Peter Funt
One morning during Bill Clinton’s presidency I got a call from my friend who works at the Pebble Beach golf course. Mr. Clinton was teeing off at 6:30, he said, and if I hurried over I could tag along. The golf was underwhelming. (More interesting..
On September 3, 1833, a 23-year-old publisher named Benjamin Day revolutionized the news business by producing a paper that sold for just a penny. The Sun, which soon became the nation’s most successful daily, used as its slogan, “It Shines for ..
The hit sitcom “Hacks,” starring Jean Smart as a talkshow host who breaks the glass ceiling for women, just wrapped its fourth season on Max. As delightful as the series has proved to be, it reminds us that women were actually pioneers in broadc..
My wife Amy purchased a gift card for our daughter at Sephora, the large retailer of beauty products, but all she got was disappointment. When Stephanie tried to use it the clerk informed her the card had a $0 balance. No money. It seems gift cards ..
There’s nothing artificial about the controversy that’s growing among homeowners, educators, doctors and sports administrators over fake grass. The artificial turf market is projected to nearly double in the U.S. by next year. Sports facilities ..
Ever find yourself at the coffee counter in need of one of those cardboard insulators for your hot paper cup? What’s that called? Few people know — including many, I discovered, who work at Starbucks. It’s a zarf. Zarf is an Arabic word for �..
Elwood Edwards died last week. Can’t place the name? Chances are you’ve heard him speak. Edwards, an employee at TV station WKYC in Ohio, was the voice of AOL, declaring for millions of us, “You’ve got mail!” Ben Baldanza also died last we..
In a memorable “Saturday Night Live” football sketch from 2016, Vanessa Bayer toils in the kitchen preparing Totino’s Pizza Rolls while her six “hungry guys” lounge in the living room watching “the big game.” It’s hilarious — but n..
If Vice President Kamala Harris, the former prosecutor who insists, “I know Donald Trump’s type,” takes the advice of many Democrats and tries Tuesday night to “prosecute the case” against Trump, she’s likely to lose. And by lose I mean ..
Fantasy football is played by more than 50 million Americans — and we’re all experts. Of course, my expertise usually costs me money while the genuinely smart analysts earn the big bucks. As the 2024 season kicks off, we find ourselves drifting,..
If you were among those curious about J.D. Vance's positions on key issues, you got some answers the other day when the GOP vice presidential nominee sat for three separate TV interviews. But what you actually learned depended on which program you w..
If Kamala Harris manages to become the 47th U.S. president it will be despite Joe Biden, not because of him. Biden is a decent man and an honorable politician. His record of accomplishments as president is robust. “I’ve given my heart and soul t..
Full Archive
- 08/06/2025 Judge Trump, not his golf game
- 07/28/2025 Penny papers
- 06/11/2025 How women invented the talkshow
- 03/10/2025 The growing gift card racket
- 01/14/2025 The battle over fake grass is very real
- 12/13/2024 There’s a word for that!
- 11/12/2024 My Friend Mike
- 10/23/2024 Women lead the fantasy football surge
- 09/09/2024 What Harris must do
- 08/27/2024 Fantasy football: A game of mistrust
- 08/13/2024 Questions about questions for J.D. Vance
- 07/25/2024 Biden, without rose-colored aviators
- 07/03/2024 Biden needs grade-schooling
- 05/21/2024 The NFL is always ready for some football
- 03/19/2024 What’s with all the big stuff?
- 03/11/2024 Our obsession with true crime
- 02/26/2024 Big pharma’s song and dance
- 02/13/2024 Larry David can’t curb his instincts
- 02/08/2024 Billy Joel’s AI State of Mind
- 02/01/2024 Did you really think TV would ditch ads?
- 01/22/2024 Pebble Beach benches celebrities
- 12/28/2023 Tom Smothers was serious about politics
- 12/06/2023 TV news puts its trust in women
- 11/20/2023 Fed Up? Yes. Nasty? No.
- 10/26/2023 Are you ready for some fantasy football?
- 10/17/2023 Suzanne Somers was pure showbiz
- 09/11/2023 Strikes make a humorless campaign even more so
- 08/21/2023 The Babe’s bats are still powerful
- 06/28/2023 Biden parodies strike out
- 06/12/2023 Pity the poor Trump donors
- 06/06/2023 Forget the mint. How about a fresh pillowcase?
- 05/23/2023 Chatbots are speaking my language
- 05/17/2023 All in a day’s deletions
- 05/09/2023 The vastness Newton Minow leaves behind
- 05/01/2023 The man who made food shopping fun
- 04/10/2023 It’s about time
- 03/29/2023 Pining for drier days
- 02/23/2023 Viewers should ask, what’s up with docs?
- 01/10/2023 Cry me an atmospheric river
- 01/02/2023 How Barbara Walters crafted her incomparable career
- 12/02/2022 Oy Tannenbaum
- 11/18/2022 TV tosses tinsel on 158 holiday films
- 11/09/2022 SOS to Apple: Fix this
- 09/20/2022 In fundraising, father knew best
- 08/30/2022 Give me a news break
- 08/24/2022 Fantasy Football’s Reality Check
- 08/15/2022 Democrats should be Iowa stubborn
- 07/12/2022 Make national parks free for all
- 06/30/2022 When it comes to water, we Californians are brown with envy
- 05/16/2022 Hollywood, like society, has trouble with the truth
- 04/25/2022 Players cling to baseball’s unwritten rules
- 03/16/2022 $ong sung green as music sales boom
- 03/07/2022 We Don’t Want Blood-Stained Oil
- 03/02/2022 Don’t Throw Away Your Mask
- 02/11/2022 Bingeing New TV Shows Won’t Last Long
- 02/02/2022 Washington Football Team goes for super blah
- 01/27/2022 Biden’s promise will weigh on court nominee
- 01/20/2022 Dog walkers know rules of the road
- 12/30/2021 New Year. New Laws. New Disparities.
- 12/24/2021 8mm Memories in a Digital Age
- 12/20/2021 Nike Becomes a Uni-Bomber
- 12/15/2021 Life Lessons From the Road
- 12/02/2021 A Guy Never Forgets His First Car
- 11/09/2021 Money, Money, Money
- 10/15/2021 This NFL Season Is in Handcuffs
- 10/04/2021 SNL Stumbles Over Biden
- 09/20/2021 Come on, Amazon, Make Service a Prime Concern
- 09/08/2021 Pay or Punish the Un-Vaxed?
- 08/18/2021 Big Memories of Little League
- 08/09/2021 73 Years of Smiles and Insights
- 08/02/2021 Taking Time to Think About Time
- 07/16/2021 All the Presidents’ Teeth
- 07/06/2021 The Memoir Pandemic
- 06/23/2021 Political Emails Reach New Lows
- 06/08/2021 There’s Too Much Breaking News to Bear
- 04/19/2021 Abnormality Has Its Virtues
- 03/19/2021 What’s in Store for Biden on SNL?
- 01/29/2021 The Wonder of Sonny Fox
- 01/21/2021 Trading Cards Collect New Fans
- 11/11/2020 Trump’s Game Shouldn’t Fool Anyone
- 11/05/2020 Voting Ends, Emails Continue
- 10/29/2020 How Real Should Reel Life Be?
- 10/09/2020 Documentaries Are Often Misleading
- 09/30/2020 Don’t Validate Trump by Nixing the Debates
- 09/04/2020 A Summer of Labor Days
- 08/28/2020 Fear Is on the Ballot
- 08/21/2020 In Search of My 9-Dollar Heirloom
- 08/07/2020 What’s to Debate About Needing More Debates?
- 07/31/2020 Trump’s Message
- 07/17/2020 Ballplayers Do a Spit-Take
- 07/14/2020 If COVID Isn’t a National Tragedy, What Is?
- 06/02/2020 A New Morning in News
- 05/14/2020 Sometimes a Rose Is More Than a Rose
- 05/11/2020 Class of 2020: Can You Hear Me Now?
- 05/05/2020 Biden Needs More Clickbait
- 04/24/2020 What YouTube Sees in Me
- 04/14/2020 Briefings Hit a New Low
- 04/08/2020 Politics in the Pandemic
- 04/06/2020 When to Pull the Plug on the President?
- 03/30/2020 The ‘Thank You Wave’ Makes a Comeback
- 03/24/2020 Trump’s Briefings Might as Well Be Briefer
- 03/16/2020 Apocalypse When?
- 03/09/2020 Candidly, Voters are Easily Confused
- 03/02/2020 Who Offers the Rx for Troubled Times?
- 02/25/2020 Candidates Peddle Their Papers
- 02/17/2020 Sooner or Later, Klobuchar Will Take the Prize
- 01/31/2020 Well-Organized Sanders Revolution Poised for Iowa Win
- 01/29/2020 Surrogates Carry the Ball in Iowa
- 01/28/2020 Iowa’s Stubbornness Makes Caucuses Hard to Predict
- 01/20/2020 I Can’t Endorse the Times’s Approach
- 01/17/2020 Snubbed
- 01/15/2020 Debate Fatigue
- 01/09/2020 Democrats’ Do Not Do List
- 01/06/2020 Democrats’ 2020 Outlook Is Hardly 20/20
- 12/16/2019 Democrats’ Debates Aren’t Helping Much
- 11/26/2019 Ho, Ho, the Mistletoe
- 11/22/2019 This Debate Was a Moderated Mess
- 11/15/2019 Trump’s Tweet Sets a Dangerous Precedent
- 10/24/2019 This World Series Has Real Gamers
- 10/18/2019 Waking Up to Smarter School Scheduling
- 08/23/2019 Litter to the Auditor
- 08/20/2019 1. Make Lists. 2. Read Lists. 3. Make More Lists.
- 08/07/2019 I’ll Bet on News Over Views
- 08/05/2019 Democrats Are Strangely Quiet About Guns
- 08/02/2019 Forgive Me. This Is Cold.
- 07/29/2019 Mueller’s Real Warning
- 07/22/2019 Hollywood Says Hooray for Mayor Pete
- 07/15/2019 The Mighty Pen Strikes Out
- 07/02/2019 NBC’s Debatable Debate Coverage
- 06/25/2019 I’m Sorry Joe Biden Sends So Many Emails
- 06/19/2019 I’d Trade 23 Candidates for One Sure Winner
- 06/13/2019 FDR in 2020
- 06/06/2019 What I Learned from One Busy Mom
- 05/20/2019 We’re All Seeking Sanctuary
- 05/10/2019 Cable Hosts Get The Memo
- 05/03/2019 Are Democrats Eating Their Own?
- 05/01/2019 Making Voting Easier
- 03/13/2019 California and the Death Penalty
- 02/19/2019 Politicians Are Running for TV Jobs
- 02/11/2019 Amy for America
- 02/07/2019 For Whom the Horn Honks
- 01/30/2019 Kamala Harris Tests CNN’s Campaign
- 01/23/2019 Corporate Players Love the Name Game
- 01/11/2019 No Oscar Host? No Problem!
- 01/03/2019 Bingeing Makes an Unhealthy TV Diet
- 12/26/2018 2019 Precap
- 12/12/2018 My Fantasy World
- 12/05/2018 A Strategy for Giving
- 11/16/2018 Give Trump Credit When Due
- 11/12/2018 Dogs Get Their Day in Florida Voting
- 11/05/2018 Onward to 2020
- 10/24/2018 How Many Newsletters Do You Receive?
- 10/21/2018 Arizona Mirrors the Midterm Divide
- 10/12/2018 It’s News to Me
- 10/04/2018 Corporate Names Go From Dollars to Donuts
- 09/30/2018 Kavanaugh and Beyond
- 09/19/2018 In Trump We Profit
- 09/17/2018 My Dad Deserved an Emmy
- 09/06/2018 Jimmy Carter’s Uncommon Decency
- 08/28/2018 Pre-Mourning Boosts Life Before Death
- 08/22/2018 Truth Will Out
- 08/21/2018 This Column Is a Column
- 08/14/2018 Baseball’s No-Comfort Zone
- 08/06/2018 Jamestown Is Now a Very Funny Place
- 07/30/2018 News the Numbers
- 07/18/2018 Trump’s 27 Loaded Questions
- 07/09/2018 Vacation Checklist
- 06/29/2018 The Maryland Muddle
- 06/25/2018 The Photo with Borderline Truth
- 06/14/2018 Boom Times in the Golden State
- 06/07/2018 Many Unhappy Returns
- 05/31/2018 Honestly, We’re Really Very Sorry
- 05/22/2018 Getting There Is Now One-Tenth of One Percent the Fun
- 05/14/2018 Baseball Bobbles Its Giveaways
- 05/07/2018 Trump’s Artful Dodging
- 04/30/2018 Plenty to Clean Up After Dinner
- 04/25/2018 A Week of Pomp and Circumstance
- 07/26/2010 Race Against Time
- 07/22/2010 Penny Wise and Fan Foolish
- 07/16/2010 Link to This
- 07/10/2010 King James Version
- 07/05/2010 The Daily Content
- 06/28/2010 Help Needed
- 06/21/2010 Studying the T-Threat
- 06/17/2010 News I Can’t Bear
- 06/14/2010 Tough Sell
- 06/10/2010 If I Ran a High School…
- 06/03/2010 Info Addict
- 05/24/2010 Up Front in America
- 05/19/2010 Gore’s New Gang
- 05/17/2010 We Are the Wonks
- 05/13/2010 A Closed Open
- 05/03/2010 A Standup President
- 04/28/2010 Cover Story
- 04/22/2010 Spit Ball
- 04/14/2010 Stuck in the Spin Cycle
- 04/07/2010 Got Apps?
- 04/02/2010 The Coca-Cola Column
