Where last night’s KNICKS NBA Finals win means that this clip is now officially sealed as a Top 3 NYC Clutch Sports Highlight of all time alongside the GIANTS’ helmet catch and the METS ball through Buckner’s legs — two plays that also led to titles for those respective teams.
Via Giphy
YEAH: While clearly ABC would have loved another game here — the audience numbers that Game 5 likely drew should somewhat make up for the series only going 5 games (last year’s series went 7 games but with far smaller TV audiences).
More on the huge numbers that sports is attracting this month down in the TV section today.
THUS: The only playoff game that the KNICKS lost in their 15-win playoff streak after the tough start with the HAWKS was the one Trump slept through. #OnBrand
ALTHOUGH:This NYT column is a good reminder that, yes, admittedly, June 1994 gets major points deducted for KNICKS heartbreak at the end of the NBA Finals at MSG — but if you thought a 5-game NBA Finals series was stressful . . . the 1994 KNICKS played three 7-game playoff series, including the Finals.
1994 was also the summer that the NY RANGERS broke their own 54-year championship drought in NYC (1 more year than the KNICKS), and the World Cup was in the U.S. that year.
Not to mention — kids, imagine if a bizarre L.A. freeway car chase with an ex-NFL player threatening to kill himself had taken place at the same time as the 2nd half of last night’s KNICKS NBA Finals Game 5. #90sRule
BTW: If you’ve never watched the ESPN 30 for 30 doc June 17, 1994, it’s one of the all-time best in the genre (it’s here on NETFLIX).
SO: There’s nothing quite like a championship win in NYC — much less by a team whose home is in the heart of Manhattan. The amount of energy still on the streets last night at 3 a.m. when I got home was something I’ve never experienced.
FINALLY: Ya gotta love the NYC subway system presciently predicting the subsequent Sunday mood in NYC today.
As seen on my 2:30 a.m. subway ride home last night. Via my phone
NOW: Enjoy what could be the final NHLStanley Cup game on ABC tonight at 8 p.m. in what’s also been a tremendous series.
THEN: Tom Cruise returns to the movies, Spielberg popcorn bucket in tow (along with fellow Spielberg pic alumni).
Provisions to limit the amount of episodic TV directing that actors and “affiliated hires” can do on a series, i.e., anyone who already has a job on a show that’s not “TV director.”
Basically, protecting more TV directing jobs for its working members as the number of episodic TV directing jobs decreases (TV employment was -35% in 2024, although no 2025 data is available).
A commitment from the AMPTP to lobby for a federal tax credit program.
AI protections that a director must sign off on any AI work in addition to everything shot with cameras, and studios must explicitly state whether they expect a director to use AI when they hire them.
Annual pay rate increases of 2.5% to 3% over the 4-year deal, and the biggest issue, of course — a far greater contribution from the AMPTP into the healthcare plan.
THEN: META is materially cutting payments to creators in its Content Monetization Program, particularly on FACEBOOK, according to this report from A Media Operator. That AI spend isn’t coming out of Zuck’s wallet.
AND: Just a note for my fellow NYC market folks and a shout out to a local TV legend. Longtime ABC7 news anchorBill Ritter is stepping down after 27 years, after receiving a diagnosis of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
🎥 The Box Office
Yeah, that’s definitely part of it. Via Giphy
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