The Morning Fix: MPAA shames ‘Shame.’ Netflix free fall continues
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After the coffee. Before cleaning the cat box. I wish I was joking.
The Skinny: Hoping the World Series doesn’t get rained out tonight. Wednesday’s headlines include more woes for Netflix, report cards for CBS and NBC, and whether Steve Jobs had one more rabbit in his hat.
There’s a TV for that. Will Apple’s next big play be a new TV set? Seems that reinventing the small screen was Steve Jobs’ white whale. In Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the late visionary, Jobs spoke of a desire to create a new TV and there has been speculation for years that this was the big secret project at Apple. All I know is I just bought a Sony Google TV and I’m not looking to replace it for at least 10 years. More on Apple’s television fantasies from the Los Angeles Times.
Sell! Netflix stock continued to take a beating from investors Tuesday after the company said its subscriber losses were worse than projected and analysts issued negative reports. You know you’re in trouble when your CEO has become a subject of parody on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ even if the skit isn’t funny. Coverage from the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal.
Bilingual. Telemundo, long the runner-up to Univision among Spanish-language networks, is adopting a new strategy to embrace the rapidly changing Latino population. Many of its shows will now run with English subtitles and even the occasional English in the dialogue. The New York Times looks at Telemundo’s plans and what it says about the diversity among Spanish-speaking households.
For shame. The Motion Picture Assn. of America has slapped ‘Shame’ with a NC-17 rating. The Hollywood Reporter says Fox Searchlight is not planning any additional edits to the movie to get an R rating. Good, that means I won’t have to hunt for a raunchier copy.
Race is on. The election of a new head of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, just weeks away, will be a battle between industry heavyweight Bruce Rosenblum, who heads Warner Bros. TV operations, and Nancy Bradley Wiard, a former soap opera producer. Given Rosenblum’s clout in the industry, he is seen as the favorite. However, as Variety’s Brian Lowry notes, there may be a backlash against Rosenblum for being ‘something of a carpetbagger for entering the race -- parachuting in, as opposed to gradually matriculating through the ranks as Wiard, currently the vice chair, has.’
Report card. Vulture is grading the networks for their performance so far this season. Here are their takes on NBC and CBS. All I’ll say is the salty language on CBS’ ‘Two Broke Girls’ is starting to make ‘Two and a Half Men’ look like ‘Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.’
Inside the Los Angeles Times: A look at which actors have more than one movie that might be in contention for an Oscar.
-- Joe Flint
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