Today’s free newsletter features our latest Maxed Out chat with ‘Entertainment Tonight’ co-host Nischelle Turner about rising up the ranks at ET, becoming the first Black woman to host the show, and her media diet. Then: I’ve got a few scoops to share on this busy Thursday of media news, including one on how people inside Condé Nast are reacting to news of CEO Roger Lynch’s departure and my thoughts on what comes next (as a bonus scoop for La Fronde paid members), the rise of women-focused programming, Upworthy's comeback (remember them?), a new studio launching just for romance novel micromovies, and more media intel.

Plus, our usual list of fresh job postings awaits, with Vox Media just posting a big role for a new podcast head honcho.

xoxo,

Stephanie

Nischelle Turner made history in 2021 as the first Black woman to co-host ‘Entertainment Tonight’ in the show’s 45-year history. That meant that, with her colleague Kevin Frazier, ET would have two Black co-hosts for the first time.

Of course, Nischelle was elated when she got the news. She spent seven years proving herself as an ET correspondent and was more than ready to make that leap as co-host. But she couldn’t help but wonder: would America accept two Black co-hosts on a nationally syndicated show?

Being a “first” at something can feel at once like an honor and like a massive amount of pressure to set an example for an entire generation. For this week’s Maxed Out, I talked with Nischelle about how that “first” designation changed the way she felt about her job, the celebrity interviews that changed her perception entirely, the self-care habit that’s made the biggest difference in her career, and her favorite corners of the internet that include some of the best podcast recommendations we’ve gotten so far!

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You grew up on a farm in Missouri, and you've mentioned that it shaped the way you approach work. Can you tell me more about that?

I grew up in rural Missouri, in Columbia, Missouri, but right outside on a farm. We had pigs for a very long time. We raised pigs to send them to slaughter, which sounds so ridiculous, and it is. 

I didn't grow up with much, even though we were on the farm. We didn't have money. I was raised an only child, but my mother was one of 11: eight brothers and two sisters. My grandmother lived with us. My aunt lived with us. So I grew up in a multigenerational house, and that shaped who I am today so much, as a person and as a woman. That's where I learned community. That's where I learned that it's family over everything. Our door was always open to anyone. That's how I go forward and live my life now.

Growing up in the country in rural Missouri, what I knew around me was Future Farmers of America. I knew farming. I knew horticulture. And for the most part, there weren't a lot of people who looked like me. I was one of very few Black folks in my school, and definitely where I lived. Black people in my life called me Oreo, which I didn't really care about, because I was a girl who loved country music. I was always a little left of center because I was a nerd and I loved comic books. And because I was an only child, I spent a lot of time by myself. I would create stories and make plays and do all kinds of things because I had to spend time alone.

All of those things helped shape the woman I am today. It turned me into a creative. Growing up as a brown girl loving country music is one of the things that serves me really well in my business today, because the genre is so big and it's authentically something I love. I was a little Black nerd loving comic books, a Marvel kid, and now that's the biggest film franchise there is. All of those things I was told I was weird for back then serve me well in my career now. I always had that "figure it out, you're on your own" attitude, and that translates to now in this business.

You made history as the first Black woman to co-host ET. Did being the “first” change the way you thought about the job once you had it?

I've always known that the distinction of being the first Black woman to host this show was bigger than me. I told the bosses here, when we were talking about it before I was ever given the job, that it means more than just Nischelle Turner being named the host of 'Entertainment Tonight,' because there's a whole generation of little girls out there who never saw themselves. I'm a firm believer that you have to see it in order to start thinking it could happen.

I know I stand on the shoulders of greatness in this business. I start with Carole Simpson, who was a north star for me as a young girl. Then I go to Oprah Winfrey, Robin Roberts, Tamron Hall, Arthel Neville, Gayle King. These women I've always looked to, who I always saw excelling in a space where they were the only one, or one of the only ones, and they all led by this very graceful example.

If I'm being honest, I don't think I ever thought I would get this job, because Kevin [Frazier] was the co-host here, and he's a Black man, and I just didn't think they would name two Black people as hosts of 'Entertainment Tonight.' Maybe that was short-sighted of me. I'll own that. But I didn't know if America was ready for that, because I'd never seen it before. Thankfully, I was proven very wrong. It's not lost on me to this day. I still think about it every single day, how I want to show up in this space, because I don't ever want to be the last Black woman to host this show. As I go into year six of being the host, I'm hoping they're saying, "We made the absolute right decision, and this Black woman is setting the table for so many other brown and Black girls to come and do the same thing."

You've been at 'Entertainment Tonight' a long time and have done so many celebrity interviews. Who is someone you spoke with who left you with a completely different perspective?

Just recently, I sat down and did a career retrospective with Mira Sorvino, which you probably wouldn't expect me to say. I didn't know a ton about her. I knew the movies she did and the television show she did. I knew she was nominated for an Oscar [and won]. But our conversation got really deep and raw and honest, and I really felt like I got to know a side of her I don't think she shows a lot. I became even more of a fan of hers than I ever thought I would be, and I started going down the rabbit hole of Mira Sorvino movies.

Then there's someone who was as advertised, because I always heard she was really nice, and that's Hannah Waddingham. She has fast become my favorite person in Hollywood. I think she embodies womanhood. She embodies what a girl's girl is, everything that's feminine and soft and fantastic about women, what a go-getter is, what a talent is. She's always so lovely and always ready to play, and she's always been vulnerable about being a woman of a certain age who's trying to figure out her happy ending and what that looks like. I identify with that in spades. My heart is full whenever I see her.

Karen Pittman is another one. I went in not really knowing what to think of her, and I've gotten to know her, and I just enjoy her. I think she is so sophisticated and graceful and smart and layered. Lately, she decided to talk about food insecurity and let everyone in on the fact that she was on SNAP and suffered from food insecurity for a very long time in this business. What we see is a front-facing actress who seems to have everything together, and to hear her story of, "I had these two babies. I didn't know if I could feed them. We really struggled." To me, that's the epitome of a woman. I went in not really knowing, and I've come out with a lovely friendship and someone I really respect and admire in this business.

You've talked about your morning prep routine and how it helps you in your job. Out of all your habits, which one has made the biggest difference?

I do have a pretty set routine. I was up at about 4 this morning. The thing that has really done well for me in the last several years is that right when I get up, I don't move. For about 10, 15 minutes, I just sit in silence and think and try to clear my mind, so that when I step out of bed, I'm in the best headspace to tackle the day. I didn't used to be that way. I used to be like, "Okay, here we go." But now I wake up and I just sit. I look into the dark. I say, "Thank you, God, for waking me up again this morning," and I try to prep myself mentally for the day.

Then I tackle the trades and start reading everything, trying to catch up on anything I missed overnight or over the weekend. I really dig in, and I do that for about an hour, an hour and a half in the morning, so when we go into our morning meeting at 7 o'clock, I'm armed with everything I need. Now you also have to go through all the social channels, because there's so much there, so the prep becomes even more. But the mental prep has been really good for me. Centered, settled and ready to work.

One thing we like to ask people for Maxed Out is how much time you spend on your phone per day. Typically, people have said around five-ish hours.

I think likely double that. I live on my phone so much. We constantly have Slacks coming in, emails coming in, text messages going out. I'm constantly making phone calls, trying to call sources and get information about pieces we're doing tonight, or backstage information, like what happened at the VMAs. So for me, I think it's double that time.

When you're not working, where do you like to go on the internet to unwind? Newsletters, podcasts and books are all fair game here!

I do all of those things. I'm obsessed with Carole Radziwill's Substack. I think she's a great writer, and she has a really cute, cool Substack.

I'm a podcast girly. I love a good podcast, and I like a mindless podcast in a lot of ways. Sometimes I'll listen to Oprah's podcast, and you get fed in those ways. But I'm a 'Bitch Sesh' girl. I love Danielle [Schneider] and Casey [Wilson]. They make me really, really giggle, so I listen to them when I want to giggle and get my Bravo fix. There are these two guys, Ronnie Karam and Ben Mandelker, who do a podcast called 'Watch What Crappens,' where they recap Bravo shows, and they're hilarious. 'SmartLess' too. I listen to those guys a lot. In L.A. we're a car culture, so I like to put on podcasts that make me giggle, so I can relax and get the day's mess out of my mind.

My girlfriend Amanda Kloots just started a podcast called 'Good Grief' that I really love. She lost her husband, Nick Cordero, to COVID six years ago, and she decided to do a podcast about grief and how you walk through it and live with it. While I haven't had the experience she had, we've all suffered grief in different ways, so I think it's really interesting hearing other people talk about how it comes to them, how they work through it or sit in it.

Lately, I've been watching old Kennedy Center Honors videos on YouTube because I love music. The ones I love the most: the Aretha Franklin tribute to Carole King. That was beautiful. I've watched that 50,000 times. And the Beyoncé tribute to Tina Turner.

I'm a subscriber to Puck and Status because I'm a political nerd too, and I read those newsletters every day. 

I do read a lot. I just finished Tomi Adeyemi's 'Children of Blood and Bone' series, the 'Legacy of Orïsha' series, and I loved it too much. I love sci-fi, and I love that she writes about the sci-fi world in our voice, from people of color. I haven't figured out what I want to read next, but I'm on the hunt. With the holidays coming up, I try to take time to just sit and read, because that's food for my soul.

What we’re seeing and hearing around the industry.

More news outlets bet on women-focused content. CNN’s Pamela Brown is launching a new streaming series, ‘Body Language by CNN,’ investigating the health issues that impact women. The show was partly inspired by Pamela’s own experience navigating postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder after the birth of her second child.

I’ve seen a wave of independent media companies launch over the past year appealing directly to women (us obviously included!) and lately, I’ve noticed that trend spilling over into mainstream media. CNN’s announcement comes the same week Fox News launched ‘The Girls,’ a new women-led podcast that feels a bit like the right-leaning answer to ‘The View.’ Also this week, Fast Company announced plans to grow a dedicated community and adjacent content for and about working moms. 

I don’t think the appetite for manosphere content is going away any time soon — the Joe Rogans and Theo Vons of the world are doing just fine and probably will continue to do so. But at the moment, at least, women seem like an audience legacy media is paying more attention to.

Romance novels are getting their own vertical film studio. Veteran producers Jamie Gordon and Maggie Malina are launching Rommi, a new studio making hour-long live-action “micromovies” aimed at adult romance readers. The movies are designed for social platforms, with the first project, ‘Drive Me Mad,’ coming this month from ‘Unlikely Story’ author Ali Rosen. Rommi is also partnering with Bookish Media, whose TikTok account has more than 2 million followers, and already has adaptations of popular romance novels including Brittainy Cherry’s ‘The Mixtape’ and Kate Robb’s ‘This Spells Love’ in the works. The timing makes a lot of sense: romance has become one of publishing’s biggest cultural engines, and Hollywood is increasingly mining the space for adaptations. Rommi is basically betting there’s room for something between a TikTok clip and a full-blown Netflix movie. One notable detail: unlike Harlequin’s recent experiment with AI-generated microdramas, Rommi says its films will be made without generative AI. We love to see it. 

Have a tip for me? Send it to stephanie@la-fronde.com or my Signal if you want to keep things confidential (itsstephwill.94).

Remember Upworthy? Upworthy in its current state feels like a media company from a bygone era when all the BuzzFeed-type sites were thriving in the early-to-mid 2010s. But it’s still kicking, and it’s even planning to make a comeback with the appointment of veteran producer Sarah Yourgrau to lead Upworthy’s new entertainment studio. The new division will produce original programming, with the goal of bringing its positive storytelling to new platforms beyond social and its website. The new studio announcement marks Amanda Farrand’s first big initiative at the company since joining as Upworthy’s CEO this summer. And now might be the best time for Upworthy to make that comeback. I’ve especially noticed the rise of “comfort” creators who are leaning into more whimsy and cozy at-home lifestyle content (Barefoot Contessa style) to counter all the hard news coming across our feeds. I think if Upworthy establishes a smart lineup of recognizable personalities to drive its slate and plays its cards right by leaning into what’s working right now, they could very well pull off a comeback!

Other Seen & Heard desserts for the road…

The fate of CNN. Bari Weiss will apparently not have a role at CNN once the dust settles on the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. 

For all the ‘Heated Rivalry’ fans out there who care: The NHL is trying to capitalize on the show’s fandom with its ‘Hot for Hockey’ marketing campaign where the league will release a series of audio romance stories centered on real-life NHL storylines. The stories will be 30-to-90 seconds in length and they’ll use the names and likenesses of actual players (which the league says it got the players' permission to use). Interesting that the NHL seems so keen to bank on the show’s popularity but has been hesitant to put its full weight in supporting the LGBTQ+ community. 

‘Good Noticings’ gets noticed by a talent agency bigwig. WME has signed Claire Parker and Ashley Hamilton, hosts and creators of the ‘Good Noticings’ podcast, to help them expand their footprint to TV. The pair has a sizable millennial and Gen Z audience, with more than 11.2 million all-time audio downloads and more than 100 million views across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram in the last year, according to Deadline. Besides helping Claire and Ashley land television projects, WME will also help them secure touring opportunities, book deals and brand partnerships.