English Entertainment
TV shows that the 90s kids miss
MUMBAI: Imagine travelling back to the time when we were young. Growing up is not an option for anyone. It is one of those inevitable aspects of the train of life that every passenger has to experience. But how you grow up is an option, more so, an option that everyone chooses to do in their own way. Some love the ‘grown up’ phase while others dwell and hate the fact that the comfort of being carefree does not exist anymore.
For a 90s kid, the world was really a unique place during that decade. The phase when comic books took shelter in the palms of our hands for most of the day, a time when a bicycle ride with friends felt no less than a dangerous mission, where tape-recorders remained a luxurious commodity, and asking your mother for money did not end with a “earn for yourself” reply.
The 90s also played a vital role in shaping our understanding of entertainment. As flat screen televisions were welcomed with sheer enthusiasm, a part of 90s kid died with the departure of CRTs (Cathode Ray Tube).
Game of Thrones replaced The Small Wonder, Sherlock replaced Tin Tin, Family Guy and Tom & Jerry provided hourly moments of laughter, whereas WWF became WWE.
For the child in all of us, let us revisit some of the series that makes travel down the memory lane pleasurable as we delve deeper into nostalgia.
Read on:
Full House
An American television series created by Jeff Franklin for ABC was aired from 22 September 1987 to 23 May 1995, broadcasting eight seasons and 192 episodes. The show narrates the story about a widowed father who enlist his best friend and his brother-in-law to help raise his three daughters. Full House is one such show that the 90s kids loved to watch.
Will & Grace
Created by David Kohan and Max Mutchnick and directed by James Burrows, the show was aired on NBC from 21 September 1998 to 18 May 2006. The story focused on the relationship between a gay lawyer and his best friend, a straight Jewish woman who is an interior designer. It showed the interplay of relationships, trials and tribulation of dating, marriage, divorce, casual sex and as well as comical key stereotypes of gay and Jewish culture.
The show aired eight seasons and 194 episodes.
Beverly Hills 90210
Yet another American drama series, Beverly Hills 90201 was created by Darren Star, Aaron Spelling, E Duke Vincent among others. The show aired from 4 October 1990 to 17 May 2000 with 293 episodes and 10 seasons. It was produced by Spelling Television and aired on Fox. The show addressed issues such as date, rape, gay rights, animal rights, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence, sex, anti-Semitism, teenage suicide, teenage pregnancy and AIDS.
Law and Order
The show was aired on NBC from 13 September 1990 to 24 May 2010. A total of 20 seasons and 456 episodes were aired. The plot was based on real cases. Set and filmed in New York City, the series followed a two-part approach: the first half-hour was the investigation of a crime (usually murder) and apprehension of a suspect by New York City Police Department homicide detectives; the second half was the prosecution of the defendant by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Homicide: Life on the Street
The series was created by Paul Attanasio and was based on David Simons book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. It was the first drama to win three Peabody award for its achievement in drama .It aired seven seasons across 122 episodes from 1993 to 1999 on NBC. It shed light on and around the homicide unit of the Baltimore Police Department, a group of determined individuals, who were committed to their grim job.
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.
