It’s funny how an ostensibly interactive medium remains a one-way funnel most of the time in my case. With rare exceptions do I get any feedback or response even when I post encouraging and positive responses to people. I get that almost everyone else has priorities in their lives like jobs and immediate families that they love and respect, but I can’t say it makes me feel like getting up in the morning is worth it when I don’t at least see some form of communication from someone other than a mysterious attractive Asian woman who somehow misplaced my number and is overly eager to see a picture of me. Sorry, scammers, I’m onto you, and somewhere in your food chain there’s a nefarious human that I’d love to take my frustrations out on with a few choice punches to their head.
So when I do get a shoutout of any kind I’m all the more grateful, especially when it comes from someone who I immensely respect and intensely miss. Such was the case when I noticed I was a footnote in the latest Substack post from a brilliant ex-colleague of mine named Ken Basin, who has literally written the book on the medium we both love–or at least how to best navigate its often choppy waters. If you are a veteran reader, you might recall we’ve previously mused about him when the second edition of his seminal THE BUSINESS OF TELEVISION was released. His apparently self-authored LinkedIn bio ennumerates his impressive accomplishments with the confidence and self-assurance that a person as auspiced as he is should have. To the more sensitive underachievers among us, he can come off as a bit cocky or even arrogant. To those of us who worked side-by-side with him we saw that he actually backed up his bravado with a level of appreciation and respect for his “elders” that at least I rarely experience–certainly during my uncomfortable last days at Sony.
These days, Basin has expanded his brand to author a regular series of informative and detailed musings of his own that he cheekily has titled THE BUSINESS OF TELEVISION MAX PLUS, since he has about as much tolerance for million-dollar rebrands as I do. Earlier this week he began the first of a series called THE THINGS NO ONE TEACHES YOU with this all-too-familiar anecdote:
When I was an executive at Sony Pictures Television, during the heady and irrationally exuberant early-to-mid-Streaming Wars era, things may not have been as cushy as they were for the generation of execs that immediately preceded me (with their car allowances and their generously sized offices), but the job still came with some perks. One of those was our annual retreat weekend at a fancy hotel in Orange County — just removed enough from regular life to feel like a genuine retreat, at the least expense and distance necessary to achieve the effect.
These weekends were well worth whatever the company paid for them. From indulging in multiple “market price” seafood towers at a team dinner, to swapping stories over drinks long after the hotel bar closed, to my bosses deciding to conclude a mini-game of entertainment industry Jeopardy! between myself and two other execs with game show experience1 by suddenly darkening the hotel multipurpose room’s lights and playing the YouTube video of my greatest moment of (gameshow-related) public infamy2 without having given me any prior notice of that plan: these were the experiences that formed the professional and social glue that united, empowered, and motivated our team when things got difficult or messy with a show or relationship.
If you were possess either too much TL; DR or too little attention to detail you probably didn’t bother to click on the superscript number 1 which referenced said execs who competed in that little JEOPARDY! game–which was played using the same exact specs and computer wizardry that the show itself uses for rehearsal games adjacent to what is now cheerfully referred to as the Alex Trebek Stage–one of those other perks that Basin referenced that came with working for Sony at a time when they actually did treat employees with respect and reverence. I’ll save you the trouble of doubling back by cutting and pasting how I made a guest apperance in this post:
One of whom was a delightful old-school, pre-Internet-era research exec of the sort you frankly don’t see anymore — the kind of guy who you could ask “What show led the ratings for the 1987–88 broadcast season?” and he’d answer you, correctly, with barely a moment’s hesitation, “It was The Cosby Show, with a 27.8 average household rating, leading an all-NBC top 4 that also included, in order, A Different World, Cheers, and The Golden Girls.” Likely as not, he’d also have mentioned that the two highest-rated non-NBC shows that year were ABC’s Growing Pains and Who’s the Boss?, or that it was The Cosby Show’s third #1 finish in a five-year run that ended after the 1989–90 broadcast season (for which The Cosby Show finished in a tie with ABC’s Roseanne), or possibly both. He obviously won the Jeopardy! game.
Humble brag: I did know all that, though I’m pretty sure I was way too inebriated with the open bar that was available to us to have laid that on him in that Orange County setting. And I’ll merely add that I’m prouder of the fact that I can also tell you what show lead the way in the 2025-26 broadcast season (MARSHALS) followed closely by its CBS Sunday night companion TRACKER and the two highest-rated non-CBS shows were ABC’s HIGH POTENTIAL and DANCING WITH THE STARS. See how the past can be prologue?
Basin then goes on to provide specific examples of what actually was the purpose behind those in-person gatherings besides actually rewarding us for jobs well done–getting the chance to learn directly from those we otherwise may only butt heads with in meetings and press tours–and what life lessons can be taken away if one actually chose to pay attention even half as much as he did. This entry focused on five distinct questions one might want to ask oneself and then attempt tpo incorporate in how they deal with people that are worth pondering:
Why Guess When You Could Just Ask?
“How Can I Best Help You?”
“How Do You Like to Be Helped?”
“What Do You Care About?”
Asking People to “Help You Help Them” in the Real World
No, I’m not going do the heavy lifting for you in providing even snippets of his teachings. For that, you’ll have to subscribe to his Substack yourself. You’ll also discover that he’s just released what he calls an “epilogue” to all of the above called WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE, which he teases accordingly:
I …want this to be a forum to highlight inspiring examples, illuminating insights, and worthy role models of professional excellence from people I admire in fields other than my own.
He then proceeds to share a detailed account of how one-time HBO executive extraordinare Kary Antholis–who I crossed paths with on the ill-fated MTM misstep THE CAPE which I’ve lovingly referenced as “the show the killed the kitty”–was able to bring Steven Soderburgh in line despite the latter’s imposing resume and earned gravitas. It’s a fascinating read and stellar example of how the skill sets that Basin articulated above were applied in a real-world setting. I always dealt with and approached creatives with similar methods. What I think is secondary to telling you as best I can what I sense your current and aspirational audiences are thinking. And since you’re the one with the bigger nut to cover, it’s your choice whether you want to give it credence or not.
Plenty chose to play earmuffs with that approach–including a few choice executives from that otherwise wonderful retreat who later proved to have thinner skins than the Dover sole we dined on. To be sure, they were in the minority–unfortunately for me, a couple of those in said minority were eventually elevated to being able to determine my fate.
Ken’s fared a lot better than I have on that road. And he’s got a lot of runway left in his career. He’s already overcome quite a bit already, including public shaming at the hands of the New York Post in response to his day of infamy. If you go down a deep enough Google rabbit hole, you’ll find a court testimony from a lecherous and corrupt ex-FOX station manager who was quoted as referencing me as “that asshole Steve Leblang”. While it’s public record, it’s pretty obscure. In Basin’s case, there are still geeks out there who offer toasts with cans of Fresca in his dishonor. Haters gotta hate, right? But to said haters: you should only be a fraction as intelligent and successful as who you’d dismiss as a “schmuck”.
So I’d consider it a personal favor if you’re in a position to do so to become as much of a fan of his as I am–perhaps buy his books, too? He’s also got a bigger nut to cover than I do. And it might eventually put him in a somewhat better position to help him help me. Consider that my “ask” for today.
Until next time…