Advertisement

The Morning Fix: Regulate popcorn! Howard Stern turns on Sirius! Showtime drops Netflix.

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

After the coffee and after wondering how Bart Simpson comes up with blackboard material day after day.

The Skinny: I don’t really need a label on popcorn telling me how many calories are in it. I know it’s bad for me, now let me enjoy it with my bad movie! In other headlines, Howard Stern bites the hand that feeds him. Glenn Beck may need a new hand to feed him, and Chris Brown has a smashing good time on ‘Good Morning America.’

Advertisement

Stay away from our popcorn! Movie theater owners are balking at a Food and Drug Administration push to require them to disclose the amount of calories in popcorn. Theater owners fear that if people actually see how fattening that popcorn with extra butter can be, customers won’t buy any and that would take a huge bite out of their profits. That’s of a little concern to the Center for Science in the Public Interest. ‘If a movie theater is going to be serving people with 1,000-calorie tubs of popcorn, the least they could do is tell people about it,’ said Margo Wootan, the director of nutrition policy at the center. Trust me, we know. Details from the Los Angeles Times.

Stern sues Sirius. Just a few months after signing a new five-year deal with satellite radio broadcaster Sirius XM, self-proclaimed king of all media Howard Stern and his agent Don Buchwald filed a suit against the company claiming his bonus deal isn’t being honored. This is the first real rift ever between Stern and Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin, who has worked closely with Stern for almost 30 years. According to Bloomberg, Stern’s suit says, “When Sirius needed Stern, it promised him a share in any success that the company achieved.... But now that Sirius has conquered its chief competitor and acquired more than 20 million subscribers, it has reneged on its commitment to Stern, unilaterally deciding that it has paid him enough.” In a nutshell, it appears Stern wants some credit for the merger between Sirius and XM. More on the suit from the Wall Street Journal.

History lesson. Next month, ‘The Kennedys’ miniseries will premiere on ReelzChannel, a relatively unknown cable network, after it was dropped by History. The Hollywood Reporter gets producer Joel Surnow’s version of how the eight-part program imploded at History.

Going his own way. Since it appears unlikely that Glenn Beck will cut a new deal with Fox News when his current one expires in December, speculation is starting as to what he’ll do next. Does he have the clout and the coin to pull an Oprah and try to start his own cable channel? Or might he try to go the Internet route, where start-up costs would be lower? The New York Times looks at the various hands the rabble rouser may try to play. Give him the hour after Keith Olbermann on Current. They can call the programming block unfair and unbalanced.

A smashing exit. Chris Brown knows how to leave the building. The musician trashed his dressing room after an interview on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ that was not to his liking because they asked him about his stormy relationship with singer Rihanna, which includes a restraining order. Vanity Fair offers up a noir take on the Tuesday morning incident.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: RIP Elizabeth Taylor. Showtime said it is no longer going to be offering new shows to Netflix. Mickey Rourke’s moves since ‘The Wrestler’ have yet to really pay off.

Advertisement

-- Joe Flint

Follow me on Twitter. I need some cheering up. Twitter.com/JBFlint

Advertisement