Monarch: Legacy of Monsters made the charts in week 2! So that’s not a miss, but it wouldn’t be a hit for anyone but Apple TV...It also fell off the charts the week after.
entertainment.substack.com/p/hbo-is-qui...
This show really illustrates the gap between what gets talked about in the media and online versus what many Americans like to watch.
Virgin River has some of the best viewership all time on streaming, especially if you add up every season and yet...it doesn’t even have enough reviews to get a Metacritic score.
entertainment.substack.com/p/virgin-riv...
Does Hollywood have some huge risks in its future?
I describe three in my latest...
entertainment.substack.com/p/hollywoods...
Related: I have a reference to a concept that I heard on the Martini Shot podcast in an upcoming article, so I googled the link and, wow, the episode was from 2013. So yeah, I’ve been listening to Martini Shot for over a decade now.
My only personal note: Shamrock was my fav character on the old (very, very excellent) UFC fighting game on the Dreamcast back in the day. (My editor/researcher’s fav fighter was Tito Ortiz.)
Excellent work, as always, from MMA Draw, on Frank Shamrock, Nate Wilcox’s fav MMA fighter.
www.themmadraw.com/p/erased-by-...
And yeah, I get why this one didn’t go to theaters, but also, if you’re going to buy a film like this just to bury it on streaming, why buy it at all?
Prime Video released a straight-to-streaming pirate film. That’s right. A pirate film. And it allegedly cost $50 million. (CAA handled the sale, so was this an indie film?)
entertainment.substack.com/p/finally-tw...
The Witcher was, years ago, one of Netflix’s mega-hits, but no show has seen a steeper decline in performance! It’s been on a slide since season two (after the main star left the show).
entertainment.substack.com/p/over-113-o...
Listen to Cal Newport’s most recent episode to hear a pretty thorough debunking of the latest worries about AI.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-8s...
I think the recent “Claude Mythos found 400,000 exploits!!!” news really reveals whether a lot of influential people, pundits and writers are in an AI information bubble or not.
At this point, if you don’t think Google or Ticket Master are monopolies, well, you basically don’t think any monopolies exist period. (Or shouldn’t be prohibited!)
A classic battle between some big returning shows…plus Disney tries to reverse its slide in films on streaming…
entertainment.substack.com/p/virgin-riv...
Beast Games is such a fascinating cultural artefact
Predator Badlands basically put up the same numbers as Prey, but, you know, with $180 million in box office dollars.
entertainment.substack.com/p/did-two-ne...
Evan Shapiro ran the numbers on Paramount-WBD merger...it’s brutal!
eshap.substack.com/p/inside-ell...
Hulu’s giving her another show!
deadline.com/2026/04/la-l...
I always take TikTok numbers divide by ten.
If you assume TikTok’s numbers are accurate, this feels like a tragedy. If you assume TikTok’s numbers are inflated (maybe wildly so) and many of the views are in low-income foreign countries, than the numbers make sense.
simonowens.substack.com/p/360-millio...
After reading about one TikToker complaining about her 360 million views but can’t make a living. In this case, I’d recommend analyzing one’s assumptions.
The Bear is ending this summer. Its last season’s ratings were a bit low compared to the past.
entertainment.substack.com/p/the-secret...
The decline of Beast Games on Prime Video is real and stark. No datecdotes from the company and three viewership sources (Nielsen, Samba TV and Luminate) all tell the same story...
entertainment.substack.com/p/beast-game...
The WGA-AMPTP deal is huge, amazing good news for the entertainment industry.
I also barely saw anyone writing about this good news. The news coverage was absolutely minimal. I tried to do my part by making it the “Most Important Story of the Week”
entertainment.substack.com/p/the-best-e...
Kim Kardashian had another rough half-year on streaming. Once again, Hulu’s “The Kardashians” show failed to make the Nielsen weekly charts, despite being on S7. The Kardashians also failed to make Luminate or Samba TV.
entertainment.substack.com/p/over-113-o...
Do you ever read an article by someone else and just say, “Darn, I wish I wrote that.” Frankly, it’s the biggest compliment you can give to another writer, and I gladly give it to @Wade Major and his latest article on Netflix’s stock price.
hollywoodheretic.substack.com/p/100-days-o...
The Pitt is climbing the S2 all-time streaming charts.
entertainment.substack.com/p/hbo-is-qui...
I wouldn’t say I’m “breaking” news in today’s article, because I’m just assembling the data facts. But I haven’t seen anyone else report this so I will:
Beast Games season two was a HUGE flop.
Here’s the brutal math…
entertainment.substack.com/p/beast-game...
Thought of this reading @edzitron.com repeating this point today...
