General
The Slow-Burning Success of Disney’s Bob Iger
Maureen Dowd, The New York Times
Bob Iger looks down at his phone and frowns. “Why is the stock market dropping?” he murmurs to himself, sitting in the back of a BMW ferrying him around Disneyland during last month’s convention of superfans, where he is showing off the new Disney+ streaming service.
Charlie Rose Faces New Harassment Allegations From Makeup Artist
Irin Carmon, The Cut
Gina Riggi, a longtime makeup artist for Charlie Rose, who worked with the talk-show host for 22 years on his eponymous PBS show, is suing him and Bloomberg LP, describing “a toxic work environment suffused with sexual harassment and gender-based abuse.”
Original or Copied? ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Is Back in Court
Ben Sisario, The New York Times
It seems only fitting that the most epic and dramatic of rock songs has resulted in one of the music industry’s most epic copyright fights. “Stairway to Heaven,” Led Zeppelin’s 1971 megahit, defined rock radio for decades and helped make its credited writers, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, extremely rich.
Emmy-Winning Writers Leave Agents Out of Speeches Amid Packaging War
Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter
The biggest change during Sunday’s 71st annual Primetime Emmys was the one that went largely unheard as few of the writers who took the stage to deliver an acceptance speech thanked their agencies or representatives.
Julie Andrews To Receive 48th AFI Life Achievement Award
Patrick Hipes, Deadline Hollywood
The American Film Institute’s board of trustees said Friday that Julie Andrews will receive the 48th AFI Life Achievement Award next year. The award will be presented April 25, 2020 at a gala in Los Angeles.
As Hollywood enters awards season, two rising stars in the publicity machine are making a name for themselves
Todd Plummer, Los Angeles Times
On a recent evening at the Toronto International Film Festival, Andrea Oliveri and Nicole Vecchiarelli maneuvered their way through a bumping, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd at a premiere party for “Hustlers.” They chit-chatted with publicist Liz Mahoney, a partner in Narrative PR, which represents a range of celebrity clients from “Eighth Grade’s” Elsie Fisher to Constance Wu and Richard Madden.
Judge Allows Ron Burkle to Pursue Weinstein Buyout Fraud
Eriq Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter
Billionaire Ron Burkle gets to move forward in his lawsuit alleging being defrauded in the $289 million sale of The Weinstein Co. assets. On Thursday, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge rejected a bid to nix fraud claims brought by Burkle’s Yucaipa Companies.
Hollywood Is Fighting, but the Emmys Show Will Go On
John Koblin, The New York Times
It’s the most celebratory weekend in television, a time for red-carpet looks, thank-you speeches and lavish parties. But as the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards approached this week, Hollywood seemed glum.
Hix Pix Fox Flix
Shawn McCreesh, Air Mail
If you’re young, beautiful, have a power job, money to play with, and a Brentwood Zip Code, Los Angeles can be a lot of fun. Unless you’ve got Donald Trump’s name on your résumé.
Film
Why Yes, Downton Abbey Did Beat Rambo and Brad Pitt at the Box Office
Kevin Fitzpatrick, Vanity Fair
The waning fortune of Downton Abbey in later years left its cinematic prospects uncertain, but leave it to Lord Grantham and the Crawley family to turn things around. The big-budget adaptation of PBS and ITV’s Emmy-rich upstairs-downstairs drama not only appears to have taken in $31 million at the box office this weekend, it’s put Hollywood titans like Sylvester Stallone and Brad Pitt in the servants’ quarters.
Television
Emmys At Extreme Low When It Comes To Diverse Winners In Major Acting Categories
Dino-Ray Ramos, Deadline Hollywood
In the major acting categories, diverse winners was off to a slow start at the Creative Arts Emmys last week when Jane Lynch and Luke Kirby won for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel while Bradley Whitford and Cherry Jones won for The Handmaid’s Tale. If you include reality host in the mix, you can include RuPaul Charles as the first person of color to kick off the inclusive wins at this year’s Emmys — but it was one of the few for 2019.
Broadcasters Used to Worry About Cannibalizing Viewers, but They’re Debuting 64 Shows This Week
Jason Lynch, Adweek
When the 2018–19 TV season began a year ago, ABC only premiered half of its fall shows during that first week, choosing instead to stagger its fall rollouts over a month. That decision was made in part to give some breathing room to the seven new shows it was rolling out and also because ABC was committed to airing the American Music Awards during the third week of the season, which would have disrupted its Tuesday schedule.
HBO’s Emmy glory masks mounting pressure on AT&T
Anna Nicolaou and James Fontanella-Khan, Financial Times
Activist Elliott at odds with TV network’s owner over size, strategy and succession.
Disney and AT&T Reach Carriage Agreement in Principle
Jon Lafayette, Broadcasting & Cable
The Walt Disney Co. reached an agreement in principle on a new retransmission consent and carriage deal with AT&T that would keep networks including ABC, ESPN and the Disney Channel glowing in homes with DirecTV, U-verse and AT&T TV Now. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
AT&T Has Few Options for Its Slumping DirecTV. None Are Great
Scott Moritz, Bloomberg
AT&T Inc. and activist investor Elliott Management Corp. seem to agree on one thing: DirecTV, the phone giant’s shrinking satellite service, is a drag on the company. But solving the problem won’t be easy.
NBC Hopes The Voice’s Viewers Haven’t Exited With Adam Levine
Jason Lynch, Adweek
For the past eight years, The Voice has been NBC’s most reliable prime-time entertainment program, not only serving as a top-rated show but also helping the network launch its biggest recent hits, including This Is Us. But as the hit music competition series returns tonight, it will do so without one of its biggest draws: Adam Levine, who, alongside Blake Shelton, had served as one of the show’s four celebrity coaches for each of its previous 16 cycles.
Looking Ahead to 2020, Here Are Some of the Rules That the TV Academy Should Address
Michael Schneider, Variety
When this year’s Emmy nominations were announced in July, Netflix’s gripping and powerful “When They See Us” earned several well-deserved nods, including limited series, as well as actor (Jharrel Jerome) and directing (Ava DuVernay) for limited series or a movie. It also cleaned up in the limited series supporting actor and actress categories — but that’s where it raised a few eyebrows among Netflix competitors.
Technology and New Media
The War for Talent in the Age of Netflix
Joe Flint, The Wall Street Journal
When Walt Disney Co. recently struck a big production deal with Dan Fogelman, creator of the hit drama “This Is Us,” it tore up the usual playbook for signing up TV talent. Normally, a TV producer’s biggest paydays come after a show has run for a long time, when it sells reruns.
Funny or Die Finds New Life in the Streaming Era
Nicole Sperling, The New York Times
Will Ferrell found himself seated next to Michelle Obama at a White House Christmas party in 2010 when she leaned over and began quoting lines from Funny or Die’s “The Landlord” — the viral video featuring a 2-year-old girl shouting profanities at Mr. Ferrell for not turning in his rent money on time.
‘Seinfeld’ viewership data on Hulu suggests losing the iconic show to Netflix won’t be a huge blow
Travis Clark, Business Insider
Netflix nabbed the global streaming rights to “Seinfeld” this week in a deal reportedly worth hundreds of millions. It’s a huge get for the streaming giant, which will be losing three of its most popular TV shows by the end of next year: “Friends,” “The Office,” and “Parks and Recreation.”
No, ‘Fleabag’ isn’t coming back, despite Emmy triumph
Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times
Backstage at the 71st Emmy Awards, the night’s big winner, Phoebe Waller-Bridge — who claimed awards for writing, lead actress and comedy series for her Amazon dark comedy “Fleabag” — bid adieu to “Fleabag,” which she has previously said she has no plans to bring back for a third season.
New streamers battle over old shows
Sara Fischer, Axios
Streaming services are putting up billions of dollars to win the rights to TV classics like “Friends” and “Seinfeld,” both of which debuted over 2 decades ago on broadcast.
‘GLOW’ Renewed for Fourth and Final Season at Netflix
Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter
GLOW is returning to the ring for one more round. Netflix has renewed the wrestling comedy for a fourth and final season.
Disney+ public pre-orders are open, but without deep bundle discounts
Richard Lawler, Engadget
If you didn’t already buy into the three-years-upfront D23 plan for Disney+ streaming, the doors are open for subscribers, at the promised rates of $69.99 annually, or $6.99 per month. The service started taking sign-ups tonight during the Emmys while other streamers (mostly Amazon) took home trophies, but with more than 25 original series and ten films promised in the first year, it will be interesting to see if they’re on the stage next year.
Everything you need to know about upcoming streaming services, in one handy rundown
Steven Zeitchik, The Washington Post
The “streaming wars” has turned into a catchphrase so quickly it’s easy to miss how intense the battle has become. In the past year, media companies have committed to spending hundreds of millions of dollars on content, begun building massive technological infrastructure and marketed their efforts as the must-have services of the digital age.
TiVo confirms its customers will soon see ads before DVR recordings
Chris Welch, The Verge
So much for it being an early, experimental test. TiVo has confirmed that it plans to place pre-roll video advertisements before DVR recordings for all customers — even those with a lifetime subscription plan.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
The Emmys Gave Us a Glimpse of the Uncertain Post-‘Thrones’ TV World
Alison Herman, The Ringer
Unlike the identity of the Thingamajig on The Masked Singer, it’s no mystery why there was no host for Sunday night’s Emmys ceremony. Per the show’s revolving-network policy, the 71st Emmy Awards were broadcast on Fox, a network without one of the late-night franchises that’s served as the job’s near-exclusive talent pool for the past several years.
The Emmys Missed the Point of Having No Host
David Sims, The Atlantic
Last year, when the Emmy Awards were emceed by the very sleepy duo of Colin Jost and Michael Che, it felt like the show had no host at all. Over the course of the evening, the two Saturday Night Live comedians would occasionally saunter onstage, stand listlessly, and recite jokes as if they were being held hostage.
HBO’s $20 Million ‘Bad Education’ Buy Shows Success Metrics in Streaming Era Are Growing Murkier
Chris Lindahl, IndieWire
The highest-profile acquisition out of the Toronto International Film Festival won’t be shown in theaters despite it’s record-breaking price tag, won’t be eligible for Oscars despite its acclaimed cast, and it’s performance definitely can’t be judged using the old measurements of success.
Why ‘cancel culture’ doesn’t always work
Leah Asmelash, CNN
Name a celebrity who has ever said or done anything remotely controversial — they’ve probably been canceled. It’s a growing phenomenon that’s left almost no one unscathed, from comedians and actors to musicians and TV hosts.
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