The danger of the current moment is a second hollowing: the relegation of even lower-budget productions to commercial oblivion, the ever-widening gap between the spectacular successes and the quiet failures. In a way, the industry has done itself in, aesthetically. - The New Yorker
"Do we want you to argue with this list? Of course we do. That's the nature of the beast. ... No doubt you'll say: How could that movie have been left off the list? Or this one? Or that one? Trust us: We often asked that very same question ourselves." - Variety
Streaming may be the future, but in the present, it’s not paying the bills. The subtext of the Streaming Wars always has been that the heady days of free-for-all spending wouldn’t last forever. - The Ringer
Here's the story of how Zhang Yiming built the tech giant ByteDance and its star video app became a global juggernaut — only to find itself caught between U.S. concerns about data privacy and the ever-tighter rule of Xi Jinping's Chinese Communist Party. - The New York Times Magazine
This year’s race for the best-actress Oscar is so stacked with contenders that I’m ready to comb the academy bylaws for a workaround. Are five slots really enough to honor a field this formidable? - The New York Times
"What happens when an ad agency and a greeting card company make a TV show?" In this case, Hallmark Playhouse, the Hallmark Hall of Fame (and its 81 Emmy Awards), and, ultimately, the Hallmark Channel and its iconic Christmas programming. - Tedium
The local affiliates have always insisted on doing the fundraising themselves, so that listeners don't bypass the stations, which already pay dues to NPR. The new NPR Network is aimed, say executives, at millions of podcast listeners who bypass the radio stations entirely. - Current
Not only does it seem like a fait accompli that broadcast TV is dead, no one seems to be the least bit sad about it — unless you’re a fan of, say, Days of Our Lives and Dancing With the Stars. - Deadline
It wasn’t Frank Capra or Jimmy Stewart or the enduring power of cinema that made it a lasting success. It was neglect. “The damnedest thing I’ve ever seen,” Capra himself once said. - The Wall Street Journal
"Millions of UK viewers are breaking (copyright) law by sharing their passwords for services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, according to the Intellectual Property Office." - The Guardian
"The art-house thriller Kurak Günler ("Burning Days") was the subject of a smear campaign by pro-government media outlets that dubbed it an 'LGBT propaganda film' and riled up social media outrage that accused the director of 'treachery' and 'fraud'." - Hyperallergic
The private equity group which purchased Nielsen last March is reorganizing into three divisions: Nielsen Audience Measurement, Nielsen Analytics and Gracenote. The company, once a near-monopoly, has faced increasing competition from other audience measurement businesses as well as criticism for botched analysis during the pandemic. - Broadcasting and Cable
Part of why I think podcasts recounting historical instances of extremism have been so prolific this year is because they offer a hungry but exhausted news consumer the opportunity to examine extremism from a safe distance and in the rearview. - Vanity Fair
The never-ending supply of new programming that helped define the streaming era — spawning shows at a breakneck pace but also overwhelming viewers with too many choices — appears to finally be slowing. - The New York Times
"While studying for his A-levels (in 2019), Joe Cornick undertook a project close to his heart. He wanted to recreate a retro cinema utilising the village hall where he grew up. ... Today, Slindon Cinema is one of the last cinemas in the world to run only analogue film." - The Guardian
