The saddest words anyone who ever worked in television, or at least was entertained by it, scrolled across my timelines early yesterday morning: BREAKING NEWS: Norman Lear Dead At 101. For most of yesterday, the reaction to those words was omnipresent; virtually every industry and world publication devoted some sort of story to him. Norman’s … Read more
Ahh, there’s good news tonight. And for some of us, not a moment too soon. It seems that nary a day goes by of late where some other friend of mine , mostly of the social media kind, shares or confesses something negative. A firing, a death of a relative or a pet, a health … Read more
If you’re even a semi-regular reader of these musings, you likely know that whenever I’m prompted to “immortalize” some public figure with my half-baked attempt to utilize artificial intelligence, it’s usually done with a mix of both envy and respect, sometimes in spite of the fact that decisions the inspiration for my own version of … Read more
Yesterday, I received yet another e-mail that contained a phrase like this one that hit my inbox: Thank you for applying to the (redacted) position at (redacted). Unfortunately, (redacted) has moved to the next step in their hiring process, and your application was not selected at this time. For the record, I did the redacting. … Read more
Hi, my name is Steve, and I’m a compulsive overthinker. Well, I’ve never quite said that publicly, but I have attended my share of 12-step meetings along the way where I’ve owned up to a few of my shortcomings and addictions. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I had gained more than a few … Read more
SPOILER ALERT: This post may contain the use of language that you may find objectionable. So a “media” mogul who’s not getting positive responses to his “strategy” expressed his frustration by uttering a “naughty” word a few times–once, specifically, at another. Big fucking deal. Yes, I used THAT word. I probably do more often than … Read more
There was once a time when the phrasing “the most wonderful time of the year” meant something more than the reappearing of Christmas lights and specials. For media researchers and salespeople, the post-Thanksgiving/pre-Christmas rush period meant the kickoff to many long hours of poring through ratings books and massive floppy disks to develop pitches for … Read more
I don’t profess to have personal knowledge of how many moguls act and think, but one I have had candid and detailed discussions with is Mark Cuban. Cuban is the rare example of someone with immense wealth and relative accessibility, and has never lost the traits of his relatively humble upbringing in western Pennsylvania while … Read more
Now that we’re all fed and hopefully whatever travels were necessary for Thanksgiving have been completed safely, there is now at least a little bit of time to clear your heads, take a fresh look at your calendars and figure out what we’re all gonna do with the remaining few business days of 2023. If … Read more
As an awful lot of pundits and observers noted over the holiday week, this is the beginning of Year Two of Bob AIger Reign Two and yes, Happy Bobiversary to all. Suffice to say it didn’t exactly begin the way some might have hoped. Per VARIETY’s Rebecca Rubin: Disney may need to find another star … Read more