☀️ WB Wants ‘Flintstones,’ META’s $17B State Settlement

Mornin! This is Sean McNulty (connect with me on LINKEDIN here if ya like or email me at seanmcnultynyc@gmail.com), and here’s the Hollywood + Media news to know on Wednesday, August 26, 2026.

Where it was simply just a sad day yesterday, as we lost one of the singular greats not only in music — but in American pop culture.

More importantly, by all accounts, she was also a tremendously generous and caring person — her IMAGINATION LIBRARY sent over 300M free books to kids since it was started. Her Broadway show, Dolly: A True Original, also opens in previews this December.

Plus this was a cool #funfact, she has already recorded her last song and has it in a locked box in DOLLYWOOD, to be released in 2046 on what would have been her 100th birthday.

They definitely only made one Dolly Parton, and may she rest in peace.

SO: META apparently did not like its hand in its state AGs lawsuit jury trial accusing the company of deliberately designing FB and INSTA to addict teens — META agreed to pay up to about $17B to settle the matter as social media companies continue to be the cigarette industry of the 2020s.

• The states had been seeking around $200B in penalties.
• META committed to paying about $12B, and will up that to just over $17.1B if SNAP, TIKTOK and YOUTUBE also settle with the states and agree to similar terms.
• META also agreed to limit how long teenagers can spend on its platform and to ban features that foster mental health issues.
• Numerous other similar lawsuits are still pending.
• But SONY’s The Social Reckoning October release certainly picked pretty good timing.

PLUS: The talent is lining up for the 20th annual Stand Up for Heroes benefit show on Nov. 9 in NYC — the standup performers include Josh Johnson, Hasan Minhaj and Jon Stewart, and musical guests include Springsteen, Alex Warren and The Resilient.

• Tix are on sale now here.

THEN: The Hamptons Film Fest will kick off with I Play Rocky this year on Friday, Oct. 2, with A24’s Club Kid and Misty Green also screening at the fest alongside Bunker, The Man I Love and A Talent For Murder. Full info and events are here.

AND: The TCM Classic Film Festival will be April 8-11 in Hollywood next year, no matter who owns the network at that point.

YAH: NETFLIX set its next YT creator deal with The Kevin Langue Show, with new episodes dropping on both platforms at the same time starting Sept. 5, alongside episodes from his catalog.

BUT: Sounds like some challenges are afoot at the AUDIOCHUCK business, home to the Crime Junkie podcast. CEO Matt Starker left the company last month, as have about 30 of its 100 employees over the past year according to Bloomberg — including its chief legal officer and chief growth officer.

• It also recently shut down its 2nd most popular podcast, The Deck, earlier this summer, with founder Ashley Flowers citing overwhelming workload demands while also raising a young family.

OH: NY Times writer Kyle Buchanan is leaving the publication to start his own podcast called The Kyle Buchanan Show in October.

ALSO: Just as a comp on revenue in the AI space:

• China’s DEEPSEEK had $71M of revenue through July this year.
• ANTHROPIC had about $4.8B in Q1 2026.
  • The company is also likely to soon tell investors it sees a $30T (not B) revenue opportunity ultimately for the company.
• This while Bill Gates is out with a new long essay today, telling Axios that “The good stuff is moving a bit slowly, and . . . other than robots, I’d say the bad stuff is imminent.”
• Well, it’s a good thing Corporate America has a long history of doing the sensible thing that’s right for humanity. Ya know, like paying $17B to settle claims that you intentionally harmed America’s youth with your product.

AND: Iowa’s AG wrote an op-ed in The Daily Wire threatening to sue California (and presumably the other state AGs . . . but California was the focus) over its WARNAMOUNT lawsuit. The Iowa state AG has filed no such actual, formal opposition. My favorite kind of lawsuit.

FINALLY: This was a really moving NY Times story about a woman who moved to NYC not long before 9/11, and has given tours of the area for years — even after a recent cancer diagnosis, very likely from the exposure on that date.

She also tells lesser-known stories from the day — such as how NYC ferries helped evacuate many folks from the area, including her and her husband.

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🎥 The Silver Screen