This story first appeared in the June 1 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Nobody gets fired by accident -- especially the creator of a television show. That's because when you're the showrunner of a network TV series, what you actually are is the CEO of a $60 million company, someone who creates a new product from scratch every eight days. As CEO, you make all creative and business decisions. You manage a crew of 200, write or rewrite every episode and have the luxury (and burden) of final cut. It is, in every sense of the word, your show. So to replace a showrunner is no small thing. That said, it turns out to be surprisingly easy. You just make a couple of phone ... Continue reading →
Frank Ockenfels/AMC Let’s try a little something different this week because that’s precisely what Mad Men delivered to us. I loved "Christmas Waltz" because it made exceptional use of both Harry and Paul and Don and Joan. And had an awesome car in it. What more could you want? It was like a Christmas present itself. People have been dying to get Don and Joan “together” and they had a grand old time pretending to be married, taking the Jaguar out, spending the daylight hours drinking in a bar while having fantastic, crush-worthy dialogue without crossing the line and losing the respect they obviously have for each other. That scene in the bar should have made everybody happy – in part because it also seemed ... Continue reading →
Scott Sommerdorf/The Chronicle . The Warriors were 81-83 in the Run-TMC era. The team was 4-5 during the “We Believe” playoff run. In my loyal-Warriors-fan memory, these events — two positives in 23 years of franchise futility –were much, much grander. Didn’t Run-TMC play closer to five years together? Didn’t the Warriors beat the Jazz after the Baron Davis block of Andrei Kirilenko? Myopia can be magic, enough to distort reality and redefine expectations and turn moral victories into legend. And it’s not anything the ownership or the NBA did right. It’s the location. You know in movies like “Poltergeist,” where the contractors build on an Native American burial ground, all kinds of horrible things happen and the people flee in terror? Oakland’s Oracle Arena ... Continue reading →
