On Wednesday night, Paramount-owned CBS toasted its talent at the studio’s fabled lot. Actors from hits like “Ghosts” and “Marshals” mingled, as did LL Cool J, the once and future star of an “NCIS” spinoff, while Paramount TV Media chief George Cheeks held court. Yet the week also saw talent band together in an extraordinary public protest against the David Ellison-led studio’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, circulating an open letter that quickly ballooned to more than 2,000 signees.
If the CBS party was all smiles, it also served as an indication of Hollywood’s scaled-down largess. The event celebrating the fall primetime lineup took place in Los Angeles because CBS has skipped the advertising upfronts in New York since 2023—a stark contrast (and massive cost savings) from when former CBS chief Leslie Moonves occupied center stage at Carnegie Hall, leading a presentation that defined upfront showmanship. (Moonves left in 2018 following sexual misconduct allegations, another sign of the not-so-distant past.)
Yet as Status reached out to those whose names dotted the petition, the unifying thread appeared to be fear—both of dwindling business opportunities and creative freedom, and…
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Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan in “Beef,” Season 2. (Courtesy of Netflix)
‘Beef’ Serves Overcooked Second Course: To borrow an old ad slogan, “Where’s the beef?” While “Beef” deserved all the accolades heaped upon it in 2023, attempting to craft a completely new story around that premise winds up underscoring that some “limited series” are better off left limited.
That’s not to say this second installment of “Beef” is without its charms, and series creator Lee Sung Jin and his collaborators have cast the project to the hilt, with Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan diving into their roles as the wealthy couple that sets events in motion, and Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton as the naive (at first, anyway) young lovers drawn into their increasingly complicated orbit.
Still, Season 2 veers…
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