Grammys 2024: Women win big, but #MeToo’s shadow still looms 

Women swept the major categories at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards for the first time in 26 years, making history with both wins (Taylor Swift) and performances (Joni Mitchell). But with years of missteps, misconduct allegations, and lawsuits trailing the Recording Academy — and a sexual abuse cover-up scandal breaking just days before the ceremony — what does it mean for the Grammys and its governing body to actually put their #MeToo issues behind them? KCRW’s Andrea Domanick weighs in.

New rules, spicy snubs, and a few surprises: The 2024 Academy Award nominees

Oppenheimer domination, a lack of Barbie love, and a French film nominated for Best Picture that France didn’t even submit for an Oscar. Hollywood Reporter Executive Awards Editor Scott Feinberg helps us make sense of this year’s Academy Awards nominees.

“Aside from Best Picture, all of the major categories are chosen just by the people who work in that specific area,” Feinberg explains. “So, when people say, ‘Oh, the Academy snubbed Greta Gerwig,’ well if you feel that it is a snub, it’s a snub by the director’s branch, which is only about six percent of the entire Academy.”

Kim Masters and Feinberg provide an in-depth look at the 2024 Oscars.

The Power of Film: Why are certain titles so enduring?

Movies can make us laugh, cry, or feel inspired. There are many titles people watch over and over again, and not all are award-winning masterpieces. So what is it about certain films that make them enduring? That’s the question behind a six-part Turner Classic Movies docu-series called The Power of Film, based on the book of the same name by Howard Suber. KCRW talks to the show’s executive producers Doug Pray and Laura Gabbert about some of the themes explored throughout the series.

Suber is a legend in the media world who’s taught at the UCLA School of Film and Television for more than 50 years. He helped found the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Producer’s Program. Pray, who also serves as The Power of Film’s writer, says Suber is especially known for his Seminar On Film Structure class — four hours (per session) of “lifting the hood” of movies.

Pray points out, “It wasn’t about history. It wasn’t about celebrities or actors. It was not at all technical. It was completely looking at it as storytelling. What is the best storytelling in the world? And why are we so attracted to it? And then he really focused on just what he calls ‘the most popular and memorable movies,’ American movies specifically. And so it wasn’t about cool art films or anything else.”

One film Suber analyzes is The Godfather, which involves breaking down “elemental basic things like family, or how the central character is trapped,” Pray says. He continues, “It’s done in a way that makes you look at yourself, ‘Oh, he’s actually talking about my life. And that’s why I can relate to Michael Corleone in this scene. Because we’ve all felt betrayed.’”

Expats director Lulu Wang can find ‘home in a bowl of broth’

Director Lulu Wang’s work has touched on themes of belonging and home. Her acclaimed 2019 film, The Farewell, centers on a young Chinese-American woman (played by Awkwafina) who travels to China to see her dying grandmother while engaging with complex family dynamics. Wang’s latest project is Expats, an adaptation of the novel The Expatriates by Janice YK Lee. The Prime Video series stars Nicole Kidman as an American mother weighed down by tragedy and living in Hong Kong. Wang tells The Treatment about how her own upbringing as a child of immigrants has informed her work. She talks about often feeling like an outsider, even among friends and family. And she describes the way that home can sometimes be as simple as a bowl of broth.

ICYMI, Lulu Wang: The Farewell (The Treatment, 2019)

What does Vince McMahon’s resignation mean for the Netflix-WWE deal?

Allen Media Group founder Byron Allen has expressed interest in buying Paramount Global, but the media mogul says he’s not interested in the company’s film library or studio lot. What is he going after? Also, WWE founder Vince McMahon has resigned following allegations of battery and sex trafficking. What does that mean for the Netflix-WWE deal? Kim Masters and Matt Belloni explore.

A linear TV empire? As previously reported by Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw, Skydance Media owner David Ellison has expressed interest in merging Paramount Studios with his company. Byron Allen has made a $30 billion offer to buy Paramount Global, including taking on the company’s roughly $15 billion debt, with an interest in growing his linear television portfolio. “He wants to quadruple down on CBS, and Nickelodeon, and MTV, and all of these garbage, linear TV assets that nobody else wants to touch,” Belloni says.

In the nick of time? The news of WWE founder Vince McMahon’s resignation follows the announcement of a ten-year, $5 billion deal with Netflix. “This particular lawsuit that just got fired was full of such disgusting allegations — and specifically gross things that I would not say on the radio — that it’s possible, the whole thing with Netflix would have gotten screwed up if it had broken earlier,” Masters speculates.

Par for the course? TKO Group companies WWE and UFC have managed to bounce back following several incidents, leaving some to question what scandal will take things too far. “Vince was pretty much banished for previous allegations, including some payoffs to women. And that didn’t prevent WWE from this massive sail to Endeavor and a rights deal with Netflix,” says Belloni. “So it’s kind of odd, you know, they seem to operate outside some of the norms for traditional entertainment now.”