It’s down to three finalists: Boulder; Cincinnati; and, of course, staying home in Utah, though mostly relocating to the travel-friendlier Salt Lake City. - Seattle Times (AP)
But the discussion about those actors? Weirdly - or perhaps predictably - still ageist, sexist, and gross. "It’s strange to experience a culture that appears to be both cognizant and ignorant of certain issues — particularly when it has exacerbated the problems itself.” - HuffPost
Whether it’s with Shōgun or The Bear, looks like FX is going to clean up at the awards show today. But, don’t forget, “the Emmys are never entirely predictable.” - Variety
The prime minister, Voldemort, and James Bond may face off in the spring. Er, that is, Hugh Grant, Ralph Fiennes, and Daniel Craig seem likely to snag a good number of nominations for their Very Serious Film work this year. - The Guardian (UK)
A lot. “A video game trafficking ring has been smashed by police in Italy, after fake vintage consoles and games worth almost €50m ($55.5m) were seized. Among the counterfeit games were popular titles from the 1980s and 90s, including Mario Bros., Street Fighter and Star Wars.” - BBC
Take Emily in Paris for the most recent, most egregious example: Even in Part 1, “the stories don’t have enough space. When you combine arcs that already aren’t fully developed with multiple new characters and force everything into two chunks of episodes, the result is an incongruity.” - HuffPost
The numbers bear out a dire situation for satellite TV. Just 13 million U.S. households subscribe to it, a decrease of about 15.3 percent from last year. - The New York Times
While subscriber numbers are tanking, programmers prop up revenues by raising carriage fees for their channels—the aforementioned “higher contractual rates.” Instead of making TV bundles more attractive through choice and flexibility, the industry has chosen to fleece whoever hasn’t reached their personal breaking point through routine price hikes. - Tech Hive
Late night, it appears, is now firmly in belt-tightening mode. Or as one veteran late night producer says, “there’s definitely a new reality when it comes to budgets.” - The Hollywood Reporter
In October 2023, OPB's environmental reporter filed a public records request for documents about Portland's Clean Energy Fund. City officials denied it, and she appealed to the D.A. He ruled in her favor; OPB sued to keep the documents confidential; that case has now been dismissed. - Jefferson Public Radio (Ashland, Oregon)
The director filed suit against the trade magazine and two of its executive editors over a story posted in July which quoted anonymous sources saying that Coppola kissed scantily clad female extras uninvited. - TheWrap (MSN)
Brand partnerships saw the Deadpool and Wolverine characters shilling for everything from Xbox and Heineken, to Adidas, Aviation Gin (natch), Old Spice, DiGiornio pizzas, and more. - Fast Company
Google isn’t making things up when it says the AI hosts will “banter” with each other, either. When trying out Audio Overview for myself, I plugged in one of the sample notebooks about the invention of the lightbulb, and the results were... a bit uncanny. - The Verge
"Microsoft Gaming will lay off approximately 650 employees, or 3% of the Xbox owner’s global workforce, in a new round of eliminations following last year’s completion of its Activision Blizzard acquisition." - Variety
"The DGA has long kept animation directors out of the guild. And the chasm between the benefits afforded to live-action directors and animation directors is a growing source of frustration within the filmmaking community. … . But now, as animated films prop up the box office, their frustration is reaching a fever pitch." - TheWrap (MSN)
