U.S. Football League’s New Kickoff Will Get Simultaneous Debut on Fox, NBC

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPret-ty, pret-ty, pret-ty….surprising.FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange, did its best to stand out in its first time advertising at the Super Bowl by tapping an actor who has never appeared in commercials before: Larry David.David, best known for his contrarian, curmudgeonly humor, took to the Super Bowl stage for FTX in a minute-long commercial that showed him turning down some of history’s best ideas, era by era. In various historical mini-dramas, David dismisses the wheel, the fork, the toilet, the electric light bulb, the Walkman and even the notion of American independence (because “even the stupid ones” will get a chance to influence major political decisions.)He isn’t much for cryptocurrency, either.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorJamie-Lynn Sigler has been keeping a secret for weeks. On Sunday, it finally came out.Sigler, who played Meadow Soprano for more than eight years on the iconic HBO series “The Sopranos,” stepped into the role again Sunday for a Chevrolet commercial that aired during NBC’s telecast of Super Bowl LVI. The ad updated, shot for shot, the show’s opening montage, which used to feature James Gandolfini’s  Tony Soprano driving a Chevy truck.

drill videos from social media, likening the music to Donald Trump tweets.In a press conference yesterday (February 11), Adams said he was sent a number of drill videos by his son, which he called “alarming,” adding: “We pulled Trump off Twitter because of what he was spewing. Yet we are allowing music, displaying of guns, violence, we’re allowing it to stay on these sites.”Adams said: “We are going to pull together the social media companies, and state that you have a civic and corporate responsibility.”The Mayor then specifically attached blame to drill music for a rise in violent crime in New York, saying: “We are alarmed by the use of social media to really overproliferate the use of violence in our communities… this is contributing to the violence we are seeing all over this country.

Drill music, the hardcore gangsta rap that has found regional strains in several different places including New York City, was condemned by the city's Mayor Eric Adams on Friday at a press conference. Adams said that he was first exposed to drill when his son sent him some music videos, which he called "alarming." The Mayor went on to compare the videos to tweets by former President Donald Trump, who was permanently suspended from Twitter for inciting an insurrection at the United States Capitol.

Hillary Clinton  mocked former President Donald Trump in light of the new findings that he’d allegedly clogged White House toilets with what could’ve been important documents. The former first lady, who ran against Trump for president in 2016, sardonically poked fun at her email scandal by selling a black baseball cap with the phrase “But her emails” in pink letters on Friday February 11.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBC will run dozens of commercials during the Super Bowl for potato chips, cryptocurrency, beer and electric cars. And it will also run dozens for itself and its parent company.By the time viewers finish watching the network’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVI, they are likely to hear a lot about the return of “Law & Order” and the arrival of new series like “Endgame,” “American Song Contest” and “The Thing About Pam.” There will also be room for talk about NBC comedies; shows on Peacock like “Bel Air”; and offerings from NBC News, and Universal Orlando Resort.There’s good reason to talk up as much as possible. NBC will spend part of Super Bowl Sunday showing part of the Winter Olympics and will air that before and after its coverage of the Big Game.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBC News has a lot of stories to tell during the Olympics and the Super Bowl. One of them is about itself.The large NBCUniversal news division is using both events to get the word out about its growing package of streaming news programming at a time when the battle for broadband info junkies appears to be reaching a new apex.NBC News will tout its streaming-news outlet NBC News Now with a 20 second promo in the first quarter during NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl LVI this Sunday, as well as with a 15-second promo during the pre-game.

HBO has closed a deal for Doomsday Machine, a limited series about Facebook starring Emmy winner Claire Foy as embattled tech giant COO Sheryl Sandberg and executive producing as well. Anonymous Content (Spotlight, Mr. Robot) and wiip (Mare of Easttown, Dickinson), which took the project to the marketplace in October, will co-produce with HBO.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorJonah Goldberg, one of the two conservative political analysts who resigned from Fox News Channel in colorful fashion over its coverage, is joining CNN as a contributor, the WarnerMedia network confirmed Monday.Goldberg, a longtime editor at National Review and a founder of The Dispatch, will appear on CNN programs as news networks gear up for the 2022 midterm elections. He and another popular conservative commentator, Stephen Hayes, took to the “Media Equation” column of The New York Times in November to say they were cutting ties with Fox News Channel, where they had been contributors since 2009.

Donald Trump is embarking on an unlikely new venture in his post-presidential life, performing two DJ sets at Mar-a-Lago this weekend.Mar-a-Lago is a resort in Palm Beach, Florida, which has been owned by Trump since 1985, when he bought it for $10milllion (£7.4m). He turned the mansion into the Mar-a-Lago Club – a private members’ club – in 1994.According to New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, a notice was sent out to members of the club on Wednesday (February 2) announcing two dinner events this weekend.

Mike Pence is speaking out against Donald Trump.

Update (2/4/22 4:50 pm E.T.): Stormy Daniels’ ex-lawyer Michael Avenatti was found guilty of stealing $300,000 from his client on Friday February 4. The lawyer, who had represented Stormy in her lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, was found guilty of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, per The New York Times. Michael had forged a letter to Stormy’s literary agent getting the money sent to him. Michael’s legal troubles had begun in March 2021, when he was arrested for trying to extort money from Nike. He had been sentenced to 30 months in jail, but then was later granted a mistrial.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorKatie Nolan, the sportscaster who has made a name for herself in the world of digital content, is taking her talents to NBC Sports.Nolan is joining the NBC Olympics team, and is expected to create daily short-form content, which will be distributed across both traditional and digital platforms.“We are excited to welcome Katie to Team NBC Olympics, where her unique storytelling ability will be utilized across multiple platforms,” said Rebecca Chatman, vice president and coordinating producer for NBC Olympics, in a prepared statement. Nolan left ESPN in September.“I always dreamed I’d go to the Olympics one day,” Nolan said in a statement.

NEW YORK -- CNN President Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned Wednesday after acknowledging a consensual relationship with another network executive — an entanglement that came to light during an investigation of now-fired anchor Chris Cuomo.Zucker said he was asked about his relationship with longtime aide Allison Gollust as part of the Cuomo investigation, which revealed that the former anchor had aided his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as he navigated a sexual harassment scandal.“I acknowledged the relationship had evolved in recent years,” Zucker wrote in a memo announcing the end of his nine-year tenure.

Donald Trump. She hired him in her bid to speak publicly about claims of a tryst with Trump a decade earlier despite being paid $130,000 shortly before the 2016 presidential election to remain silent.While representing Daniels, Avenatti appeared frequently as a guest on television cable news programs and grew in popularity to the point where he considered running for president himself in 2020.But then he was charged in New York in early 2019 with trying to extort up to $25 million from Nike with threats that he would otherwise spoil the apparel maker's reputation.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorGayle King, who over ten years at CBS News has become one of that ViacomCBS division’s most recognizable personnel, has signed a deal to stay with CBS News.“I still feel that in many ways I’m just getting started,” King told listeners of her SiriusXM radio program on Friday.Speculation has risen in recent weeks whether CBS News would keep both King and her colleague Norah O’Donnell, both of whom had contracts that were set to lapse this year. King last signed an extension with CBS News in 2019, when Susan Zirinsky, the former CBS News president, rebuilt the network’s morning-news program, now known as “CBS Mornings,” with her at the center.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editortephen Hayes, the conservative political analyst who raised eyebrows in November when he took to The New York Times to announce his breaking ties with Fox News Channel as a longtime contributor, is taking up with NBC News in advance of the midterm elections.Hayes is expected to appear regularly across all NBC News properties, including TV shows like “Today,” “Meet The Press” and the streaming outlet NBC News Now. His first appearance under his new contributor deal with the NBCUniversal news division is expected to take place this Sunday on “Meet The Press.”Hayes is a founder of “The Dispatch,” a digital publication that espouses a center-right  point of view.

New York Post ran an article that included commentary from social media users who branded Dr. Anthony Fauci a “narcissist” for having a portrait of himself – and a bobblehead in his image – in his own house.“Meanwhile, the unfortunate punching bag when it comes to COVID continues to be Dr.

William Earl A legal malpractice suit filed by former Republic Records president Charlie Walk against attorney Marc Kasowitz has been dismissed by a New York judge, court papers reveal. In 2018, Walk resigned from his executive position at the record label that’s home to The Weeknd, Post Malone and Ariana Grande after he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women with whom he worked at Sony Music some 15 years earlier — two spoke on the record to Rolling Stone after accuser Tristan Coopersmith went public with a blog post on Jan.