Never underestimate the will of Shari Redstone, chairwoman of National Amusements.  Or perhaps that should be amended to “never underestimate the will of any Redstone.”  Today, after three years of corporate intrigue, CBS and Viacom have grudgingly reunited. The biggest obstacle to the merger, Les Moonves, collapsed under a scandal of his own making.  Redstone’s now 96-year-old father, Sumner, battling the effects of Father Time, couldn’t stop it either.  

Continue reading CBS And Viacom Merge Again & Give It Another Go at The Playlist.

Hollywood is in a protracted period of change.  Consolidation amongst the old guard and the rising influence of the streaming services has somehow made this town less corporate, more creative, but also somehow more cautious at the same time.  Throw in the facts the #MeToo movement has led to significant change (at least for the moment) and talent keeps somehow screwing up on social media, and it was quite a year.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2019

Disney officially secures 20th Century Fox
It was proposed in 2017, but after Comcast got into a bidding war in May, there was some concern in the Mouse House the acquisition wouldn’t occur.

Continue reading The Biggest Movie & TV News Stories Of 2018 at The Playlist.

We’re going to guess Jim Gianopulos knew he’d have a rocky slate on his hands when he agreed to take over Paramount Pictures as Chairman and CEO almost a year ago, but he couldn’t have imagined it would be as dire as it actually turned out to be.  The former Chairman of 20th Century Fox found a studio that had arguably just two real tentpoles set for the next 18 months (“Transformers: The Last Knight,” “Mission: Impossible-Fallout”), a rare Dwayne Johnson comedy that no one would be interested in (“Baywatch”), a terrible horror sequel that had been on the shelf forever (“Rings”), a comedy sequel with the still-problematic Mel Gibson (the barely profitable “Daddy’s Home 2”) and three prestige flicks from acclaimed directors that shockingly had no real potential to break out (“Downsizing,” “Suburbicon” and “Mother!

Continue reading Did ‘A Quiet Place’ Just Save Paramount Pictures’ Year? at The Playlist.

There were many highs and lows during the ninth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” but the Emmy contender ended with a finale that will remind anyone who watches reality competition TV who the true lip sync champion is. Two of the producers of the World of Wonder production, Tom Campbell and Randy Barbato (Fenton Bailey and RuPaul are two of the others), sat down a few days after taping the finale and reunion episodes to join the podcast to decompress the season.

Continue reading ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Producers On The Reunion And The Stunning Season Finale [Podcast] at The Playlist.