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Weekly Entertainment Report: Live music and lively arts, Oct. 29-Nov. 1
Make it a musical Halloween weekend. We've got the live music round-up for you.
Garbage and Politics
Lane County’s top executive took the extraordinary step of publicly accusing a local news outlet of inaccurate reporting that could influence a key county commission election that’s only days away.
Crystal Hefner hits back at Jon Lovitz for ‘sexist’ response to her claim he was ‘one of the biggest pervs’
Hugh Hefner’s widow and the comedian have been publicly beefing for months.
Out & About: A weekly guide to live and local entertainment
Thursday, Oct. 29 Music
The Herald's weekly entertainment picks
Looking to be entertained from Thursday, Oct. 29, through Wednesday, Nov. 4? Check out the Skagit Valley Herald’s weekly recommendations.
Margaret Cho was ‘freaked out’ by the ‘power’ “Pulp Fiction”’s success gave Quentin Tarantino during their ‘90s romance
“The amount of ass-kissing, it was really crazy,” Cho reflected. “I’ve never seen that level before or since in any capacity.”
Alexander Payne sued over allegations of plagiarism in script for Oscar-winning drama “The Holdovers”
Simon Stephenson accused the makers of “The Holdovers” of copying significant elements of his unproduced screenplay “Frisco.”
How to lower your premium in Nevada’s health insurance marketplace
Nevadans who buy their own health insurance are facing a second straight year of double-digit increases, with average premiums for 2027 plans rising 17%.
Samantha Harris discusses whether she’d ever return to “DWTS”
The entertainment reporter cohosted with Tom Bergeron for eight seasons until 2010.
Legends Radio highlights Claudio Jaffé’s musical passion
Claudio Jaffé COURTESY PHOTO This week's Legends Radio Local Artist Spotlight shines on internationally celebrated cellist Claudio Jaffé.For Claudio, a lifelong passion for music began at an early age. At just eleven years old, he made his orchestral debut in his native Brazil, launching a career that would take him to celebrated stages across the globe, including New York, London and Tokyo.A prizewinning performer and Yale University graduate, Jaffé has dedicated much of his career not only to musical excellence but also to sharing his knowledge with aspiring musicians. He previously served as Dean of the Lynn University Conservatory of Music.Today, Claudio serves as principal cellist of the Palm Beach Symphony, performing in the orchestra's Masterworks Concert Series at the Kravis Center. He also hosts “Symphony Sessions: Lunch & Learn,” giving music lovers an opportunity to explore the stories, composers, and preparation behind upcoming concerts. His scheduled sessions for the 2026–2027 season include February 4 and April 22.Beyond the stage, Jaffé remains deeply involved in community outreach and music education. Through school residencies, student coaching, and educational performances, he continues to share his experience with young musicians throughout Palm Beach County.His contributions reflect a career dedicated not simply to performing beautiful music but also to ensuring its appreciation continues for generations to come. His commitment to both performance and education continues to make a lasting impact on South Florida's cultural community.That is why Claudio Jaffé is this week's Legends Radio Local Artist Spotlight.
“Nobody Wants This” creator tells Dax Shepard she’s writing him into the show
“It would be pivotal, and an important role,” Erin Foster said.
Hayden Panettiere’s death investigation closed almost 3 months after actress died of accidental overdose
Panettiere died in August, just days before her 37th birthday.
Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato recreate their most iconic moments for new Rare Beauty campaign
Once a princess, always a princess.
Miranda Lambert makes rare comment about Blake Shelton divorce: ‘Not fun’
Luckily, the Grammy winner channeled her “misery” into her music.
Ice Cube’s son says he hasn’t been asked yet to appear in the next “Friday” movie: ‘I will call mom’
O’Shea Jackson Jr. is still waiting to hear from his pops or management about “Last Friday.”
When does “From” season 5 premiere? What to expect from the horror series’ final chapter
Production is currently underway on the final season of the hit MGM+ horror series.
Joe Burrow, Ryan Rehkow earn NFL weekly awards
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and punter Ryan Rehkow earned AFC weekly awards after the Week 7 win over the Baltimore Ravens.
Model injured after host kicks flying drone into her face on live TV
Ernesto Chavana was captured on camera using his foot to punt a flying drone on a Mexican TV show, sending it careening into a model’s face on set.
Wynonna Judd reveals plans to visit estranged daughter in prison
Grace Kelley is currently serving a 15 month sentence.
Julia Stiles and Ezra Sosa react to getting a 4 from “DWTS” guest judge Shirley Ballas
“I’m not gonna take it personally,” Stiles insisted.
Val Chmerkovskiy, Carrie Ann Inaba share long embrace on “DWTS” set after temporary feud and 1-week suspension
EW captured the moment on camera after Chmerkovskiy was barred from competing for one week after his joke about defending wife Jenna Johnson from Inaba’s judging.
“Dancing With the Stars” duo reacts to double elimination after Horror Movie Night
Jenna Dewan tells EW that she saw “genuine improvement” from Tyler Cameron every week.
Aimé Donna Kelly gives first look at ‘unique’ “SVU” episode: ‘Halloween vibes’ (exclusive)
Captain Renee Curry leads this week’s case to “get justice” for the victim, Kelly tells EW.
Politicians are afraid to fix taxes. So 100 citizens tried.
Connecticut’s property tax system has been broken for decades and the politicians have failed to fix the problem. So now, they’re trying something new: a citizens assembly. (Citizens assemblies are also old. They go back to Ancient Greece, when lawmakers were chosen not through elections, but through random lotteries.) Today on the show, Connecticut’s citizens assembly. It's like jury duty, but for taxes. About hundred random people from all around Connecticut come together to try to solve the state’s property tax problem. They wrestle with whether they should raise taxes, cut spending, find efficiencies, or a mix of everything. Will this alternative attempt to solve the unsolvable succeed, or will it be politics as usual?It’s a modern case study of what happens when politicians step aside to let citizens decide what’s best. Come along as we talk to the professor who helped put this assembly together, learn from the citizens involved how this experiment changed them, and meet the politician who agreed to take their proposals to the state legislature. Planet Money will be at Kilkenomics Festival 2026. Tickets here.Read: - Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life - Our weekly longform Planet Money newsletter- Our weekly Indicator round-up newsletterFollow: - Instagram- TikTok- YouTube- FacebookSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.This episode of Planet Money was hosted by Erika Beras and Jeff Guo. It was produced by James Sneed with reporting help from Áine Pennello. It was edited by Jess Jiang, Sierra Juarez is our fact-checker, and Jimmy Keeley & Travis Hagen engineered the show. Alex Goldmark is the executive producer of Planet Money..
Horoscopes
ARIES (March 21 to April 19) You might be growing impatient with a situation that seems to resist efforts to resolve it. But staying with it raises the odds that
“I’m Struggling”: Erin Andrews Admits Health Concerns Over Demanding FOX NFL Schedule
Erin Andrews has worked FOX’s NFL sidelines for years, but the weekly grind appears to be taking a toll. The veteran reporter opened up about the physical strain of the network’s demanding schedule, admitting she is finding it hard to keep pace.
The Fear Business and ghost hunting in south Florida
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
The Fear Business and ghost hunting in south Florida
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
Animals Starves while the Kardashians Miss the Charts Again
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get going, I’d like to offer congratulations to Jonathan Funke, whose suggestion “midflicks” won the poll for what I should call straight-to-streaming films which aren’t big or cinematic enough to go to theaters but seem too expensive for a TV movie. It’s so useful a term, I just used it last week! Now I just need to add this term to my data dictionary! Okay, on to this week’s issue. We’re starting out looking at Netflix/Ben Affleck’s latest crime thriller, Animals. I’ll also look at Disclosure Day heading to Peacock (it did better than you’d remember in theaters...) and a new movie based on toys. Plus, a long-time streaming flop returns for its eighth season...will it finally chart? (No.) Will anyone at Disney care? Probably not. All that, plus another look at new shows landing on streaming on 1-Oct from Reelgood, what streamer hasn’t had a film make the Luminate charts since August, Reacher’s long run on the charts, M_onster: The Lizzie Borden Story’s_ short run, the top shows in 2026 according to Samba TV, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. And I mean that last part: putting this week’s issue together, I assembled OVER 25 images, most of which are bespoke looks I made just for this report. Really, publishing articles like this takes the work of writing two articles: one is the narrative and the other is making charts/graphs. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the week of October 5th to October 11th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Film - Netflix’s Latest Star-Studded Thriller Goes For Glory The tempting angle for anyone writing about streaming film this month, like yours truly, is to ask, “Is this why Dan Lin lost his job at Netflix?” Take Animals, the Ben Affleck-starring-and-directing, Artists Equity-produced crime thriller that opened on 9-Oct. (Kerry Washington and Gillian Anderson are also in it.) If it did really well, then one could argue that Lin has another success on his resume. If it underperformed, then it’s another example of a Netflix underperformance this year. So where did Animals fall? Kinda in the middle, but that means it’s more “not a hit” than “big hit”. On Nielsen, it opened to 12.0 million hours, and here’s how that stacks up for 2026 films so far this year: Obviously, that’s not great. It’s both under my 15 million opening bar for “fine” for a Netflix film and 20 million bar for “great” opening. It did a bit better on Samba TV, getting to first place. That’s very, very good, though again, looking at the Nielsen data, it probably means that it was a light week overall. Luminate’s data is a bit closer to Samba TV’s, tied for 17th all time for single weeks since May of 2024: To top it off, no one seemed to like it. It has a 33 on Metacritic and only a 5.7 on IMDb. Both of these numbers could have been impacted by the stories about Affleck’s comments about using AI to make the film. Given the controversy, the film might not have been as bad as the ratings suggest, but it’s also not a bullish sign. All to say…yeah, on net this film isn’t a point in Dan Lin’s favor. At this point, Netflix’s slide has been long enough—going on since February—that I’m almost tempted to lower the bar for what a “hit” is on streaming. Post-February of 2026 or so, it seems like straight-to-streaming films just haven’t hit the same heights as they did from 2022 to 2025. Before we head onto the “Quick Hits” for film, I want to shout out a fellow newsletter whose articles I’ve been loving this year, LA Material, a new LA-based news outlet. For just a highlight of my favorite articles since July... I loved this article on Ghost Town, a group on Venice that clears homeless encampments. As a Los Angeleno, obviously I adore their articles on LA parking issues. Their article on illegal parking tickets got the City Council to address the issue! Also check out their article on people parking in medians. Check out their deep dive on what went wrong with the LA Jazz Festival and how it fell apart, or what’s wrong with USC’s finances. Finally, they wrote up a voter guide on voter guides for the LA General Election. So meta! In search of a city? L.A. Material is an independent news outlet covering the people, politics, culture and glorious chaos shaping Los Angeles. L.A. Material brings you intel on the city you can’t get anywhere else. From exploring how Reddit short stories became Hollywood’s hottest commodity to reporting on the survival jobs keeping entertainment workers afloat. And answering, once and for all, why the AMC Burbank escalator is always broken. Through their newsletters, podcast, videos, events, and member community, L.A. Material is designed to help Angelenos connect to Los Angeles and each other. Sign up now for the free weekday newsletter. Quick Notes on Film Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Disclosure Day, came to Peacock on 9-Oct, and I’ll admit that, after pulling its stats, I did a pinch of a double take. As I wrote throughout my deep, deep, deep dive on summer box office/Obsession/Backrooms/IP/superheroes, oftentimes the film media discusses films as “flops” or “misses” or “hits” without clarifying what they specifically mean. Since Disclosure Day didn’t make $250 million in the US or $500 million globally, it was definitely a disappointment by Spielbergian standards, who is the highest-grossing director of all time, and arguably even more ahead in adjusted grosses. But it did make $245 million globally on a $115 million budget, so it isn’t as big of a miss as I remember. That’s still probably not enough to break even in the theatrical window, when you factor in marketing costs…but it’s close. And it grossed a lot more even in the US than some titles with about ten times more coverage. Anyways, lots of preamble to say this one only did 4.5 million hours according to Nielsen, so it did make the charts, but on the low end. Here’s how it stacks up to other Peacock titles: Apple TV (née +) followed up their “success for them” Mayday with Matchbox The Movie. This one doesn’t look like a success even for them, but at least it’s not a miss. Apple/Skydance clearly tried to take advantage of the success of Barbie at the box office—let’s greenlight all the toy properties!!!—but of course, this didn’t make it to theaters. And it stars John Cena, who, as I argued earlier this summer, NEEDS to get his movies back in theaters. Anyways, this one has mixed-to-bad numbers. It missed the Samba TV and Nielsen charts in its first week, but did make Luminate with 7.1 million hours. That’s just enough to not be an outright miss, and about half what Mayday did earlier this summer. Speaking of Apple Studio’s Mayday, it ended up lasting five weeks on Luminate, which isn’t bad for Apple TV. On Nielsen, it had a three-week run, racking up 13.5 million hours total. Again, like Matchbox, the issue is the budget; I doubt that this viewership earned enough to justify that budget. Also, to be clear, neither of these films are “midflicks”; both should have gone to theaters. Toy Story 5 is not hanging around on the streaming charts on Disney+, so it’s not as leggy as either Zootopia 2 or Moana 2, and definitely not in the same class as Encanto. (It did make all the money at the box office, so Disney is going to be fine…) The Breadwinner on Netflix (from Sony) is down to 3.9 million hours in its third week. It only lasted for one week on the Samba TV charts. Netflix’s Doing Life had a smaller-than-normal binge release curve bounce, only going to 7.1 million hours from 6.0 to start, but it made Samba TV at fifth place in its second week. The Netflix documentary, The Widower: Til’ Death Do Us Part, also had a small binge release curve bounce to 6.5 million hours, but did make a second week on Samba TV. Meanwhile, Netflix’s Unabomber fell off after two weeks on Nielsen—which is not great at all—and Demon Slayer fell off after just one week. Over on Luminate, the two smaller titles The Swan: Behind the Mirror and Kill. Bury. Print both fell out of the Luminate top ten charts. The story of library film at the first of the month is the arrival of the Ice Age films on Netflix. Now, here’s a small example of optimizing your library that even Netflix could do better. Say you want to rent/license a new film series from Disney**.** A streamer could pay a big paycheck and then drop each Ice Age film on the exact same day of the month, the fourth of October. That’s one choice. In contrast, the streamer could have released each film one week apart, and make each one a mini-event for folks watching Ice Age films. Or even roll them out monthly. Netflix opted for the former strategy, and as a result, only three of the films made the Nielsen charts this week. The “Miss of the Week” goes to Tubi’s YA-ish horror film_, R.L. Stine’s Pumpkinhead 2_, which didn’t even make the Luminate charts like Tubi films usually do, or, should I say, “used to”? Tubi films, most of which are straight-to-streaming, used to reliably make the Luminate film charts (which only covers straight-to-streaming films), but a Tubi film hasn’t made it since August. The first Pumpkinhead got 1.4 million hours last year according to Luminate. As I wrote about this film before, it seems to be a bit muddled in terms of age: too scary for young kids but probably not scary enough for older kids. Speaking of Luminate, Netflix’s latest doc about a comic (expect more docs about comedians all month), Who Is Martin Mull?, flopped, getting just 200K and 700K hours according to Luminate. Three other film/special misses belonged to Hulu, including a standup special, Jamie Foxx: Take Care of Yourself, Neon’s latest horror film, Hokum, which made $17 million in the US, and a Family Guy Halloween special. (That last one was only 22 minutes, so it’s not a surprise it missed.) Finally, another Netflix standup special missed the charts, Mojo Brookzz: I Know You Lying missed too. I can confirm last week’s misses, most notably Paramount+’s Jackass: Best and Last, MUBI’s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and HBO Max’s Evil Dead Burn. Television - I Can’t Visualize Nothing: The Kardashians Story Normally, in the mini-dive essays that open the Streaming Ratings Report, I focus on shows that do well or, at the very least, make the charts. Why? Because as I’ve said time and again, I can’t visualize nothing like, say, the Kardashians’ TV shows. Here’s the TV debuts chart for this week with a missing spot for The Kardashians, whose eighth season just landed on Hulu:
Santa arrives at The Gardens Mall for festive celebrations
Santa Claus is coming to town, and he's bringing a sleigh full of holiday magic to The Gardens Mall.
When does “High Potential” season 3 premiere? All about its Super Bowl special and cast shakeup
The cases aren’t closed... yet.
Jack Nicklaus and Grant Horvat honored at PBA event
Two generations of golf greatness are coming together for a celebration of success, leadership and entrepreneurial spirit.
Jana Kramer says she ‘no joke’ confused perimenopause symptoms with multiple sclerosis
“It feels out of body.”
Mark Ruffalo makes surprise video cameo at Macklemore’s first ‘Free Palestine’ concert after Ed Sheeran controversy
The actor and the rapper have both been outspoken advocates for Palestinians in Gaza.
Collin Gosselin responds to mom Kate Gosselin’s claims about his ‘history of violent behavior’
Collin’s rep claims Kate is “beyond reprehensible,” and her allegations against her son are “categorically false.”
Meghan Markle lands new TV gig months after Netflix lifestyle show came to an end
The Duchess of Sussex’s new job comes amid the ongoing child porn scandal involving her father, Thomas Markle Sr.
Joy Behar finally returns to “The View” after nearly 1 month, shares painful details of shoulder injury
The 84-year-old first missed the Oct. 1 episode of the show, and hasn’t appeared back at the Hot Topics table since dislocating her shoulder.
Original “Rent” actor forgets key prop in mishap during 30th anniversary performance
Adam Pascal gave new meaning to the opening lyrics, “What’d you forget?” while performing “Light My Candle” with Daphne Rubin-Vega.
Jon Gosselin’s Ex Colleen Conrad Rips Kate for Using Collin’s Mental Health Against Him
Collin Gosselin ex-stepmom Colleen Conrad, a psychiatric nurse, defends him against Kate Gosselin amid memoir abuse allegations on Instagram.
Christina Applegate promises MS community she’s ‘still going to speak out’ for them amid misdiagnosis
Applegate addresses those living with multiple sclerosis on her “MeSsy” podcast: “I’m still your warrior,” she said.
Brevard County HS Sports Weekly Results, Week of Oct. 26-31
Brevard County HS Sports Weekly Results, Week of Oct. 26-31
Alfonso Ribeiro responds after Alexa PenaVega shares story of contestant thinking “DWTS” could be ‘rigged’
“We want everyone who’s popular to stay on,” insisted the show’s host.
“The One About Matthew Perry” most shocking revelations: Overdoses, car accidents, and more
The “Friends” star’s legacy takes center stage in the streamer’s new three-part documentary, arriving three years after his death at age 54.
Fantasy football IDP free-agent report: Week 8
This is our weekly Waiver Wire feature depicting the best individual defensive players to target on waivers in fantasy.
Disney star David Henrie says he got ‘nothing really’ in residuals for “Wizards of Waverly Place”
Henrie’s residuals for his recurring role on “How I Met Your Mother,” however, could be “crazy” — so much money that Henrie thought one check “was a joke.”
Elizabeth Debicki’s reaction to seeing Alexander Skarsgård in full-frontal “Wicker” costume was to turn ‘bright red’
The actress encountered her leading man as he was in the water.
Pumpkins with Purpose brighten Palm Beach for a cause
There were pumpkins, philanthropy and plenty of Palm Beach charm for four festive days as Cancer Alliance of Help & Hope and The Royal Poinciana Plaza celebrated the ninth annual
Hallowine haunts Mercato with wines food and live fun
The Rotary Club of Naples and The Naples-Pelican Bay Rotary Club host Hallowine, bringing the community together for an unforgettable evening of wine tasting, culinary pairings, live entertainment, and spirited
Alan Dysert, “All My Children” star, dies at 75 after being diagnosed with ‘incurable cancer’
The actor discussed his condition in his 2023 book “Lights, Camera, Cancer.”
Sporting KC Weekly Schedule: Oct. 26
The penultimate week of the Major League Soccer regular season will see Sporting Kansas City in action twice with a mid-week road trip to the Twin Cities followed by the team's home finale this weekend. Sporting will first take on Minnesota United FC at 7:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday at
Adam Brody regrets his ‘very pedestrian’ proposal to Leighton Meester: ‘She deserved more’
“The only thing romantic about it was the speed,” the “Nobody Wants This” star admitted.
“Selling Sunset” star Chrishell Stause breaks down in tears announcing split from G Flip
“I feel like a little bit of a failure.”
Adam Brody’s“ Nobody Wants This” costar speaks out after actor’s pro-Palestine comments
Tovah Feldshuh said that she believes that we’re living in a time “where socialism and antisemitism are trying to meet.”
The 30 best medieval movies of all time, ranked
For those in the mood for knights in shining armor, epic power struggles, and a splash of Arthurian legend.
Natalie Wood’s daughter addresses biggest misconception about the late actress
Natasha Gregson Wagner says her mother wasn’t “tragic or doomed or overly vulnerable.”
Billy Corgan says 25-year age gap with wife was ‘an advantage’ because she wasn’t ‘wounded’ like older women
The couple met in 2012, when Corgan was 44 and Chloé Mendel was 19.
What happened to Meghan Markle’s dad Thomas Markle? Child pornography scandal explained
The Duchess of Sussex’s half-brother Thomas Markle Jr. has accused their father of possessing a “huge stash” of child pornography.
Dolly Parton’s niece ‘figured out’ singer had cancer after sharing her own diagnosis
Danielle Parton was recently named the brand ambassador for the late country star’s estate.
Kingston South celebrates launch with community gathering
The Kingston South Grand Opening took place Saturday, Oct. 17, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event marks another step in Cameratta Companies’ vision of an over 7,700-acre conservation
Man arrested on“ Miami Vice ‘85 ”set after allegedly brandishing a butcher knife
Alex Perez was arrested and subsequently charged with menacing and criminal possession of a weapon.
Key West Chamber of Commerce showcase connects business & community
The Key West Chamber of Commerce’s 37th annual Showcase of Key West Businesses took place Oct. 14 at the Casa Marina, sponsored by Mount Sinai Florida
Muppets revive “Muppet Christmas Carol” with new A-list actor as Scrooge: ‘Bah humbug!’
Fan-favorite star of “The White Lotus” steps into the role of Scrooge in a new ad.
Henrico Business in Brief: Oct. 26, 2026
Weekly news and notes from the Henrico business community Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer reported that First Access Support Services LLC expanded its retail space at Brookhill Azalea, 5300 Chamberlayne Road, to a total of 7,078 square feet. A Party 4 U leased 4,050 square feet at the same center.
What You Learn in Preschool May Affect Your Mental Health Nearly 20 Years Later
Tracking 356 Head Start preschoolers for nearly 20 years proves that brief, twice-weekly lessons in emotional awareness and conflict resolution significantly reduce adult depression and loneliness whi...
“Big Brother” winner Rick Devens’ wife announces breast cancer diagnosis: ‘Send good vibes and prayers’
“Rick won ‘Big Brother’ and then we came home and I got diagnosed with breast cancer.”
Mariska Hargitay reveals several interviews didn’t make it into “My Mom Jayne ”documentary
“I could have made so many films.”
“Big Brother” producers address whether more reality icons will be returning for season 29
Are familiar faces on the way next summer?
“Breaking Bad” star RJ Mitte’s sister pays tribute to late brother: ‘I just lost my other half’
Lacianne Carriere shared photos and videos from her brother’s life on Instagram.
Eric Bauza, Emmy-winning“ Looney Tunes” voice actor behind Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, dies at 46
Jack Quaid, “Walking Dead” star Khary Payton, “Drag Race” queen Nina West, and more paid tribute to Bauza after his death.
Il Volo celebrates nearly 20 years of musical harmony
Longer than many marriages and most rock bands, the Italian singing trio Il Volo have been together for almost 20 years. They’ve gone from teenagers to 30-somethings while selling more
TMSM Weekly Recap: Star Wars Super Bowl, Cap Lifts Thor's Hammer, Halloweentown 5 and More
Missed anything? Here are the biggest Disney stories from October 18 to 24, from Star Wars Funday Football and Avengers: Doomsday to Halloweentown 5 and Gideon's new trading cards.
Shia LaBeouf waged one-sided feud with Hilary Duff, says “Even Stevens” costar
Duff’s own Disney Channel series, “Lizzie McGuire,” was one of the Disney Channel’s defining hits of the 2000s.
Queen of Halloween Heidi Klum teases costume with mysterious image
“What’s my costume?,” the model asked fans alongside a strange close-up photo.
10 Thoughts From Watching Others Sweat It Out
Back during the very lean years of the Ray Goff era in Athens, a certain revered columnist for the Macon Telegraph joked in a weekly prediction column that Georgia would lose to “Open” during its upcoming bye week. Thankfully, those years have passed by, and the outlook for Georgia during open weeks for what is […]
Iain Armitage says “Young Sheldon” cast drove each other ‘crazy’ while shooting season 3 opening credits
The ensemble would ‘drive each other nuts.’
Iain Armitage says “Young Sheldon” cast drove each other ‘crazy’ while shooting season 3 opening credits
The ensemble would ‘drive each other nuts.’
UFC 333 Highlights: Petr Yan vs. Merab Dvalishvili
Check out the highlights from the UFC 333 co-main event trilogy bout.
How to watch every “Rambo” movie in order, from “First Blood ”to “Last Blood”
They drew first blood, not him.
Jon Gosselin’s ex shares emotional reaction to Collin’s book: ‘I will always be your mom’
Colleen Conrad dated the “Jon and Kate Plus 8” star from 2014 to 2021.
Netflix’s Leadership Shake Up…Explained
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Well, I had a simple article planned for this week. Called “Whoa, I Missed It!”, I’d take a gander at a few important-but-under-the-radar stories I didn’t cover while I wrote about all things “Skydance. (Formerly known as “the saga of Netflix trying to buy Warner Bros., but not Discovery, then Paramount-Skydance bought all of Warner Bros. Discovery”.) Alas, that article will have to wait. Netflix made news. Ironically, my “Whoa, I Missed It!” article would have mostly been about “content” strategy decisions, which is also what today’s article is about. But instead of the entire industry, this article will only cover Netflix’s decision to upend their film and TV content teams. Just that! So that’s the full topic of the day. I’m going to tackle the issue in the opposite direction of the way “stuff” flows: uphill. We’ll start at film, then move onto TV, and then onto the CEOs themselves, and the strategy questions that still remain. But we start with the numbers driving this. Let’s dive in. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Netflix Upends Their Corporate Hierarchy I’ve got a lot of thoughts, but we’ll start with the most common response to yesterday’s article. Let’s Talk Stock Price More than one person, responding to what I published two days ago, pointed out that, well, actually, the thing driving Netflix’s actions is this: In short, stock price! Even if Netflix isn’t obsessed with their own share price—they probably are, but, for the record, my strategic advice to every CEO is to absolutely ignore stock prices, which will, ironically, probably help the stock price long-term—most everyone thinks they are. By the way, I prefer market capitalization to stock prices, because it’s a more apples-to-apples way to compare companies: But there’s an even better way to look at it, and it kinda casts some doubt on the entire push here: price-to-earnings. I have a long list of articles that I wish I had written, and chief among them is an article titled, “Am I Still a Netflix ‘Bear’?” meaning someone who thinks Netflix’s stock is overvalued. As of last summer, Netflix had solved their biggest problem—which for me (circa 2019) was the lack of free cash flow—but their stock was CRAZY overvalued. That’s this chart here: Why did Netflix’s stock price increase to a price-to-earnings ratio of 50 last summer? What financial metric changed so quickly? Nothing. Given that, historically, mature entertainment companies average 10 to 20, with 16 being the average, that increase made little sense. Netflix’s stock swoon these last eight or so months wasn’t irrational; the stock price rise last year was. So if you want a really hot Netflix take, here it is: Netflix’s stock price has been going down because the financial industry recovered its senses, not because of any strategic mistake. Yes, that would imply that cleaning house may have been a mistake. That’s why the charts yesterday are so important, because they show that Netflix did have a strategic problem (a lack of hits) and that’s what they moved to address. (One could also argue the industry drastically overrated Netflix’s growth prospects, but that’s a financial industry problem, not a Netflix strategy problem per se. Some growth estimates are just crazy. *cough* AI *cough*) Now, the last time Netflix’s stock price crashed—circa 2022—it gave them an opening. I’d argue Netflix insiders knew they needed to expand post-COVID-19 crisis, adding advertising, cracking down on password sharing, and dabbling in sports. But if they had done that when their stock price was high, it would give folks a reason to second guess their strategy. (Arguably, last year, when Netflix pursued the Warner Bros. merger, it gave the industry a chance to review their business.) Instead, after the 2022 fall, they had the opening to make strategic changes. We may see Netflix pivot again following this latest slide. For example, the “binge versus weekly” conversation is alive and well again. Same for expanding into theaters even more. And adding both linear channels and streaming bundles. And maybe more either social, user-generated, vertical, or creator content. But the first shift came with who is making the content calls. A Message from Our Sponsor Last winter Pulp Fiction was on Netflix. For those same 90 days, it was also free, with ads, on Pluto TV and the Roku Channel. That is not a glitch, and it is not rare. The title has run on 20 different US streaming services since 2019, across 80 separate windows, and for more than 600 of those days it sat on a paid subscription service and a free ad-supported one at the same time. Almost nobody can see this, because when a title leaves a service, the record that it was ever there tends to leave with it. Reelgood keeps that record, dated to the day rather than the month: 4MM+ movie, show and episode titles across 300+ services globally, with timestamped arrivals, departures and moves across SVOD, AVOD, TVOD and vMVPD. Licensing teams price against every prior window. Rights teams check what a licensee actually delivered, and when. Pick a title you think you know: data.reelgood.com/title-availability Film - Dan Lin Want to know why I don’t opine on individual film or TV executives, especially new hires? Dan Lin. As I always caution, it’s really, really, really tough to predict which executives will succeed in new roles and which won’t. The successful head of co-production/finance partner, Rideback, Lin was considered for the head of DC Studios job before taking the job as the head of Netflix. By all accounts at the time, this was a smart hire. (That’s my read of the news coverage anyways.) But now that Netflix has fired Dan Lin, we got a slew of news stories about how he was doing a terrible job. In sports media, Bryan Curtis, new Substack writer/podcaster from The Ringer, calls this the “now you tell us” story, when you only hear the bad news after a star athlete leaves a sports team. In this case, now they tell us that Dan Lin was bad with talent after he got kicked out the door. So was Dan Lin a flop? It’s actually tough to say. While film moves faster than TV, even two years isn’t really enough time to evaluate a person’s output. The new head hasn’t really taken control. As Emily Horgan noted, it takes much longer than two years to produce animated films, so yeah, it’s definitely too early to judge in that domain. As for live-action films, I just published an article by Brandon Katz called “Netflix’s Summer of Bummer”, but I’d point out Netflix had a bad summer two years ago too. Arguably, their best summer came from KPop Demon Hunters last year and Happy Gilmore 2, the latter of which I saw credited to Lin. Then, the stories came out that Dan Lin clashed with talent, both Ben Affleck and Greta Gerwig, classic “now they tell us” factoids to explain his firing. This may have been true, but also should have been expected given that he was given the mandate to bring budgets back in check, especially after Rebel Moon. So if he made folks upset, well, that’s what he was hired to do! But also, he was described as “well-liked” at his hiring! In that case, I’m a bit sympathetic to Lin, since he may have been undercut by senior leadership, as often happens. Basically, a CEO hires a subordinate to be their “bad cop” and keep budgets in check, but then when talent complains, the CEO ends up undercutting them. That’s how I think you end up with a Narnia movie as expensive as any of the other flops, along with a film executive the town no longer likes. As a result, I think that Netflix is now executing a classic “hire the opposite” move by hiring Peter Rice. This phrase comes from my experience following football and basketball coaching decisions, where teams generally hire the opposite of who they just had. If you have an offense-minded head coach, hire the defensive guy. Or in college football, if you have a strong recruiter, then you pivot to an “X’s and Os” type of guy. Or in pro basketball, if you have a very analytically minded coach, you hire the player-friendly guy. I see that here. After dropping Scott Stuber—arguably a talent-friendly executive with lax budget control—Netflix hired the business guy to keep costs in check. Now Netflix is pivoting back to Peter Rice and presumably a more talent-friendly regime. (Disney, by the way, has done this twice: hiring business guys to succeed talent-friendly Bob Iger. It didn’t work out last time.) When it comes to Peter Rice…we’ll see! Maybe he works out, but maybe he doesn’t. I’d actually say the biggest problem is that Netflix still hasn’t solved its “IP Problem”, in that they don’t own much IP, so they just have a lower hit rate. The new executive won’t solve that. (Though buying Lionsgate would help.) Share “Content” - Bela Bajaria I almost published yesterday’s article after this column, but ended up flipping the order, because it told the story so well. So if you want the data for why Netflix is looking at TV to fix their problems, it’s in that article, this graph in particular: I know I just wrote that it’s often hard to judge executives, but Bajaria ran TV for six years and film for three and a half more. That’s more than enough to judge hit rates, and Netflix needs more hits. That’s the story. Since 2023, Netflix hasn’t had as many hit shows as it used to, and many of its previous power house TV shows have ended their runs (Stranger Things most of all). Also, many shows from 2020 to 2022 probably pre-dated Bajaria’s tenure. (That said, one thing may have been outside of Bajaria’s control, which I explain below.) Let’s lump some content strategy thoughts about Netflix and TV into one place: We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… Why I partially blame Squid Game for Netflix’s latest troubles… What is “the football trap”... Why it might not be the TV shows or films’ fault at all… What change I don’t think Netflix will make... How Bela Bajaria evolved Netflix’s TV strategy in smart ways… Whose departure likely submarined Bajaria’s final few years… One sneaky explanation for Netflix’s content struggles... And a whole lot more... ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support.
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