The David Bowie memorial content fever that’s swept up the Internet in the last week has penetrated the real world. Some enterprising Bowie fans in Austin, Texas have replaced a sign for “Bowie St.” with a sign for “David Bowie St.”
Though there’s no obvious culprit (hero), Consequence of Sound noticed that the SXSW offices just happen to sit at the intersection where the sign was changed. Someone at city hall must be a fan, too, because the city announced it will leave the sign up until Tuesday to honor the fallen star.
NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt held an epic press conference today at television critic’s association press tour, providing much-needed insights into pressing entertainment questions, such as, “Was letting the rating bump you got from letting Donald Trump host SNL worth selling your soul?” (Answer? Yes, it was.) and “Does Jimmy Fallon have a drinking problem?” (Answer? No, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.)
But seriously, Greenblatt did announce some real news today… NBC is bringing back Friends!
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Ok, not really. But, like, kind of! Greenblatt revealed that NBC is planning a two-hour tribute to sitcom director Jimmy Burrows. According to TV Line, all six Friends have committed to appearing on the show, which basically makes it a Friends tribute program, right?
But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in TV land, folks. Al Jazeera America released a memo today revealing the network will be shutting down in April. According to The New York Times, the memo said the company’s business model, which bet on drawing viewers away from cable news with actual journalism, was “simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace.”
While most of the media world is still in shock or, more likely, still writing, The Intercept floated an interesting theory at the end of its reaction to the shut down:
AJAM has been losing staggering sums of money from the start. That has become increasingly untenable as the network’s owner and funder, the Government of Qatar, is now economically struggling due to low oil prices.
Unfortunately jet fuel can melt TV cameras, so the truthers are going to need a new slogan.
OK, OK, enough with the sad stuff. It’s time to talk about a wedding! (Fine: I guess, in a way, weddings are kind of sad, too.) After years of speculation that Apple might build a TV — no, not that dinky thing that plugs into your TV, an actual set — there’s a rumor in the New York Post that Apple is thinking about getting into the TV programming business by potentially purchasing Time Warner Inc., which many business publications believe is ripe for acquisition.
Questioning the merits of such a decision — should the rumor prove accurate — are editors from Engadget, who seem skeptical, but do point out that owning some Time Warner properties, namely HBO, would help it expand into new markets. In other words, you may be reading a lot more about Apple on Flavorwire soon.