New 12 months’s resolutions for leisure: Fewer lengthy TV breaks, and Broadway must get its act collectively

Showbiz is on the brink of pop the cork at midnight on Jan. 1.

However first permit me to burst their bubble.

Just like the schlub who pledges to go to the gymnasium extra, the leisure trade may all the time use some enchancment.

Listed here are my New 12 months’s resolutions for motion pictures, Broadway and TV.

On TV: Make exhibits that don’t take big breaks

When “Stranger Issues” returned for its last season in November, the “youngsters” had been all grad college students and I may keep in mind none of their names.

Netflix’s science-fiction collection had been away for an extended three years, a pattern which has annoyingly grow to be the norm. 

FX’s huge Emmy winner “Shogun” begins filming Season 2 in January, which suggests no episodes till 2027 — one other three-year break. HBO’s “Home of the Dragon” has a extra svelte two-year hiatus. 

The factor is, not like “Recreation of Thrones,” these exhibits aren’t so incredible that we pine for them. That’s why I feel actuality TV is so fashionable — it lets audiences observe characters at an everyday clip. The Actual Housewives don’t want a 36-month breather.

“The Pitt” has figured this out to nice success. So has “Hacks.” Audiences need higher stuff, sure, however additionally they miss the previous community TV tempo and reliability. 

On Broadway: Repair the brand new musical downside

The theater trade has spent the final 4 years blithely pretending Broadway wasn’t in shambles as a result of there was not less than a wholesome provide of stock. 

Final season had 16 new musicals. Most of them weren’t any good, however what else is new? 

Now all people is lastly freaking out, as a result of there are solely six. And most are much less interesting than “Six.” One, “The Queen of Versailles” starring Kristin Chenoweth, simply closed on Dec. 21 at a reported lack of $22.5 million. 

A just lately introduced addition, the humorous Celine Dion camp fest “Titanique,” already ran off-Broadway for 3 years and was staged all over the world. And subsequent Spring’s “Seashores” has been tweaked throughout the nation for greater than a decade. Demonstrably there has not been a lot wind beneath its wings.

“The season’s solely hope is ‘The Misplaced Boys’,” an insider stated. Uh oh. Vampire musicals have by no means been the lifeblood of Midtown. Simply ask Elton John.

One downside is that traders are afraid to place cash into new Broadway musicals as a result of it’s virtually a foregone conclusion that they’ll lose it. It’s gone from a dangerous enterprise to a silly one.

Why? Too many concessions have been made to unions which have pushed up prices to astronomical highs. So, now there are fewer jobs in musicals for performers and craftspeople, and minimalist performs are being solid out of Hollywood. Go determine.

One Tony winner informed me understanding of city is the best choice today. That’s clearly not good for New York.

Broadway is at a tipping level — and its leaders should face information instantly.

On the Films: Please deliver again precise comedies

TV’s comedy bother has come to the cinema. 

On the large display screen, hilarity has been swapped with lightness and eccentricity.  

This yr, “Bugonia,” during which Emma Stone will get kidnapped and shaved by soiled freaks who suppose she’s an alien, and “Jay Kelly,” during which a well-known actor quietly has a breakdown, are labeled as comedies.

What, pray inform, was the funniest a part of “Bugonia”? The chemical castration scene? 

In the meantime, movies like “Rush Hour,” “Anchorman” and “Austin Powers” are hardly getting made anymore. Perhaps preachy Hollywood can not abide such frivolity anymore, however the fixed darkness and dread is a drag for ticket patrons.

One film in 2025 jogged my memory of how good it feels to snigger arduous on the cinema: “The Bare Gun.” Extra naughty sight gags with Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson please.

See you subsequent yr.