The James Brown Commentary

Every generation wants something a little bit different from their media, and according to a recent survey by UCLA's Center for Scholars and Storytellers, the Homelanders, or Gen Z, are no different. Many young people between age 10 and 24 want to see less romance and promiscuity in movies and TV shows. Nearly 50% of them say that sex is not necessary for most stories. And a little over 50% of the...

Mark Manson on taking the first steps toward happiness It's Wednesday and it's time for some Wit and Wisdom. This week's wise words come from Mark Manson, the best-selling author known for books with profane titles like Everything is F***ed or The Subtle Act of Not Giving a F***. In the latter book, he says in order to achieve happiness, you have to do something bold. Choose something. Everybody e...

This holiday season has me thinking about how fortunate I am to have people in my life that care about me. It also makes me think about the feeling that I have at times. that I'm all alone, even in crowded rooms. This feeling is riskier than most of us realize. The World Health Organization claims loneliness is equivalent to 15 cigarettes a day, and the risks are greater than those that come with...

Colin Cowherd, Draymond Green and the strange world of “new” media Colin Cowherd, the sports talk TV and radio star turned entrepreneur and owner of the podcasting network, The Volume, posted a fascinating appeal to his listeners. Take it easy on Draymond Green. “I know Draymond,” Cowherd told his podcast audience. “He's a terrific employee. He's a hard worker. He's an excellent podcaster. He's th...

As of the beginning of this decade, about 3 million American citizens chose to live elsewhere. And it appears that that number may go up, and for good reason. The language prep site Preply asked 3,000 Americans between 18 and 26 how likely they were to leave the country permanently, and to put that urge on a scale of zero to five. The average answer? Three out of five. The reasons vary, but here a...

That's the sound of me lying on the floor of my dining room. I'm fighting with a giant metal cabinet that the girlfriend now uses to store her baking tools. We have two of them, but we only paid for one of them. The first one was defective. We asked for a replacement part. Instead, they sent us a whole new cabinet. And the company said, keep the old one. According to Reuters, this is happening mor...

It's Wednesday and it's time for some wit and wisdom. This week's wise words come from the late John M. Huntsman. In his book, Winners Never Cheat, Even in Difficult Times, the billionaire explained his life philosophy. When it comes to leadership, it boiled down to four words, no pain, no gain. “Leaders are called to enter arenas where success isn't covered by a warranty, where public failure is...

Remember Norman Lear and his impact on American television All in the Family is the crown jewel of Norman Lear's television career. The TV legend died last week. It's hard to put into words his impact on the American sitcom, let alone my thoughts on how he transformed the genre. He's a big reason why I'm obsessed with it. And honestly, I think he's a big reason why the genre struggles today. Lear'...

700 million dollars. That's what the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed to pay Shohei Ohtani over the next 10 years. He's a superstar. He pitches and catches like an all star. That's something that no one has done consistently in the majors since Babe Ruth. A true anomaly. Elite Company does not describe how rare he is as a player. Only he won't pitch next year because he's injured. Ohtani had Tommy...

It's Friday and that means it's time for some comfort food. This week's selection comes from the world of country music. Kinda. After spending an hour listening to Jelly Roll’s music, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I had no idea who he was until I saw the face-tattooed rapper turn country music star win CMT's Best New Artist award. He had a message for all of us. Despite your tribulations...

You may have heard a recent episode of mine. It was about the mountain of data that shows that kids in one parent households are falling behind their colleagues with two parents. This episode is another part of that equation, a part that will no doubt shape the future of America. They're called DINKS, also known as Couples with Dual Income, No Kids. U.S. Census data says that 43% of all American h...

It's Wednesday and it's time for some wit and wisdom. This week's wise words are from Elon Musk. These days, he's best known for his controversial statements in really expensive electric cars. But somewhere in between, he found time to comment on something that I think about a lot. Hope. During an interview with New York Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, he said he finds hope in the stars. “Lif...

Comedian Louis C.K. was accused of and admitted to some awful things. The incidents include lewd activities in front of female comedians in his apartment. I'll spare you the details, but frankly, I think they're disgusting. While the incidents fell short of criminality, some, like the directors of a new documentary called Sorry Not Sorry, argued that the punishment wasn't steep enough. As the worl...

Americans are having fewer children overall. And when we do have kids, more of us are not getting married. In fact, roughly half of all children born in this country today don't have two parents in the home. University of Maryland Economics Professor Melissa Kearney said in a recent Bloomberg interview that we're in a crisis. “I have been studying U.S. income inequality and poverty and social mobi...

Those that know me well know I'm not much of a Christmas person. This year, this time of year, I often joke that my heart is a lump of coal. I've been called a grump, a Scrooge, a grinch, and in many ...

At a recent Charlie Perth show in Melbourne, Australia, the singer led a melancholy crowd as they sang the theme song from Friends. This, of course, is because of the death of Matthew Perry a few weeks back. As regular listeners know, I have a fondness for sitcoms. If you know me really well, you know that fondness is actually an obsession. The next time we talk, ask me about what theme song is ru...

It's Wednesday and it's time for some wit and wisdom. This time from Dr. Cornel West. He's a professor, a philosopher, and of course, a presidential candidate. Because it's 2023 and why the hell not? His words come from an interview on PBS with his frequent collaborator, Tavis Smiley. West argues that we need to have a habitual vision of greatness. You see, you have to believe in fact that you wil...

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Have you noticed that bars and restaurants aren't as busy as they once were? I have too. And we're not alone. eating out in a sparse trendy restaurant That's one of the lingering changes since the COVID-19 pandemic, documented by Placer AI. That's a foot traffic analytics firm. Their data shows that people are less likely to go out to dinner after 7 p.m. The pattern, as laid out in Nation's Restau...

In which James counts down the 7 most offensive things people do on planes. Let me know what you think in the comments at jamesbrowntv.substack.com Email: jamesbrowntv@gmail.com Leave me a voicemail or text: 585-484-0339 Follow me on social media: YouTube Main Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCixNKcH6SP5OCLHMdQ_gVTw Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesbrowntv/ Facebook: https://face...

Over the weekend, the latest Hunger Games movie premiered. It's called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It's 8 years in the making. It was number 1 at the box office, making about $44 million. While that's a ton to you or me, it's a massive disappointment to Lionsgate, who made the movie. $44 million on opening weekend is about $58 million less than any previous Hunger Games movie. That's a dra...

Andre 3000 is back. To critics he's known as 1 of the best rappers alive. But to most people, he's known for his massive records, like Hey Ya as part of OutKast. 20 years later he's releasing his first solo record with no rapping no singing just 87 minutes of flutes. He told GQ last week He told GQ last week. I think just in general when it came to figuring out what we would do creatively and wher...

Men have no close friends. Well, that's overstating it. Survey data from the American Survey Center says that 30 years ago, in the early 90s, about 55% of men had at least six close friends. Today, that number has been cut in half. And 15% of men reported that they have no close relationships at all. That's five times the number in 1990. They call it a friendship recession. They point to declining...

In a recent interview, Han Solo himself, the legendary actor Harrison Ford, said something that I can't help but think a lot about these days. When asked what advice he'd give himself as a young man, he said, show up. It's harder than you think. “It's going to be a while,” said Ford. ”One thing I noticed when I was first starting acting is that most of the people that were on that Greyhound bus fr...

Time as an experience is something I've thought about a lot. The closer I get to 40, the shorter the years seem. When I was in my 20s, the days and weeks seemed like forever. In a recent appearance on The Jim Rutt Show, Neil Howe, the historian and demographer, expressed a theory that he laid out in his new book, The Fourth Turning Is Here. He argues that throughout human history, time has come in...