Advertisement

The Morning Fix: Sony’s struggles are nothing new for Howard Stringer. ‘Hangover 2’ off to strong start.

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. Before deciding between ‘Hangover 2’ and ‘Hobo With a Shotgun.’

The Skinny: It’s a light roundup as people start to disappear for the holiday weekend. ‘The Hangover 2’is off to a strong start already. The new book on ESPN is getting a lot of attention and another television season has come stumbling to an end.

Advertisement

There’s a pony in here somewhere. Consumer electronics and Hollywood giant Sony Corp.’s current struggles are nothing new for Chief Executive Howard Stringer, whose tenure is described by the New York Times as ‘upswing, stumble, repeat.’

Same old story. Another television season has come to an end, and while a lot of hype over the finale of ‘American Idol’ and Oprah Winfrey’s last show generated attention and ratings, the reality is pretty bleak. Few new hits and declining ratings among adults 18 to 49 continued to be the norm. For more Friday cheer, here’s the story in the Wall Street Journal.

Let the partying begin. Warner Bros.’ ‘The Hangover 2’ is already off to a strong start this holiday weekend. The movie, which has been getting mixed reviews although my co-worker Ben Fritz liked it a lot, took in more than $10 million in midnight screenings on Wednesday. I’m still torn between seeing it or ‘Hobo With a Shotgun.’ More on ‘The Hangover 2’ and holiday box office from Variety and Deadline Hollywood while Vulture looks at whether Ed Helms will be able to emerge as a solo star.

Before you spend your money. Advertising Age offers quick reviews of which shows look good and which look bad among the broadcast networks. I haven’t seen any pilots yet (something else to do this weekend), so I’ll just say from clips alone I was not impressed with NBC’s remake of ‘Prime Suspect,’ which Ad Age said looked good.

Is this like running for a third term when there is a rule against term limits? Bloomberg LP, the business media giant founded by Mike Bloomberg, who is now mayor of New York City, has accused Comcast of cheating on one of the conditions it agreed to in return for approval from the Federal Communications Commission on its deal to take control of NBCUniversal. Bloomberg tried to use the Comcast deal to force the cable giant to give its business channel better placement on the dial so it could be stronger against NBC’s CNBC and Fox Business. Comcast basically told Bloomberg to stick it. More on the story, which was leaked to Politico to ensure maximum visibility among government officials and watchdogs

Inside the Los Angeles Times: Our review of the new ESPN book ‘Those Guys Have All The Fun.’ The top prize at Cannes may not be enough to generate heat for Terrence Malick’s ‘The Tree of Life.’

Advertisement

-- Joe Flint

Follow me on Twitter. It’s cheaper than a vacation. Twitter.com/JBFlint

Advertisement