA: NEXT STEPS Dear Mr. Crabtree-Ireland: This is to offer you and your membership my sincere congratulations for reaching an agreement with Nielsen to provide third-party streaming content measurement information. For the first time since … Read more
I have to admit I have a special place in my heart for Jerry Seinfeld. He is a Jewish boy from Long Island made good–REALLY good, in fact. I happen to know a few of the numbers better than most as I spent a decent number of years working on projects that helped him pad … Read more
My roomie has been able to pivot his business to a work-from-home set-up, which means in between his array of conference calls and deadlines he’s got more time than usual to make use of the Netflix subscription. And he’s a poster child for how Netflix seems to drive the adoption and engagement they apparently are … Read more
You’ll have to forgive our ol’ pal Yosemite Zas if he seemed a little out of place last night. There he was, the Long Island native and presumed Knicks fan, leading off a post-time out segment of celebrity attendee spottings at last night’s Knicks playoff game, on no less than TNT, what remains of truTV … Read more
It’s hard to find a media critic with an auspiced a resume as THE NEW YORK TIMES’ James Poniewozik. Prior to his current role at the Grey Lady, he spent 16 years at TIME, where I had the pleasure of crossing paths with him on several occasions. He was, and apparently still is, an unabashed … Read more
I’m not quite the paramount (pun intended) example of an MTV generation kid; I kinda missed that sweet spot by a decade. And even my niece and nephew, my de facto kids’ focus group in the day in a similar manner to how my peers were inclined to secure what they believed to be conclusive … Read more