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Open Mic

What Happened When the Dean of American TV Writers Collaborated With the Famous, Flamboyant English Director Who Had Been Described as the King of Pornobiography?

Sidney Aaron “Paddy” Chayefsky was riding high. Considered by many to be the dean of American TV writers for the classic stories he wrote for the small screen during the 1950s — most particularly “Marty” — Chayefsky was now writing…

Nov 30, 2011

The Investigation Into Natalie Wood’s Death Gets Curiouser. ‘ET’ Touts ‘The details you’ve never heard from the witness who’s never spoken before.’ Huh? She Was Just on TV Two Days Earlier. And What She Witnessed Was Published At Least 11 Years Ago

The witness in question is Marilyn Wayne. I first came across her name when I read the article “Natalie Wood’s Fatal Voyage,” which is in the current special edition of Vanity Fair (VF) that’s subtitled “Hollywood Scandal, Sex and Obsession.” The…

Nov 22, 2011

CBS Boss Les Moonves on TV: ‘We’re the Best Game in Town’

As the news broke Thursday that "Two and a Half Men" star Ashton Kutcher’s marriage to Demi Moore was in fact over, CBS Corp. President and CEO Les Moonves was engaged in a conversation before an audience of hundreds of…

Nov 18, 2011

On the Scandal at Penn State: Hey CBS News–When You Don’t Have It, Don’t Hype It. Lessons From Watergate

There’s an exemplary scene in the movie version of “All the President’s Men” that goes basically like this: Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein have been working their asses off on one of their stories about the Watergate scandal. They…

Nov 16, 2011

With Black Friday Coming Up Next Week, Here’s Your First Must-Buy Holiday Gift (For a Small Fee, In America)

Last week, to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the dazzling musical “West Side Story” was shown in selected movie theaters around the country for one night only. I’m going to assume that, like me, most of you missed this screening. If…

Nov 15, 2011

Twenty Years Ago, A Brutal Murder Shook The New York TV and Advertising Communities to Their Core. How These Communities Have Worked So Hard To Make Sure Some Good Has Come of This Tragedy. A Mother’s Tribute

July 30th, 1990. The fashionable West Village in Manhattan. It had hit 84 degrees in New York that day, but Larry Schatz remembers that Monday night as clear as a starkly cold, crystal clear darkness in the deadest of winter….

Nov 7, 2011