Scenes from Miami Beach and the NATPE Convention

Above, it's the sunrise from the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach. I was back there for a second year in a row, as this week's National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) convention took place. Once upon a time, NATPE was the place where local TV station executives came to buy syndicated programming for their lineups. Those days are gone (because of consolidation, most TV shows are sold with one or two phone calls to mega station groups) but NATPE is still a great place to meet up with industry execs and take stock of the business. This year NATPE also focused heavily on the reality TV community, and it was an opportunity to sit down with execs and producers from that world too. And by the way, the Fountainbleau is quite a nice hotel to stay at, even if I never got the chance to play tourist. Here are some pics from my Three Days in Miami.


On-stage selfie: About to moderate a "Shark Tank" panel at NATPE with executive producer Clay Newbill and judges Daymond John, Kevin "Mr. Wonderful" O'Leary and Mark Cuban.


And then, a post-panel "Shark Tank" selfie, with NATPE CEO Rod Perth joining us.


It was kind of weird walking by this sign all day Tuesday.


"Elvis" is in the building.


Workers set up for NATPE's opening night party.


Back in the 1990s, NATPE was all about the massive convention floor. It was like Comic-Con -- every syndication company had a massive booth, where they'd bring in talent and even hire celebrity chefs like Wolfgang Puck to serve lunch. I remember being well fed at the Sony booth, where Puck would walk around serving you pizza. NATPE is quite different now. Most of the distributors still come, but work out of hotel suites. Some actually have small cabanas around the Fountainbleau pool -- as you see above, where CBS, NBC Universal and Debmar-Mercury execs are hanging out.


Spotted in Miami Beach. I guess the name of this store says it all.


Dan Harmon and I share a moment after our one-on-one NATPE panel on Wednesday.

Best Birthday Gift Ever? A Cat Was Drawn For Me

Definitely one of the most unique birthday gifts I've ever received... my sister Ann recently asked the famed cat drawing entrepreneur Steve Gadlin to, yes, draw a cat for me. On his website, where Gadlin posts every cat creation he draws, he describes mine: "Ann Marie GIFTED a cat to Mike! She wanted a writer cat who lives in LA. He wears T-shirts with suit jackets and jeans, and loves to walk in the city."

Gadlin is behind I Want to Draw a Cat For You, which earned global attention after he went on ABC's Shark Tank -- and convinced Mark Cuban to invest and take a chunk of the company.

Here's what Venture Beat wrote in 2012:

“I wanted to create an experiment where I could do all the things people who create businesses do, and do it with just a widget,” Gadlin told VentureBeat. Initially, in early 2011, the site consisted of exactly two things: an embedded YouTube video, and a PayPal button. Clients watched the video, ordered a cat drawing, and paid $1o. Then Gadlin drew it on paper and snail-mailed it to each customer. Just about the very definition of small-time.

Here was his initial video:



And here's his visit on "Shark Tank:



That song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.