Wednesday 24 September 2008

Hollywood Babble On & On #172: Random Autumnal Thoughts

SILVERMAN SPINS IT RIGHT ROUND BABY, RIGHT ROUND, LIKE A RECORD BABY, RIGHT ROUND, ROUND ROUND...

I'm almost starting to feel sorry for NBC's Ben Silverman, almost. In a recent interview with CNBC (h/t-Nikki Finke) he sang the praises of his network to its finance minded subsidiary, bragging about how it recently whupped the competition in the ratings.

He neglected to mention that what did the whupping was the Beijing Summer Olympics and that none of the other networks ran any serious competition against the venerable sporting event. And he also neglected to include the little tid-bit that any programming put out by NBC without Michael Phelps winning a gold medal makes the CW look like a fountain of hits.

Some might call this putting a "spin" on things, but it's more like a frantic Jim Carrey-esque flailing of the limbs, and doesn't really create much confidence in how the NBC network is run.

But on the bright side, he at least showed up for the interview. With Silverman's reputation for missing things that's a major step in the right direction.

THE UNIVERSAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY: U+R=$

In sort of related news, NBC's sister company Universal Pictures has inked a new deal with financiers Relativity to finance a healthy chunk of Universal's production slate. (h/t-Nikki Finke)

Now some folks are wondering how this is possible with the global credit crunch going on. Well, the money is out there, I've been telling folks that it isn't the end of the world, more of a speed bump than a crevasse. And all you need to attract that money is be a good place to do business.

Now when it comes to Relativity Media LLC , I'm going to bastardize Teddy Roosevelt when I say that they must speak softly and carry a big law firm if they do business with Hollywood on this level.

I salute you Relativity, you've got a pair of stainless steel ones.

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