17 Burst results for "Jim Miller"
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
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SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"And no one knew anything on Monday night. There was very, very little information. And I appreciate the fact that they said repeatedly, we don't have any information when we have it. We'll give it to you. That's all you can do there. And there would be, I think, other people who maybe wouldn't be that straightforward about it. And that's what I appreciated the most about ESPN's coverage on Monday night. I think there's also one other side point and I don't I want to be careful here because I don't want this to be a dig. But I also feel like we're watching ESPN and if it was NBC or CBS, you would have had that similar level of excellence, maybe more. But I would say that if you look at Amazon, even though the great Freddy Goodell is there and Al and everybody else, do they have the back bench so to speak or the supporting cast or the other arteries that ESPN had on display. To cover something like that, if God forbid, something like that would happen on a Thursday night. I mean, obviously they have great people working on the broadcast. But I think that one of the things that happened Monday night was we were watching an iceberg. We were watching Troy and Joe and Susie and booger and Ryan and Scott and Adam and there was like a big, big army at the hospital at wherever. And, you know, in fairness to Amazon, you know, maybe they don't have those numbers. Maybe they don't have those capabilities. And it's just interesting to, I guess, for them, they may have been thinking about that. This week that God forbid, if that ever happens on our watch, you know, how do we deploy the kind of extensive coverage and layers of coverage and all that was attended to that from even a journalistic point of view that we saw Monday night. It's a challenge. Yeah. I don't think the average viewer understands what a challenge that was.
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"Very eloquent. Speaking of the brotherhood, players, it was such an important element and I know Ryan Clark got a lot of praise, but and they all deserve it and I'm not taking anything away from them. But I do want to point out with Joe Suzy and especially Scott when you're the traffic cop on live TV during a breaking news story and then a life and death breaking news story. And you've got people in your ear and you've got to go to this reporter, then go back to Ryan Clark, then go to this person throw to commercial. I don't think people understand how difficult that is. And especially in the case of van pelt, he couldn't have done it smoother, no hiccups, Joe was navigating things from the field that we'll get into this whole thing with the 5 minute thing, but I just, you know, the players, they X players were so important. And I think the quote unquote anchors like Joe and Susie and especially Scott, that is as they're not going to have a more difficult assignment ever in their careers and they all handled it as well as you could have. I mean, I think that's why they're opposed and that's why they've been doing it for as long as they have. But it still was something it was an outlier. So they needed to reach another level. And look, when it's live TV, I mean, we're not sitting here today going over some of the mistakes or some of the crazy things that were said or some of the, you know, I think that sometimes good news travel slow in our world. And so we need to point out that both from a production point of view, technically and editorially speaking, you know, despite the worst circumstances imaginable, everybody, everybody was excelling at what they were supposed to do at that time. And I also feel like one of the legacies I hope on Monday night will be that there is this opportunity for people to be content without criticizing and to be able to watch things without giving their own kind of like two cents on what should have been done. I think, you know, should is always a very, very dangerous word. But for at least for me, to be able to sit back and say, these guys got it, you know, this is impressive. They're on top of this. I don't need to be looking at Twitter. I don't need to be wincing when someone says something that's way off, you know, off the reservation. I mean, that's pretty remarkable. At the NFL, I think the NFL took the biggest hit because people kept waiting for them to cancel the game. And it became a theme on ESPN. I mean, boogers said it just canceled this game already. It was a big theme on. But and the last thing I would ever want to do is give the NFL the benefit of the doubt. But I think they were in that initial 30 minutes to 60 minutes. They're dealing with this situation.
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"Your host, Jimmy trena, you can probably hear it, not sounding great, little under the weather. It's been a sick for a couple of weeks, so hang in there, sorry about my voice, but we do have a good episode. I promise you, we have Jim Miller on the show to talk about what unfolded Monday night, in Cincinnati with demar Hamlin, ESPN's coverage, how they handled everything. Just, you know, an event like we've never seen before, uncharted territories, so we talk about how ESPN handled it. Podcast is coming out a little later this week. One that await to see what happens with Hamlin, we taped this on Thursday and we got some really, really good news on Thursday. So it doesn't feel as frivolous to discuss what happened. But, you know, we cover sports media. How ESPN covered things became a story. I think enough time has passed where it's appropriate to discuss it, so we did that with Jim Miller, who knows everything about ESPN. And we did discuss a couple of other media topics. Jim has some very interesting thoughts on the upcoming NBA media deals. Spoke about Michael's a little bit, spoke about some of the, so that's what we got for you today. And then Sal, locata joins me for our weekly train of thought segment. We read some apple reviews. I explained how I've been sick for a few weeks, talk about New Year's Eve and some other things. Before we get to anything, I know you guys tied up with the holidays very busy, may not have checked out the pod. The last few weeks, if you didn't, you missed some great episodes last week, we did post a new episode. The week before new year's with Peter schrager Andrew pearl off, third annual roundtable end of year spectacular round table with those guys. So if you missed that, check it out. Two weeks ago, we had Brian Curtis from the ringer, did a year in review of sports media. Greg Olson, Richard deitch, Mike tirico Kevin burckhardt, all end of the year guests on the SI media podcast. So go into the archives, check them out and subscribe to the pod. All right, Jim Miller, followed by train of thoughts. On this week's episode of the SI media podcast. All right, joining me now, SI media podcast regular author reporter. And man it was written many books that you should read on ESPN and Saturday Night Live and HBO and others, Jim Miller Jim. Happy new year. I hope you don't have any earbuds.
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"No, I'm good. Go ahead. We're the hosts of ridiculous crime. People love true crime, right? The mystery, the intrigue, the human frailty. Totally. But what a lot of us don't like is the blood and the guts and the mayhem. Wait, wait, wait, wait, some of us do like the mayhem. Okay, but let's be real. There's nothing funny about murder. Okay, that's right. Our show gives you stories like the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra junior and the max headroom signal hijacking. Oh, so you mean ridiculous stories like the UK cat shaver and Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos. Yeah, stories like the doozy stole buzzy, the animatronic whatever he was from Disney World, and the woman whose husband tried to kill her but came back from the dead and surprised him at her own funeral. Yeah, that does sound good. You can find this new podcast ridiculous crime all over the place. The iHeartRadio app, the Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't know how you live. Ridiculous crime. We're taping this on Wednesday, and on Wednesdays now, my life is being dominated by Chris Russo on first take. I know. Have you watched any of this? It's just I can't get enough. I actually watched it today, but I'm more importantly follow you on Twitter. Because I'm getting vicarious joy from your sheer joy of it. I don't know. I'm thrilled that America is getting to see what Chris Russo is all about, but listen, as I've written, either you get her, you don't get it. I mean, so many people are like, this is so dumb. Really, society. They're not looking at it as entertainment value. Right now I mentioned are a mess because everyone's like telling me whether Steph Curry's a top ten player and I'm like, it would be impossible for me to care less is Steph Curry's a top ten. I just want two people to scream and then Russo's earpiece falling out at the end. Did you see that part of it? I did not. During this time. No, you've got to watch the whole clip. You've got to watch the whole clip. Bill Russell, you're telling me you're going to take Bill Russell. Are you not going to take Bill Russell? It was magical. Because Steven. Steven a is known as the loud boisterous argument. Is JV compared to Russo? Is unbelievable. It's the best. I hope you get a lot of love for those tweets because it reminds me a little bit of what was that website that tracked francesa oh, there was. Like fun House. Yeah, that was great. You're becoming like the fun house for the Chris and it's amazing. And I'm addicted to it..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"It's like the most underreported story. Like what's going on? Well, I don't think he's ever going to play there. Well, it has it going to get who would trade for him if he's going to have this thing hanging over him. So his lawyer rusty yard instead by April 1st, they should know if they're going to be criminal charges. If there are no criminal charges, then I assume that they be able to settle everything else. So if there's no criminal charges, then they settle, why can't the Texans keep them? He won't play there. He hates your owner. Yeah, yeah. That came out. Remember right before he got all that trouble. He was like, I'm not playing here. All right, so I want to ask you a question. You host a national radio show as we said on CBS sports radio. Does the MLB lockout affect you in any way, shape or form? No. No, and the markets that we're on are not all some are baseball markets, but I got to tell you, if you're not in New York or Boston or St. Louis, I really don't think you care. I mean, that's my opinion. I think that especially if it's only going to be worth, say they miss four weeks of games. Is that going to affect anybody in the Midwest? Or who is not in a great baseball time? I don't think so. Listen, I think if they only missed four weeks, I think fans will be back and people move on and forget it. I mean, listen, it sucks them as four weeks from the standpoint of like, I feel bad for people who work in ballparks and people and all that stuff. But in terms of like, it's very easy on much first for people to be like, oh my God, I've never watched baseball again, the sports. And then in April, late April, they'll come back and everything will be fine. Do you remember the 2011 NFL lockout? Remember, they were locked out for the off season and all these NFL reporters would go down to Park Avenue. And then everything was the sky is falling. Your buddy, Richard Dyke said, no one's ever coming back to the sport. Basically, the season started on time and nobody, not a single fan cared or remember. See, what I remember, which I'm sure you do, 'cause we're around the same age, and it was so surreal at the time. And could you imagine if any sport today tried to pull with the NFL poll in the 80s when they had the lockout? The replacement, the replacement players. Could you imagine if someone tried to pull that off if a league tried to they went on with the schedule week by week by week with replacement players? And never go on today. Yeah, it wasn't Sean Payton and replacement quarterback from the Giants or the eagles. So it's insane. And like you see these XFL drafts like the quality of players that are going. They're like, can you imagine if some quarterback from Charleston state like a D two school was the Giants quarterback a week one? It'd be insane. They had matted and summer all calling like the replacement game. Like it was just wild. It was great. Yeah, I don't think that would play today..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"I think Fallon herb should have done three NFL games over the last couple of years and I think she's been excellent on all of his you would never know he's a college guy coming over to do the NFL. He's so well prepared. I thought herb street really did a great job on his NFL games. Well, I would say college too because, I mean, look, the preparation that's involved for just one of these games, particularly playoff games in college. And is incredible. And if you were to track Herbie's movements over the last, you know, the month of December. And sometimes back to back, I mean, there are a couple of times when there are two games in, I don't know, $40 or something. It's pretty impressive. He is a great student and a great presence in the booth. And so it's not surprising that a lot of, you know, he's got a lot of interest. Yeah. That's another good wild card and all this. Before I let you go a couple of HBO things since you wrote that tremendous book, tinderbox on HBO. Thanks. I don't watch it. And I've been thinking I got to start watching it, but I noticed I checked your four year question? Yeah, so I should watch euphoria, right? Yeah, I mean, look, it scares the hell out of a lot of parents. And it's something that's a little difficult to watch if you have a teenage daughter in the room where a son for that matter. But I think what Sam Levinson is doing and certainly what's Zendaya and a couple of those other actors are doing week and a week out is extraordinary. It's not easy to watch. And I also think Mark Tracy had an interesting article in The New York Times earlier in the week. I kind of talked about this a little bit in the book..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"And it makes sense to grant Larry his wish. Why piss off, you know, guys done so much for one documentary special. But yes, please keep us posted on whatever you hear on that because we need to see that. All right, let's see if we can try to even begin to break down what's going on. You know, I'll give the listeners here a little backstory. I had taken a lot of people in sports in sports and sports media take off days last week this week because you have presidents week, dead time in sports, nothing really crazy going on. These two weeks once the NFL wraps up. So I had taken off last Thursday and Friday and then Monday and Tuesday to give myself a very long weekend and some time off. So Wednesday night, I'm starting my sort of mini staycation and I'm a dinner at 7 o'clock and that's when Marsha and reported, I think the Joe buck news that he was looking to that he has pen was looking to get him as well to join Troy. And I was like, oh boy, this is, you know, this is pretty huge. So you weren't surprised by that. Well, I was a little surprised because I for the reason that I knew Joe has one year left on his contract. With Fox. So, you know, I don't see why Fox would let him out. But let me start with this. Let's start with this because there's two things going on. ESPN finally gets their Monday night booth that they have been trying to land and then the fox angle on this. I still to this day don't understand and I'm sure it will come out from what I've heard behind the scenes. It's going to be pretty juicy. I don't understand why Fox would let Troy Aikman go and not resign him. He was there for 20 years with Joe buck, many thought he was the top analyst in the game. The chemistry with him and Joe was tremendous. Why would they is it simple? Listen, everything always comes down to money. Is there anything here besides money? And if so, why wouldn't Fox pay him? Yeah, I don't think everything comes down to money. I think that sometimes, you know, you've been in a place for a long time and I'm not saying that this is what choice thinking, but sometimes you feel like particularly at a certain stage in your career where a move might be reinvigorating and you might be more appreciated at a new place. And let's point out that during the last three years, ESPN has really climbed a mountain in terms of not only their relationship with the NFL, but their new NFL package and the games that they're going to be getting. They've upgraded their presence with the NFL..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"Big brother, North Korea's forgotten prince is a new true crime podcast that dives deep into the life and mysterious assassination of the man once destined to be North Korea's next dictator. Join me Eden Lee, as we investigate a twisting tale of espionage, palace gossip, and political backstabbing, and dive into the motives and suspects behind the most bizarre assassination plot of the 21st century. Listen to big brother on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Who is the fake heiress and Adobe? And what does the story of this Instagram legends say about us? On inventing Anna the official podcast, you'll get VIP access to the real people who inspired the shondaland series and to the creatives who brought them to life, like Matt burn, who was in the courtroom for Anna's trial. Was she gonna take off with that $20 million from the banks? Listen to inventing Anna, the official podcast every Wednesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, Elizabeth. You're the co host of that new podcast ridiculous crime. Why, yes, I am. You know what's ridiculous? Yeah, carpeting in kitchens and bathrooms. Oh, wow, you are good. But you know what's also ridiculous? A 16 year old who breaks into a car dealership and steals Guy Fieri's Lamborghini. What? Yes, to impress a girl. I'll tell you all about it on ridiculous crime. Our podcast about absurd and outrageous capers heist and Kant. It's always 99% murder free. And 100% ridiculous. Listen to ridiculous crime on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome everyone to the Sports Illustrated media podcast. I am your host, Jimmy trainer, thanks so much for listening. We've got James Andrew Miller on the show this week to talk about all of the latest craziness with the sports media NFL world mangone ESPN, Joe buck looks like he's going to ESPN. What's going to put out Michaels, John mcbay, who's going to get a $100 million, he went back to coaching, curb street now is in the mix. So much going on in that whole world that nobody knows it as good as Jim. So Jim Miller will break it all down. We get into all of it with the NFL announcers and what's going on and who's going where? And then following that, we have the train of thought segment. My buddy Sal wakata is on vacation. Hopefully he's enjoying it. So Andrew pearl off, formally the Dan Patrick show currently of the Maggie pearl off show. He pinch hits and fills in on train of thoughts this week. Before we get to the show, if you missed last week, we had a great interview really fun with Molly kirim of first take. Andrew marchand two weeks ago on all of this is news, boom, recipient was on the podcast recently as well. Check those out in the archives. And if you're not a subscriber, please subscribe to the SI media podcast. All right, let's get to this week's show. Jim Miller on the NFL announcing news and carousel followed by train of thoughts with Andrew proloff right here on the SI media podcast. All right, joining me now as I media podcast regular knows everything about ESPN and the TV industry has written tremendous books on ESPN SNL and HBO most recently hosted the origins podcast, writer, reporter, everything Jim Miller Jim, how are you? Great, Jimmy..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"I didn't know you needed it either, but I'm glad you found it. All right, backstroke O three. I became a loyal listener during the pandemic and find Jimmy to be relatable. His insightful questions and frozen pop culture references that reason resonate with a 41 year old from the northeast. I always expect to hate the wrestling interviews, but I'm pleasantly surprised most times. Sal has been a great addition and I look forward to that segment each week. Heard Salman and the cumulus hundred pounds when discussing the funny marathon big picture and to quote doggie, that's a good job out of you. That was a hundred pounds, but I do appreciate that sentiment. And I still can't believe people that I'd run a marathon. Let me throw the dog eating in there. That's a good job. I didn't realize you said I lost a hundred. Don't give people fake information. Well, how much did you lose, exactly? Not a hundred. All right. 80s villager. Meet stuffing is the topic. Thanksgiving stuffing with sausage is not called bread stuffing. It's called meat stuffing. Bread stuffing has no meat. This guy's very upset about last week's podcast. Now he did give it four stars, so he knocked the star off the rating because we were talking about stuffing and I said it has to have sausage. You said yours has meat and he's saying that's not stuffing. I don't know where this guy's coming from, but I mean, go fight with my grandmother and grandfather who've been telling me it's stuffing since I was born. I mean, it's stuffing. You can have different versions of it, but that to me, it's rice stuffing, I guess. Rice with chopped meat and celery and you obviously have your you could call it whatever you want. Give me sausage with the celery, the onions and the bread. I don't care what you call it. I want my extra star bag. All right, here's another review from a name I can't pronounce. F is Z C gij or whatever. This podcast is appointment. Listening for me, the guesser outstanding, and I find the world of sports media be fascinating. This is a 5 star podcast. And I believe my rating should carry some extra weight. As I am one who finds Jimmy's politics to be disgusting and cringeworthy, despite that, I have to give the show 5 stars and would recommend it to everyone. PSA do hate the wrestling segments, but every commenter says that. Frank and Chicago. Wow. Now, that's a big person to hate my politics and still listening and give 5 stars. What do you say when you label you? Fringe cringeworthy. I think that is that's good for you to wear that shouldn't matter because you're providing good content and people enjoy you. It doesn't matter what your political take is. That's a good one. Here's one from Smurf dizzle. Love to guess, best part of the show is train of thoughts..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"Like unlimited vacation time, wild perks, and the wellness craze. I'm working it will separate the gird the bad and the whoo whoo. I'll be joined by fellow FT journalists who report on these stories every day. And together we'll figure out what really works. So that's working it from the Financial Times. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. All right, it's time for our weekly train of thought segment here on the SI media podcast to bring in my buddy salata from WFA and in New York and as in YTV Sal, how was your Thanksgiving? It was pretty good. I mean, like everybody else overeat to the point of where I don't feel well and then I had to work early the next day and I just was miserable. It took me like four days to recover. But other than that, it was great. You sit on the pod last week. You know, you have sometimes you struggle balancing the football games with the family and the wife and the kids. In my mind, I did a great job. But then I hear my wife say you were locked into the football games all day, so I was like, what do you mean? I was. I guess you're right. I was locked into the football game as a freaking cowboys screw me on a teaser, but it was you try to balance hanging out with the kids and talking to the family and pretending to listen to what they have to say while also being locked into the lines and cowboys throughout the day. A lot of people I think were like 38 million plus watch cowboys raiders. I saw that and I saw that it was the highest since 98. Why? You know the reason for that? Well, I think a couple of things. They now include something called out of home ratings. I don't know. I should know more about how it affects the number, but that's a factor, but you have the cowboys and the Raiders. Right. So that one game brings up the average for everybody that makes the most sense 90. 27 million people watch bears lions, which was completely unwatchable. Insane. Yeah. What was the number for the night game specifically? I don't remember that game..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"Like I think in the book points out, like, you know, John ham could say, Jesus, and he gets a Christ, but I can't say Jesus Christ. HBO, anything goes, as you saw. So was that was that a sort of a turning point when mad men and breaking bend didn't Breaking Bad. We're not HBO shows, which everyone thought they would be based on what they are. I mean, look, first of all, you can't bout a thousand. The circumstances for each of those shows not beyond HBO were different. I would go to another example, which is particularly formidable in terms of House of Cards. So House of Cards, HBO was interested in, they're ready to do a pilot. And then all of a sudden, David Fincher gets a two year season commitment from Netflix. And that, I think, is the moment where you realize, okay, wait a second. The world is shaking under our feet. This is a whole new dynamic. We're not in Kansas anymore. And I think that that I think that was important. And I would add a fourth to the list, which is that the producers and the great Peter Morgan came to HBO first with The Crown. They thought that HBO was the natural place for it. They wanted to be there. It wound up being a disastrous meeting for a variety of reasons. That went to Netflix as well. So you start to see, I mean, look, Netflix is always had some advantages. They're going to spend a lot more money. They don't have to show profits like HBO does. But I think that when you start to look, can you imagine how House of Cards and The Crown not on Netflix but on HBO?.
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"I mean, when you think about it, look at Succession. I mean, they're still doing it because there's two things about succession that scream out. One is there's no one that you fucking like. There's no one that you admire that you want to hang out with that you want to be. I mean, so much of television is aspirational, right? Yeah. But like, who on no offense against any of them, but who do you want to hang out with on a Sunday afternoon and have them over to brunch and just take a deep breath with? No one. And the second is that when they decided to do the show, Casey boys who runs content and is really smart. Says, we don't need a star. We believe in the material. We believe in the writing. We believe in this concept. We don't need to camouflage it or hedge our bets by trying to get Jennifer Aniston to play shit for, you know, whatever it might be. And both of those are two big power moves. Another thing I loved in the book about The Sopranos, you go into great detail about the pine barrens episode, which there was a lot of great, great information in there. And how about the fact I learned this in James book, they had not planned for the snow when they did all the rehearsals and the scout of the location. They were supposed to be in the Woods. And then there was a snowstorm and they had to incorporate it basically. And how much of a factor did the snow play ends up playing in that episode? That is an amazing twist of fate right there. It's just fantastic. You know, Jeffrey katzenberg, when he was at Disney, he said this rule that the audience doesn't like snow. And I think that for a long time, there weren't a lot of there weren't a lot of movies set in snow. He just, you know, he had his reasons. But I can't look at that episode and think, you know, what would have been like without. I mean, obviously it still would have been a great show. And it was written beautifully, Steve Buscemi, direct. I mean, you can go on and on. But the snow, each one of them talk about the fact that this is okay. And they weren't going to back down. In fact, I mean, it led to some of pi parents, obviously you know this, but you talk about the Sopranos ability, that shows ability to combine fear, drama, and humor. It's unbelievable. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. And a great nugget too that I learned in the book. As a viewer, you think the whole episode is shot there in the Woods, but the scene where Pauly and Christopher and the van eat and the catch up, that's shot on a sound stage because they had to worry about lighting and darkness and all that. So I loved learning about that episode in the book with those. Now here's what's I find this interesting, the flip side of that. Sopranos tested poorly, HBO basically said screw the testing. We're putting it on. Many, many years later, Lisa Kudrow, after friends get to show called come back..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"There's a great he said to somebody, you don't know what the show is doing to me. And you just feel for him. And of course he was so incredibly talented, so loved by his castmates and obviously the public. And you just think, you know, your heart goes out to the guy. I never knew I never knew he had those addiction problems. I never knew it until your book, I think he was formidable. Larry, the funny thing is that Larry has always been like a sad happy as a happy Larry, right? I mean, even back to SNL, where he could barely get a sketch on the air and stand up life wasn't doing great. I mean, if you think about Larry David before Seinfeld, it's a tough story. I mean, he really hung in there and he had financial difficulties and he had a really tough road. I think one of the things that HBO did that was so smart. And they said to Larry David, not only whenever, but however, and whatever. So you can't be in business with Larry David for nearly 20 years, basically. And have any guardrails up. I mean, can you imagine being like a young age pro executive and like you're supposed to give Larry David notes? Forget it. Just go to the Grand Canyon and take a swan dive. And I think that they've been really smart about how they've treated him and obviously he's happy about it. That's the thing Larry still wouldn't be doing it if they were giving him notes that he could, he's got the power there, which is great. That's part of what HBO does throughout its history, which is that they decide to do and perform in a way that's a 180° different from the networks. So the piggyback on that, one of the things I found really interesting in the book about The Sopranos is, you know, listen, now everyone agrees Sopranos, greatest show of all time. It's legendary, but the book details very specifically that the show tested poorly with audiences and there was an HBO didn't know whether they were going to pick it up and go forward with it. And HBO being HBO and not a network like CBS or ABC. I mean, she said, you know, basically screw the testing. We're going to go through with it. It's crazy to think how close it might have come to never happening. Well, I think that the reason why I dwelled on that in the book is because that's one of those proverbial forks in the road where the network, given the test results that came back for The Sopranos, the network, a commercial network probably would not have gone ahead. And let's face it, they probably would not have cast change game, defeating the lead. Because now we know him to be this remarkable actor. And we know that he could carry a show before that he wasn't he wasn't a known star. And he had obviously great moments and get shorty and true romance and other things. But a network would not have taken a show and put it on his let put it on this guy's back. So once again, you see HBO making moves in a way that had never really been done in the industry before..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"On HBO and our lives. And so one of the things that I tried to do was try to explain who they are, tried to explain some of the chaos that was going on and some of the incredible, incredible, great moves that were going on behind the scenes at HBO. And especially with Game of Thrones and others and show people that it's an iceberg. You know, for what everything you see on a Sunday Night, there's a whole lot of shit going on underneath the water. Yeah. And it was a lot of shit with the Larry Sanders show. That's for sure. Well, that's the thing. I mean, Larry was crazy. I mean, you know, and it's great to have people like Peter toland who's a wonderful writer and obviously Judd Apatow and others talk about Gary's neuroses. Gary, Shannon himself didn't shy away from his talking about his neuroses. But I think it was important to try and place it in the context of the show. If you're trying to get a show out every single week, and this is who's at the center of it. And this is some of his demons. And this is some of his the way he's overextended and the way it's manifesting itself post in terms of the workload and his own health. You know, people talk about what he's kind of medicine he's taken in the kind of long days he's at. That to me is something I really want to dig into. It was interesting, too, because it was a thing in there about I guess someone was going to quote unquote expose Gary chant like drug problem, but it was ambien. And there is a whole thing in the book about James Gandolfini did have a drug and alcohol problem. There was an intervention. And it seemed for the two of them, the pressure of constantly having to do that show every year. Really got to them, especially for James Gandolfini, you had to get into the Tony Soprano character and it wore him down. Then you have the flip side, which is Larry David, which HBO basically told Larry, you do the show whenever you want. You want to take one year row of two years old, three years old, you know, it's the dichotomy there. I thought it was very interesting between Larry Gary Shannon and James Gandolfini and then Larry David in the sort of how they handled the shows. So the truth is, I mean, look, acting is difficult and great active is even harder. But you bring yourself with you. You know, you can't. It's not like when you go on a set, you're obviously becoming another character, but you're still the same human being inside. And one of the things I think that we saw with James Gandolfini was that he had a dark side to him that he knew about, even as a teenager and playing Tony Soprano, forced him to tap into that dark side. So it became incredibly debilitating for him. And it became very, very hard..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"Last thing before we get to the book, the NFL has to be happy with their season, ratings up, 39 million people watched raiders, cowboys on Thanksgiving. More surprisingly, 26 million nut jobs watched lion's bears. Any reason for the big, I mean, we're at a COVID right at the pandemic. So obviously, ratings are going to be up from 2020, but things have been up from 2019. Anything you attribute that to? It's kind of weird, right? Because there was a period in the pandemic where we thought football was coming back. And then it didn't just crested, right? And it wasn't like that big explosion that we thought it would be. But I feel like for whatever reason and I mean, I guess the quality of play, you could I mean, there's a lot of great match ups. There's a lot of closer closer games. And I feel like people have really settled back into an NFL routine. And they're loving. I mean, it was huge on Thanksgiving. You didn't give the one reason that I would give as a degenerate and that's the gambling situation and all this. I think look, that's my fault, only because I think it's a given. I also believe, look, I'm glad that gambling is legal and good. You can do this. I think gambling has always been a big part of the NFL and it's obviously out in the open now being embraced in a way that we never could have imagined before. And I think the only thing that can hurt it is when you get teams like my eagles last Sunday, you're watching the game and it makes you so car sick you're so tempted to turn it off. I mean, I think that the there is a lot of competitiveness going into the final month of the season and teams are I think a lot of teams are still on the hunt and the matchups are great. So there's no great team this year..
SI Media Podcast
"jim miller" Discussed on SI Media Podcast
"Illustrated media podcast. I am your host Jimmy trainer. Thank you for listening. Hope everybody out there had a great Thanksgiving. Got a good episode here for you today. James Andrew Miller, author extraordinaire is on the show who has a new book out about HBO and he covers everything about HBO every show that's been on there. And she has a lot of insight details and stuff Sopranos curb. Larry Sanders show, get into the history of HBO with Jim Miller. We also talk about some ESPN and Manning cast stuff as well. And followed following Jim saal kata joins me for the weekly train of thought segment where we get into the college football circus that has taken place and a couple of other things the Will Ferrell story that came out this week with Adam McKay, not being friends and partners anymore and talk about a couple of other things that sell. So that's all on this episode. If you missed it last week, we did an all train of thoughts edition of the SI media podcast two weeks ago, Kenny main, three weeks ago, Becky Lynch, and Kevin Clark four weeks ago, Al Michael. So if you missed any of those episodes, check them out in the archives, rate and review. All right, let's get to Jim Miller, followed by train of thoughts right here on this episode of the SI media podcast. All right, joining me now SI media podcast regular brand new book out about HBO that I am thoroughly enjoying. And of course, the man who knows everything about ESPN, Saturday Night Live, a bunch of other things, James Andrew Miller, Jim. How are you? Hey, Jimmy. How are you? Thanks for having me. My pleasure. Loving the HBO book. I don't want to scare people and tell them it's 950 pages, but there's a lot of juicy stuff in that book that I've enjoyed. 950 pages, though, is a chore. It goes fast, but it's nearly 50 years. And I try and write books of records. So and this is definitely a record. There's no doubt. Before we get into the book, this is a lot there. A couple of just media sports media things. You know, I don't go week on this podcast, but I'll talk about the man in cast. It's been a huge hit for ESPN. You sort of know all of the inner workings of ESPN. I would imagine in Bristol, they could not have asked for anything better in terms of reception and.