In the same week when President Biden told the world, or at least those who watched 60 MINUTES, that “pandemic is over”, and when even the ubercautious Los Angeles County finally aligned with the majority of the U.S. and rescinded the mask mandate for public transportation and airports, the Los Angeles Times carried this op-ed … Read more
The news earlier this week that Parade Magazine, a supplemental Sunday publication carried in more than 700 newspapers for more than 80 years, was ceasing its print edition by Thanksgiving was yet another jarring reality check that the way I grew up consuming media is forever moving toward obsolesence, and the pace of Bataan death … Read more
Of all of the attempts to try and get attention to the season premieres of broadcast TV shows during the past week, one of the more ambitious was the first-ever staging of SHARK TANK in front of a live studio audience. It was hardly the most heavily promoted event, and with good reason. SHARK TANK … Read more
So a mere few hours before its second NFL Thursday night game, Amazon Prime Video finally announced the official tallies of viewership for their first a week earlier. Not exactly an overnight rating, for a number of both legitimate and red tape reasons, but in many ways worth the wait. Sports and business media, not … Read more
You really didn’t think Disney+ was going to sit idly by and let their competitors at HBO Max and Prime Video respectively be the only ones using brand extensions of successful scripted fantasy franchises to battle for eyeballs and relevance, did you? They just waited for the dust to settle, for the respective seasons of … Read more
Social media has been abuzz with reaction to a picture recently released that depicts WHEEL OF FORTUNE emcee Pat Sajak with notorious congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and a right-wing network TV host. As Huff Post’s Ron Dicker reported, it has sent the snark-a-verse into overdrive: Sajak has hinted at retiring soon after about four decades on the … Read more
The new fall TV season kicked off last night, and in recent years the first to kick off on broadcast TV was the venerable reality competition series DANCING WITH THE STARS. A hokey but immensely popular chance for B list and below “celebrities” to team with professional dancers and show off their moves, for 30 … Read more
Got a call from an old friend, we used to be real close Said he couldn’t go on the American way Closed the shop, sold the house, bought a ticket to the west coast Now he gives them a stand-up routine in L.A. Lately, I’ve been humming Billy Joel’s inspiration lyrics in my head a … Read more
With all that’s been going on in my world lately, sleep is often an aspiration and, frankly, occurs only when my body reaches a point of exhaustion where it’s impossible for me to continue thinking or moving. Fortunately, it hasn’t yet happened while I was operating a motor vehicle, but otherwise, it’s fair to say … Read more
Exactly 50 years ago tonight, two new half-hour comedies from 20th Century Fox TV that mined the IP of their theatricals debuted back-to-back to lead off their Sunday night prime time schedule. (Yes, this was before 60 MINUTES had that slot; in those days, it aired seasonally at 6 PM once the NFL season ended). … Read more