Latest posts
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Laurie Ochoa exits LA Weekly in 2009 — and the trajectory she landed on instead
By Maya Trent · Republished 2026-05-16 · Originally reported by Kate Coe on FishbowlLA, June 2009 In early June 2009, LA Weekly editor-in-chief Laurie Ochoa announced she was leaving the paper. The FishbowlLA framing was characteristically blunt — “no idea if she was fired or finally just lost patience with the tomfoolery of the paper’s…
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Kit Rachlis quits LA Magazine in 2009 — and the Mary Melton era that followed
By Maya Trent · Republished 2026-05-16 · Originally reported by Kate Coe on FishbowlLA, May 2009 In mid-May 2009, Kit Rachlis resigned as editor-in-chief of Los Angeles magazine. Executive editor Mary Melton was elevated to the top job. Folio reported that Rachlis’ exit had nothing to do with the controversial June cover story the magazine…
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Don LaFontaine’s final illness, the family letter, and what ‘in a world…’ came to mean
By Owen Reyes · Originally reported by Tina Dupuy (2008) · Wayback archive → In late August 2008, the original FishbowlLA post relayed a letter from Don LaFontaine’s family. He had been admitted to Cedars-Sinai with shortness of breath, then deteriorated rapidly the next day with a blood clot in his lung. The letter asked…
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The L.A. Press Club’s entertainment-journalism awards, circa 2009
By Maya Trent · Republished 2026-05-20 · Originally reported by Tina Dupuy on FishbowlLA, 2009 A short, characteristically wry FishbowlLA post from January 2009 flagged a closing entry deadline — and gently needled the Los Angeles Press Club for leaving the blog off its mailing list. Then The notice was a public-service item with an…
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When Fox’s ‘Mike and Juliet’ tried replacing the bleep with a kitten photo
By Cassidy Lee · Originally reported by Tina Dupuy (2008) · Wayback archive → For about a week in 2008, Fox’s syndicated morning chat show The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet experimented with replacing on-air bleeps with a still photograph of a kitten eating spaghetti. The Soup put the clip on television and treated…
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Fox Searchlight sent cease-and-desists over leaked Jennifer’s Body script reviews. The movie got reappraised anyway.
By Owen Reyes · Originally reported by Kate Coe (2008) · Wayback archive → Fox Searchlight’s legal department spent early 2008 firing cease-and-desist letters at blogs running unauthorized reviews of Diablo Cody’s then-unfilmed Jennifer’s Body script. The strategy worked at suppressing pre-release commentary. It didn’t help the movie when it actually came out. And the…
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The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment list, 2008 — Oprah on top
By Maya Trent · Republished 2026-05-21 · Originally reported by Dan Cox on FishbowlLA, 2008 Every December, The Hollywood Reporter ranks the most powerful women in entertainment. In 2008 the ritual landed in the middle of the trade’s own painful retrenchment. Then In December 2008, The Hollywood Reporter published its annual Power 100 list of…
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THReviews — the 2008 Hollywood Reporter digital play that the Nielsen era never finished
By Owen Reyes · Originally reported by Dan Cox (2008) · Wayback archive → In late 2008, with Variety publicly making fun of itself in a Daily-Show-adjacent self-parody mode, The Hollywood Reporter announced it was getting serious about digital. The launch product was called THReviews — a portal aggregating reviews, news, and entertainment content from…
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FishbowlLA at the party — Jacob Weisberg’s ‘Bush Tragedy’ book launch at Arianna Huffington’s house, 2008
By Cassidy Lee · Republished 2026-05-16 · Originally reported by Kate Coe on FishbowlLA, February 2008 In late February 2008, FishbowlLA ran one of its “FBLA Goes to the Party” dispatches — covering Slate editor Jacob Weisberg’s launch event for his book The Bush Tragedy. The Domino-sponsored party drew 300 guests to Arianna Huffington’s Brentwood…