Le Blog
Welcome Back
My best friend is named Bob Boden. He has been since a fateful September 9, 1974 when your author was stumped on a tough mixed-up word in the daily newspaper Jumble game that to this day occupies several minutes of my time to solve every morning. A few weeks ago I couldn’t honestly write those
Who Shall Live and Who Shall Die?
Today is Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. I will spend the majority of it at my newly chosen temple, praying for the opportunity to maximize what bodes to be the most challenging year of my life to date. One of the most powerful prayers on today’s docket is the Unataneh Tokef, which
The Death of The Mogul?
I was fortunate enough to know Jim Gianopulos while he was a top film executive at Fox. Jim was a throwback even then to the golden age of Hollywood, where movie executives had a commanding physical presence, with an obvious passion for fine art, fine wine and fine women, implicit ability to steer a negotiation
The Price Is Still Right
In a media landscape where change is the norm, a remarkable milestone of stability is achieved today The CBS daytime version of THE PRICE IS RIGHT begins its 50th season. There are numerous examples of Leblanguage that can be invoked to describe exactly how incredible that statement is. Try this one out: The first half-hour
Never forget
As I write this, there are memorial services ongoing in New York, Washington, Pennsylvania and elsewhere commemorating the somber 20th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. As a native New Yorker, I took these attacks emotionally and personally. While I did not personally lose anyone close to me in the buildings or
A Genius – Even At A Urinal
If it’s the week after Labor Day, then it must be time for a great new buzzworthy drama on FX. This year’s entry, the latest “American Crime Story” season, a scathing retelling of the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinskyscandal called “Impeachment”, is already off a stellar start, garnering significant favorable social traction. As someone who visioned this
Does Popularity Matter Any More?
Since the 1950s the lives and livelihoods of thousands of media executives and tens of thousands of producers and actors have been dictated by the results derived from a small fraction of U.S. TV households, otherwise known as the Nielsen ratings panel. As this column has previously documented, the daily intensity of compiling, disseminating, spinning
Shelter From The Storm
Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood When blackness was a virtue the road was full of mud I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form Come in, she said I’ll give ya shelter from the storm I survived the remnants of Hurricane Ida physically this week. My biggest loss
Drop the Mike
And so it is written. The Mike Richards era of both hosting and stewardship of Jeopardy, as well as the EP role of Wheel of Fortune, didn’t even make it to September 2021. Sony executives, rapidly approaching the level of transparency and clarity of the Cuomo administration, gave in to the inevitable and announced that