'Variety' Nixes Crits

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Although Sunday's Oscar telecast was a ratings winner, and the Hollywood Reporter trade journal is on the upswing, expanding its staff, not all the news in the entertainment industry is positive.

Variety, once the powerhouse show biz trade journal, has, to quote its own famous headline, "laid an egg" by handing eight staffers pink slips this week, including its prominent movie and theater critics.  Todd McCarthy, Variety's principal film critic who joined the paper in 1979, and chief theater critic David Rooney, both were let go, along with movie critic Derek Elley. McCarthy was the journal's longest-tenured writer.

The beleaguered Variety, whose Web site languishes behind a paywall, has slashed its staff size by more than 30 percent dating back to November 2008.