English Entertainment
‘Joey’s’ solo run minus ‘Friends’ shows promise
MUMBAI: So how’s Joey doing? If the numbers from Nielsen media research are any indication, then not bad, not bad at all.
Joey- a spinoff of Friends – which debuted on NBC last Thursday, was seen by an estimated 18.6 million audiences. Although the numbers are lower than any original episode of Matt LeBlanc’s old series drew last season, but initial figures indicate that the spinoff would help consolidate the network’s Thursday’s night lineup.
Besides meriting glowing reviews from critics, Joey is reported to have gathered the largest audience among the advertiser-friendly 18-to-49-year-old age group of any other entertainment show since May. The show also fared particularly well with female viewers with a 9.3 rating, reports inform. In addition to that, the media reports tout it as the best-rated 8 pm comedy premiere for NBC in 14 years.
The new sitcom Joey sees Matt LeBlanc carry on the role of the lovable but dimwitted Joey Tribbiani, after Phoebe, Monica, Chandler, Rachel and Ross left to get married and bring up babies.
The show follows LeBlanc as struggling actor Joey Tribbiani, who moved from New York to Los Angeles to try and make it as a Hollywood star. Even before the opening credits appear, Joey is seen getting on the wrong flight to Dallas.
The show also stars Drea de Matteo as Joey’s sister, Gina, who is best known for her role in the gangster drama The Sopranos and Roadtrip actor Paul Costanzo as de Matteo’s son Michael.
While there is a buzz that some of the Friends cast, including Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer, have agreed to make special guest appearances on Joey, Schwimmer is also working as a director on the series.
The show’s producers hope they can repeat the success of Frasier, which took barfly psychiatrist Dr Frasier Crane from hit series,Cheers, and transplanted him from Boston to Seattle to create one of the most popular TV characters of all time. But word of caution would be the experience of the stars of Seinfeld , including Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus who flopped in a succession of failed comedies dubbed The Curse of Seinfeld.
On the home grounds, the telecast rights for the last season of Friends are still open, and it is likely that Zee English — which aired the Season 9 — is the strong contender.
Elsewhere, Channel 4 recently lost a bidding war to show Joey in Britain to Five, who are paying an estimated ?500,000 for each half-hour episode to show the series this autumn.
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
