☀️ GLOBES & College 🏈 Championship ratings hit all time lows
DIS Board gets new Chairman - what's afoot / SONY gets new Sydney Sweeney pic / DIRECTV lays off hundreds
Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LinkedIn here if ya like), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on THURSDAY January 12, 2023.
Where congrats to… pretty much everyone who predicted the GLOBES would reach nowhere near its pre-pandemic audience. Prelim GG #s are 6.3 Million for NBC, which is even less than the Covid year of 2021 (6.9 Million).
FWIW: CBS won the night with 7.5 Million for “FBI”.
AS FOR 2024: 44% of Wakeup Poll voters yesterday figured NBC will re-up again next year… but a close 2nd, 36% think it’s going Streaming.
I mean for the right price, it’s fine as something for NBC to liven up an early January Tuesday night going forward… but not sure what 💰💰 makes this worthwhile from Todd Boehly’s POV. The $60 Million a year license fee heyday in 2020 is a distant memory.
Either way - GRAMMYS you’re up next on Sunday, Feb 5.
BUT: The SAG AWARDS are already going Streaming on NETFLIX, becoming the second industry awards show to go Streaming-only (Country Music’s ACM’s already moved to AMAZON PRIME VIDEO).
This year’s awards will stream free on NETFLIX’s YT channel on Sun Feb 26, and become exclusive on the uh, traditional Streaming service starting in 2024. Presumably with Ads.
Speaking of - here are your SAG AWARDS nominees this year.
SPEAKING OF: The radical transparency at NETFLIX continues to get a little hazier… as the longtime ability for Director-level NETFLIX execs to see employee salaries across the company has reportedly been revoked according to the WSJ. #VPorBust
ALSO: Here are your DGA AWARDS Film nominees. No Cameron, no women.
Your WGA AWARDS TV noms are here. Sadly my petition for a Newsletter category fell on deaf ears. I could totally take an “Andor” newsletter.
AND: Ezra Miller has cut a plea deal in his burglary charges pending in VT, hearing takes place today. Essentially looks like the serious Burglary & Larceny charges will be dropped, and he’ll plead guilty to Trespassing.
👏: Kudos to the IG account AssistantsVsAgents for a booking agency translation on yesterday’s COACHELLA announcement.
FINALLY: A little baby news to round out the top here. Ok yes, they’re all little… but don’t be that guy.
📽 THE SILVER SCREEN
NETFLIX sets Oprah, Kerry Washington and Sam Waterston to star in next Tyler Perry pic
Called “Six Triple Eight”, this is Perry’s pic about a Battalion of Black women in WWII serving with the US Postal Service to resolve a 3 year backlog of letters in what I think was about a year’s time, making sure letters from soldiers got to their families and loved ones.
Perry also wrote this script for his 4th NETFLIX movie, and the Battalion was just officially recognized for their efforts by the US Gov’t last year. /THR
AHEAD IN TODAY’S EDITION:
The DISNEY Board gets a new head, and a new “activist investor” - a look at what’s going on now, as DISNEY is also pumping Ad rates in INDIA for IPL this Spring
SONY gets yet another Sydney Sweeney pic
PAR+’s 🤯 “1923” pricetag, in a new look at the “Yellowstone” empire
WBD is launching an HBODISCOMAX+ like product (nee “WARNER PASS”) in FRANCE in partnership with AMAZON
DIRECTV is next up in austerity layoffs
UNIVERSAL embarks on Theme Park expansion
ESPN College Football Championship audience unsurprisingly disappoints
NBC NEWS gets new leadership, and more.