Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on MONDAY January 8, 2023.

Where all of those HALLMARK movies have finally gotten through to me, so I left the life of my high pressure media job and escaped the big city yesterday to get back to basics, and hang around “real people” in small town NEW YORK… alas, I did not find love. Or GOLDEN GLOBES talk.

Ok fine, I really just went up to Beacon to enjoy a snow day since we don’t get ❄️ in NYC anymore, so just sharing a little upstate wintry scenery with you as well to start off the first real week of January 2024.

AND: Congrats to all of the GOLDEN GLOBES winners. Everyone else… uh, I dunno, campaign harder next time? 🤷‍♂️.

I have no idea what to take away from an artistic awards show… other than maybe Jim Gaffigan would be a good host choice if/when the show returns to linear TV next year.

Although let’s face it – I was ~~mostly~~ half-watching the NFL game last night. But just a shout out to one speech I did see – Ayo Edebiri, who won for The Bear, who thanked all of her agents’ and managers’… assistants 👏. Well done.

NOTE TO SELF: If I ever go to the show – do not pick your nose 👃. All PENSKE MEDIA websites were live streaming not just the show… but footage of everything in the room during all of the commercial breaks with long lens cameras from afar. Man, how did they get the access??

WAKEUP POLL RESULTS

As for the GLOBES ratings… we’ll find out later today and see what 35 minutes of CBS NFL post-game show did as a lead-in, but here’s what yer thinking.

37% under 5 Million
21% were 5 Mil to 5.6 Mil
17% were 5.6 Mil to 6.2 Mil
14% were 6.2 Mil to 6.8 Mil
11% were 6.8 Mil+

ALSO: Here are your National Society of Film Critics winners (Past Lives took the top award).

AND: SHOWTIME, it’s been a good run. Time to meet the PAR+wSHO linear TV network today!

THEN: Here is your NFL Wildcard weekend TV schedule this Sat-Mon, including the KC ~~SWIFTS~~ CHIEFS in the PEACOCK-exclusive game on Saturday 👀.

GRANTED: I was 35% watching the GLOBES on my laptop while watching NBC SNF 🏈 on my TV last night, but I recall seeing just one PEACOCK Ted series promo in the game last night (again, perhaps there were at least a few more…), and it was not even mentioned in the post-game “This week on PEACOCK” promo (the series launches on Thursday).

In last week’s SNF game, you couldn’t avoid a promo for that Jon Cryer NBC show if you tried – a show still being promoted in last night’s game (I definitely saw a couple of those).
And yet Ted, PEACOCK’s big Q1 programming effort, based on an extremely well known UNI property… was not promoted at all last week in SNF, and seemingly minimally promoted this week in the finale? To young(ish) male NFL fans. Baffling.
Will see if Ted gets a lot more love from it’s own service during that PEACOCK exclusive NFL playoff game on Saturday night.

OH:

Avg. ticket price for tonight’s ESPN College Football Championship: $2,845
Avg. salary of the players in the game: $0
Airing on ABC tonight instead of this game: HULU’s Brooke Shields docu from last year.

HEY SEAN: Why do you write so much about football? NFL & College Football had 98 of the top 100 most-watched TV telecasts in 2023, up from 82 in 2022 #WhatAmericaWatches. At least the OSCARS made the list this year (along with the THANKSGIVING Day parade).

THEN: Mark Cuban will be giving 1% of the proceeds from his DALLAS MAVERICKS sale to team employees, or $35 Million, divvied up based on how long they’ve been with the team (and seniority I’d gather). I’m sure every media company that gets sold in 2024 will do the same.

PLUS: Semafor had an intriguing look into the state of affairs at Will & Jada’s WESTBROOK Entertainment, including layoffs this year, CANDLE’s stake in the company, and some uh… curious large loans & executive pay going to CEO & co-founder Kosaku Yada.

OOF: #2 U.S. radio conglomerate AUDACY is now bankrupt… so, if they owe ya money – yeah yer not getting it (they’re looking to shred $1.6 Billion of debt, or 80%, through the process), but uh… yeah enjoy that equity in whatever is on the other side. Its stock was de-listed in November due to continued under $1 status.

IN THIS EDITION

Some expected performances kick off the 2024 box office season (Night Swim) and quite unexpected (Anyone But You, Color Purple) and a lot more to break down.
News at CBS, PEACOCK, UNI, NETFLIX, MAX, and… well, ya’ll also chose to have a very busy Friday afternoon too for once (thanks 😏), so a few things to catch up on there too.