Latest news with #Schur
NBC News
5 days ago
- Sport
- NBC News
The Red Sox started winning after trading a star player. Fans still aren't buying it.
But the brief post-Devers success hasn't quelled the concerns of every fan when it comes to how the Red Sox are operating. 'Half of Red Sox Nation was viewing the deal through the bigger picture of what ownership has done in the last five years, which is to say they dumped Mookie Betts for money reasons,' said Mike Schur, the "Parks and Recreation" creator who is also a lifelong Boston fan. (For years, Schur wrote under the pseudonym 'Ken Tremendous' for the baseball blog Fire Joe Morgan and elsewhere.) In 2020, Boston traded Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have since won two World Series with him on the team. Betts was the American League MVP in 2018 and also made four All-Star teams while he was in Boston. He was sent to Los Angeles after he rejected a contract offer from the Red Sox. Even if Devers is not the player Betts is, the decision to trade him clearly echoed the Betts saga to fans. 'Where is the money going, [and] why is it not going to Mookie Betts? Why are we not winning? Why are we not getting quality talent?' Himanshu Patel, a Red Sox fan, told WFXT-TV of Boston outside Fenway Park the day after Devers' departure. 'You traded away your best player, your highest-paid player, for what I'm calling Big League Chew and a bag of balls,' NBC Sports Boston analyst Trenni Casey said in the wake of the trade. 'This is a salary dump, and that should frustrate people.' Schur cited shortstop Xander Bogaerts' signing with the San Diego Padres in 2022 after 10 years with the Red Sox as another prime example. 'Their homegrown stars have been repeatedly going somewhere else, and other teams are just paying them more money,' Schur said. 'The Red Sox have a big-market advantage in a sport with no cap. They should be paying these guys." Schur added that there could have been justifiable baseball reasons for the Red Sox to trade Devers, who ranked 83rd in defensive wins above replacement among AL third basemen in 2024. While Boston may have potentially mismanaged Devers' positional change, the team was also justified in moving him. Financially, however, the Red Sox are lagging behind their contemporaries. Boston ranked sixth among MLB teams with $514 million in revenue last season, according to CNBC's calculations. Boston's operating income last year was $120 million, according to Forbes. However, the Red Sox' payroll is only the 13th-highest in MLB. While calculations vary and are not exact, Boston's 2025 payroll is roughly 33% to 37% of its 2024 revenue. The New York Mets, meanwhile, are estimated to be spending 74% of their 2024 revenue on payroll this season. While Red Sox fans may see an ownership group that's no longer willing to spend, at least one former executive is encouraging patience. 'You cannot allow a player to talk to the front office or about the front office the way Devers did,' said former Miami Marlins president of baseball operations David Samson, who added Boston's ownership group (which has won four championships this century) deserves more grace. 'They have shown when it's time to spend, they'll spend,' Samson said. 'They've also shown that they're smart. I just don't understand how they don't get the benefit of the doubt.' (Samson, it should be noted, oversaw a Marlins organization that routinely traded away homegrown talent because of financial fears — though Miami was and is in a much different revenue sphere from the Red Sox.) Schur conceded that "the cold, hard economic calculations are not always necessarily a bad thing." "You want your team to be smart. You don't want them to overvalue guys," he said. "The problem is they are doing this with their own homegrown players. Like, the economics of this shouldn't matter anymore when it comes to Mookie Betts. 'The Devers thing was this perfect collision of being smart about economics and also this nagging feeling about the ownership caring when it comes to the long-term stewardship of this team.' As for the mild success of the team since it traded Devers, Schur is level-headed, pointing to an easier schedule and the small sample size. He also added that he's the ownership's dream fan, because he will support the club no matter what. 'But they do have to worry about people who are a little less intense than I am,' Schur said. 'Because if you only evaluate guys year-to-year what are you worth, then the franchise gets a little less fun to root for.' Samson, however, believes Boston will soon reallocate the money it was spending on Devers. He also said it would be 'a terrible way to run a business' for the Red Sox to overpay players simply because they can afford to. 'I understand what the fans are saying,' Samson said. 'But on the other hand, are Mets fans happy Steve Cohen spends like a drunken soldier? I would say that they won't be happy if they lose in the first round. But maybe I'm wrong.'
CNBC
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNBC
'Parks and Rec' creator: My No. 1 strategy for helping 'people do their best'—it works anywhere
The key to coaxing the best results from your team at work: Give them equal doses of structure and creative freedom, says Mike Schur, the Emmy Award-winning creator of television shows like NBC's "Parks and Recreation," "The Good Place" and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine." "I believe that people do their best work when there's a strong system that also allows for freedom within the system," Schur told comedian Amy Poehler on a May 20 episode of her podcast, "Good Hang." Even experienced professionals need good managers to bring out their best ideas and collaborative work, said Schur. He's found the most success by giving workers enough autonomy to get their creative juices properly flowing, while establishing clear boundaries to ensure they can meet their deadlines without veering off task, he said. Describing his process, Schur said he first works to "set up the boundaries," telling his team what needs to be done and when, before setting them free to reach those goals however they choose. "You lay out the fence and you [say] 'Anywhere in here is fine,'" said Schur. "Then you get the funniest people you can, who are the most comfortable and happy, and you say: 'Don't worry, everything's taken care of, rules are in place, the fence is in place, go crazy.' And you let people do their best, most fun, most joyous work."Flexibility and an open dialogue help create that welcoming environment of structured freedom, added Poehler, who starred in and co-produced "Parks and Recreation," with Schur serving as the showrunner. "People that are in your systems are very well taken care of, very well considered. And, in my case, it changed my life to be in your system. I love a good system too," Poehler said, adding: "You are not a strict person who doesn't take feedback." Schur isn't alone in his approach. Managers can inspire creative thinking — and better results — by giving their teams more autonomy over how an idea is created, or how a goal is reached, psychologist Teresa M. Amabile wrote for the Harvard Business Review in 1998. "People will be more creative, in other words, if you give them freedom to decide how to climb a particular mountain," Amabile wrote. "You needn't let them choose which mountain to climb. In fact, clearly specified strategic goals often enhance people's creativity." When Google went public in 2004, it had a "20% time" rule, where employees were encouraged to spend 20% of their time at work on projects that "they think will most benefit Google," co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page wrote at the time. Having the autonomy to experiment with interesting side projects, with the agreed-upon structure of working to "benefit" the company, "empowers [employees] to be more creative and innovative," wrote Page and Brin. Similarly, Netflix co-founder and chairman Reed Hastings built a corporate culture around what he calls "freedom and responsibility." At Netflix, employees are granted enough freedom to let their creativity run wild, making the company more adaptable when seeking solutions to major challenges, Hastings wrote in a 2009 PowerPoint presentation. Netflix balances that freedom with an expectation of accountability, where employees are expected to own their failures and take responsibility when goals are not met, according to Hastings' presentation. Those boundaries are essential to ensure you can "give freedom and not have chaos," he told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin in 2020, adding that he seeks out employees who can effectively prioritize that balance. Schur also said he's typically drawn to working with "roll-with-the-punches people" who can collaborate with each other in nearly any circumstance. "Wonderful things happen" when you hire smart and creative people who can improvise when needed, establish clear boundaries, and give them room to play, he said. That strategy might not be "revelatory," Schur noted. But "I really believe that is the best way to work creatively in a group.",
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
TV writer Michael Schur receives star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Television writer, producer, director and creator Michael Schur was honored with the 2,812th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on May 21, 2025. Schur was joined by Ted Danson, Amy Poehler and his family. Schur is best known for his work on "Parks and Recreation," "The Good Place," "A Man on the Inside," "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "The Office."
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Amy Poehler Gives ‘Parks and Rec' Fans the Greatest Gift: The ‘Philly Justice' Trailer with Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, and Kathryn Hahn
It's not quite 'Threat Level Midnight,' but it's close — and real. Amy Poehler has revealed the faux spoof TV show trailer for 'Philly Justice,' a fake series she and 'Parks and Recreation' co-stars Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, Paul Rudd, Nick Offerman, and Kathryn Hahn made for fun while filming the hit NBC sitcom. The existence of the project has been teased throughout Poehler's podcast 'Good Hang' and now, finally, its trailer is out. The tagline reads: 'Philadelphia has never been more in need of justice.' More from IndieWire Are the Young Men OK? On Some of the Season's Best Shows, Not at All See the Tricks 'Agatha All Along' Used to Walk the Witches' Road 'Parks and Rec' creator Mike Schur, producer Morgan Sackett, and stars Scott and Jones joined Poehler for world premiere of the 'Philly Justice' trailer on 'Good Hang.' 'This one is for the fans. We heard you loud and clear,' Poehler said, adding that 'Philly Justice' was conceived after looking at a cast photo on the set of 'Parks and Rec' during Season 4. That inside joke spurred a parallel to a very real David E. Kelley procedural pilot that was shot in 2005 but never aired. Dylan McDermott was part of that series; Schur and the 'Parks and Rec' writers room then wrote a 20 page script for a fictional spin on 'Philly Justice' purely for the 'Parks and Rec' cast to have. However, McDermott was asked to reprise his role for the trailer, which was never going to be released, until now. Check out the 'Philly Justice' trailer below and deduce the plot yourself. All we can say is that Poehler previously said during podcast 'Good Hang' that it was a 'shitty show' with Hahn playing a lawyer who may or may not be in a relationship with Jones' character. 'Parks and Rec' aired from 2009 to 2015 for seven seasons. The series also starred Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Aziz Ansari, Rob Lowe, Jim O'Heir, and Retta. Schur said in 2019 that if there were to be any sequel series, the whole cast would have to be on board. 'I would say we would do it if literally every person says yes. If one person says no, we shouldn't do it,' he said. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie The 55 Best LGBTQ Movies and TV Shows Streaming on Netflix Right Now
Boston Globe
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Amy Poehler and Michael Schur have lined up a new project together
Since then, Schur and Poehler have gone their own ways in Hollywood. Schur created NBC's existential series ' Advertisement Probably knowing 'Dig' was already in the pipeline, Poehler has long been singing the praises of Myers' 'Excavations.' The paperback edition sports a quote from her on its cover ('funny, smart, and deeply delicious'), and she even highlighted it during her Advertisement Thankfully, Poehler didn't turn to one of those for her next TV project. Instead, she's doubling down on a story about a quartet of women who have to work together in the face of stodgy patriarchs who'd prefer to maintain the status quo at all costs. In that respect, 'Dig' could actually prove to be a very fitting way for Schur and Poehler to make their return to TV as a team. The most successful throughline of 'Parks and Recreation' — and, come to think of it, 'The Good Place' — was its pairing of relentless optimism with sharp criticism of bureaucratic structures that run on red tape and rancid vibes. Its weakest moments, meanwhile, came from straying too far from 'warmly big-hearted' into 'aggressively saccharine' territory. Given the premise of 'Dig,' and the fact that Schur and Poehler are adapting the script from someone else's writing, it'll be fascinating to see how much they go back to the wholesome well from whence 'Parks' came — and how much they push themselves to go beyond their familiar shared past to end up somewhere new. Caroline Framke is a media analyst who previously served as Variety's chief TV critic. Her other work can be found at The Atlantic, Vulture, Vox, and more. A Smith College graduate, Framke is currently based in New York City. Advertisement
