Hollywood news banter

Jeff Bezos finally released Amazon Prime subscription numbers--the service has more than 100 million members. The impulse may be to compare that to Netflix, which just recently announced 125 million subscribers, but those numbers are apples and oranges. Everyone subscribing to Netflix is there for the video content, but likely only a small fraction of Amazon Prime subscribers ar watching Amazon shows. Most are in it for the free shipping.

Producer Bill Mechanic resigned from the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences via a fiery send-off. His complaints with the Academy--everything from the cost of the Academy Museum to the Oscars telecast being too bloated to its handling of diversity--highlight the difference between the old guard and the new.