Most of my more popular and attractive friends in high school did school plays. They got to roam the halls freely after classes ended with lengthy rehearsals, often took to the front of classrooms to personally hock tickets, and since we had no football team and barely a basketball team, they were the closest thing … Read more
If you’ve ever spent any time in Western New York, particularly Buffalo, there’s two must-have local favorites you must experience, calories be damned. Real Buffalo wings, particular those from the Anchor Bar, and with celery and blue cheese dressing as a side, is a must. So, too, is a hearty sandwich called a “Beef on … Read more
I admit I’m predisposed to liking most things Chinese, despite a lot of evidence that I should not. I grew up in a multicultural neighborhood filled with excellent Chinese restaurants; if you’ve ever seen Awkwafina’s hilarious semi-autobiographical Comedy Central NORA FROM QUEENS, know that filmed it largely in my area (in fact, her grandparents … Read more
And now, the pinky promise is kept. CBS made a couple of other changes to its daytime lineup 50 years ago today besides adding THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS. With the encouraging early success of their morning game show block, they carved out an hour of their late afternoon for a similar strategy, moving the … Read more
This is a pretty historic week for daytime TV geeks. If Labor Day, 1972 was the day that most fans cite as the most seminal one in history, that being the day CBS reintroduced THE PRICE IS RIGHT as part of a three-pronged morning game show lineup that took it out of the rerun business … Read more
I am unapologetically a fan of Shawn Ryan. I’ve had the privilage of working with him at two companies, FX and Sony, where has demonstrated his talent and value for more than two decades as a showrunner, producer and visionary. While THE SHIELD was far and away his signature series to date, literally putting FX … Read more
This Sunday, the first of spring 2023, is a particularly seminal one in the wars of what we used to call pay television that nowadays involves subsets of far larger and still morphing multiplatform efforts. While the final season of SUCCESSION launches on what for now is called HBO MAX, its longtime rival, recently rebranded … Read more
I rarely get rooked into the anticipation and buildup for a new season of premium TV. These days, publicity tours and media blitzes for such priorities are downright overwhelming. Between TV, podcasts and websites, along with a few strategically placed print stories, the degree of desperate hype to get people to be aware that something … Read more
A good friend, one who keeps similar hours and passions to mine, forwarded me a recent provocative piece from Leticia Moranda of Bloomberg entitled We’re Drowning In Opinions. His timing was optimal, as I had recently just let my subscription to Bloomberg lapse. My Bloomberg subscription, while it was a relatively minimal $35/year, overlapped with … Read more
As the countdown to what will undoubtedly be one of the most crucial and contentious upfront negotiating seasons ever continues, there is an impressive collaborative effort being led by several media conglomerates with linear and streaming platforms, including NBC Universal, Televisa Univision, Paramount Global and Warner Brothers Discovery, to stimulate the sharing and availability of … Read more