If you ever spend any time among media people, especially in New York, you’re bound to hear the term sechel. A fascinating 2013 piece by JEWISH WORD’s George E. Johnson offers some context and how even those who have never spent a second in Hebrew school value it: Pronounced sekhel in Modern/Israeli Hebrew and seykhel in Yiddish, it can … Read more
It was about as old school a day as was possible on the streets of Manhattan yesterday. Hundreds of media buyers and sellers eagerly schlepping by limo, taxi, Uber and even the Number 7 line to glitzy, star-filled unveilings of the fall TV schedules. NBC kicking it all off as they have for decades, utilizing … Read more
When my friend the talent expert texted me last week urging me to check out what was happening on Netflix, I immediately knew it worth my time to do so. Unlike far too many others in my life these days, he’s an exceptionally busy executive and family man with a frenetic schedule and countless responsibilities. … Read more
You’re forgiven if you’ve never heard of Joe Penner. After all, he never lived to see World War II, and the few surviving examples of his work are pretty much limited to grainy old time radio recordings and some animated caricatures in Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons of the 1930s. But trust me, at one … Read more
You almost have to feel a little sorry for our friends Yosemite Zas and Bob AIger. Sure, they’re defying the demographic curves by being white men over 60 that are employed, and they’ve got loving families supporting them as a result. For those reasons alone, despite how sometimes I am a tad harsh on them … Read more
I really don’t like to spend my time lamenting about how things used to be. Plenty of folks in my demographic bracket tend to go that route, and while I’m as much of a fan of nostalgia as anyone, I usually get far more excited about something I haven’t seen before. There’s nothing any of … Read more
It wasn’t a particularly great weekend to be part of the movie business. Especially if you were part of the Universal team that had to deal with the kind of Debbie Downer news that proliferated in the wake of yet another box office disappointment. As VARIETY’s Rebecca Rubin mournfully reported on Sunday: “The Fall Guy,” … Read more
I like live TV. Be it sports, news or comedy, I like the possibility of seeing something occur in real time, unvarnished, unexpected that will give me a momentary advantage on most of the world for being aware of something at least buzzworthy, if not historic. So I’m still one of the Luddites that at … Read more
MEMO TO: DUNCAN CRABTREE-IRELAND, NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CHIEF NEGOTIATOR, SAG-AFTRA FROM: STEVE LEBLANG, MEDIA CONSULTANT RE: NIELSEN STREAMING VIEWING DATA: NEXT STEPS Dear Mr. Crabtree-Ireland: This is to offer you and your membership my sincere congratulations for reaching an agreement with Nielsen to provide third-party streaming content measurement information. For the first time since … Read more
I have to admit I have a special place in my heart for Jerry Seinfeld. He is a Jewish boy from Long Island made good–REALLY good, in fact. I happen to know a few of the numbers better than most as I spent a decent number of years working on projects that helped him pad … Read more