From KCRW, I'm Kim Masters, and this is the business.

Especially today, there's not that much room for you to play with pastels.

You know, you've got to paint with bolder colors.

You really have to pick a lane.

And if you have too many lanes available, then everyone in their heads picking a different lane.

Veteran TV writer-producer Rob Long was brought in on short notice to fix the faltering CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait.

Long, who made his name on the classic sitcom, Cheers, says Network TV requires a clear vision from the start.

Long talks about getting the series back on track, why he hopes there's not

a writer's strike, and what it's like to be one of the few outspoken conservatives in Hollywood.

But first on the news banter, buckle up. Universal goes all in with the fate of the furious

at CinemaCon. Stick around, it's the business from KCRW.

I am joined by my colleague in banter, Matt Bellany, the Hollywood reporter. Hello, Matt.

Hi there.

So, as you know, Matt, this past week in Las Vegas, the theater owners of America gathered for Cinemacon.

And this is an annual event where theater owners gather and the studios take turns presenting their upcoming movies.

And what they're trying to do is get these guys super excited about booking their movies into their theaters and that they're going to sell a lot of popcorn.

You know, some of them come in more advantage than others, be like, i.e. Disney or, you know, they just have been on such a tear that I'm sure that whatever they say is going to be good.

Theodore owners are willing to give them at least the benefit of the doubt.

And in some cases, you know, you see the studios throwing down.

Disney showed all of Pirates of the Caribbean and Universal showed all of Fate of the Furious, which is the next and the Fast and the Furious franchise. And it's the first one without, you know, really without Paul Walker, who was sort of reconstructed through computer magic in the last one. So they want to keep it going. And, you know, it doesn't always work out to show the full movie. I don't know that either one of these was considered an absolute home run by people who saw the whole thing, but some people were very enthusiastic.

They were, and, you know, this is one of those things where they, they show the people who care about the popcorn movies the most.

There were no critics invited to these screenings, and there was a very strict embargo on reactions.

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