Brian Steinberg

Dave Jorgenson is making a bid to jump from convincing Washington Post readers to interact with short form video to luring YouTube fans to watch longer-form material. Which job is harder? variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Netflix blazed a path in the streaming era that many of its media rivals have tried to follow. As it has tried to navigate Madison Avenue, however, the company has found bumps in the road. variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Early ratings reports put audience for this past Sunday's telecast of 60 Minutes at about 5.7M, a low for the current season that has sparked chatter internally at CBS. Numbers may change w/final report later today and Fox had an NFL game opposite telecast, but that # is tough

When even 'Hagar the Horrible,' set centuries ago, is making jokes about inflation, you know there's trouble...

'Mary Worth' continues to probe the obscure mating ritual known as 'chinbearding' in which two humans take part in a closed-mouth kiss while reveling in the tactile feel of the male's ungroomed neck scruff...

MAJOR expansion of the Family Circus Universe today as Keane the Younger introduces 'evil' imaginary characters like 'Harm' and 'Sickness' to counterbalance weaker figures such as 'Not Me' and 'Ida Noe'...

Have we finally gone too far?

Sharyn Alfonsi called, and wants to offer some notes....

NEW: CAA signs Hunter Biden as client variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Jon Tower, a TV -news veteran who had a hand in the launch of 'Morning Joe,' is taking the reins at CBS News' revamped A.M. show as executive producer... variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Where is Bianna Golodryga going after leaving CNN? Maybe this is the answer....new assignments with Politico and CBS News are under discussion..... variety.com/2026/tv/news...

'Someone was gossiping about me instead of the other way around? ' asks Mary Worth. 'This can not stand.'

NEW: FIFA's chief business officer tells Variety the bidding process for U.S. media rights to 2030, 2034 World Cup is officially open. It's the first time in about 15 years that rights, controlled for years by Fox, Telemundo, are up for grabs... variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Skydance hands JJ Watt the ball, officially names him as lead NFL analyst. He will fill the role previously held by Tony Romo, including in 2028 when CBS telecasts the Super Bowl from Atlanta variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Meet Kate DePetro, the Fox News social-media insider who aims to connect the news company to a younger crowd.... variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Add C-3PO to the list of popular Disney personalities who will be guiding football fans through sundry telecasts of ESPN‘s coverage of Super Bowl LXI in 2027. variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Christiane Amanpour, who parlayed a desk assistant job in Atlanta into a globe-trotting assignment for CNN, will leave the news giant in June Her exit comes as CNN comes under the control of a new owner, Skydance.... variety.com/2026/tv/news...

As someone who has covered the ad industry for years, I would love to read an examination of how the NYTimes went from once offering what was once arguably the leading coverage of the sector to weird uninformed stuff like this..... www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/b...

CBS News veteran Jan Crawford apologized Sunday for a social media post about a political town hall that clearly violated the standards of any legacy newsroom....but the imbroglio comes as CBS News has embraced more opinion and commentary... variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Hard to tell if this is a commentary on the disruption the NFL's early-Sunday international games might cause churchgoers or revelation that even some of the comics' most lapsed characters -- Batman, Homer Simpson and Snuffy Smith -- can find redemption...

America's swankiest new franchise is the Starlit Spoon. All meals can be eaten or served only with spoons, ladles, dippers and skimmers. The meal consists largely of soups, sauces, puddings and dips, but the chefs are excellent...

There's really no good reason for comic strips not to use real names of tech services like Facebook, Snapchat, etc. but kudos to the creative trust at 'Mark Trail' for devising a short-form video service called 'BikBok' that uses a clucking chicken as its promotional mascot...

Neddy is shocked by April's aggressive behavior and loud tones, but that doesn't keep her from going into defense mode by readying the turkey palm and whooping crane hand known only to true practitioners of the martial arts...

'You may have consigned Charlie Brown to a life of anxiety and depression,' say Ditto and Dot, 'but we'll be damned if we let it happen to us!'

So many questions! When did Roz's restaurant in 'Shoe' get bought out by a KFC franchisee? Should birds, even ones with elevated abilities to speak, sit at a bar and maintain a national economic system, be depicted dining on members of their own species?

Is the implication here that Hagar regularly cheats on his wife during his many travels, and that the woman leaning in the archway of Le Club Hot is a prostitute of some sort? Because I don't know how you keep your place on the Sunday funnies page with that kind of activity...

Remember to always pack your kite suit, because you never know when you may need it....

Advertisers of a different era insisted that the content they sponsored be squeaky clean. Now many commercials are filled with profanity and/ or potty humor

DAMN YOU, IMPACT RIFLE!

The magic of this 'Dennis the Menace' panel is that it skews both red and blue. Liberals will no doubt assume Dennis is referring to Fox News, while conservatives will believe he's talking about MS NOW or CNN....

Are you in need of a good snacking product that's easily tossed into the air whenever someone utters a funny line or creates a quick laugh? Chippo may just be the chip for you! Chippo: 'If you're not going to eat it, I'm just going to throw it away'...

Which do you think Blondie is more upset by --- her son's casual dismissal of his impending breakup, or the fact that he's using an old-school wireless hand-held rather than his personal smartphone?

ESPN launches ESPN JV, a YouTube channel for kids, featuring an original animated series and appearances by sports figures and Disney characters (Brian Steinberg/Variety) Main Link | Mediagazer Permalink

What was all the fuss about? Approx 6.06M people watched an episode of '60 Minutes' that sparked an intense debate between Lesley Stahl and CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss. The figures mark a 12% y/y decline and a 41% decline from last week variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Production powerhouse RadicalMedia has a new CEO, who wants to test new business models, like taking a stake or financial interest in some of the work the company makes.... variety.com/2026/tv/news...

ESPN JV isn’t for second-stringers. The new YouTube channel aims to cultivate younger sports fans who will keep the Disney sports-media giant in mind as they grow up. variety.com/2026/tv/news...

An upstart company led by many TV-ad sales veterans from old-school places like Turner and Nexstar unveils new marketplace for video inventory across linear and streaming they say will help advertisers knit audiences together even as fracturing media splits them apart... variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Rachel Nichols will lead 'The Story,' a new weekday program from Sports Illustrated, fueling the outlet's video ambitions and adding to her portfolio of sports-journalism gigs variety.com/2026/tv/news...

Man, Status and Breaker are both out before 7 pm. What am I gonna do for the rest of the night?

R.I.P. Slylock Fox, who drowned on this day while trying to extend his long-running STEM education efforts underwater...

It's rare to see comic-strip creators openly acknowledge they have little interest in creating an interesting long-term storyline that readers can follow and are simply jumping around from one underwritten character to the next in a bid to keep the licensing revenue flowing!

Can it really be so easy....?

If your overseas activities get you in hot water with the federal government, make sure your interrogation takes place in a 'CIA Regional Office,' where your questioner will probe you from behind a solid mahogany desk and things will really seem quite civil...

'Your blog really seems to be creating a buzz' 'I know, I know, but I really wish it was my newsletter...'