comment #1

Aris P says ...

JEFF -- Every 2nd time I click on the comments button on any entry I get an ireels.com pop-up, or some such crap. I know you need the advertising, and that's all well and good, but pop-ups are not the way to go. Is there any way to reign this in? (And yes I have a Mac)

comment #2

HanekeFanBoyNumberOne says ...

I'm with Aris P, can we lose the pop-ups? (I also have a mac)

comment #3

MCU says ...

Get thee Firefox, and Adblock Plus. It never even occurred to me that Hollywood Elsewhere had ads.

(Sorry, Jeff. But it is the way. If it's any consolation, I'm not sure I've ever clicked on an ad in my life, so you're not losing any of my money, just my irritation.)

To make this on topic: I know everyone (well, a lot of folks) are upset about this because they consider Dick Cook a genuine mensch. But then again, everyone knows the Nina Jacobson story. Nina was/is considered one of the nicest and best, too, but at the end of it all it was Dick Cook holding the knife. In the delivery room. Between guys like Bob Iger and Brad Grey (and, in that particular instance, Dick Cook) all I can think of are a bunch of feuding warlords with food tasters, just trying to poison everyone else first.

comment #4

Gaydos says ...

Yeah, I assume everyone here knows I work at Variety. So take my view in light of that full disclosure.

Jeff says of our Dick Cook departure story, "I knew it wouldn't contain the slightest hint or motive or industry rumble as to why."

The Variety story says:

"The studio's most recent movies, like "Race to Witch Mountain," "Bedtime Stories" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic" have been disappointments and CEO Bob Iger expressed unhappiness with the studio's slate in a conference call with Wall Street analysts in May."

I don't know Jeff, maybe I'm just prejudiced or maybe my senses are more finely tuned than yours but I get a pretty strong "hint" in that one sentence placed near the top of the news story.

Not "the slightest hint or motive" in the Variety story?

Really Jeff?

comment #5

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Wells to Gaydos: Yeah, I see your point, of course, but I guess Iger being unhappy and disappointed with the recent performance of three films didn't register for some reason. We're in a Great & Terrible Recession and everyone's unhappy or disappointed...even with ticket sales being up. Nobody's satisfied, everyone's grousing, etc. What's Iger going to say in front of a group of Wall Street analysts? He has to demonstrate in some way that he's on the stick and not complacent.

And "recent" on top of that? It would be one thing if Iger was angry about Cook's record over the past year or eighteen months, but three disappointing movies? If there's one thing we've all seen time and again for decades, it's that mediocrity is tolerated for very long periods of time. You might as well fire the local meteorologist because of that local cloudburst he didn't accurately predict two weeks ago.

Plus the difference in reporting styles between the standard Variety approach in Glaser's story vs. Fnke's was underlined here, I think. Finke always seems to find someone who, accurately or not, will just blurt something out, and she'll run it. For whatever reason Variety chose not to say that Cook had simply been whacked.

I'm obviously not saying that Finke is always correct or that Variety always hedges with its terminology, but the contrast was certainly evident. Like I said, "Variety provides the boilerplate and Finke delivers the sizzle."

comment #6

buckzollo says ...

It seemed to me that Nikki went the long way around in her agro-bitch style to try and deliver the sizzle, but I think she was just doing her level best to keep the scent off of Steven and Stacy! duh (sez me)

comment #7

Gaydos says ...

Jeff, thanks for your thoughtful reply and you have my word I'll never get into this subject again. But if you go to The Finke this morning, you'll read this:

"5TH UPDATE: Here's what I'm hearing now from deep inside Disney. That today's date to announce his exit was chosen by Dick Cook. That Bob Iger was at Wal-Mart all day so there wasn't an 11th-hour meeting with Cook. Disney insiders continue to insist Dick wasn't fired. Instead, as one of the sources stresses, "He had a choice, He just didn't see eye to eye with Bob on how to run the studio. Dick wanted to run the studio his way." But it didn't come as a surprise to toppers that Cook chose to step down rather than change the way he ran the studio."

You said today, "For whatever reason Variety chose not to say that Cook had simply been whacked."

I think the "reason," based upon the update from DHD, is pretty clear.

That said, I'm sure the daily adventures of V vs the blogs must be a tedium inducer for your loyals readers. So thanks for the opportunity to ventilate and I promise, no mas,

comment #8

Krish says ...

I think it is very difficult the make the news public.