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According to his resignation announcement, Kevin Merida’s abrupt Jan. 9 exit as executive editor of the Los Angeles Times came about through a “mutual agreement” with the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a biotech magnate turned publishing dilettante. This may well be true. From everything that can be gleaned about Merida’s less-than-three-year bumpy tenure as Soon-Shiong’s No. 1 at the 143-year-old publishing institution, there was plenty of mutual dissatisfaction, mutual distrust and maybe even mutual disdain.

Times watchers will recall that Merida’s arrival at the paper in 2021 was greeted with great fanfare. The 66-year-old former Washington Post editor and Pulitzer finalist had been hired after a grueling months-long head-hunting expedition that involved some 30 aspirants, including New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet and former Hollywood Reporter editor (and Ankler co-founder) Janice Min, as well as a slew of in-house contenders (deputy managing editor Julia Turner, New York...

Kcet has now led in wins at the Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards, for five years in a row.

At the 73rd awards ceremony, which took place Saturday, the station claimed a total of nine statuettes. Kvea and Spectrum SportsNet followed it up with six wins apiece. Other outlets scoring multiple wins at the show, hosted by Spectrum News 1 journalist Giselle Fernández, included ABC7 (four), Kmex (three), KTLA5 (two), Kttv-tv (two) and Spectrum News 1 (two).

The Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards honor locally produced programs in the categories of Live and Breaking News Coverage, Crime and Social Issues, Culture and History, the Arts, Human Interest, Sports, and the Environment. Presenters for this year’s ceremony, which streamed live on the Emmys website, included Carrlyn Bathe (Fox Sports West), Mike Bresnahan (Spectrum SportsNet/LA), Enrique Chiabra (Telemundo/Kvea), Allie Clifton (Spectrum SportsNet/LA), Suzanna Guzmán (Kcet/PBS SoCal), Elex B.

Kenneth Turan is stepping down as the daily film critic at the Los Angeles Times after nearly 30 years, he announced on Twitter Wednesday.

Turan, who is a critic with NPR’s “Morning Edition” and is the director of the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, had been a critic for the Los Angeles Times since 1991. Turan says he will continue writing about film, but “at a different pace.”

“I have some big news. After close to 30 years in the most exciting and rewarding of jobs, I am stepping away from being a daily film critic for the Los Angeles Times,” Turan said. “I will keep writing about film but at a different pace. To quote Ecclesiastes, ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.’ Looking forward to what’s to come.”

Also Read: FX Feeney, La Weekly Film Critic and Historian, Dies at 66

Turan is the author of,...

Epix is joining the subscription streaming marketplace with the launch of Epix Now as a stand-alone option for $5.99 a month.

MGM’s premium cabler has been developing an Ott service for some time. The company’s larger rivals — HBO, Showtime and Starz — also have services that allow subscribers to sign up for their channels without the need for a pay-tv package from a traditional Mvpd provider.

Epix Now is available as an app for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV and in Google Play for Android phones and tablets. It is expected to be available soon via Roku devices and Amazon Fire TV, with the plan roll out across other devices and platforms throughout the year. The formal launch of Epix Now was unveiled Sunday as part of Epix’s portion of the winter Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena, Calif.

MGM is counting on the growth of the streaming...

Epix is set to launch Slow Burn, a six-episode docuseries based on a hit podcast by the same name, the premium television network announced today at TCA.

From Nixon and Watergate to Clinton’s impeachment, the podcast features host Leon Neyfakh delving into the strange subplots and forgotten characters involved in presidential scandals — flashing back to politically tumultuous times not so far removed from today.

Slate-produced Slow Burn, was named best podcast last month at the first iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.

Season one of the docuseries will mirror that of the podcast by looking back on the Watergate crisis and exploring its parallels with the present.

It is produced in partnership with Left/Right, a Red Arrow Studios company and Slate; with Neyfakh, Ken Druckerman and Banks Tarver for Left/Right and Dan Check, Julia Turner and Gabriel Roth for Slate serving as executive producers.

“With ‘Slow Burn,’ Leon Neyfakh took...

Julia Turner is taking over Slate as Editor-in-Chief, effective immediately and will succeed outgoing editor David Plotz, who served in the position since 2008. During Plotz's tenure, Turner served as deputy editor. She has been with the magazine since 2003, having served first as writer/editor, then culture editor. Also read: Longtime People.com Editor Janice Morris Exiting Publication (Exclusive) “Slate, under David, has published incredible award-winning journalism, created exciting new blogs and podcasts, set traffic records, and assembled its most talented staff to date,” Jacob Weisberg, chairman of The Slate Group, said Monday. “While we're sad he has decided to step down,...

The Weinstein Company's new J.D. Salinger documentary is, by many accounts, despicable. (New York's David Edelstein: "It’s a good thing J.D. Salinger isn’t around to see Shane Salerno’s bio-documentary Salinger or he’d come after Salerno with a hatchet." Slate's Julia Turner: "This was the single worst movie I've ever seen in my life. It is almost worth seeing to see how bad something can be.") So, what the hell, here goes TWC making an actual biopic and giving Salinger director Shane Salerno — also the screenwriter of Armageddon and one of the upcoming Avatar follow-ups — dibs on the screenplay.