Neal Gabler | |
|---|---|
 Gabler in 2017 | |
| Born | 1950 (age 74–75)[1] |
| Education | University of Michigan |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, writer, broadcaster |
| Employer | University of Southern California[3] |
| Known for | Novels, journalism, political commentary, film reviews |
Neal Gabler (born 1950) is an American journalist, writer and film critic.[1][2][3]
Gabler graduated fromLane Tech High School in Chicago, Illinois, class of 1967, and was inducted into the National Honor Society. He graduatedsumma cum laude from theUniversity of Michigan and holds advanced degrees in both film and American culture.[3]
Gabler has contributed to numerous publications includingThe New York Times,The Los Angeles Times,Esquire,New York Magazine,Vogue,American Heritage,The New Republic,Us, andPlayboy. He has appeared on many television programs, includingThe Today Show,CBS Morning News,The News Hour,Entertainment Tonight,Charlie Rose, andGood Morning America. He hostedSneak Previews forPBS, and introduced films on the cable networkAMC.
He is the author of seven books:An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood (1989),Winchell: Gossip, Power and the Culture of Celebrity (1994),Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality (1998);Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (2006);Barbra Streisand: Redefining Beauty, Femininity, and Power (2016);Catching the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Liberal Hour 1932–1975 (2020); andAgainst the Wind: Edward Kennedy and the Rise of Conservatism, 1976–2009 (2022).
In 1982, Gabler paired withJeffrey Lyons as replacement movie reviewers for the PBS showSneak Previews. The original hosts ofSneak Previews,Roger Ebert andGene Siskel, had left the show for contractual reasons and Gabler and Lyons went toChicago to produce the show. He was a writer for theDetroit Free Press at the time. Gabler leftSneak Previews in 1985 citing differences with the direction of the show. He was replaced byMichael Medved, who had had occasional appearances onSneak Previews before replacing Gabler full-time.
In a 1988 interview, he remarked that "I'm a great believer both politically and aesthetically inpluralism. There ought to be movies for everybody. There ought to be movies for teenagers and there ought to bePolice Academys – so long as they're well-made and I certainly won't begrudge anyone that – and there ought to beTender Mercies and there ought to beIndiana Joneses."[4]
Gabler was one of four panelists on theFox News Channel show,Fox News Watch. On February 2, 2008, the show's host,Eric Burns, announced Gabler had left the show to work for PBS.
In 2016 Gabler attracted commentary for his cover story inThe Atlantic entitled "The Shame of Middle Class Americans", in which he described the precarious debt and financial difficulties of many middle and upper class Americans, and described in some detail his own financial insecurity.[5]
Gabler has taught at theUniversity of Michigan and atPennsylvania State University. As of September 2011, Gabler is a Research Fellow at theShorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. As of 2021[update] he is on the writing faculty atStony Brook Southampton,[6] and has been a Senior Fellow at theUSC AnnenbergNorman Lear Center.[7] An excerpt fromLife the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality by Gabler was used on theAP English Language exam.[citation needed]
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