Les Moonves Says The TV Industry Is In Great Shape...

Les Moonves is crazy (which I already know from that eating fire trick he loves to do at parties).  Or he's lying.  Or both.  Like all of us moguls, he just wants his statement to be true.  We need it to be true because there is a feeling that our glory days of ultimate power are coming to an end.  Les said that broadcast television is still the only place to reach 40 million people at one time.  That's right - 40 million people all saying "this show sucks".

The Emmy broadcast was an embarrassment to mankind - an embarrassment not seen since the Soviets beat the United States into space.  It was bad enough that Manka Bros. didn't have one nomination in the major categories - but then for a Basic Cable show (Mad Men) to win Best Drama?  Are you fucking kidding me? 

This was the main issue of discussion at the Manka Bros. after-party at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton (in which I could only make a brief appearance before attending the Entertainment Tonight party at the Walt Disney Hall - special thanks to Anne Sweeney for the use of the Disney helicopter).  Kiefer Sutherland, the cast of MBS' Forensics, and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson (who flew  in from Washington) were talking most of the night about the need to consolidate the number of TV channels to no more than ten (including just one Spanish channel).  This would allow powerful executives like Les Moonves, Peter Chernin, Bob Iger and myself to remain as gatekeepers - allowing the public to see only what we want them to see - when we want them to see it.  It's bullshit that all this other crap exists.

Paulson compared the current state of network television to the subprime mess that has practically brought down the global economy.  "By allowing normal people without economic resources the chance to create content and put it up on the Internet or Basic Cable for all the world to see, the TV industry has committed corporate suicide.  Broadband, cable and satellite should never have seen the light of day.  The technology could and should have been killed in 1973.  It's now just a matter of time before "Dog Licking Balls" on Crackle.com wins Best Comedy Series at the Emmys." 

Believe me, I would love to travel back in time and destroy all the new technologies that are attempting to undercut the power of us media moguls.  But I know if I actually asked some geeks to invent that time travel machine, those same geeks would probably try to use it for their own advantages.

The f-ing geeks are ruining our shit!

Khan Manka, Jr. - Chairman & CEO - Manka Bros. Studios

P.S. - I'm attending an emergency big media roundtable discussion today and won't be in the office.