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      in Television

      When I Get Anxious, These Videos Help Calm My Mind

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      Tunnel through time with vintage B-roll.It was a grainy video, autoplaying in my Facebook feed, that first grabbed my attention. It seemed vaguely familiar — like a home movie from my childhood in suburban Boston but without the main characters, leaving only a warm, generic 1980s ambience. In the clip, kids in wide-collared shirts amble around a school cafeteria with burgers, tater tots and little square boxes of chocolate milk served by lunch ladies in those big buglike eyeglasses my grandmother used to wear. The video ended after about two minutes. Next, I watched a street glide by from the window of a moving vehicle: Kenmore Square, Boston, January 1977. The camera panned across storefronts — Strawberries, Paperback Booksmith, College Donuts — but I didn’t recognize anything until it zoomed out and the famous Citgo sign was revealed, perched atop the building where it still sits today.Discovering these videos felt like time-traveling back to some precise moment when nothing of note happened. They are just short, contextless clips of old B-roll — the background film cut into broadcasts to break up the main footage — culled from the collections of WGBH, a 69-year-old Boston public-television station. In 2018, James Auclair, a station employee, began regularly posting the videos to social media. They infiltrated my own Facebook algorithm in the fall of 2023, which, it turns out, was just when I needed them. That August, I eagerly applied for a dream-job faculty position at a university, and I knew I was in for months of consistent, nagging anxiety about my professional future. When I came across the footage Auclair was posting under the handle GBH Archives (they dropped the “W” a few years ago), I was hooked: Here, finally, was a reprieve from the swirl of negative thoughts in my head.I’ve devoured, by now, countless hours of B-roll. I’ve watched shoppers peruse CDs at the long-shuttered Tower Records on Newbury Street in the ’90s, transporting me back to Saturdays in high school when my friends and I browsed the rap and hip-hop racks for hours. Cars as big as boats — station wagons, sedans and vans like my parents drove — roll over the Tobin Bridge in 1979; drivers reach out their arms to pass cash and coins to toll attendants. I’ve watched ice skaters gliding over the frozen Charles River in the late ’70s and hairsprayed teenagers in leather and oversize sweaters smoking cigarettes outside their high school in the ’80s.I’m not the only one hooked on these B-roll clips: YouTube is full of “retro B-roll” material, and GBH Archives alone has more than 200,000 combined followers on Facebook, X and Instagram. For some viewers, the appeal is pure nostalgia — many comment wistfully on the absence of cellphones or the predominance of suits and ties and dresses. Others note changes in the ever-evolving cityscape. Every so often, someone recognizes their younger self in a video.Where the format of television news can crowd out thought, these videos create space for it.What I love most is that the videos contain no narrative; they feel like ambient music — hypnotic, meditative. Rather than tell you what to think or fear, they just show you things. There’s a funny intellectual twist here: Television is an entertainment medium, and the primary purpose of these B-roll clips was to keep viewers visually engaged so they wouldn’t get bored watching a single shot of a newscaster talking. Watching this remediated B-roll subverts that purpose. There are no quick shots and snappy edits, no breaking news alerts or sensational chyrons, just slow and boring slices of life. Where the format of television news can crowd out thought, these videos create space for it. We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Movies

      ‘The Blair Witch Project’ Brings Up a Riddle That Looms 25 Years Later

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      Twenty-five years ago, the indie horror blockbuster compelled audiences to ask, “Was that real?” The question now permeates our age of misinformation.“In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.”Audiences packed elbow-to-elbow into theaters in the summer of 1999 saw that shaky white text on a black background during the first moments of “The Blair Witch Project.” What followed was 80 or so minutes of growing dread as three 20-somethings — Josh, Heather and Mike — tried to uncover the truth behind the legend of a supernatural entity called the Blair Witch. It does not end well for the trio.Initially shot for just $35,000, “The Blair Witch Project” grossed almost $250 million, then a record for an indie film. It became a pop culture phenomenon, one that foretold the found-footage horror boom and left one uneasy question hovering over moviegoers: “Is this real?” It’s an existential riddle that looms larger than ever 25 years later, compelling us to apply that exact question to nearly every image, sound or nugget of information we encounter.Back then, creating that air of uncertainty took some strategic work by the directors, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. Marketed as a documentary, promotional materials included missing posters for its largely unknown lead actors — Joshua Leonard; Heather Donahue, now known as Rei Hance; and Michael C. Williams — who had to keep ultralow profiles in the lead-up to the film’s release.A separate faux documentary called “The Curse of the Blair Witch,” which aired on cable TV shortly before the film’s premiere, had an eerily convincing true-crime approach: It incorporated candid-seeming photos of the characters including childhood snapshots, as well as fake newspaper articles and interviews with actors posing as Heather’s film professor and Josh’s girlfriend, among others, to round out the alternate reality.Joshua Leonard and his “Blair Witch” co-stars filmed all the footage used in the movie.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Television

      Colin Jost Will Host the New ‘Jeopardy!’ Pop Culture Spinoff

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      “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” is expected to begin production in August and will stream only on Amazon Prime Video.If you have enjoyed Colin Jost’s dispatches from Tahiti for the Olympics surfing events and are hoping to see more of him, you’re in luck: On Wednesday, Sony Pictures Television announced that he will be host of the new game show “Pop Culture Jeopardy!”Jost, 42, is a veteran writer for “Saturday Night Live” and has anchored its Weekend Update segment since 2014 alongside Michael Che. “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” — a spinoff of the juggernaut “Jeopardy!,” which has run for decades on broadcast TV and in syndication — will stream only on Amazon Prime Video.Jost was selected for his “sharp wit and intelligence,” Suzanne Prete, president for game shows at Sony Pictures Television, which produces the show, said in a news release. “He’s smart and quick, like our contestants, and we know he’ll be able to keep up with them while making this new series his own.”“What is: I’m excited,” Jost said in the statement, riffing on the “Jeopardy!” answer format.In the pop culture version of the show, contestants will play in teams of three in tournament-style events, racing to answer questions in a variety of categories like alternative rock, the Avengers and Broadway. Production of the show is expected to begin in August.The spinoff is part of a yearslong expansion of the “Jeopardy!”-verse, as the show’s producers have called it, which will also include special tournaments. The flagship show also has seen plenty of change since Alex Trebek, who had hosted “Jeopardy!” for 37 years, died in 2020. A lengthy, revolving host audition resulted in Mike Richards, then the show’s executive producer, being chosen to host, only to be pushed aside after revelations that he had made offensive comments on a podcast. Then the role was shared between the actor Mayim Bialik and the former “Jeopardy!” champion Ken Jennings until last year, when Bialik announced that she had been removed from the show. Jennings has since settled in as the sole host. More

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      in Television

      Warner Bros. Discovery Sues N.B.A. Over TV Rights Deal

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      The company is trying to make the league accept its match of Amazon’s bid to broadcast games starting with the 2025-26 season.Warner Bros. Discovery sued the National Basketball Association on Friday in an attempt to force the league to accept its offer to match Amazon’s bid to broadcast games.On Wednesday, the N.B.A. announced that it had reached media rights agreements with Disney, Comcast and Amazon. The deals are scheduled to take effect in the 2025-26 season and will collectively pay the N.B.A. about $77 billion over the next 11 years. That left Warner Bros. Discovery, a current rights holder, set to lose the league at the end of next season.“Given the N.B.A.’s unjustified rejection of our matching of a third-party offer, we have taken legal action to enforce our rights,” Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed in New York State Supreme Court. “We strongly believe this is not just our contractual right, but also in the best interest of fans who want to keep watching our industry-leading N.B.A. content.”Mike Bass, a spokesman for the league, said, “Warner Bros. Discovery’s claims are without merit, and our lawyers will address them.”Amazon entered the negotiations during Warner Bros. Discovery’s exclusive negotiating window at Warner Bros. Discovery’s request, according to two people familiar with the talks. During that period, Warner Bros. Discovery balked at the N.B.A.’s request for last-minute changes to the company’s package, and the exclusive window closed without a deal.Although conversations between the two sides continued, Warner Bros. Discovery, whose TNT network has broadcast N.B.A. games since the 1980s, found itself on the outside as the N.B.A. quickly moved on to other partners. The company’s executives insisted privately that they planned to exercise their matching rights under the current nine-year agreement.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      N.B.A. Announces Lucrative Rights Deals With Disney, Comcast and Amazon

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      The league rejected a bid by Warner Bros. Discovery to match Amazon’s offer.The National Basketball Association announced new rights agreements with Disney, Comcast and Amazon on Wednesday after rejecting a rival bid by Warner Bros. Discovery that would have kept games on its TNT network, which has broadcast the N.B.A. since the 1980s.The companies will collectively pay more than $76 billion over 11 years, according to four people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the financial details. That will substantially increase the league’s annual revenue and reflects the continued importance of live sports programming even as streaming has reconfigured the entertainment industry.In making the announcement, the league said it had rejected Warner Bros. Discovery’s bid this week to match Amazon’s offer for its share of the package.“Throughout these negotiations, our primary objective has been to maximize the reach and accessibility of our games for our fans,” the league said in a statement. “Our new arrangement with Amazon supports this goal by complementing the broadcast, cable and streaming packages that are already part of our new Disney and NBCUniversal arrangements.” (NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast.)“All three partners have also committed substantial resources to promote the league and enhance the fan experience,” the statement added.The new deals, which include N.B.A. and some W.N.B.A. games, will take effect with the 2025-26 season and are more than two and a half times the average annual value of the league’s current rights agreements.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      ‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ Will Finally Be Available to Stream

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      The celebrated 1990s police procedural is coming to Peacock in August.The critically acclaimed 1990s police procedural “Homicide: Life on the Street” will soon be available to stream in its entirety.All seven seasons of the crime drama, which ran on NBC from 1993 to 1999, as well as the 2000 film “Homicide: The Movie,” which served as the series finale, will arrive on Peacock on Aug. 19. The show has been syndicated over the years and has been released on DVD, but its absence from streaming services — thanks largely to the challenge of securing music rights, a frequent sticking point in streaming deals — has long been lamented by fans.“Homicide” was based on a book by David Simon — then a Baltimore Sun reporter who had spent a year shadowing the Baltimore Police Department’s Homicide Unit. The series — along with “NYPD Blue,” which also premiered in 1993 — infused the cop genre with more grit and moral ambiguity, setting the stage for hard-edge cable dramas like “The Shield” and Simon’s own “The Wire,” one of the most celebrated series of all time.“Homicide” was created by Paul Attanasio and executive produced by Barry Levinson, among others. (Simon was a producer.) Tom Fontana, who would go on to create the prison drama “Oz,” was the showrunner. “Homicide” had a devoted core following during its run but was never a ratings darling. It stayed on the air for seven seasons, winning four Emmy Awards out of 17 nominations and three Peabody Awards. It also boasted a memorable cast that included Andre Braugher, who won an Emmy for his role as Detective Frank Pembleton; Melissa Leo; Richard Belzer; and Giancarlo Esposito.As the streaming boom resurfaced beloved titles from throughout TV history, “Homicide” regularly appeared on lists of shows fans most wanted to see come to a service. Simon previewed its arrival in a June post on X.“Word is that NBC has managed to finally secure the music rights necessary to sell ‘Homicide: Life On The Streets’ to a streaming platform,” he wrote, adding later in a reply: “I did nothing. Tom Fontana, Barry Levinson and [the producer] Gail Mutrux undertook the lobbying effort.” More

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      in Television

      NBA Agrees to Massive Rights Deals With Disney, Comcast and Amazon

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      The agreements, set to begin after next season, could potentially pay the league about $76 billion over 11 years.The National Basketball Association’s Board of Governors has approved a set of agreements for the rights to show the league’s games, Commissioner Adam Silver said on Tuesday, moving one step closer to completing deals that would reshape how the sport is watched over the next decade.Mr. Silver declined to discuss any financial details or even the companies involved, though there have been reports for months that Disney, Comcast and Amazon were close to deals with the league. TNT, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, has shown N.B.A. games since the 1980s, but its prominent on-air personalities like Charles Barkley talked during the playoffs about how they worried that the network would lose the rights after next season, the last covered by the current nine-year TV deal.The companies are expected to pay the N.B.A. a total of about $76 billion over 11 years. On average, ESPN would pay the N.B.A. about $2.6 billion annually, NBC around $2.5 billion and Amazon roughly $1.8 billion, according to three people familiar with the agreements, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the financial details.The Board of Governors voted to approve the deals at its yearly meeting in Las Vegas. The N.B.A. must now present the deals to Warner Bros. Discovery, and once that happens, the company will have five days to match one of them to remain in the mix.“We did approve this stage of those media proposals, but as you all know there are other rights that need to be worked through with existing partners,” Mr. Silver said.Warner Bros. Discovery was expected to try to match Amazon’s offer, according to two people familiar with the company’s thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicate nature of the negotiations.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Richard Simmons, Exercise and Fitness Personality, Dies at 76

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      With his exuberant can-do spirit, Mr. Simmons appealed to a wide following to get moving with exercise videos like “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.”Richard Simmons, who for years was the face of home fitness through his wildly popular videos and energetic personality, died on Saturday morning in Los Angeles. He was 76.A representative for Mr. Simmons, Tom Estey, confirmed Mr. Simmons’s death.The Los Angeles Fire Department and the Los Angeles Police Department responded to an address linked to Mr. Simmons at 10 a.m. on Saturday. A Fire Department spokesman said personnel at the scene determined he died of natural causes.At his Beverly Hills exercise studio, Slimmons, and in his videos and DVDs, Mr. Simmons exuded an enthusiastic can-do spirit to inspire people of all ages and fitness levels to get moving.Mr. Simmons stretched and jumped in contrast to other fitness gurus of the 1980s, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, who exuded movie-star looks and charm.Mr. Simmons’s approach was perhaps more noticeable, and relatable, than his counterparts as he spoke directly to audiences in his aerobics videos.One video features him clapping and singing in unison with students as they entered his studio.“You’re actually inside my real exercise studio, ‘Slimmons,’ and these are my honest-to-goodness teachers,” he said, looking to the group around him.In 2017, Mr. Simmons was the subject of a popular podcast, “Missing Richard Simmons,” which became a cultural phenomenon.In March, Mr. Simmons said he had been treated for basal cell carcinoma, which he said first appeared as a “strange looking bump” under his eye.This is a developing story. More