So far, no impact has been felt – but it’s early If you put this trade war in an entertainment context, it’s Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake on a much larger scale. President Donald Trump is taking on the country where Drake is from, slapping tariffs on Canada, urging them to become the 51st state (although the District of Columbia and […]
Former daytime host “rides along” with officials to boost his fledgling TV network This space in September 2023 jokingly suggested Dr. Phil McGraw should come to town and give a hardened pep talk to the Chicago Bears after the Kansas City Chiefs blew out the team in front of millions of viewers and Taylor Swift, who was at the game. […]
As viewers abandon linear TV, the people who run these stations are doing more harm than good Being a meteorologist in the post-Tom Skilling era has been rough. In an unthinkable move just five years ago, Allen Media Group announced nearly two weeks ago that it was firing its entire roster of meteorologists across the station group. The company planned […]
Chicago sports teams and politicians dominate the list [Editor’s Note: This post was updated on November 29, updating and switching around entries due to Matt Eberflus’ firing, which took place earlier in the day, and again on December 9 to add two new entries.] If 2024 is Chicago’s worst year ever, this list sums up everything that’s gone wrong. From […]
Journalists under fire from Trump, the left, and even Mayor Johnson as journalism’s prestige continues to sag If you thought the 2024 Chicago White Sox had a rough year, the media had it worse. Daily attacks on the Fifth Estate have become commonplace in the last few weeks leading up to the Presidential election. And it’s not just coming from […]
The newest White Sox PBP is as unprofessional as it comes. So why is he there? I’ve tried to hold my tongue for the last two months and give the new kid a chance, but here’s my verdict on new White Sox play-by-play man John Schriffen. He sounds like ass. But you probably knew that already, given the ridiculous, over-the-top […]
Booing of Bulls GM Jerry Krause is yet another embarrassment to our city What happened Friday night at the United Center during the Ring Of Honor ceremony honoring the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls season was as vile as anything I have seen in the nearly 52 years I’ve lived in Chicago. And I’ve been through the racially-tinged Council Wars when our […]
White Sox debacles, and news crews getting robbed spotlight the tremendous failure of city institutions If you were a kid in the 1970s or 1980s perhaps you remember a commercial for Resse’s Peanut Butter Cups when someone got peanut butter into their chocolate, and vice versa. So what happens when the problems of sports’ worst-run franchise mash-up with the […]
Both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA are om strike outside of Paramount Studios in Hollywood. With no settlement in sight, the entire 2023-24 TV season for scripted shows could be wiped out When SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA on the picket lines on July 12, the entire industry shut down and the thinking was, this would spur some kind of progress in […]
Online reviews, viewer anger sink Mandy Kaling’s Scooby-Doo-less reboot In the 40 years I’ve followed the television business, I’ve never seen a series as panned as Velma – and I don’t mean by TV critics. On its way to becoming one of the biggest flops in television history, HBO Max released the much-talked-about Velma adult animated series from Mandy Kaling […]
Twitter’s path under Elon Musk follows those of other media companies In the 37 years I’ve followed media, I have never seen a media company – social or not – that’s been run into the ground quicker than what I’m seeing with Elon Musk and Twitter. In the sixteen years I’ve written this blog, I’ve written about how egotism and […]
Brash billionaire likely to send social media platform to ruins, similar to what Zell did to the Tribune As you know by now, billionaire Elon Musk has bought Twitter, Inc. for $54.20 a share, or for $44 billion. The outright purchase of the social media platform by the world’s richest man came after Musk acquired shares in the company, […]
Party’s over as competition, governments take aim at streaming giant It wasn’t too long ago Netflix was the toast of the town, heralded as the best entertainment had to offer on a new, emerging platform. The company partied hardy for years feasting on praise as the darling of Wall Street. Well, the bill is now due. In a […]
ABC and NBC schedule Presidential town halls opposite each other as ratings dictate decisions instead of common sense NBC’s decision to schedule a President Trump town hall opposite Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is so ridiculous, it’s hard to explain. A second Presidential debate was supposed to take place tonight between Trump and Biden. But Trump tested positive for […]
Chicago crime grabs more airtime than Covid-19 pandemic as the city continues to grab global headlines for gun violence You’d think in a middle of a national health pandemic, cable news channels would focus on the issues at hand when more than 150,000 people have died from Covid-19, right? Of course not – especially when it comes to Fox News. […]
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