THIS WEEK'S BANTER

It’s official: Warner Bros. Discovery is breaking itself apart. One half will house streaming and studios (HBO, DC, Warner Bros Pictures), the other its aging global networks (CNN, TNT, TBS). Kim Masters and Matt Belloni unpack the strategy, the risks, and what it means for David Zaslav’s future.

That’s all folks? As David Zaslav’s Warner Bros. Discovery fails to find its footing, the company is following in Comcast’s footsteps. WBD will soon split in half with Zaslav overseeing studios and streaming, and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels handling global networks. “The value proposition there is to put all the assets that are declining but still throw off a lot of cash and manage them for decline,” Belloni notes. “The more interesting company is the studio side. They are going to now try to grow this thing and potentially find someone to buy them.”

Taste test? The WBD merger was pitched as a way to unite disparate audiences and create a content powerhouse, but the reality fell far short. “We all know this concept of wedding Discovery — which was David Zaslav — with Warner Brothers.” Masters says. “[The idea being that] this would somehow salvage Discovery and enable it to be this one company appealing to everybody; the people who watch Discovery, Dr. Pimple Popper and all that stuff, and the people who like HBO… [thinking] it would just be this one juggernaut. It clearly didn't work. It's a fail, and having the debt certainly didn't help.”

Who stays in the picture? Belloni notes that Zaslav’s personal optics didn’t help matters, potentially harming the company’s reputation. “He made a lot of missteps. He pretended that he was an old school Hollywood mogul at a time when old school Hollywood moguls are not a thing. He was talking about sitting behind Jack Warner's desk, he would throw parties, and he bought Bob Evans' house — all the things that you absolutely should not do.” I talked to a friend of his this past week. He made it about him. This friend said, ‘nobody wants the suit to be the center of attention. It's a talent business, and when you make it about you, you set yourself up as a target.’”

Get the full scoop in this week's edition of The Banter. 

Jeff Hiller joins Sam Sanders to talk faith, queerness, and staying curious

Come for Sam Sanders welcoming the always delightful comedian Jeff Hiller for an incisive chat about his new memoir, Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success, stay to learn about the existential ramifications of watching Mike Bribiglia's 2016 film Don't Think Twice on the eve of your 40th birthday. P.S. Allow us to add our voices to the chorus of those advocating for Hiller to get an Emmy nomination for his hilarious and heart-wrenching work in the final season of the HBO dramedy, Somebody Somewhere. 

Jason Isaacs on tapping into Tim Ratliff’s desperation

[Please note that this audio interview contains spoilers for Season 3 of The White Lotus.]

Actor Jason Isaacs loves a character with a secret. He’s been portraying these types for decades. Think: villain Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, a grieving detective unsure of what is real in the series Awake, and iconic actor Cary Grant in the British series Archie. His latest role is tormented husband and father Tim Ratliff in season three of HBO’s The White Lotus. He also recently appeared in the film Words of War, as the conflicted husband of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. 

Isaacs tells The Treatment why he’s never wanted to play “the guy with the gun,” what was most challenging about portraying Ratliff’s desperation, and why he’s so passionate about supporting public radio.

Adam Arkin on Poker Face and the truth about nepo babies

Actor Adam Arkin has learned a lot from working behind the camera, experience which he’s put to good use in directing episodes of Poker Face (season two). 

“Actors can show up on set and go like, ‘Okay, the work can begin. We're here. What's going on?’ Arkin jokes. “I knew immediately when I was being exposed to that as a director, it was something that for decades I had been doing myself as an actor. [I’d been] completely [and] blithely unaware of the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that had gone into the project before I even showed up.”

Arkin talks with NPR TV critic Eric Deggans about the challenge of capturing the distinct tone of Poker Face’s first season, how creators Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne trusted him to oversee episodes he didn’t direct, and his candid thoughts on the ongoing nepo baby conversation.

For Your Emmy® Consideration:
Outstanding Variety Special (Live)

“Stunning. Impressive. Jubilant and Expertly Staged.”
– New York Times
___

The iconic Beyoncé takes the field for a special hometown halftime performance on NFL Christmas Gameday from Houston, Texas. Streamed live on Netflix.

WATCH NOW ON NETFLIX

___

For more on BEYONCÉ BOWL, visit series.netflixawards.com

Weekend Film Reviews: Materialists, How to Train Your Dragon, Echo Valley

Of course, the big box office draw for this weekend is Dean DeBlois' live-action remake of DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon. That said, you are currently reading this dispatch from an elder millennial woman who is still internally sighing over the ending of 2023's Past Lives. Filmmaker Celine Song's follow-up to that wistful and well-observed love triangle narrative is Materialists (also out this weekend), and it's a somewhat scaled-up love triangle narrative that stars Dakota Johnson as a high-powered matchmaker and Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans as her potential suitors. Also on offer are Michael Pearce's Echo Valley and Lindsay Utz and Michelle Walshe's Prime Minister — the aptly titled documentary about former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.