Net neutral no more! Charter blasts Time Warner Cable.

After the coffee. Before getting ready for American Idol’s return.

The Skinny: Got caught up in “Gross Pointe Blank” last night. An underrated film! I love the shrink scenes with John Cusack and Alan Arkin. Anyway, Wednesday’s roundup includes the latest on the Charter Communications-Time Warner Cable situation. Also, why Hollywood should pay attention to the net-neutrality ruling, plus Viacom’s new Nickelodeon channel.

Daily Dose: Discovery Communications has tapped JB Perrette as its new president of Discovery Networks International. Perrette, who had been head of Discovery’s digital operations, is replacing Mark Hollinger, who announced his resignation in September after 23 years with Discovery. Perrette has long ties to Discovery CEO David Zaslav. The two worked together at NBC.

Your company stinks and your father smelt of elderberries. Charter Communications spent about an hour telling investors and analysts why it thinks Time Warner Cable is a troubled asset that is badly run with poor leadership. Then it explained why it wants to buy it in a deal valued at more than $60 billion. Part of Charter’s strategy was to make a case for why it doesn’t want to raise its offer for Time Warner Cable, which rejected the bid. Still, it sure seemed weird to hear Charter executives rip an asset it’s been coveting for six months. Coverage from the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Reuters and New York Times.

Neutral no more. A federal appeals court blew out the Federal Communication Commission’s open Internet rules. Not only could this have a big impact on entertainment and cable and phone companies, it also means we’ll continue to hear the phrase net neutrality for the next few years. Basically, the court gave Internet providers permission to charge extra to companies such as Netflix who want their content to move faster through the pipes. The FCC’s rules had required Internet providers to treat all traffic equally. However, the ruling also gives the FCC room to rework the rules and regulate the Internet the way it used to regulate the phone industry. More from the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Variety.

You choose. Viacom’s Nickelodeon is creating an interactive kids channel that would basically let viewers choose the Nickelodeon shows they want. Called “My Nickelodeon Junior,” the channel would be something like a shopping cart for viewers who could sift through the shelves of the Nickelodeon library for their favorite shows. It sounds an awful lot like a variation of a video-on-demand channel so I’m not really sure how exciting this is, but the technology sounds interesting. Details from the Wall Street Journal.

Nothing better to do. Apparently it is a slow week on Capitol Hill. How else to explain four senators upset at Julia Louis-Dreyfus using an electronic cigarette as part of a bit during Sunday’s Golden Globes telecast. Of course, some cities are already trying to ban electronic smokes in public places. Since there is no smell from them (I don’t smoke them but stood next to someone who does), this isn’t about second-hand smoke as much as it is about trying to regulate personal behavior. OK, I’ll get off my libertarian soap box and just give you the link to the story from the Hollywood Reporter.

Lawsuit of a salesman. Normally, a lawsuit involving a TV-station advertising executive in Cleveland wouldn’t make the cut for the Morning Fix. But this one has sex and drugs! A sales executive’s suit against WOIO-TV in Cleveland makes the station sound like a scene out of “The Wolf of Wall Street.” The Cleveland Plain Dealer has the suit and thanks to my fellow aggregator I Want Media for finding it.

Inside the Los Angeles Times: Filming in Los Angeles has tumbled dramatically over the last two decades. John Horn on all the jockeying for position that goes on at the Sundance Film Festival.

Follow me on Twitter. I have good taste in movies and television. @JBFlint.