☀️NETFLIX Exec Shakeup week continues; ESPN sets Tiger & Rory deal
CHARTER & COMCAST underwhelm with JV details / Elemental keeps scoring for DISNEY / WBD resets Int'l leaders
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY Oct. 5, 2023.
Where Hollywood has definitely kept it on-brand during the strike, as many plastic surgeons have reported a large uptick in business during the SAG strike, as much as +30%. #TimeToHeal 😳
Uh, and that emoji isn’t expressing shock, but rather that’s the facial expression capacity he has left after his procedure - and please don’t make him laugh.
AND: The TONYS are moving to Lincoln Center, at the David H. Koch theater. They’ll be held on Sun. June 16 next summer, also known as Father’s Day.
THEN: SNL is indeed coming back on Oct. 14 (maybe) before the SAG strike is over. SAG did put out a statement giving the 👍: “They are not in violation of SAG-AFTRA strike rules, and we support them in fulfilling their contractual obligations.”
Pete was set to host the show the week that the WGA went on strike in May… and if the SAG strike is still active next Sat. - he still won’t be able to promote Bupkis.
SNL is also adding one person to the cast mix this year - Chloe Troast, who has worked with the Please Don’t Destroy trio (including in their upcoming PEACOCK film).
BTW: The KC CHIEFS have a bye-weekend on Nov 4 👀.
ALSO: This was a #goodread on how the whole “Jake from STATE FARM” with Mrs. Kelce thing happened last Sunday in the NFL - and yes, masters of zeitgeist marketing firm, MAXIMUM EFFORT, was behind it.
HMM 👀: Roy Wood Jr. is leaving The Daily Show as a correspondent at COMEDY CENTRAL after 8 years when the show returns this month, but says he would still be open to the host gig.
PLUS: Julia Ormond accused CAA (namely Lourd and Huvane) of negligence and breach of fiduciary duty in her new sexual battery claim against Harvey Weinstein, although neither was named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
THEN: CAA responded with a statement saying Ormond’s attorneys got in touch in March on this matter, saying: “CAA received a demand, through its counsel, from Ms. Ormond’s attorneys, that CAA pay $15,000,000 in exchange for Ms. Ormond not making the allegations against CAA public. CAA immediately rejected this demand.” So yeah, more to come.
UM: If you’re among the roughly 3% of people to whom GOOGLE sells PIXEL phones - here are the new details on the PIXEL 8 phone.
OH: The 2030 Men’s WORLD CUP will be hosted by… six countries 🤷♂️. Well sorta.
ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY and URUGUAY will open the tournament with the first three games.
But then it moves onto SPAIN, PORTUGAL and MOROCCO for, well, basically the entire thing.
Uh… but the tournament will first actually have its opening ceremony in SPAIN, PORTUGAL or MOROCCO… before it goes to those South American countries for three games, and then back to those three southern EUROPE and northern AFRICA countries.
I guess just not holding it in a desert where thousands of immigrants don’t have to die to build the facilities is a step up? Also to my knowledge - none of these countries ban alcohol.
NOTE: The Men’s Cricket World Cup begins today in INDIA, and goes through mid-November (streaming free on DISNEY+HOTSTAR).
AND: MLB ⚾️ games were 24 minutes shorter than last year, and 30 minutes shorter than 2021, basically thanks to the new pitch clock rules. Total paid game attendance was the highest since 2017.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL:
The Exorcist is on deck… with some reviews that, uh, well hey it’s horror - and this is not the new Alexander Payne film.
Tracking has a pretty wide $30 mil to $36 mil range, so let’s go with a basic three-category breakdown:
IN TODAY’S EDITION:
COMCAST & CHARTER finally release the details on their XUMO JV launch… and gotta say I expected more.
NETFLIX’s exec shakeup week continues, as many longtime vets of its Biz Affairs group are out.
Elemental’s late blooming success keeps growing for DISNEY.
ESPN gets in business with Tiger & Rory’s uh, ‘simulator’ (🤷♂️) golf league.
Late Night TV returns to numbers that… would have probably gotten any of them canceled about six years ago.
Monday Night Football continues to show-off the power of broadcast TV, and more.
🪧 STRIKE FORCE
SAG-AFTRA / AMPTP talks will continue tomorrow (the every other day technique) and Monday, with hopefully more to come after that.
FINALLY A READER KUDOS: A couple of you got creative with my invitation yesterday to send boat-themed RomCom titles for NETFLIX Films 👏… but I’ll give the nod to reader Julius, who sent Love for Sail.
I mean it’s got ‘love’ in it and a pun - can’t miss!
📽 THE SILVER TV 📺
