Busy Friday In Lawsuit Land: THR, Deadline Get The Goods, While Others Play Catch-up

UPDATE: Deadline FINALLY weighed in with the Raimi story at around 2:03....five hours after THR had it. The Wrap had it about 1:55. Still nothing on Variety's homepage.

The Hollywood Reporter continues its dominance over everyone else when it comes to legal stories, and really, nobody else comes close. The recently promoted Eriq Gardner had a busy Friday: First, he published the Hawaii Five-O story; then the Sam Raimi sequel story. Later, Matt Belloni chimed in with the CBS-ABC spat over the latter’s plans for a “Big Brother”-like series. So did Nellie over at Deadline. Good on them. Here’s the deal on legal coverage: Deadline has always been trying to find someone and finally did (Dominic Patten) who is only so-so plugged in. He’s better than having nothing, but I’m not sure he’s going to get the huge ones a la THR, Esq. Variety and The Wrap are pretty much moribund in that department. Just writing stories from stories they read elsewhere. No real legal breaks beyond an occasional decent one. THR, meanwhile, has really put its stamp on that corner of the trade business. Eriq and Matt are terrific in that world, and they have news judgment; they know what’s appropriate for the site and what isn’t.