Today’s layoffs were the beginning of “a move aimed at eliminating nearly 2,000 jobs by year’s end as the company prepares for a new ownership regime.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
There are people - mostly “men who think far too much about the Roman Empire” - freaking out about Denzel Washington’s accent in the Gladiator II trailer. “The films are historical fictions, which should render all critiques about accents moot. But let’s indulge the ignorance for a moment. What did Romans sound like?” - Hyperallergic
“Phoenix was set to star opposite the Top Gun: Maverick actor Danny Ramirez in a 30s-set love story with ‘explicit sexual content.’” Director Haynes and producer Christine Vachon say the film was Phoenix’s idea from the beginning. - The Guardian (UK)
Cartoonnetwork.com used to offer clips and even some full episodes of its shows such as We Bare Bears and Steven Universe. As of August 8, though, all the site now has is a pop-up message and redirect telling visitors to sign up for Max, the conglomerate's paid streaming service. - Variety
"Patreon says podcasters make up the second-largest group of creators on its platform and collectively earned more than $350 million from fans in 2023. (The company) says creators have benefited as they’ve moved beyond just audio to video, live shows, books, and merchandise lines, broadening their appeal." - Inside Radio
"Death slots" were times when audiences were presumed to be low, and therefore where network programmers would park shows presumed to be doomed anyway, so the series — most notoriously, the original Star Trek — would get cancelled for low ratings. Yet it turned out some shows thrived in "death slots." - Tedium
“It’s like a ‘Seinfeld’ convention with a baseball game in the background,” says the man who organized Seinfeld Night for the first time, a decade ago. - The New York Times
“The writers’ branch of the TV Academy isn’t the general public, and it’s reasonable to wish they’d be more discerning in their choices. This year, the comedy writers actually did just that.” - Vulture
“Before the rash of streamers elbowed in, the landscape had been dominated by HBO and, later, by Comedy Central.” Then Netflix opened its bankbook. - The Hollywood Reporter (MSN)
If you build it (in this case, climate coverage), they will come. “In 2023, stories produced by the organization’s climate teams outperformed the average story on the website in 11 months out of 12, often dramatically.” Could they do the same with, oh, say, the arts? - Nieman Lab
Perhaps surprisingly - but perhaps not, if you’ve ever tried to figure out what to watch from 12 different streaming services - “there is such an appetite for classic films these days it almost feels as if they are part of the first-run calendar.” - The Guardian (UK)
The forensic examination of finances at the long-troubled outlet revealed conflicts of interest, misspent funds, and more than $700,000 in expenditures ($400,000 of which was to one unnamed individual) that weren't backed up by expense reports or receipts. - Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)
The layoffs, which follow the elimination of 800 jobs in February, are part of a plan for $500 million in annual cost-savings (part of $2 billion in "cost efficiencies") adopted for the coming merger of Paramount Global and Skydance. - The Hollywood Reporter
“The story was too romantic. It was tears cutting out of your eyes. And the von Trapp, they left their home. For the others, it was not possible to go away, only for the noble family. And then all the other people in the film seemed to be Nazis.” - NPR
