Forty years ago, it was a big deal when Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton became the first female athlete to be featured on the front of a Wheaties cereal box, a consumer-culture laurel reserved for the highest achievers in sports. The Wheaties placement of today is to be part of a recurring national advertising campaign […]

A downtown Los Angeles building made famous as the setting of an album cover photo for the legendary rock band the Doors was heavily damaged after fire broke out Thursday morning. The building that was once home to a transient hotel known as the Morrison Hotel was the setting for cover photo for the band’s […]

As it turns out, more than just Americans were curious to check out live football games and a Beyoncé peformance on Netflix. The streamer’s big “NFL Christmas Gameday Live” stunt drew a broadcast network-level audience in the U.S., and it prompted subscribers in more than 200 countries to check out some part of the nearly […]

In May 2020, Pixar filmmakers invited me to collaborate with them as they began their work on “Inside Out 2.” They explained that in the sequel Riley would now be a teenager, and the action would begin with her “headquarters” being crashed by four new emotions, led by Anxiety. As a clinician focused on population-level […]

After two years of massive layoffs and the promise of more consolidation to come in media and entertainment in 2025, the mood is bleak among executives of a certain age. The pink-slip bloodbath has hit hard on Gen X veterans in the middle-management ranks of networks, studios, talent agencies and PR firms. And it’s come […]

About half of the Jewish characters depicted in scripted TV shows were played by Jewish actors, according to a study of portrayals of contemporary Judaism in TV released by the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center Media Impact Project. The “Jews on Screen” study conducted as part of the center’s Media Impact Project sought to examine […]

Back in June 2019, J.J. Abrams struck a massive overall deal that would keep him in the fold of Warner Bros., his home studio since 2006. The five-year pact, pegged at $500 million at the time, had a unique structure that allowed Abrams to draw from a significant pool of money to sign other writers […]

Richard Shadyac Jr. will step down as CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising arm of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, in March. The charity, founded by Danny Thomas and fueled by the entertainment industry in its early years, is among the most successful private philanthropic endeavors in the nation’s history. St. Jude’s mission is to find […]

The 2024 edition of the Kennedy Center Honors celebrated an eclectic assortment of entertainers Sunday night: filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, singer Bonnie Raitt, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and surviving members of the Grateful Dead. The organization also bestowed its honor on an entertainment venue for the first time, New York’s iconic Apollo Theater. As per tradition, […]

Yoshiki, the Japanese star whose work blends pop, rock and classical music, saluted “the power of art” as he accepted the Variety International Achievement in Music Award at Variety Hitmakers presented by AFEELA on Dec. 8 in Hollywood. In his speech, the Japanese performer noted that he’s usually asleep at the current time of day, […]

Charli xcx delivered a heartfelt salute to “The Velvet Underground & Nico.” Jack Antonoff cheekily told a roomful of music industry insiders that “some of you care more about Pop Crave than Pitchfork.” Lana Del Rey confessed she didn’t submit her music for Grammy nominations early on because she didn’t know how. Olivia Rodrigo outed […]

Prominent industry insiders are gathering support for Oscar consideration for the documentary “We Will Dance Again,” which chronicles the horror that unfolded at Israel’s Nova International Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023. Producer Marc Platt, Sean Penn, music mogul Scooter Braun and former HBO and MTV documentary chief Sheila Nevins are voicing support for the […]

Limited series writers have one big advantage over scribes working on recurring series: They can build to a big, flashy ending without worrying about what to do next season. “Limited gives us that opportunity to just be like — leave them wanting more. We’re out. Mic drop, we’re done,” said Marco Ramirez, executive producer and […]