| | | | | Exec summary: There's news about the future of Tronc, Shonda Rhimes' first project for Netflix, John Lasseter's departure from Disney and much more. But first... | | | "It is hard to imagine he is gone. Hard to imagine he is not just off on some far away journey, hard to imagine he will not soon return with new foods to share… new stories to tell" --Anderson Cooper | | In death, as in life, Anthony Bourdain brought us closer together.
In his writing and on "A Cook's Tour," "No Reservations" and then "Parts Unknown," Bourdain brought the world home to readers and viewers. Through the simple act of sharing meals, he showcased both the extraordinary diversity of cultures and cuisines, yet how much we all have in common.
Tragically, he proved this again on Friday. Bourdain's suicide shook TV viewers around the world. The most common sentiment I've been seeing and hearing: "I feel like I've lost a friend."
Bourdain was a larger-than-life figure -- a father, chef, wordsmith, journalist, international TV icon, friend. One of the greatest storytellers of our age.
There are too many tributes to count now, and so many of them lovely and important. "Tony was a symphony." "The coolest guy on the planet." "The most interesting man in the world." | | Here's what we know -- and what we don't know | | -- Bourdain was in France shooting an upcoming episode of "Parts Unknown."
-- Eric Ripert found Bourdain unresponsive in his hotel room Friday morning.
-- So far there is no indication that Bourdain left a note.
-- It's too early for any word about a funeral or memorial service.
-- His girlfriend Asia Argento issued a statement saying Bourdain was "my love, my rock, my protector. I am beyond devastated."
-- Here's my full CNN.com story about Bourdain's life and death... | | How readers and viewers are paying tribute | | -- Right now Bourdain's books occupy 6 of the top 10 spots on Amazon's best sellers list.
-- CNN will air an hour-long tribute, "Remembering Anthony Bourdain," at 10pm ET. It will re-air over the weekend.
-- CNN had previously planned to run a marathon of "Parts Unknown" episodes on Saturday night. The marathon will now feature some of Bourdain's favorite episodes.
-- The Travel Channel will air a 12-hour marathon of his previous show "No Reservations" on Sunday starting at 7am ET.
-- A new episode of "Parts Unknown" featuring Berlin was set to premiere Sunday at 9pm. CNN says it will still air, "with a special introduction by Anderson Cooper." | | Anderson: "The sadness is just beginning to sink in" | | Anderson Cooper shared many meals with Bourdain over the years. He dedicated the full hour of Friday's "AC360" to a remembrance of his friend.
"It is impossible from the outside to ever fully know what goes on in the heart and head of someone else," Cooper said. "Impossible to fathom how quickly one's life can change. Anthony once wrote, 'As you move through this life and this world, you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life, and travel, leaves marks on you. Most of the time those marks, on your body or your heart, are beautiful. Often though, they hurt.' Tonight -- the hurt for all of us who knew Anthony, for all of you who came to know him through his travels -- the hurt is strong… the shock is real… the sadness, just beginning to sink in." | | Tributes from two presidents | | President Trump extended his condolences to Bourdain's family on Friday morning. "I enjoyed his show," Trump said. "He was quite a character."
On Twitter, former President Obama recalled the meal he shared with Bourdain in Vietnam while Obama was on a trip through Asia in 2016. "He taught us about food -- but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together. To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We'll miss him," Obama wrote... | | "He treated life like a smorgasbord. In his memory, all of us should do the same."
--The NYT's Frank Bruni on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" | | I've been with CNN for the past four and a half years, and this is the most painful day I can recall. In the hallways, in meetings, people checked on each other. "How are you doing?" "Are you okay?"
"Tony was an exceptional talent," CNN president Jeff Zucker wrote in an email to employees. "A storyteller. A gifted writer. A world traveler. An adventurer. He brought something to CNN that no one else had ever brought before. Tony will be greatly missed not only for his work but also for the passion with which he did it." | | | Remember, CNN took a risk by bringing Bourdain on board five years ago. Bourdain took a risk too. It ended up being incredibly rewarding for both parties. Bourdain brought a new audience to CNN and the network helped make him an even bigger star. I can't picture CNN without him. | | He was a "natural reporter" | | Other TV networks also honored Bourdain's legacy on Friday. "Bourdain's intrepid approach to food and travel made him the closest thing journalism has to a rock star," ABC's David Wright wrote.
Christiane Amanpour noted on CNN: "He very proudly didn't call himself a journalist, but he was a correspondent," visiting far-flung locales and reporting back...
Others also commented on the journalistic qualities of Bourdain's work. "Whatever his training, Bourdain was a natural reporter," the NYT's Glenn Thrush tweeted. "He loved people and asked questions with the intention of having his mind changed. So many folks in journalism start with a conclusion and don't listen... Maybe we too should start by washing dishes." | | -- Variety's Caroline Framke: "Bourdain didn't just travel the world, he let it speak for itself..."
-- Helen Rosner wrote for The New Yorker that "Bourdain built his career on the telling of truth." Make sure to stay for the ending...
-- In a Twitter thread, Jason Wang, CEO of mini-chain Xi'an Famous Foods, revealed what he told Bourdain years after he first featured the restaurant on his show: "I wanted him to know it helped bring our family out from living in one room in Flushing to living the American dream." Wang also said he was donating 100% of his stores' proceeds for today to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline...
-- David Remnick talked with Eater about how The New Yorker came to publish the piece that led to "Kitchen Confidential"...
-- Another Twitter thread: Andy Greenwald writes about what happened after he wrote a piece critical of Bourdain, who he says he loved: "pretty quickly I heard from the brilliant and kind folks at @zpzproduction that the great man had read my screed. And said, more or less, 'he got me.'" | | Complete coverage on CNN.com | | I really recommend the tributes on CNN.com, especially this interactive feature with stories from viewers and readers. "Tony helped open up a space in my heart." "Tony taught me to be fearless when I cook." "Tony literally changed the way I travel." "He made me feel, after watching every episode, life would be ok."
>> HIS MENTORING: Edward Lee says Bourdain changed his life...
>> HIS ADVOCACY: Bourdain stood "unhesitatingly and unwaveringly" with women...
>> HIS RECOMMENDATIONS: Here are some of his top "Parts Unknown" episodes... | | My colleague Nathaniel Meyersohn spoke with Panio Gianopoulos, who edited "Kitchen Confidential" for Bloomsbury. He said the draft chapters "were so candid and brutally funny. The voice was so polished and yet so raw -- this strange paradox. It felt like I was sitting at the bar while he was riffing to fellow cooks after a particularity brutal dinner shift."
Gianopoulos remembered walking into a colleague's office and saying, "If we can't make this a best-seller, we don't deserve to work in this industry." And now it's a best seller again, for the most tragic reason... | | Bourdain had been "working on" a new book | | Megan Thomas emails: Vulture spoke to Bourdain's book editor Daniel Halpern about his influence on writing, food, politics and "the more personal memoir he would have turned in this summer." Key passage:
Is it true that he was working on new essays?
"There was a book that he was going to deliver at the end of the summer. I know he's been working on them and I know that he had a bunch of them last summer. I think that it was going to be much more personal. I think he planned to talk about traveling more, what it's like to be on the road, having a family. But I haven't seen anything and I'm guessing I'll hear from his agent at some point. I hope there's enough for at least a small book." | | | Television networks and news websites across the country, big and small, promoted suicide prevention resources all day long on Friday -- a greatly expanded version of what we saw on Tuesday when Kate Spade took her own life. All three network nightly newscasts featured the "lifeline" #, 800-273-8255, and encouraged people to call. We did the same on CNN and CNN.com throughout the day... | | -- Saturday afternoon: The Belmont Stakes on NBC...
-- Sunday morning: TV networks begin anchoring some shows from Singapore in advance of next week's summit...
-- Sunday evening: The Tony Awards on CBS... | | Charles Krauthammer says goodbye | | Charles Krauthammer, the beloved conservative columnist, informed readers on Friday that he is confronting an aggressive form of cancer. "My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live," he wrote. "This is the final verdict. My fight is over."
Krauthammer shared the news in a short, matter-of-fact note on the WashPost and Fox News websites. Political leaders and journalists were gutted by the revelation, which came just a few hours after Bourdain's death was announced.
The Post said Krauthammer is discouraging "flowery tributes." He wrote, "I leave this life with no regrets. It was a wonderful life -- full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living. I am sad to leave, but I leave with the knowledge that I lived the life that I intended." Please read his farewell here... | | | Rupert Murdoch's statement: "Charles has been a profound source of personal and intellectual inspiration for all of us at Fox News. His always principled stand on the most important issues of our time has been a guiding star in an often turbulent world, a world that has too many superficial thinkers vulnerable to the ebb and flow of fashion, and a world that, unfortunately, has only one Charles Krauthammer. His words, his ideas, his dignity and his integrity will resonate within our society and within me for many, many years to come." | | Reactions: "Krauthammer is utterly irreplaceable" | | Vice President Pence tweeted: "His wit, his wisdom, and his tireless defense of Western values have made an indelible mark on the minds of millions of Americans."
Charlie Sykes: "Hard to convey what huge loss this will be... not just for conservatism, but for thoughtful political discourse in general. Krauthammer is utterly irreplaceable."
Laura Ingraham: "Thank you, Charles, for all the compelling insights on TV and in print. We are praying for you."
Bret Baier: "While this news is so so sad -- I'm happy that we heard it from him with time to show him how many people love him and how he changed the world with his thoughts and words." | | -- Former CNNer Steven Sloan is the AP's new political editor... (AP)
-- Ken Doctor's latest must-read: "Why is Michael Ferro slowing down Patrick Soon-Shiong's deal to buy the LA Times and San Diego Union-Tribune?" (Newsonomics)
-- Speaking of Tronc: The Chicago Tribune packed up and moved out of Tribune Tower on Friday... (Tribune)
-- "Spotify started out asking the labels for permission to exist. A decade later, it is starting to compete with them," Peter Kafka reports. Details here... (Recode) | | "Press Groups Criticize the Seizing of a Times Reporter's Records" | | That's the headline in Saturday's NYT. "The revelation that federal prosecutors seized years' worth of email and phone records" from reporter Ali Watkins "drew criticism on Friday from news organizations and press rights groups, which expressed outrage at the first known instance of the Trump administration's pursuing the private communications of a journalist," Michael Grynbaum writes...
>> Trump's reaction to Thursday night's arrest: They "caught a leaker." However, James Wolfe has not been charged with leaking, he's been accused "of lying to FBI agents in December 2017 about his contacts with three reporters..." Details here via CNN's team of reporters... | | Jake Tapper is rightly fed up with people who claim that the "media" ignored Obama's leak hunts while assailing Trump for doing the same thing.
"The Obama Administration also repeatedly attacked press freedoms and we called it out at the time," Tapper said Friday. "It was heinous then and it is just as contemptible now." He asked if the Trump admin is "escalating" the Obama admin's "war on leaks by trampling on the First Amendment for the disclosure of information that isn't even particularly sensitive." Watch/read the rest via Mediaite... | | This Sunday on "Reliable Sources" | | | I'll have an exclusive interview with BuzzFeed News EIC Ben Smith about the Ali Watkins case... And Steven Brill on his new book "Tailspin..." Plus Indira Lakshmanan, Elaina Plott, David Frum. And in case that's not enough: Director Rob Reiner! See you Sunday at 11am ET on CNN... | | 🎧 Here's my podcast discussion with Adam Davidson | | A comment from The New Yorker's Adam Davidson caught my eye the other day. He said "the corruption and collusion" of Trumpworld "are well-established." But "incrementalist media storytelling is hiding that fact." Now THAT'S an interesting thought. Do the hour-by-hour stories about Trump scandals actually miss a bigger picture?
I invited Davidson on this week's "Reliable Sources" podcast... And we hashed it out... I also asked if he's engaging in wishful thinking when he says we're in the "end stage" of Trump's presidency...
Listen to the pod via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or TuneIn... | | | Bloomberg's Sahil Kapur struggles to fit each week into 280 characters for this Friday evening tweet. Look at how much this one has, even without including Kate Spade... | | | Related: Here are 30 of the week's big White House headlines, as rounded up by CNN's Brenna Williams... | | This tweet sums up Friday | | | -- Via NYT's Michael Shear: "At 7:22 am, @realDonaldTrump tweeted: 'Won't be talking about the Russian Witch Hunt Hoax for a while!' That lasted until about 8 am, when he talked about his right to pardon himself. By my count, that's about 38 minutes..." | | -- "Shonda Rhimes is getting to work at Netflix. Along with the streaming giant, Shondaland has acquired the rights to the New York Magazine article, 'How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People' by Jessica Pressler. Rhimes is attached to write the series..." (Variety)
-- I forgot to include this yesterday: Vivian Schiller "will be the first CEO of the Join Civil Foundation, a platform using the blockchain technology and the Ethereum cryptocurrency in hopes of promoting local and niche news sites..." (Poynter)
-- Via Peter Kafka: "BuzzFeed is laying off about 20 people -- and hiring 45 more -- in another reorg..." (Recode) | | CNNMoney's Victoria Cavaliere and Jackie Wattles write: "John Lasseter, one of the biggest names in animation, will be leaving Disney at the end of the year, the company said on Friday. Lasseter, who was the chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation, took a leave of absence late last year following what he described as 'missteps' that made some of his colleagues feel 'disrespected and uncomfortable.' In a statement, Disney said Lasseter will take over a consulting role through the end of December before officially severing ties with the company..."
>> Lasseter's Friday afternoon statement: The last six months "have provided an opportunity to reflect on my life, career and personal priorities... I have decided the end of this year is the right time to begin focusing on new creative challenges..." | | "Game of Thrones" prequel gets pilot order at HBO | | Of COURSE this is going to get a full season order -- right?
Sandra Gonzalez writes: "HBO has ordered a pilot for a possible spin-off" of "Game of Thrones," the network confirmed Friday. "The new project, a prequel, comes from British screenwriter and producer Jane Goldman and 'Game of Thrones' author George R.R. Martin. As previously reported, several ideas for possible 'Game of Thrones' related projects had been in development..."
>> Wow: The pilot "takes place thousands of years before the events of 'GOT' and 'chronicles the world's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour...'" | | Weekend box office preview | | "Warner Bros.'s Ocean's 8 delivered a solid $4 million from Thursday night previews, an improvement over the $3.4 million brought in by Ghostbusters" on the same weekend in 2016, Box Office Mojo's Brad Brevet reports...
"Ocean's 8" will definitely rank #1 for the weekend. "Also hitting theaters is A24's much-talked about horror film Hereditary as well as Global Road's Hotel Artemis. Meanwhile, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is getting its start internationally this weekend, two weeks ahead of its domestic bow." Read more... | | Feedback welcome!
Email your likes, dislikes, thoughts to brian.stelter@turner.com... the feedback helps us improve this newsletter every day... Thank you! | | | | | | |
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