The TV press knows the personality and the dynamic. It’s that of the tempestuous “showrunner,” or combo executive producer-writer of a show.

“Huddled alone at night in his mansion, he obsesses over the coverage his project is getting and takes to social media to deny that any of the negative blowback is getting to him,” writes Maureen Ryan, TV critic for Variety. “He’s winning, he’s doing great, everyone loves his ideas.” (Variety)

She’s talking only about a showrunner, right?

“No matter that most respected publications have derided almost every aspect of what he’s cobbled together; reporters, columnists, and critics have, for the most part, consistently dismissed his endeavor as a pile of poorly executed dreck, a haphazard hybrid of tired stereotypes and repugnant ideas that have been thoroughly rejected by the majority of the public.”

Then, as Ryan notes, that person storms off to talk to his publicity team, to produce another press release about how great things are. It’s all fueled by a sense of grievance and inequity.

“Sound familiar?” Ryan writes. “Except it’s not happening in executive suites or in writers’ rooms: It’s coming from the Oval Office. And even though the Trump administration is new, everything emanating from it, at least for many of us in the entertainment press, feels very familiar.”

As she informs, “Donald Trump, a.k.a., the showrunner who doesn’t like what critics have to say, is an industry type that we know all too well. Those of us who’ve been at this for a while have gotten that 2 a.m. email, that tense phone call, that blistering DM on Twitter.”

So what’s the difference?

“The difference between Trump and a disgruntled showrunner is that, for the TV type, cooler heads usually prevail in the morning. Even entry-level PR staffers know that for an executive or high-level producer to screech about a bad review just makes everybody involved look a little bit, well, ‘sad!’”

The Times poaches from The Journal

Rebecca Blumenstein, the deputy editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal, is joining the rival New York Times as a deputy managing editor.

Journal Editor-in-Chief Gerard Baker took the high road and called her "a peerless exponent and advocate of the very highest quality journalism. As a reporter, bureau chief and editor, she has brought an uncommon energy, decency, warmth and integrity to every story she has been involved with."

A memo to Times staff from Executive Editor Dean Baquet and Managing Editor Joseph Kahn, said her duties will be "making sure we remain an essential destination for readers interested in business, finance, economics and technology."

Sean Spicer’s lousy Melissa McCarthy imitation

Or was that still McCarthy impersonating Spicer during the Tuesday press briefing at the White House? (Poynter)

As a friend who was sitting near the front put it, “The whole briefing event has become a one-man, one-act play put on for television. Ensemble cast. OAN, Fox Business, Fox News, Newsmax, La Opinion, Korean news, Talk Radio News, etc.”

But my friend also noted that “Spicer has set up a system in which reporters put their names on a list kept by an aide in advance, to be called on by him. He doesn’t know the questions, just the outlets on his list. And then he chooses a few raised hands. It’s nutty.”

How long will it be before one can put out of mind the McCarthy spoof, as well as the “SNL” cast playing reporters? Would one be surprised if, say, today one saw Kenan Thompson or Cecily Strong (daughter of a former Associated Press reporter) asking a goofy question?