20 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
The Boston Red Sox are a Major League Baseball team and one of the most storied franchises in American sports.
American NFL franchise founded in 1960 — which became 'America's Team' under coach Tom Landry — and which Jerry Jones transformed into the most commercially valuable sports franchise in America after purchasing it in 1989.
David Letterman is an American television host who hosted Late Night and Late Show for 33 years, becoming one of the highest-earning entertainers in television history.
John Hench's account of the principles behind Disney theme park design — drawing on his 65 years as a Disney Imagineer to articulate the visual and experiential principles that make Disney parks work.
Richard Snow's 2019 account of Walt Disney's creation of Disneyland — the story of how Disney ignored all expert advice, personally funded the park's development, and created an entirely new form of entertainment from scratch.
Fear Factor is an American reality television program that challenged contestants to perform fear-inducing stunts, shown in class as a paradigmatic lower pleasure.
American television network founded in 1986 by Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller as the first successful fourth broadcast network, challenging the ABC/CBS/NBC oligopoly.
Japanese businessman who served as president of Nintendo from 1949 to 2002, transforming it from a playing card company into the dominant global video game platform through ruthless third-party licensing control, the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy.
American entertainment executive who ran Disney Studios in the 1980s renaissance (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King), co-founded DreamWorks with Spielberg and Geffen, and later founded Quibi — the failed short-form video platform.
Judy Sheindlin, known as Judge Judy, is an American former family court judge turned television personality whose courtroom reality show became the highest-rated daytime program in American television history.
Madonna is an American pop star and cultural provocateur who became one of the best-selling music artists of all time through constant reinvention and boundary-pushing.
Paramount Pictures, one of the original Hollywood major studios founded in 1912, led by Barry Diller as chairman from 1974–1984 during a golden era of blockbuster filmmaking.
Celebrity interview podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett, structured around surprise guest reveals and spontaneous comedic conversation.
Sony's gaming division and the PlayStation platform — launched in 1994 — which became the dominant home gaming console, selling 500M+ units across all PlayStation generations, and which was Nvidia's early development partner for 3D graphics technology.
American singer-songwriter and the best-selling musician of her generation, who used the dispute over her master recordings to launch a re-recording project that became a landmark in artist rights and music economics.
American mid-capacity concert venue in Norfolk, Virginia — one of the most acclaimed live music venues in the US — referenced in MW discussions of live music experiences.
The Simpsons is an American animated television series created by Matt Groening, the longest-running prime-time animated series in television history.
Chinese short-form video platform launched globally in 2018 that became the most downloaded app in the world — introducing algorithmic content distribution independent of social graph and transforming how young people discover and consume content.
American animator and entrepreneur — co-founder of The Walt Disney Company — creator of Mickey Mouse, Snow White (first feature-length animated film), Fantasia, Bambi, Cinderella, and the concept of the theme park (Disneyland, 1955) — one of the most creatively productive entrepreneurs in American history.
CEO of The Walt Disney Company (2005-2020, 2022-2024) who transformed Disney through three landmark acquisitions (Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm) and the launch of Disney+.