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Left Coast Bias: Mr. Glazer Regrets—Kind OfBy Ben Grossman, August 22, 2009Talk about your one-two combinations. Within the last week, I sat 20 feet away as my future second wife got punched in the face about 437 times in less than 5 minutes; then, days later, my hometown football team guaranteed its place in this year's Super Bowl with a big signing. (Isn't that right, Jets fans?) Strangely enough, there is another person who can directly relate to both Gina Carano g... More
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Left Coast Bias: TCA -- Paula and Bubba and Katy, Oh MyBy Ben Grossman, August 8, 2009The Television Critics Association has its annual awards recognizing highs in industry quality. And with the press tour now wrapped up in Pasadena, here are my own TCA kudos from last week's broadcast network presentations. Most Shocking Event: You're not going to believe this, but there was an entire TCA session featuring Fox honchos Kevin Reilly and Peter Rice and not one single question abou... More
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Left Coast Bias: Don't Be Afraid to Make a Rock Star HireBy Ben Grossman, August 1, 2009Ben Silverman's tenure at NBC didn't go as well as either had hoped,but the thinking behind the hire was the right kind of desperate.
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Left Coast Bias: The State of TV News: That's the Way It IsBy Ben Grossman, July 25, 2009I caught a great arm-wrestling match on the tube last week. No, summer television has not gotten so bad that I am really watching arm wrestling, unless of course it's the unparalleled cinematic masterpiece that is Sly Stallone's Over the Top. Actually, this match was between Jon Stewart and Brian Williams, part of a spirited Daily Show segment featuring the duo exchanging good-hearted verbal j... More
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Left Coast Bias: Why You Should Give Soccer a ShotBy Ben Grossman, July 18, 2009When I write about soccer, I have about as much objectivity as Bill O'Reilly or Keith Olbermann covering a Supreme Court nomination hearing. I spent a nice chunk of my career working in professional soccer here and abroad, and would probably go back to it tomorrow if asked. (Welcome to another edition of “Does my boss read my column?”) Next summer's World Cup in South Africa will br... More
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Left Coast Bias: Are You Just Keeping Up With the Joneses?By Ben Grossman, July 11, 2009We are in one of the strangest times the television business has ever seen. Almost the entire industry is in a holding pattern. Everyone is waiting around for someone to figure this all out. There is an assumption that someway, somehow a model will be discovered to return the TV business to its glory days. More
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Left Coast Bias: My Greatest MissesBy Ben Grossman, July 4, 2009As a former PR person, it always used to tick me off that hacks could write whatever dumb predictions they wanted and seldom be held accountable down the road. Now that I've jumped to the lucrative world of journalism, it's only fair that I turn that scope back on myself. Here's a look at some of my hits and misses. More
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Left Coast Bias: A Self-Hating Journalist Comes Around (a Little)By Ben Grossman, June 20, 2009I used to claim that working at a television trade brand, I had the least important job in the world. I mean, what is more banal than writing about television for people who work in the television business? Recently, I think I helped chase a young journalist out of the profession. Just let go from his job, he came to me to talk next steps. More
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Left Coast Bias: Oh, Calm Down: Late Night Is a MarathonBy Ben Grossman, June 13, 2009It's amazing what happened last week in Universal City when David Letterman's ratings eclipsed those of Conan O'Brien for the first time on the night of June 9. According to my well-placed late-night moles, to say NBC went into unabated panic mode is an incredible understatement. The morning after being honored at a big dinner in New York, Jeff Zucker jumped on a flight to Los Angeles for an em... More
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Left Coast Bias: Joe Buck's New GigBy Ben Grossman, June 6, 2009
The first night of any new talk show tends to stink. And that's where Joe Buck is getting screwed. His new HBO show Joe Buck Live debuts June 15. But with series airing only four times a year, his second show won't be until September.
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Left Coast Bias: Sports Is Still the Biggest Game in TownBy Ben Grossman, May 30, 2009Let's play a game called “See if my bosses read my column.” Last Wednesday, I was holed up in a bar in the middle of the day. Well, technically it was for work. I was in a Santa Monica pub watching European soccer's version of the Super Bowl with a couple of network execs who shall remain nameless. More
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Highlights and Lowlights and Cougars, Oh MyBy Broadcasting & Cable Staff, May 23, 2009If you skipped the upfronts in New York last week, here's a quick primer on what you may have missed while you were apparently setting your computer to speed-dial for Kris Allen. Come to think of it, the week included a performance by LL Cool J and a show called Melrose Place, so if you were at the upfronts in the 1990s, you didn't miss much at all. More
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B&C’s Grossman Is People’s Choice for Mirror AwardBy B&C Staff, May 21, 2009Wins People’s Choice for commentary in Newhouse School awards More
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Left Coast Bias: Time for Nets to Restore Some FaithBy Ben Grossman, May 16, 2009Not long ago, I was in a pre-upfront meeting with a few network executives—some of the ones who had the guts to actually talk just before the upfronts—when I asked one of them to tell me what their hot projects were. When one started to recite some of the bigger bets, another exec interrupted, looked right at me and started to laugh. More
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Left Coast Bias: Confessions of a Twitter CynicBy Ben Grossman, May 9, 2009Here's how clueless I really am: One day a long time ago, a friend called me and I told him I would call him right back on his cellphone. When I dialed his digits, I was immediately met by the theme to a popular TV show. Figuring it had gone right to voice mail, I hung up and dialed again. Again, no ringing, just the same song. More
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Left Coast Bias: Live Together or Die AloneBy Ben Grossman, May 2, 2009I always love this time of year. Baseball season is kicking into gear, sundresses are back, and my annual trip to Alaska to try to reel in the biggest fish ever hooked by a Jew (halibut, not gefilte) is on the horizon. And in the TV business, it's the season of good old behind-the-scenes smear campaigns, when broadcast network execs trash everything about the other guys. More
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Left Coast Bias: This Is Gonna Hurt a Little BitBy Ben Grossman, April 25, 2009In general, I consider myself pretty unflappable. For instance, I haven't had a legitimate panic attack since 1995. And I don't know from angry grudges—even against, say, Northwestern University, which rejected my undergrad application. (And it's not like I still show bitter joy toward their pathetic athletic department, just because I ended up at Boston University, home of hockey's natio... More
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B&C Receives Mirror Award RecognitionBy BC Staff, April 22, 2009Editor Ben Grossman's Left Coast Bias column finalist for commentary honor More
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Left Coast Bias: A Standard-Def Holdout Goes HDBy Ben Grossman, April 18, 2009B&C's editor-in-chief breaks down, gets a high-definition TV and learns that the Yankees still stink in HD. More
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Left Coast Bias: My Advice for Peter RiceBy Ben Grossman, April 11, 2009
B&C Editor-In-Chief Ben Grossman offers three specific tips for the new Fox Broadcasting chief
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