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One question traveling quickly through Fox News on May 19 was about who had been invited to the funeral of the network’s ousted founder Roger Ailes the next day in Palm Beach, Florida. Another was who would risk management disapproval by attending. Ailes’ wife, Beth, fiercely protective of him and, in the hours after his May 18 death at age 77, already a determined keeper of the flame, meant to exclude anyone who wasn’t a true friend and to test anyone who said they were. If the liberal media saw Ailes as a disgraced, broken man — quite taking credit for his professional if not actual demise through its coverage since July of the sexual harassment allegations against him — his funeral aimed to be an act of defiance. Without…
Digital Radio Silence Can iHeartMedia be saved in the podcast era? p. 16 ↑ Film Cannes Deals Where did all the buyers go? p. 26 Jack Dorsey The Twitter CEO uses his second shareholder meeting to tout a new message (and content deals) after bringing back co-founder Biz Stone boosted the flagging stock. Jimmy Fallon NBC’s Tonight Show host loses the seasonlong viewer crown to CBS’ Stephen Colbert as a New York Times profile questions his brand of comedy in the Trump era. Greg Berlanti The prolific producer sets a new high mark with 10 scripted series on TV or digital platforms next season, beating Jerry Bruckheimer’s decade-old record. Christopher Miller (left) and Phil Lord The producers suffer a rare double-cancellation with Fox pulling the plug on lowrated comedies Son…
In retrospect, it seems that Peak Fox was achieved this time last year. In the 12 months since, the House That Roger Built has shown its cracks. It fell to third place in the 25-to-54 demo for the week of May 15, its first loss in 17 years. Its political influence, which culminated in the election of Donald Trump, has encountered roadblocks. Fox News under Roger Ailes defied normal rules of TV, which dictate that a lineup must constantly renew itself. With the exception of Megyn Kelly, his primetime hosts in 2016 were the same for a decade: Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Greta Van Susteren. In a year, his lineup has been dismantled. If Ailes had not died from a fall, he might have died from a broken heart. To…
As iHeartMedia — parent of iHeartRadio, home to nearly 900 radio stations and a robust digital platform — tries to fend off bankruptcy, its troubles have trained a spotlight on the entire radio industry, which is struggling against competition from internet music services like Pandora and Spotify as well as burgeoning podcast networks. Five years ago, fewer than 5 million Americans paid for a streaming-music service, but in 2016 that number jumped to 22.6 million, according to the RIAA. And Edison Research says that a year ago a threshold was crossed when adults ages 18-to- 24 said for the first time that they spend more time listening to streaming music than they do traditional radio. While incumbents like iHeart- Radio, run by CEO Bob Pittman, and its chief rival Entercom…
The inclusion of two movies produced by Netflix turned this year’s Cannes Film Festival competition into something of a referendum on what is cinema and what isn’t. Ironic then that one of the most popular screenings at the fest was a six-and-a-half-minute virtual reality “experience” shown out of competition. Created by Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. Inarritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, Carne y Arena (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible), the first VR film to screen at Cannes, re-creates the experience of immigrants crossing the Mexican border into the U.S. Viewers wander barefoot through a vast, dark space covered in sand and equipped with a backpack, VR headset and headphones, while virtual border guards swoop down to arrest them. It is a powerful way to convey the migrant story, but Inarritu tells THR…
Let’s straighten out one thing. They’re vibrators, not dildos. A dildo mimics a penis, and a vibrator shakes you up. When we started doing Grace and Frankie, one thing we wanted to deal with was sexuality in your 70s. Once you get past a certain point, for women in particular, people dismiss you as a sexual being. The idea that these characters would start to sell vibrators targeted to older women in season three perfectly fit into our desire to tell people that you can start your life at any age. The idea to put Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda on billboards with the vibrators — that came from the annual meeting we have with Netflix and Skydance. We all glommed on to it because, well, it was freaking funny.…
