If you blinked during the recent few days where celebrity deaths and near-deaths for politicians dominated the news cycle, you probably missed most of the newsworthy items that were unveiled during the Summer Television Critics Press Tour, which once again held court at the fabluous and thankfully heavily air conditioned Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena. … Read more
The spectre of celebrity death has been unrelenting this month, and we’re barely past the halfway point. Yesterday yet another legend left us when the revered Bob Newhart passed a couple of months short of 95, leaving legions of fans from multiple generations to both grieve and warmly remember him. If you were around when … Read more
For all the negativity and nervousness one might find if they found themselves in a room with media’s leaders and titans, you;d be hard pressed to find someone with more of a spring in their step than you’d be likely to find in John Landgraf’s today. Landgraf is more than merely a survivor, now in … Read more
More than most, I know how exceptionally hard it is to get people to pay attention when new content is dropped. I see my metrics, or what pass for them, and for the most part they’re relatively stagnant. So I give all due props and respect to my onetime vendor Brian Fuhrer, one of the … Read more
Within minutes of my hitting the “publish” button on yesterday’s musing where I snarkily referenced we had been spared the “death comes in threes” psuedo-truth by a couple of inches, the news came from multiple sources that indeed a third celebrity had passed with a 24-hour period. This one, while all but unexpected given the … Read more
It is said that death typically comes in threes, so when the breaking news events of yesterday unfolded where within hours we learned of two prominent celebrity passings it was probably to be expected, if highly inappropriate, that right after the news from Butler, Pennsylvania broke a couple of my more incideniary social media connections … Read more
David Stapf is considered to be one of the nicer and certainly one of the more loyal folks who toil around Hollywood, or at least the fringes where most of what’s left of the Los Angeles production business calls home these days. He’s been associated with CBS for a quarter-century, the last 20 in charge … Read more
We’ve spent a lot of time chiding and second-guessing the reign of error that has largely defined David Zaslav’s tenure running Warner Brothers Discovery. The trajectory was largely defined early on by this declarative statement as covered roughly two years ago by FRONT OFFICE SPORTS’ ubiquitous Jon Lewis: Discussing the rising cost of sports media … Read more
Like millions of people who share my demography, background and essential political leanings, I’m a huge fan of Jon Stewart’s, arguably more than I ever have been. And even though I wasn’t a regular viewer of THE DAILY SHOW when he built it up to a cultural touchstone when he was hosting it, well, daily, … Read more
Make no mistake about it, these are stressful times. Whether one looks at a thermometer, their devices or the occasional banner headline on what remaining newspapers of consequence still exist, it’s increasingly difficult to find something to absorb that doesn’t possess the ability to raise one’s blood pressure. But, occasionally, something does pop up on … Read more