“Robin Williams can be yours for a mere $1.99.”
One of his first credits was Laugh-In, 1977. This was how America met him:
That’s a collection of clips from the re-launched Laugh-In. No one really knew who he was, but he quickly became the standout performer.
Mork & Mindy, though, was where he began to show his real spirit:
Then you consider his filmography. They aren’t all classics, but they make an impressive, impressive body of work. (At one point tonight, eight of the nine trending items on Twitter were related to his filmography.) And, to think, there was a time when people thought he couldn’t do dramatic works.
Things to read … that can be dramatic or sublime.
I could just begin and end with #AskJameis.
The stages of Jameis Winston reading the #AskJameis tweets pic.twitter.com/6gTSRgqwcm
— Bryce Klein (@BrycealanKlein) August 10, 2014
Someone in Tallahassee thought this was a good idea. No one in Tallahassee was able to change their mind.
And now for some links on journalism topics:
Times-Picayune returns to five print days (for now)
Another day at Local 10, another act of stupidity
Publishers try crazy idea: fewer ads, higher pricing
BuzzFeed Raises $50 Million for Expansion, Motion Picture Division
50 Million New Reasons BuzzFeed Wants to Take Its Content Far Beyond Lists
White House provides non-response, response to letter opposing excessive PIO controls (Where has SPJ been?)
Despite generous-sounding records law, public documents often hard to get in Alabama
Let’s talk about that one. No one in D.C. seems to like Dan Snyder. Maybe it is mutual. If he couldn’t shut them down he’s taken plenty of steps to slowly things over. He’s been so successful that the owner of the NFL franchise has become the gatekeeper about the NFL franchise.
This is opportunistic and brilliant, from his point of view. In any other context, it would be reckless. (But this is football! What could go wrong?) It is the logical extension of brand journalism, native advertising, marketing and going around the media to talk to your audiences. Those of us in the particular audience will have to trust that the content is being created and distributed in good faith. (Some will be better than others.) And we’ll get to point out when we think it isn’t. (Some will be better than others.) It all makes for some interesting credibility issues.
What Happened to the Cord Cutters?:
Netflix, YouTube, Apple TV and the Internet at large are supposed to kill off pay TV … someday. But right now, pay TV seems like it is doing okay: Cord-cutting, which was supposed to accelerate with help from tech disrupters, looks like it may be slowing down.
New data from analysts MoffettNathanson shows that the pay-TV business lost about 300,000 subscribers in Q2. But that’s basically flat compared to a year ago, and that’s a change from the year-on-year declines of the previous few quarters.
I heard this same stance from several newspaper executives in the last 15 years. “We’re slowing down less!”
As for the answer to the question offered in the title: the early adopters have all done it. Others will come, in slower waves. Finally, the rest of us will go when there are answers for the programming that is important to them, like sports.
Quick reads:
Remember The Titans Is A Lie, And This Man Still Wants You To Know It
American startup rates are declining: Brookings Institution study
Finally, my favorite video of the day:
