SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT THE PARTY OF NEW FACES – FROM THE HILL:  Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are the most popular potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, according to a new American Barometer poll.   The poll, which is a joint project of Hill.TV and the HarrisX polling company, showed Biden with a 50 percent favorable rating, while Sanders trailed with a 48 percent favorable rating.   Only 31 percent of those polled said they viewed the former vice president unfavorably. A third of respondents said they viewed Sanders unfavorably.  How exciting.  Wake me when it's over.

SLOW DEATH OF AN INSTITUTION – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Newsweek has a new problem as the IRS hit the parent company with two tax liens this week totaling $343,777.16 for allegedly unpaid federal corporate income taxes in 2017.  The lien comes six months after the Manhattan DA’s office seized 18 computer servers from the downtown offices of the Newsweek Media Group, formerly known at IBT Media, on Jan. 18 as part of a financial probe.  The latest liens also follow personal tax liens placed against company co-founders Jonathan Davis and Etienne Uzac in late 2017. Davis, the lein claims, is said to owe $3.1 million to the IRS, and Uzac owes $1.2 million, according to reports in Newsweek.  Maybe it's just time to say goodbye.  News magazines had a superb run over the decades, but seem to have little appeal today, with so much information available from so many other, quicker sources.

NOT AGAIN,  PLEASE – FROM DEADLINE:  Norman Lear continues to defy convention about career longevity and age. The TV icon, who today celebrates his 96th birthday, and his Act III production company have signed a two-year first look deal with Sony Pictures TV. The pact includes the option to re-imagine titles from Lear’s extensive library including All In The Family, The Jeffersons, Good Times, Maude and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, among others.  A first-look deal is just that.  Sony gets a first look at properties.  Nothing guarantees that they will be produced.  A better idea would be to develop new ideas to stop Hollywood's tailspin into oblivion.

July 28, 2018