Last week, among other far less consequential events in the real world, a brand new syndicated game show called SCRAMBLED UP premiered. You’re forgiven if it was something you missed. In fact, if you noticed it at all you’re likely an insomniac, a TV addict or, more than likely, both. Creatively, SCRAMBLED UP is a … Read more
The ink is barely dry on the paperwork that put Paramount under the purview of those mavericks (pun intended) from Skydance when we learned yesterday that was apparently merely step one on the way to global domination. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL’s well-wired Jessica Toonkel dropped this hot coal onto the media pyre yesterday afternoon: Paramount … Read more
When I first began to interact with the movers and shakers in the cable industry after spending my formative years in the world of over-the-air TV on both the buyer and seller side, I was struck by two constants that I began to see with every meeting I was a part of. One was how … Read more
Yesterday was a good day for fans of quality TV. For starters, a new season of ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING finally dropped on Hulu. I use the qualifier “finally” because it’s been tacitly promoted pretty much all year, what with Steve Martin taking victory laps and having documentary biographies about his life being produced … Read more
You don’t necessarily have to be a fan of the NCIS-verse to realize that it’s arguably as essential to Paramount as any IP is to any media company. Between its record 22-season run that will see its 500th episode air early next year and the now six spinoffs it has germinated over the majority of … Read more
How’s this for a reality check on how the sands of time have drizzled through the hourglass: The MTV Music Video Awards is now older than all but three of the 1384 men who have played major league baseball this year. Older than every single position player. And in the corporate superstructure of New Paramount … Read more
Whenever I see a reversal of what was once touted to be a revolutionary policy that attempts to undo decades of habit, I am more than a little gratified and admittedly even a tad adminishing. And I’ve had ample opportunity over the past few years to feel that way about the fine folks at HBO, … Read more
Think of the annual cycle of pursuing cinematic success as seasonal. In the summer and for the last nine weekends of the year it’s all about box office and popularity–can we still get butts off their couches and at least sporadically get ghem into theatres to drop a couple of Hamiltons (Grants)? on some overly … Read more
I confess that I was never a huge fan of THE OFFICE, certainly not the critically acclaimed Ricky Gervais version that my FX colleagues were gleefully sharing DVDs of for their own “research” nor the Steve Carell-fronted NBC version that quietly debuted in the spring of 2005 on what used to be their Thursday night … Read more
Yeah, sure, CBS, you can call the second week of October a premiere week if you want to. Those of you with actual experience with ratings who are still around (well, at least until November) know darn well your bell is going off this weekend when you devote Sunday to the NFL and, in perhaps … Read more