KCRW's The Spin-Off: Married Showrunners Marc Guggenheim and Tara Butters on Writing, TV and Their Unique Relationship

On the latest edition of KCRW's The Spin-Off, I talk to married showrunners Marc Guggenheim ("Arrow," "DC's Legends of Tomorrow") and Tara Butters ("Agent Carter," "Reaper") about what makes them tick:

Television writer-producers Tara Butters and Marc Guggenheim have been married almost 12 years. When they first met, they were both writers, and while they still continue to write, at this point, they're also each produced and overseen a couple of shows.

In this episode of The Spin-off, they tell Michael Schneider about their respective careers, how they once ended up working for rival superhero universes (Butters produced Marvel's Agent Carter and Guggenheim is a co-showrunner for DC's Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow), and what they've learned from parenting that has helped them in their jobs.

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MIKE ON KCRW: Mayweather/Pacquiao, DC Entertainment Woes, Age of Ultron and More

On this Monday's edition of The Business, Kim Masters and I bantered about several topics including:

- Disney and Marvel score another huge hit, and possibly even break box office records with The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

- Warner Bros and DC Comics, on the other hand, are struggling to find the kind of leadership that will help them be masters of their universe.

- Hulu announces several big deals at the Newfronts, most notably that they've nabbed the exclusive streaming rights to Seinfeld. 

- NBC is borrowing a page from the Netflix playbook and will make all 13 episodes of their new show Aquarius available at once at the end of May.

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On last Thursday's Hollywood Breakdown, Kim Masters and I talked all about "The Avengers: Age of Ultron's" big weekend, and how DC is struggling to get its film act together:

There are estimates that The Avengers: Age of Ultron will rake in as much as $230 million at the box office this weekend, which would break the $207 million opening weekend record that was set by none other than the previous Avengers movie in 2012. This is a continuation of Marvel's domination at the box office, which is more good news for Disney, still on a high following the release of the new Star Wars trailer. In the world of DC Comics, Warner Bros is hoping to replicate the same kind of success, but finding it difficult, except in the world of television, where The Flash and Arrow continue to do well in the ratings. The real test will be how audiences respond to Batman v Superman, which opens next year.

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On Monday's Press Play with Madeleine Brand, Indiewire's Liz Shannon Miller and I discussed:

As you may have heard, there was a boxing match over the weekend. Floyd Mayweather defeated Manny Pacquiao in the so-called Fight of the Century, and more people tuned in than expected. HBO and Showtime had exclusive rights to the match. The cable channels charged customers $100 to watch it. But many viewers pirated the fight, which is bad news for TV rights holders and pay-per-view broadcasts. We discuss this and more in our weekly television roundup.

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