For all the things that proverbially grind my gears, none get me quite as cranky as when people offer opinions, often negative ones, on things they’ve never seen. Log lines and trailers are designed to provoke interest, not prejudgement. If they’re not impactful enough to get you into a theatre or onto a couch to … Read more
The Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers shocked casual baseball fans and thrilled their ardent supporters with surprising road upsets in their respective Wild Card Series. The Tigers will now be moving on to face a Cleveland Guardians team that won that potent Central Division, the first time these original American League teams will face … Read more
So another executive shakeup has gone down, this time at my old stomping grounds. VARIETY veteran Cynthia Littleton was among the many that broke the news yesterday afternoon: Sony Pictures Entertainment is set for a transition at the top in January when Tony Vinciquerra steps down from his role as CEO and hands the reins to Ravi Ahuja. Ahuja … Read more
The much-anticipated golden anniversary of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE kicked off last night , and you bet I watched. After all, unlike most of the folks who recently made a movie that celebrated that legacy, I was actually watching a half-century ago when it all began. So I guess I’m a creature of habit. These days, … Read more
I’ll confess, I’m predisposed to liking Will Ferrell. From Ron Burgundy to Alex Trebek to the CEO of Mattel, there has been nary a performance of his over the last 30 years that I’ve not at least chuckled at, if not burst into hysterics rewatching. And from all I have heard from my numerous well-heeled … Read more
Apparently, we can’t seem to go very long without some other negotiation between media companies being played out in the press. Last month, it was DirecTV and Disney, echoing the existential battle that Disney waged with Charter a year earlier. Yesterday, it was Paramount’s turn to revive its long-simmering feud with Nielsen, as VARIETY’s Brian … Read more
A long, long time ago I was considered a wunderkid, an overachiever who clawed his way into an executive position before my 30th birthday through tenacity, perseverance and yes, a little luck. Plus, I was known for winning a few bucks on a game show, which always provided some fodder for slightly more gentle teasing … Read more
Ryan Murphy and his team are no strangers to tackling stories of morally ambiguous and salacious protagonists. This has been particularly true with his series of AMERICAN STORIES that have cemented FX’s place in the entertainment ecosystem for such showcasings. AMERICAN HORROR STORY was the first of these anthologies, and was able to attract both … Read more
It turns out our friend Evan Shapiro, who is rapidly becoming one of the more influential and honest brokers and truth-tellers of media measurement on the planet, had much more up his sleeve besides the fact checking of the latest Netflix data dump he promised last week. Yesterday, in what he announced as a preview … Read more
Give CBS a huge standing ovation, even if it may cause you some aches and pains in the process. They’ve managed to add yet another subcategory to the overarching idea of a reboot and, in the process, kept the industry in the dark for months before springing a surprise that certainly was newsworthy. Since spring, … Read more