Hollywood: Now the Joe Biden of Industries
Aimless, out of step, in denial: How to lose while pretending we’re winning
It has been five days since the news broke that one of our studios may be about to disappear, and the trades have already gotten bored with it and moved on.
It’s sort of poetic, that at this moment of the Old Hollywood heading for the drain, or acting like it wants to, comes the news of the passing of Robert Redford, in so many ways, a Hollywood life that was truly consequential, that sought to build and create things bigger than himself.
In the meantime, we’ve had the Emmys! The conclusion of half a year of campaigning, speculation and hoopla, and the results are being celebrated as the ratings victory heard ’round the world.
“The 2025 Emmys posted their second consecutive gain in viewers, the first time that’s happened in more than a decade.” — THR
“This is a promising enough sign that the Emmys could be back on the up-and-up.” — Deadline
“CBS has two reasons to celebrate: Not only was last night’s show a ratings success, but the previous peak in 2021 (also 7.4 million viewers) was the last time the Emmys aired on the network, meaning NBC, Fox and ABC were all unable to beat it during the years in between.” — Variety
That’s right, who says showbiz is dead?
Television’s big night of 1,000 stars, it’s big chance to tell the story of television — perhaps win some viewers to hedge against the historic cuts now in progress; a television show produced with all of the talent in television available to itself — has soared back to a four-year high of 7.4 million, a couple of million more viewers than last week’s episode of America’s Got Talent! More than half the average audience of George and Mandy’s First Marriage (12.09 million)!
Or, for another reference point from the same weekend:
That’s a bigger number than 7.4 million, right?
But every viewer is sacred, so let’s celebrate the ones we have, not mourn the ones we don’t.
While the industry’s fate hangs in the balance, we are playing in the land of participation trophies. Hollywood, the greatest purveyor of entertainment in the history of the performing arts, is so desperate for a win that it will accept this fraction of George and Mandy’s Wedding as a great triumph.
In the face of data, polls, audience spending habits and trends to the contrary, goddamnit, we are winning!
Culture isn't politics and vice versa, but they tell us about each other.
Failing to Meet the Moment (Again)
Taking the Emmys industrial complex this year, all that effort to get to this point, at this moment in our history, it just feels like Hollywood looked at the political headlines of the last few years and said, “You know who really had the mood of the country figured out? Joe Biden.”