Transcript: Paramount's Best/Worst Week Ever
It started with the Super Bowl and Jon Stewart. Then came layoffs, Warren Buffet and big questions
Sean McNulty (00:00):
This episode is supported by Universal Pictures' Oppenheimer, written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Winner of five Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture, Oppenheimer is now nominated for 13 Academy Awards, including Best Director, Christopher Nolan, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture of the Year. The Washington Post calls it a “masterpiece “and the Chicago Sun-Times says, "It's one of the best films of the century." Oppenheimer, now back in theaters nationwide.
(00:32):
Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty from The Wakeup Newsletter here at The Ankler here in New York City on Thursday, February 15th. I'm joined by Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield in Los Angeles. Richard, I missed your Super Bowl ad. What happened? I was waiting for your big moment, waiting for that later recap for everybody, and then no Super Bowl ad.
Richard Rushfield (00:51):
I submitted it. I was going to say, my point was trying to bring the Super Bowl watchers down to a more human level. Let them know how life is not all just like a bunch of halftime shows and zany ads and celebrations and we should think about all the horror of modern life. But apparently, it was rejected for-
Sean McNulty (01:12):
CBS, not a fan, huh?
Richard Rushfield (01:13):
Yeah. It should have been up there but I'll have it up on my TikTok soon.
Sean McNulty (01:20):
You could have been one of the Dunkings, Richard. I could see you behind Affleck. That would've been great.
Elaine Low (01:23):
I kept waiting for him to show up next to Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
Sean McNulty (01:25):
I mean, it's right there. It's right there, Elaine.
Richard Rushfield (01:29):
I went to Burbank airport and was just looking for a ride to the game and nobody had room on their plane. All the jets were full.
Sean McNulty (01:36):
Oh, yeah. Of the Ls.
Richard Rushfield (01:37):
1000 planes or something, we were landing in Las Vegas last week or something like that. So yeah.
Sean McNulty (01:43):
Anyway, that's the big thing getting into this week, Paramount and CBS dominating a lot of the headlines in just roller coaster of a week. We're going to dive into that, Richard's column, which is on the Super Bowl. Elaine, did you screw with my notes again on this? Richard, what about the Super Bowl? I'm a little, now I'm concerned.
Elaine Low (01:58):
Well, I sure didn't write about the Super Bowl.
Sean McNulty (02:01):
So we're going to dive into Richard's thoughts on that and the entertainment economy at large. Elaine had a great chat with the head of FX, John Landgraf. We're going to get into his insights into the television business. But before we dive into this week's topics, The Ankler's new partnership with LA's number one NPR Station, 98.3 LAist, formerly known as KPCC, is up and running.
(02:23):
I'm on there probably in a few hours today on Thursday, but I have a piece on All Thing Considered talking about the box office. LAist is of course, Southern California public radio's flagship radio station and digital news sites. And the Ankler team will be on air for entertainment segments throughout the day on Entertainment Thursdays, during Morning Edition, AirTalk, and All Things Considered.
(02:45):
In addition to The Ankler team, we'll be covering breaking entertainment news as it happens, and the LAist will feature The Ankler's entertainment content on its homepage in its morning newsletter and across their social channels. And as a reminder, you can reach us, Richard, myself, and Elaine at the podcast here anytime at podcasts, plural, podcasts@theankler.com.
(03:06):
All right, this week, well, some weeks Elaine, is Netflix dominating the coverage? Someone else has taking the wheel this week. Paramount, should I recount the week that was, and it's only Thursday afternoon, Elaine?
Elaine Low (03:16):
Oh, goodness. How many hundreds of employees? About 3 percent of Paramount, what, nearly 25,000 staffers, right, have been laid off.
Sean McNulty (03:24):
Yeah. Well, let's start at a high note. We started up here, Elaine. So we had a record setting Super Bowl on Sunday.
Elaine Low (03:29):
Sure. Let's start with the good news first.