Media - General: September 2009 Archives

Frankly, no one gives a shit anymore.  Last night's show was painful. 

A tour of the set?  Seriously?  Matthew Weiner, creator of Mad Men, is unable to give an acceptance speech for winning Best Drama because there was a five minute TOUR OF THE SET at the beginning of the show?   "Where we will all be spending the next three plus hours!"

The opening number from the Academy Awards winning for Best Musical Number?  Best Musical Number? 

That painfully long Family Guy bit with the baby killing the dog (full disclosure - I'm a Simpson's girl and think Family Guy sucks so I probably wouldn't have liked even if it were short and funny). 

There there was bit-after-painful-bit about the demise of television.  Television, the way it was in 1979 is dead - TELEVISION ISN'T DEAD!  What else are we supposed to do to pass the time on this miserable planet?  We like the internet, we like television, we like movies, we like going out to dinner, we like talking on the phone, we like working out, we like going to the park with our kids, we like going to Disneyland... just because we spend a few hours less watching TV doesn't make it the end of the world!

I know there is a lot of insecurity in this town and a very strong need to give each other awards.  But would the programming change if there wasn't Emmy Awards?  Are the actors from NCIS: Los Angeles relevant in any way?  Was an appearance by the Gossip Girls a way to reach out to 15 year olds?  As an experiment, Television Academy, why don't you put next year's awards on the Disney Channel and see how many young girls you get to watch... But that would never happen because the Emmys are much too prestigious for that.

I know the old white executives want it to be 1979 again when the television audience apparently actually cared if M*A*S*H would win or lose - but those days are gone.

It's over.  Kill it already.  Every year it sucks and every year we watch.  Over half that crowd (i.e., the late night comedy show writers), wanted to be watching the Giants/Cowboys game on NBC.  Myself included.

Jill Kennedy - OnMedea

Dear Nikki,

Your new business strategy will fail.  This morning, a new (unremarkable) web design was revealed along with a new address (Deadline.com) and it is a disappointment.  A disappointment to all us bomb throwers out there who are just trying to make a buck with salacious stories about other people's lives. 

I say it's a disappointment because DHD is a straight-out-of-bed must read for nearly everyone in the business of media.  You should resist the urge to turn it into something more than it is. 

I don't understand why people in this industry find it difficult to be content with success. 

Nikki, you had an amazing one woman operation (terrible graphics and all - but it worked) with great inside sources, timely scoops and the freedom to say whatever the fuck you wanted. 

That's all going to change now. 

You are attempting to become a corporation - a media conglomerate, if you will.  You seem to fancy yourself one of those top media executives whose career you could bring down with one click of the "Publish" button.  I fear those days are ending. 

I believed you when you said nothing would change after being bought by Mail.com Media Corporation (I would have put a link of that last sentence to the blog you wrote after being bought - but it appears to be gone!  See what I mean?). 

Believe me, I'm not against buyouts.  Manka Bros. doesn't pay me shit and we all need capital to run a successful business.  But now you're opening offices (OK, hiring a couple bloggers in pajamas) in several other world cities under the "Deadline" brand.  Plus, you talk about technical people and designers.  Please.  Can you look at the numbers and tell me that your free cash flow margin isn't decreasing?

Do you seriously believe you'll find other "Nikki Finke's" in London, Hong Kong, Syndey, et al?   What the fuck scoops are you going to get in Mumbai?  There are plenty of great media muckrakers in that country.  They don't need you.  There is only one Nikki Finke and paying other people to digg up fresh scandals in international territories isn't going to work. 

I'm going to miss the freshness, the immediacy and especially that feeling that we're getting real inside dope. 

But it's not too late to change!  Stay small and profitable.  Don't expand and be forced out of business in a year.  Or worse, in a year, don't attempt to go back to your old self in a pathetic display of "Well, I tried!"

Jill Kennedy, OnMedea