Hirschorn, who famously predicted that the New York Times could go out of business in May is a former magazine editor who started Inside.com with Kurt Andersen before jumping over to the world of cable TV at VH1 and now his own production company Ish Entertainment. Sullivan is a former editor of The New Republic who now is proudly a blogger who makes his home at The Atlantic's web site.

For thirty minutes they talked about the dismal state of print, but mostly it was a good old-fashioned media schmoozefest and as a testament to their draw (or the paucity of media parties these days) the turnout was impressive, bringing out the likes of Sigourney Weaver, public radio heartthrob Ira Glass, New York editor Adam Moss, and glossy gossip queen Bonnie Fuller. These are the new things I learned last evening:

• Years ago, Hirschorn and Sullivan were roommates in D.C.
• Sullivan was once straight and had a girlfriend that Hirschorn thought was hot.
• Sullivan, who suffers from sleep apnea, did not sleep well the night before because he left his air mask back in D.C.
• ABC News in-house libertarian John Stossel was unaware of Andrew Sullivan's evangelism for testosterone therapy.
• Ira Glass hops from foot to foot when he wants to ask a question.
• Sigourney Weaver doesn't read Gawker.
• The media as we know it — i.e. relatively easy way for a large few to eke out a comfortable upperclass existence — is doomed.

Photo fun! See which media figures you can spot in the crowd!

Pics courtesy of The Atlantic

This week's episode featured Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek sexily purring over the greatness of the McD's Blizzard knockoff, the McFlurry. It wasn't the clever, winking product placement that can get away with itself; it was more like bad ad copy. You can only do the clever, winking thing a few times, and it burns itself out. NBC boy wonder Ben Silverman's enthusiastic embrace of product placement is just as tight as ever, because the money it brings in could be the one of the only things helping him hang onto his job.

So you should actually expect to see more shit like this in the shows you thought were too cool for it. It's the new price they have to pay to remain on air. As Michael Hirschorn points out, the wave of the future is more and more disposable crap coming to prime time TV (including, he thinks, "the Today show, or some version thereof" moving to an 8 p.m. slot). Jay Leno was only the beginning. [NY Mag]

Hirschorn's essay was commendable mainly because he refused to dismiss the more negative possibilities facing the Times; in fact, he realized how likely an extremely bad near future is, and gamed out just how the paper might rebound from a terrifying financial crisis without totally sacrificing itself. It would actually be a very useful piece for NYT execs to ponder. But most of the backlash against it has focused on his doomsday scenario, which not even Hirschorn really believes is going to happen: "what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May?"

No, it won't, but basing your argument on that fact is pointless. He said for effect. Specifically, one of the company's two $400 million credit agreements expires in May, and Hirschorn is pointing out that the paper could be facing a severe credit crisis when it does:

With more than $1billion in debt already on the books, only $46million in cash reserves as of October, and no clear way to tap into the capital markets (the company’s debt was recently reduced to junk status), the paper’s future doesn’t look good.

That is true. NYT superflack Catherine Mathis responded:

We have two revolving credit agreements.

These are agreements with banks that allow us to borrow up to $400 million under each agreement, or $800 million in total, whenever we need it. We repay what we have borrowed as cash comes in and the amount we can borrow is then replenished.

One of our agreements will expire in May 2009 and the other in June 2011.

As we have said publicly on more than one occasion, because we believe we need significantly less than the total $800 million available credit, we do not plan to replace the full $400 million that is expiring in May. There is no need to do so.

More accurately, there is no ability to do so. [We've emailed Mathis to try to confirm how much credit the company can get after that credit line expires, and we will update accordingly]. Essentially, the Times is having its credit card limit lowered.

Mathis also disputes Hirschorn's characterization that the company is borrowing money against its new headquarters building (up to $225 million) to pay back debt. It's actually a "Sale-leaseback" deal. This is hair-splitting.

These are the NYT's only two concrete objections to Hirschorn's article. The rest of Mathis' letter contains generalities about the Times' bright future. Neither of those two objections changes the fundamental fact that the company is full of debt with no clear way out, at the moment. Does that mean a way out will not be invented or negotiated? No. Does that mean the company will automatically fail or be sold? No. But it does mean that the Times is facing very real threats to the way it's done business and practiced journalism for the last century, and if it doesn't come up with a new and drastic plan soon (one halfway thought-out suggestion here), it will simply follow this road to oblivion.

The company has assets in Boston to sell. It has About.com to sell. But selling assets off to raise cash to pay debt while revenues continue to decline is not a great long-term strategy. Yes, the company has a dual-class stock structure which theoretically gives the Sulzberger family complete control, and protects it from any outsider swooping in to buy it. So what? The facts of the company's financial decline are what ultimately matter, not who oversees it.

Read Hirschorn's piece, then read Mathis' letter, then look over the NYT Co's financials, and then come up with a plausible scenario for this company getting through the next several years unscathed. I can't.

The series, which began airing on Monday night, puts its focus on the years between the advent of the birth control pill in 1960 and the time of the Reagan administration's first public acknowledgment of the AIDS crisis in 1987. Much like TDY, the show's narrative sweep is driven by interviews with key observers of the sexual revolution, including influential participants (Hugh Hefner, Susan Brownmiller, Helen Gurley Brown) and savvy cultural critics (David Allyn, Gay Talese). And although the timeframe the doc covers mirrors that of TDY, it diverges from the way that series was structured in that each episode does not revolve around the activities of a particular decade. As the series' Executive Producer Brad Abramson told Defamer, "There's so many more threads here. The Drug Years was more of a straight ahead story. Here, we have the story of sexual liberation, the story of gay rights and feminism, and the challenge was how we could do all that stuff and keep it together."

"Sex is one of those subjects where people have wildly divergent notions of what the 'important' stories are, relative to other stories," Torgoff added. While that may be true, the series is successful at tackling a broad swath of topics in a manner that is both smart and entertaining. It traces the evolution of Americans' attitudes toward sex from '50s era sexual repression through the "free love" Sixties and concludes with the hedonistic "Me Decade" that was the 1970s and its aftermath. But while the story is largely driven by talking heads, the manner in which the episodes are scored using both music and wonderous archival footage helps this doc remain compelling throughout its four-hour runtime.

And while the series concludes in the Reagan era, the creators of the series readily acknowledge that our culture continues to grapple with issues pertaining to sex to this day. And while the media's fascination with sex has not slowed, the manner in which the stories are covered certainly have. "In terms of coverage, it feels a lot more cynical and hypocritical these days," Abramson explained. "Be it Dateline or whoever, they will do a story on the latest outrage while they are laughing all the way to the bank. It allows them to 'tut-tut' and have some distance."

Some critics have argued that the show presents a biased and left-skewing perspective on the sexual revolution, the creators are quick to point out that it's not for a lack of trying. As Torgoff told us, "For the record, let me just say, that we contacted numbers of the most prominent conservative pundits and commentators in this nation — like James Dobson of Focus On The Family — and they did not want to participate. I think that they have their own agenda and are not interested in engaging in a debate on the subject."

That said, plenty did come to talk. In particular, Hugh Hefner gave one of the more extensive (and, frankly, more lucid) interviews he has given in a number of years in this series. And we can't forget Danny Glover, whose anecdotes about the Haight-Ashbury scene will forever change the way you think about Sergeant Roger Murtaugh.

And although you may have already missed the first two installments of the series, the series continues through Thursday night (and, because it's Vh1, you know you'll end up watching a four-hour marathon while you're hung over on a Saturday afternoon in the not too distant future). If you loved The Drug Years as much as we did, we have zero doubts that you'll be disappointed in this doc that's equal parts entertaining and educational.

• Sex: The Revolution [Vh1]

Of course, we're talking about Benjy Bronk (his submission video is highly recommended) and Eric the Midget. It's worth voting for them just to see the look on Paris's face were she contractually obligated to be in their proximity.

Or, you could take the road less traveled and vote for Defamer's own Molly McAleer. We forced her at gunpoint to participate in this social experiment, so the least you could do is send her directly into Paris's welcoming embrace.

• Eric The Actor Lynch Battles Benjy Bronk To Be Paris' BFF [Stern Rate]

Despite being banned from the Academy Awards this weekend, the ever media savvy Paris found a way to make Oscar Sunday work to her advantage. She was spotted walking around the Barney's in Beverly Hills holding hands with Benji Madden, the less famous and even less talented twin brother of Nicole Richie impregnator, Joel. While we harbor no illusions that the mainstream media will do anything other than breathlessly report that the two are "dating", we're calling shenanigans on this faux-mance and branding it the least believable fake relationship since Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley. Speaking of which — only seven more months til the VMAs, you two!

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

• Paris Hilton Returning to Reality TV

Michael Hirschorn left VH1 to form his own production company. He calls it "Ish Entertainment." Radar columnist Tionna Smalls lists "Talk Dat Ish Entertainment" on her Facebook page. Also she says she had "been in talks with Hirschorn over potential development deals" (!!!). Michael Hirschorn writes on Tionna's Facebook wall. Why does he do this? We're not sure. Nick Denton is also somehow complicit in all of this, as he is in all nefarious internet deeds. Our silence spoke volumes! Also then Julia Allison showed up! Whee! To sum up: Michael Hirschorn is engaged in some major Facebook drama and also Ish Entertainment will soon present "The Cleavage Hour With Tionna and Julia" weeknights on CMT. [SLCOutsider]

First, Hirschorn's career is an object lesson in the financial rewards of going downmarket. Hired as an editor to Kurt Andersen's dream team at New York Magazine, Hirschorn followed his mentor to the excellent Inside.com, a media news site that was too early for its time.

You might think Hirschorn would have professional qualms about bringing to the air shows like "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" — a dating show in which the prize is a bisexual internet phenomenon. But he's an inspiring manager, say former colleagues, and he's melded highbrow and lowbrow in a way that's common in the UK, but till now rare in US television. The offers he's weighing now will be something of a consolation for any mockery at Manhattan dinner parties with former colleagues at more refined institutions.

Pure speculation, this, but there's a grief-premium Sumner Redstone's media conglomerate may have to pay to compensate Hirschorn for his new Viacom boss. The VH1 programming chief was a protege of Tom Freston, the laid-back executive fired by the capricious 84-year-old Viacom owner after Freston failed to acquire MySpace. Redstone's new placeman, Philippe Dauman, is a lawyer.

"Hirschorn will be successful anywhere he goes," says a Viacom informant. "No use having to fight with an uncreative douche who doesn't get it." So, Hirschorn, just go! (Even if the Viacom offer is enticing.)