Your Friend, Jay

Your Friend, Jay

The entertainment world has again lost a brilliant mind with a strong game show connection.  Jay Wolpert may not have been as famous as Betty White, but he was an important part of my life and his story is one that deserves to be heard. Jay was a self-described nerdy kid from Brooklyn who became … Read more

No Right or Wrong Answers?

No Right or Wrong Answers?

America is clearly at an impasse. –Literally half the Senate belongs to a political party as diametrically opposite of the other as at any point in their histories. — In 2021 per Nielsen, 52% of the combined total average viewership of the three most-viewed news and opinion cable networks belonged to MSNBC and CNN combined; … Read more

I Predict…

I Predict…

Those of us seasoned enough to remember when late night television was actually watched late at night recall when Johnny Carson would trot out his Carnac the Magnfiicent act, blithely and sarcastically guessing the answers to questions that were hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall’s porch since noon that day.  (My … Read more

Westside Story

Westside Story

Caught WEST SIDE STORY in a nearly deserted movie theatre on Christmas Night.  As someone whose earliest memories of his childhood involve the original Broadway cast LP of the 1956 stage play that started it all being played at least once a week on the console RCA Victor turntable despite the many scratches the album … Read more

Being Like Mike

Being Like Mike

Last week was the final Thursday Night Football game for FOX, a significant event if only because it was the first time in FOX’s 27-year association with the league that it let a package of games they acquired go.   One could have also watched that game on Prime Video.  Since I’m a person who prefers … Read more

Eye on the prizes?

Eye on the prizes?

MEMO TO: WENDY MC MAHON, PRESIDENT AND CO-HEAD, CBS NEWS AND STATIONS CC: JOHN BUDKINS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, PROGRAMMING AND SCHEDULING FR: STEVE LEBLANG, MEDIA CONSULTANT RE: JEOPARDY!/WHEEL NEGOTIATIONS Dear Wendy, Belated congratulations on your recent appointment to these two crucial positions.  I am writing you to help you justify what I believe could be … Read more

An unholy trilogy for Sony

An unholy trilogy for Sony

Yesterday Sony Pictures TV (in full disclosure, the source of my health insurance for another 15 days) announced that actor Jeff Garlin will be leaving THE GOLDBERGS, its ABC network sitcom. Garlin had been accused on multiple occasions of inappropriate language and personal conduct with colleagues and staffers.   Several quotes from an article earlier this … Read more

Rupert Unchained

Rupert Unchained

Yesterday’s announcement by FOX News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace that he was leaving the organization to join the fledgling CNN+ streaming service may have been shocking, but those familiar with the history of how an unencumbered Rupert Murdoch values traditional journalism would likely have deemed it inevitable. Wallace, the son of legendary CBS News and … Read more

And Just Like That…This?

And Just Like That…This?

I actually looked forward to the reboot of SEX AND THE CITY that debuted this week on HBO Max.  As someone who watched a lot of TV with my wife, this show became a staple of our binges and often one of the few escapes from the misery I endured. The show took on a … Read more