Viacom's Senescence
Bad news for Sumner Redstone's Viacom: one of the media conglomerate's most talented show creators has decided to leave. Michael Hirschorn, to whom Gawker yesterday gave a rare and much-prized herogram, is setting up an independent production company. More embarrassing: MTV owner Viacom, now run by an 84-year-old mogul and a long-time lawyer with no experience making programming, was briefing yesterday that its expert in high-low entertainment, Hirschorn, might be tempted to stay. The first-look deal, which will give Viacom channels an early glimpse of Hirschorn's projects, looks like a face-saving arrangement. To think Viacom, freed of boring network CBS, was supposed to be the hip and dynamic company in old Redstone's stable. (After the jump, a scene from A Shot At Love with Tila Tequila, the latest hit Hirschorn has shepherded to the air.)