☀️PAR’s Exec Needs If Shell Exits Prez Role
Gosling departs UNI pic / PEACOCK sets Jost drama project / NETFLIX gets PAR TV Streep series
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 Friday, April 3, 2026.
Where it has been 0️⃣0️⃣1️⃣ days since OPENAI has succeeded at being able to ‘keep focus’ and concentrate on its core businesses amid a real surge by a formidable competitor . . . as the company is now in the daily news media production business! Hey, why not?
I’m sure the marriage of TBPN and CHATGPT will yield many exciting returns. For TBPN’s investors.
According to the WSJ, the show is tracking toward $30M in revenue in 2026 (TBPN had $5M in 2025), and the FT reports that OPENAI paid “low hundreds of millions” for the show that averages about 70k viewers a day across all platforms.
The least-watched cable TV network in the Top 50 last week, E!, averaged 123k viewers in primetime at #50.
70k is the same average TV audience size as COURT TV in 2025.
As part of the deal, the show will also end its ads business, which . . . well, seems to be the main revenue source here since it’s a free show, so yeah.
Now, does roughly $200M mean much to a company that just raised $122B? No.
Does this dedicated investment in video production and maximizing value from the video creator ecosystem from a company with . . . zero experience in either thing seem like a great use of resources? Also no.
Not to be ignored — the potential huge downside of TBPN potentially being perceived as a Sam Altman shill vehicle. Sure, editorial independence is being maintained 😉, but it’s definitely a long-term PR sticky wicket that OPENAI leadership also has zero experience navigating . . . that carries some real, significant potential downside.
The TBPN hosts/founders will also be enlisted to help OPENAI with its comms — and given this purchase happened less than a week after the company was shedding extraneous business endeavors with the explicit new goal to focus on improving the core product in the face of an ANTHROPIC surge . . . apparently, the company desperately needs that comms help.
OH: Speaking of terrible marketing & comms, while the TBPN purchase indeed was not an April Fools’ joke as many first thought — this WASHINGTON WIZARDS halftime show prank went over like a lead balloon. Then again, when your record is 17-59 this season, that doesn’t exactly scream managerial aptitude.
PLUS: NETFLIX set Louis C.K. to headline a show at the Hollywood Bowl on May 5 as part of the Netflix Is a Joke festival. It also picked up his latest comedy special, Ridiculous, which will debut sometime this summer.
#GOODNEWS: AMAZON is adding a 3.5% fuel surcharge onto all 3rd-party vendor purchases, that totally won’t get passed along to you. The winning never ends, does it, folks?
THEN: HBO will premiere Euphoria season 3 in the most on-brand way for that series — at Coachella in a fan screening at 11:59 p.m. on the show’s HBO premiere night, Sunday, April 12. Entry is first-come, first-served.
WELL: Almost 50% of the U.S. data centers planned for this year are expected to be delayed or canceled, according to a new Bloomberg report. A big culprit? A shortage of electrical equipment (transformers, batteries, etc.).
U.S. manufacturing resources can’t handle the demand, and companies have to import such parts from, yes, China.
AND: HERSHEY is adjusting its, uh, suddenly under the microscope chocolate policy after the significant bad PR it has received this year for not leading with “chocolate” in the ingredients for some REESE’S products #MakeChocolateGreatAgain. Going forward, all REESE’S products will again be made first and foremost with milk chocolate . . . just in time for the end of the last major candy holiday until Halloween.
THANKS!: To A24 for the invite to find out what The Drama was last night at the NYC premiere, and gotta say my “Used to work at HOOTERS” guess about the big secret in the pic was way off — also definitely the kind of movie best viewed with an audience in a theater.
WAKEUP BOX OFFICE POLL
A24’s The Drama — my head says $9M to $12M, but the young mobs outside on the streets of NYC for the premiere last night are pushing me to go with my heart at $12M to $15M. Although I’m more curious to see the exit polling on this one.
NEW POD
YES:
In news shocking to no one — Jeff Shell’s legal team is in prelim talks with PSKY about either an exit from the company / his Prez role for which he has few if any major organizational direct reports, or potentially a transition to an advisory role.
No final decision will be made regarding his future until the internal investigation into the Cipriani debacle concludes, so it’s certainly still possible he stays on . . . even if most seem to be giving that event low odds.
If he leaves, there will certainly be a few WBD execs who I’m sure are uh, totally hungry 🤑 for a new job (you’d be surprised how fast $100M+ goes these days). . . although given COO Andy Gordon has become a public operational face for the company, alongside REDBIRD investor Gerry Cardinale, who seems to kinda be filling a president-like role in a public facing sense so far anyway.
Plus, given Ellison’s penchant to have all “creative” direct reports himself, the Prez position could very easily just be seen as extraneous at this point.
BUT: Here are Shell’s main COMCAST experience benefits you’d be looking to augment — and whether his departure, should it transpire, would necessitate a new major addition to upper management.