Thursday, January 10, 2013

Hollywood is in turmoil!

Show business has faced crises before. Work stoppages due to labor strikes that halted production and crippled the TV and movie industries. Film piracy, the collapse of DVD’s, runaway costs, plunging ratings – and yet somehow Tinsel Town has risen above. But now comes their toughest challenge ever, the ultimate test.

The Lakers suck.

In a town of frontrunners, this unimagined turn of events, has left the Dream Factory reeling.  Even the Oscar nominations today can't assuage them (other than Spielberg).   For years the Los Angeles Lakers have been the town’s darlings. Championships were routine. Three-peat anyone? The team was loaded with stars from Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O’Neal. Now they still have Kobe along with Dwight Howard and Steve Nash. It’s an all-star cast.  They should be the OCEAN’S ELEVEN of the NBA.  Instead, they're VALENTINE'S DAY. 

Being seen is more important in Hollywood than being good, and Lakers games were the place to be seen. Jack was there every night. And soon Denzel, and Charlie Sheen, and Dustin Hoffman, and even Mike Tyson. Where stars go agents and executives follow. Pretty soon the Staples Center was Mondays at Mortons.  Forget that the real fans couldn't afford good seats. 

But now the Lakers are losing.  They have dropped five straight.  The audacity! The betrayal! The ingratitude!

And it’s worse. It seems there’s another team in Los Angeles. The Clippers. And they’re good. Very good. They’re now beating the Lakers.

Let’s reflect on that a moment. It’s like Univision beating NBC (which they have done repeatedly). SHOWTIME over HBO. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE copping Best Picture over SAVING PRIVATE RYAN.

So the gut wrenching question: what does Hollywood do? Maintain their allegiance or Ann Curry them?

And if they do drop the Lakers, do they switch over to the Clippers? Hollywood does love a good David & Goliath story, but the Clippers have always been a national joke. It would be like the entertainment industry backing Sarah Palin as their political candidate.

The next few months will be crucial. The Lakers of course could rebound and the Clippers sputter. That’s what they’re hoping for. Because as much as they love David beating Goliath, remember when you’re talking Hollywood you’re talking about Time-Warner, Viacom, Universal-Comcast, the Disney corporation. They much prefer Goliath crushing David.

All the more reason for me to say – GO CLIPPERS!

20 comments :

  1. I was thought it was so ironic when the Lakers would have the best team in the NBA, while Clipper were the worst.

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  2. How the mighty have falling.

    To be fair, they have been injured as of late.

    However...

    If you look at the roster they have closely, they are good as they should be.

    Kobe is still a great player, but he is a abrasive guy who has a hard time with a "team" concept.

    Nash is not remotely close to the MVP player he was with the Suns. At 38, he would be hard to expect this.

    Howard, in my opinion, is the most overrated player in the game. He has Kobe's personality, but he is nowhere near the talent Shaq had in his prime.

    Metta World Peace, AKA Ron Artest. His name change says it all. Remember the brawl in 2004? He is still the same guy.

    Pau Gasol is a good player but I think he is a bit soft. Playing too hard gets him hurt.

    Jamison? At age 36, now just a serviceable bench guy who can still rebound but he can't score.

    The others on the bench (Morris,Duhon etc.) have struggled.

    Good luck to Mike D'Antoni. He'll need it.

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  3. Gene Siskelcellanemia1/10/2013 7:13 AM

    Steven Spielberg can spend the next 100 years weeping like a boy hugging his alien goodbye -- "Shakespeare in Love" was, is, and always will be better than "Saving Private Ryan." Other than SPR's visceral D-Day sequence, of course. But if the criteria is Movie With The Best Sequence In It, then where was the Best Picture Oscar for "Up"?

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  4. Meanwhile, in a front row seat at the Staples Center, longtime Clippers season-ticket Billy Crystal just leans back and enjoys the moment....

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  5. Jack and daughter, but who is the other guy?

    Robert Towne?

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  6. @OrangeTom: Lou Adler, owns the Roxy.

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  7. Couldn't Hollywood just latch on to LA's highest paid pro team, & by that I mean USC Trojan Football?

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  8. Loving the Clippers is hard because they have the WORST owner in the league, Donald Sterling. This guy has run ads patting himself on the back for building a homeless center that to this day has not happened. Yeah, he is a creep.

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  9. The Lakers have 5 Hall of Famers plus Ron Artest.

    The Clippers have possibly 4 Hall of Famers plus Lamar Odom and Caron Butler. The other 6 players are MUCH better on the Clippers.

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  10. "They much prefer Goliath crushing David."

    Ha ha! Reminds me of the Onion Headline - "Film about little guy triumphing over evil corporation made by evil corporation."

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  11. As a career Lakers hater, even though I'm not a basketball fan, I revel in this news.

    As an aside, I just finished a crossword puzzle whose theme was the Fraiser TV show.

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  12. Well and fine. Blackhawks at Kings, Jan. 19th. Game On.

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  13. Now that the lockout is over, you should really be saying, "Go Kings!"

    You do remember the Kings, don't you?

    After all, they are the reigning Stanley Cup Champions.

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  14. That same bizarrely-dressed jerk has been sitting with Nicholson since the late seventies, I think. Anyone have a clue who he is?

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  15. Clippers over Lakers? It's like Zune beating Ipod.

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  16. Strange that Ken's film review subjects are all Oscar nominees. Hopefully, he'll complete the set with detailed reviews of Michael Haneke's Amour, Ang Lee's Life Of Pi and Paul Anderson's The Master. Unless he's still barred from the local arthouse after that Pee-Wee Herman incident.

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  17. Friday question: do you get more royalties if you used to be the showrunner of a series or do you get them just for episodes you've written and characters you've created?

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  18. Beef Supreme1/11/2013 10:46 AM

    Ref, look a few comments up... that's Lou Adler.

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  19. As Mr. Berra might say, it's possibly deja vu all over again, this time on the West Coast.

    During the first two decades of the 20th century, baseball in New York was dominated by John McGraw's Giants, who were the toast of the Broadway and Tin Pan Alley crowd (think George M. Cohan as Jack Nicholson). The American League placed a franchise in New York, initially called the Highlanders, then the Yankees. Perhaps you've heard of them now, but from 1903 to 1919, few in New York did; they were essentially invisible. (And the team's first owner was a corrupt former police official, Donald Sterling with a badge.)

    This is not to say Blake Griffin is the new Babe Ruth, or that the Clippers are going to dominate the NBA for decades. Just a reminder how cyclical things are.

    For now, go enjoy the Kings as they hoist the Cup banner at Staples, with hope my Washington Capitals will see them sometime in June.

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  20. The Clippers will NEVER by Los Angeles's team no matter how well they do.

    They are the red headed step child
    that is forced to live under the stairs.

    All the Lakers need is a new coach...........hmmm did someone say Phil Jackson?

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