It was rough being an entertainment writer the past two weeks. Americans haven’t cared much at all about Hollywood. Instead they’ve been addicted to the 2024 Olympic Games, which have averaged a huge daily viewership of 32 million across NBC and Peacock.
And those who were not glued to around-the-clock coverage of gymnastics, track and swimming were surely reading the nonstop headlines about broken records, personal triumphs, hard losses and, naturally, juicy controversies that enlivened the competition in Paris. Yes, it’s been a challenging fortnight for an entertainment writer. And I loved every second of it.
For 16 merciful days, the Olympics replaced vacuous Hollywood in the media, and amazing athletes became the A-listers instead of those bozos out in California. What a beautiful break it was. How wonderful that people stopped paying attention to Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s annoying supposed breakup, as their marriage deflates more slowly than a forgotten birthday balloon.
Nobody was forced to endure George Clooney, star of “Oceans Thirteen,” trying to alter the course of a national election. Britney Spears announced a new biopic by the director of “Crazy Rich Asians,” and it was as though a tree fell in a forest. We didn’t miss them.
The Olympics had all of showbiz’s glitz and glamor, only paired with superhuman capabilities and stakes of global proportion. It was riveting. There were stunningly attractive people — who emerge every four years .