Universal Studios announced the arrival of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Super Bowl-watching muggles. What does this mean for the Harry Potter franchise?
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Industry
The Hogwarts Express Goes to Orlando
A Post against “post-“
Why the term "post-network" needs to be cancelled.
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Hollywood Stars and the Death of the “Adult Drama”
Why are we currently experiencing what one filmmaker has called “the lowest point since cinema began”?
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Egregious Product Placement: The Biggest Loser
Subway. 24 Hour Fitness. Extra sugar free gum. Ziploc. Muir Glen organic canned tomatoes. NBC's The Biggest Loser is the home of some of the biggest product placement deals on television.
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Lessons From Jay, Coco, and Zucker
In debriefing what went wrong with the Jay Leno Show, we shouldn’t just ask what Leno’s failure says – we should also ask what the combination of the failure and the momentary ratings spike says.
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Smells Like an Ethnically Divided Teen Star System
The photos of the six actresses, all trumpeted as stars on the verge, were displayed in such a way that Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, who is of partial Filipino, Chinese, and Native American descent, and Zoë Kravitz, daughter of Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz, were positioned opposite “white” actresses Lily Collins, Isabel Lucas, and...
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THWIP!+CTRL+DEL
Only 8 years into the Spider-Man film franchise, Sony's decision to start from scratch seems a little hasty. Why reboot Spider-Man?
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Ratings Pet Peeve #32 – Are Ratings a Good Measure of the Popular?
Popularity is also about cultural salience, about a show’s place in popular culture, and about whether it really matters to people
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The Post-TV Era
A deal that will indelibly alter our media landscape, throw the future of broadcast into question, promise new distribution models, expand interactive and “addressable” advertising… a deal that will fundamentally redefine television. No, I’m not talking about the Comcast-NBC Universal announcement that made waves last week. This was the hype surrounding the...
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Egregious Product Placement: The Invention of Lying
A new Antenna feature designed to pick out and pick on egregious product placement moments within TV & film. This week's pick: The Invention of Lying. Too bad I got thrown for a loop...
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Ratings Pet Peeve #45: Pundit Wars and Politics
Today’s pet peeve: how some pop critics and observers try to read cable news ratings as a sign of which political philosophy is in the ascendancy, or even of which outlet is trusted.
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Bon Jovi Livin’ on NBC
A few weeks ago, NBC announced a new feature: the NBC Artists in Residence Program. Sounds fancy, but ultimately it's just a shiny name for an exclusive promotional deal they signed with Jon Bon Jovi. The artist himself attributes the decision to the "shrinking media environment," a phrase that he was applying...
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