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As if the comparison between Viacom co-president/positivity coach Tom Freston's hiring of manager Brad Grey to run Paramount and Michael Eisner's fateful decision to hire BFF and erstwhile superagent Michael Ovitz to run Disney weren't excruciatingly obvious, the LAT helpfully provides this neon Bad Idea sign:

Freston...swears he picked the brains of 100 Hollywood insiders about whom to tap to reinvigorate the company's Paramount Pictures. In the end, though, Freston chose somebody he already knew quite well — a friend who has joined him on travels to Cuba and Brazil.

In Hollywood, "blindly hiring your buddies with no real film production experience" is the new "due diligence." What can possibly go wrong with handing your pal the keys to the studio? You have a few laughs, take a couple more trips to St. Barts, and then you hand him a $140 million Dear John letter.