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
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
If Le Blog can be classified as anything it is best described as an opinion page. When you are in between gigs (a euphamism for not working) and strongly encouraged to never leave your home, let alone spend a great deal of time only with your thoughts, one develops a lot of opinions that result … Read more
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
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
One of the big inflection points of pop culture and media research has been the ongoing noise about the transparency of information coming from Netflix about the performance of its content. As a subscription video on demand service, its business model relies strictly on whether people continue to pay for the opportuity to watch, not … Read more
Almost lost in the pre-Christmas rush of media and pandemic news was a report of a branding tweak that I believe represents a huge win for a perpetual insurgent that has even triumphed over Mickey Mouse. Disney announced this week that FX, the network I am proud to say I helped build that was acquired … Read more
Tonight two television shows originally written in the 1970s and 1980s will be performed live in front of a (fully vaccinated) studio audience on the cusp of 2022 helmed by a man who was born in 1922. And trust me, he will be very much alive and in front of a studio audience himself. Simply … Read more
Incredibly, the intersection between the world of Leblanguage and the world of Donald Trump is larger than logic would otherwise dictate. And I’ll offer that on many measures I could help him be better at what he tries to do. Yesterday it was reported by The Young Turks, a progressive-skewing online news network, that the … Read more
Once upon a time Mehmet Oz was an effervescent practicing cardiologist at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York who caught the eye of Oprah Winfrey and began contributing to her wildly popular daytime show. As Oprah’s clout and empire expanded, along with Phil McGraw (success) and Nate Berkus (miss) Oz got the opportunity for … Read more