Transcript: Inside Kamala Harris' Hollywood
How a town's top names spotted a star 20 years ago. Plus: The NBA just dunked on scripted TV
Sean McNulty (00:04):
Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty of The Wakeup newsletter here at The Ankler, here on the Jersey Shore, on Thursday, July 25th. I'm joined in Los Angeles by Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield, who sadly, it seems, is going to miss out on the Democratic presidential nomination. The cycle, Richard, what happened to all those pieces about 10 days ago that said you had a path to the nomination? I'm a little disappointed here.
Richard Rushfield (00:25):
If they want to do the easy, predictable route, just going with the vice president instead of really looking to make history here, and electing the-
Sean McNulty (00:35):
That would make history.
Richard Rushfield (00:37):
Yeah, it's electing the first entertainment columnist to the White House that we waited for a long time.
Elaine Low (00:44):
It's like Emmy snubs. This is the most surprising of them all.
Richard Rushfield (00:47):
Yes. So something's-
Elaine Low (00:47):
Why didn't Richard Rushfield get a nomination, guys?
Richard Rushfield (00:50):
I’m as surprised as them.
Sean McNulty (00:49):
A nomination would've been nice, Elaine. At least something. I mean, come on, this is terrible. Well, Richard, the VP slot is still open now, so just saying, it's not totally over.
Richard Rushfield (01:01):
I mean, I-
Sean McNulty (01:02):
We'll do what we can.
Richard Rushfield (01:03):
... You're going to give up the most widely read entertainment columns for a job with mere ceremonial functions? I don't quite see that.
Sean McNulty (01:12):
I don't know. I think that you and the White House kitchen will get along pretty well, Richard, but we'll see how that goes. Another cycle. Another cycle.
Richard Rushfield (01:19):
I'm told that it is not all you can eat at these DC functions.
Sean McNulty (01:24):
Richard's out. Richard's now out. I'm sorry, I take that back. I take that back.
Richard Rushfield (01:26):
What's the good of that?
Elaine Low (01:28):
He's like hard pass, guys. No buffet?
Sean McNulty (01:30):
Hard pass, hard pass. No buffet. Anyway, just a little bit, we're going to have The Ankler's newest and youngest edition to the contributor lineup here. Sorry, Elaine, Gen Z's taking your mantle. Are you okay?
Elaine Low (01:41):
We're well represented now. We finally have our first Gen Z staffer. We're complete. It's like we-
Sean McNulty (01:41):
That's true.
Elaine Low (01:46):
... have the full set.
Sean McNulty (01:47):
Yeah, we get the bingo card. We get the free sub, so that's nice. That would be, of course, Matthew Frank, who is quickly becoming the favorite Gen Z correspondent for Hollywood's Boomer generation, as he took the temperature of some key members of Hollywood's donor class this week around Candidate Harris there.
(02:02):
We'll also look at the long-held Hollywood ties she's had over the past 15 to 20 years here in California, including folks like Chris Rock, CAA principal Bryan Lourd, the head of Disney's TV operation, Dana Walden, and others. So he's going to join us in a bit.
(02:17):
But first, the business of the business. Certainly made some big headlines this week with the NBA finally making a public declaration of their dance partners for the next 11 years, which does not include Warner Bros. Discovery for now. Asterisk, whatever we want to put there.
(02:32):
There's another big business insights drop from the folks at Comcast who invited us inside their books to see what the fall guy looks like on a spreadsheet, which is not much better than it looked at the box office. But Ankler executive editor, David Lidsky, is hopping back in for the pod here. My new earnings call buddy. David, welcome to the pod.
David Lidsky (02:49):
Hey. Well, thank you for having me. Yes, the earnings call. Cool guys have united on the podcast. And I just want to say that if the vice president's job is historically known as a warm bucket of spit, I don't know what being an entertainment journalist then equates out to, but please write in and let us know what you think.