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Open Mic

Of Hacks and Flacks and a Death in the Family

Working at The Hollywood Reporter years ago–as a beat reporter covering cable and home video–most of us at the time referred to ourselves as hacks. I was just happy to get into print as many stories as I could squeeze…

Feb 24, 2011

Costume Designers, Bringing TV Characters to Life. And Winning Awards for Doing So

The “Boardwalk” continues to sweep up awards left and right this season–the latest being a coveted Costume Designers Guild Award for outstanding period/fantasy television series. Designers John Dunn and Lisa Padovani picked up their trophy during gala ceremonies Tuesday night,…

Feb 24, 2011

Still Mad as Hell: Why the Movie ‘Network’ Still Resonates Today–And What It Says About Charlie Sheen

It’s been 35 years since Howard Beale, in one of the most famous scenes in the history of movies, instructed us to shout out of our windows, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” Yet…

Feb 16, 2011

Forget Fox News and CNN. To Really Get a Global Perspective We Need Our Cable Operators to Carry Al Jazeera English

[Note—This first appeared in print on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011, so when Aaron refers to “today” or “tonight,” that’s the date to which he is referring.] Since the protests broke out in Egypt, there has been one constant: the relentless,…

Feb 11, 2011

Who ‘Mad Men’ Creator Matt Weiner Thought Would Win the WGA Best Drama Series Award; Full Coverage of the WGA Award Ceremony

“Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner was thrilled at the conclusion of the 2011 Writers Guild of America Awards Saturday night. Not only did the AMC show win best television drama series–for the third year in a row–but one of its…

Feb 7, 2011

Recently, Fortune Ran a Story About Steve Jobs Being Treated for Cancer in 2009. Jobs Did Not Release This Particular Info. Fortune Said It Was Told This Info ‘Off-the-Record.’ The Source Then Died and Fortune Used the Info. Huh? Wasn’t That Unethical?

Last month, when it became known that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was going to be taking another leave of absence, Time Warner’s Fortune magazine ran a story with information that heretofore had not been public: that Jobs had been treated for cancer…

Feb 3, 2011