#cablevision

Colony U.S. Cablevision 'All Set Cable' commercial for New York Hudson Valley region [1995]

Cable TV and a tendency to be a loner sorta made me a latchkey kid after we moved to Mexico City from Tula. My brothers were way older than me and there weren’t any kids on my street, just retirees and childless couples. My dad’s plan for Cable TV seemed to be two-fold: All the sports he could watch thanks to ESPN, and an English tutor/teacher for me with ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS at all times. PBS…

Some work waits for you. Not patiently. Not the way a dog waits by the door, loyal and uncomplicated. It waits the way a diagnosis waits in a family’s bloodline, silently present, expressing itself in symptoms you do not recognize until you are old enough to understand what your body has been trying to tell you. In 1982, I was sixteen years old, living in the Midwest, and I sat down and wrote…

In addition to former President Jimmy Carter, we lost a couple of entertainment industry vets named Charles and Linda Lavin. Here is my combined remembrance:

Remembering Charles Dolan 1926-2024

Cable TV pioneer Charles Dolan has died at 98. He was the founder of HBO in 1972 and Cablevision in 1973.

Dolan at Madison Square Garden (he also founded MSG Network)

While I never met him (or his family), I did work for Cablevision for many years. The company began as a cable TV provider and expanded into cable TV channels including AMC which began in 1984. I worked at Fuse from 2004-05 and I was at Rainbow Media in 2005 and again from 2007-2012 and during that time those companies were owned by Cablevision and sometime around 2011, Rainbow Media spun off from Cablevision and became AMC Networks, the overarching company that owns AMC, We, IFC, Sundance Channel and the now defunct VOOM HD channels. When I had my orientation as I became a staff member I actually went out to the Cablevision headquarters in Long Island, NY. I had both good and bad experiences at Fuse and AMC Networks, but mostly positive and for that I am grateful to Mr. Dolan for creating the company that gave me the experience I did during that time.

The link above is the obit from Hollywood Reporter.

Remembering Charles Shyer 1941-2024

Director/screenwriter/producer Charles Shyer has died at 83. He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Private Benjamin. He got his start as a writer on such TV shows at The Odd Couple, The Patridge Family and Happy Days. He co-wrote Smokey and the Bandit, one of the most fun movies of the 70s. He collaborated with his ex-wife Nancy Meyers on several screenplays including Protocol, Jumpin' Jack Flash, and ones he directed like Irreconcilable Differences, Baby Boom, Father of the Bride, and its sequel Father of the Bride Part II. Talk about a ton of movies I remember watching as a kid!

Shyer (left) on the set of Father of the Bride II

The link above is the obit from Deadline.

Remembering Linda Lavin 1937-2024

Actress Linda Lavin has died at 87. She was a Broadway vet, but will forever be known for her role as the title character on TV's Alice (CBS 1976-1985). That was a phenomenal sitcom for its time about a single working mom and she was fantastic on it!

Lavin (center) at Mel's Diner.

Laving also appeared in The Muppets Take Manhattan and a 2002 episode of The Sopranos.

Charles F. Dolan: A Visionary Pioneer in Media Charles F. Dolan, the distinguished founder of several landmark media companies in the United States, including Home Box Office Inc. (HBO) and Cablevision Systems Corp., has passed away at the remarkable age of 98. His family released a heartfelt statement on Saturday, confirming that Dolan died of natural causes, as reported by Newsday. The…

HBO ve Cablevision’ın kurucusu Charles Dolan, 98 yaşında hayatını kaybetti. Medya sektöründe devrim yaratan Dolan, kablolu televizyonun geleceğini şekillendiren bir vizyoner olarak tarihe geçti. Hayatı ve Kariyeri Charles Dolan, 1926 yılında Cleveland, Ohio’da doğdu. Medya sektörüne yaptığı katkılarla kablolu televizyonun öncüsü oldu. Özellikle 1972’de kurduğu HBO, televizyon yayıncılığında yeni…

Charles F. Dolan: A Pioneer in Cable Television Charles F. Dolan, a visionary entrepreneur who transformed the landscape of cable television, passed away on Saturday at the age of 98. Known for his strategic acumen, Dolan purchased a collection of small cable television systems on Long Island in 1973, which he subsequently merged into a powerful network named Cablevision. His innovative approach…