With help of an old joke, Rob Long explains why agents in Hollywood are the professional deliverers of bad news (except for the occasional random encounter with a network executive). Pro tip: never ask a network executive you just ran into about your “rice bowl” (that’s show-biz slang for your future income, as in a pickup for your pilot or a renewal for your on-the-bubble show). Also, what is it like to be on the receiving end of a “your show is cancelled” call? And then to have the bad news pop up in the press minutes later? Rob — something of an expert on this topic — describes it in minute detail. Finally, Rob reveals the telltale signs that your show might actually be going well, and, also, how to feel when your agent wistfully mutters the phrase “dark skies.” It may not mean what you think.