Transcript: WBD Woes and an Uncertain Future
The studio sets yet another round of mass layoffs as an analyst goes on the attack
Sean McNulty (00:05):
Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty of The Wakeup Newsletter here at The Ankler here in Los Angeles on Thursday, July 18th. I'm joined here in town by Elaine Low and Richard Rushfield, who I can kind of wave to across the other room here at The Ankler headquarters as we record. Hello, Richard. How are you doing?
Richard Rushfield (00:23):
Hey there, Sean. Welcome to Los Angeles. I hope all the good weather and friendly people aren't bringing you down too much.
Sean McNulty (00:35):
Exactly. I did offer to do it side by side in Richard's office like a drive time morning radio show, but Richard said some distance made the podcast better. I don't know if that was a professional thing or not Richard, but-
Richard Rushfield (00:45):
Exactly. But you might have more fun out in the hallway. I think that would be a good spot for you to do the podcast.
Elaine Low (00:52):
You tried going to the roof, Sean?
Sean McNulty (00:55):
The pond, the pond would be good for you.
Richard Rushfield (00:56):
In the back of an Uber is really good for the podcast.
Sean McNulty (00:59):
Wow. It's getting [inaudible 00:01:03].
Elaine Low (01:02):
Burn, Richard.
Sean McNulty (01:04):
I'll be back in New York in about five minutes, so I'm pretty good. Anyway, nice to see you IRL Mr. Rushfield. Elaine, nice of you to take the 10-foot walk into your office to join us as well. Did not get the red carpet rollout from an Elaine here in the office, but...
Elaine Low (01:17):
There are only so many setups we have at the office.
Sean McNulty (01:20):
Yes, that's right.
Elaine Low (01:21):
That's what it is.
Sean McNulty (01:22):
Technical reasons. Only technical reasons why you're not-
Elaine Low (01:24):
Well, no, honestly, the last time I was in the office recording, I had brought in my laptop and didn't realize that it was so old that it didn't have the right outputs because I bought my laptop- the last time I bought my laptop, Obama was still in office. That's how old my laptop is.
Sean McNulty (01:38):
Nice. There you go. Anyway, we are all together here. This, of course, we'll start here with the big Emmy nominations week. Richard, have you ever gone to the Emmy's?
Richard Rushfield (01:48):
Yeah. I've had a few encounters at the Emmy's. I can think of one magical night there. It's our typical night.
Sean McNulty (01:58):
What year? Set the setting for us. What time of the business was this?
Richard Rushfield (02:02):
2008 maybe.
Sean McNulty (02:02):
All right. Okay.
Elaine Low (02:04):
I thought he was going to be like, "It's 1982."
Richard Rushfield (02:10):
Recall a night at the Emmy's Governor Ball when the... Well, I remember the cast of The Office had just... The Office had won their first Emmy there and they were all very-
Elaine Low (02:22):
Nice.
Richard Rushfield (02:23):
... very happy at the ball there. And both the Governor's Ball and the Oscars Governor's Ball. They're the most crowded. They call them balls, but in Cinderella, I don't recall such a rush of people. In this sort of walkway, you're constantly forced to walk in this crowd of people through other crowds of people. And I came to a little pinch point and was sort of pressed up face-to-face with someone I recognized as a very famous older woman and we were kind of forced together.
(02:58):
So I think it does. She said, "Oh, you were wonderful at the Hollywood Ball last night. Congratulations on such a show." Because I thought she was Carol Channing, and then the moment the words came in my mouth, I realized I was speaking of course to Elaine Stritch who yelled at the top of her lungs because everybody, "Howard, get over here. This asshole thinks I'm Carol Channing." And it was one of these... I usually have a good comeback for anything.
Sean McNulty (03:32):
You got nothing.
Richard Rushfield (03:32):
A good response and a good way to weasel out of something. Or excuse ready to go. And I just sort of looked at her and froze. And in the line of people going by, I saw a little space and I jumped in and ran away as far as I could.
Elaine Low (03:49):
You were like a salmon going upstream. You're like, "I'm out of here."
Richard Rushfield (03:52):
It's like the roadrunner. There was some dust behind them. Yeah.
Elaine Low (03:55):
Were there any other famous people adjacent to witness your embarrassment?
Richard Rushfield (03:59):
I think there were a thousand of them. I think everybody on TV was right there and saw me call Elaine Stritch, Carol Channing.
Sean McNulty (04:09):
Never again though. You made the mistake once, Richard.
Elaine Low (04:11):
Some people would take that as a compliment.
Richard Rushfield (04:15):
I made that mistake once and I'll never leave my house again.
Sean McNulty (04:18):
That was the last time Richard went to the Emmy's. There we go, ladies and gentlemen.
Richard Rushfield (04:22):
Last time I went to a party.
Sean McNulty (04:26):
Anyway, back to this year's Emmy's. Netflix led the way with 107 nominations. The Crown led the top there with 18, followed by Ripley and Baby Reindeer. FX was second there with 93. HBO and Max collectively scored 91 with True Detective: Night Country and Hacks leading the way. And Apple TV+ also pulled in 70 nominations this year. Pretty good. But FX the real standout here, Elaine, with 25 nods for Shogun, 23 for The Bear alone. What stood out for you here in the land of television awards?