Transcript: The Paramount Soap Opera
Billionaires, boards, drama: Inside the Redstone-Ellison saga. Plus, we get our hands dirty playing with AI
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Sean McNulty (00:04):
Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty of The Wakeup Newsletter here at The Ankler here in New York City on Thursday, April 11th. I'm joined by Elaine Low in Los Angeles. Richard is trying his luck in Vegas this week, betting on the movie business at CinemaCon, or I'm guessing probably doing a thorough review of the new food options that'll be at movie theaters this year. Elaine, what are the odds that Richard tops his Barbie hat merch from last year?
Elaine Low (00:28):
Oh, I think it's going to be hard to top that, but we'll see.
Sean McNulty (00:30):
That's a tough one. I don't know.
Elaine Low (00:31):
I just want to see what kind of candy he brings back from the convention floor with their candy innovations.
Sean McNulty (00:36):
Exactly. Stay tuned in the podcast for that, we'll be catching up with Richard a little later on. And with Richard in Vegas, we have Ankler executive editor David Lidsky returning to join us this week. Elaine, for a guy who said he'd rather not come back on the podcast on his very first appearance on this podcast, he sure is coming back a lot.
Elaine Low (00:53):
I know. I'm getting diva vibes, Sean, diva vibes.
David Lidsky (00:57):
This is somehow miraculously my third week in a row, and I am delighted to be here. But yes, I'm as surprised as you. I did prepare an obscure 1970s short-lived sitcom if you need it, but I'll just sit on that, but just know that it's available.
Elaine Low (01:15):
It's on his rider, Sean, "Must make at least one obscure TV reference a week."
Sean McNulty (01:20):
Keep it in the holster. Surprise us whenever you like. We will eagerly await that one. But just a reminder before we get started, of course, you can catch The Ankler crew over on LA's number one NPR station and southern California public radio's flagship radio station, that is LAist 89.3 throughout the day every Thursday as part of Entertainment Thursday programming during Morning Edition, AirTalk and All Things Considered. And you can reach us here at the podcast anytime at podcasts@theankler.com. And of course, please vote for us in the Webbys. Elaine, did you figure out how to vote yet?
Elaine Low (01:53):
Yes. Vote early, vote often. No, just vote once per person.
Sean McNulty (01:56):
Got you. Get your voting clicker out. We'll be all set for the Webbys. The link is of course, right there in the show notes for this episode. If you would take a moment and do us a solid, that'd be fantastic. Elaine, what did you get, Warner Bros. Discovery for their two-year merger anniversary? Anything good?
Elaine Low (02:12):
What's the two year, what is that tin, wood?
Sean McNulty (02:15):
Well, definitely don't get in WBD stock because that's down about 66 percent since that deal happened, so that's definitely not the way to go. But yes, the handcuffs are off, Elaine, in time to make a deal or... The debt's down to $44 billion. I mean, that's good enough, right?
Elaine Low (02:29):
What a steal.
Sean McNulty (02:29):
We're good. We can go buy things again. Yeah. Anyway, we shall see. Elaine, do you have some fond memories of the transition from the late '90s to the early 2000s?
Elaine Low (02:39):
Yes, I believe I was going into high school at that time.
Sean McNulty (02:42):
Apparently, Hollywood's been remembering them quite well. I just want to bring up, I brought it up in The Wakeup newsletter, but over the past two weeks alone, Elaine, here's a list of things that have been announced for reboots or reimaginings or regifting or whatever the term is. We have a new Matrix film, which you mentioned last week. We have Legally Blonde as a TV series. We have Bridget Jones's Diary is getting a new movie. The Blair Witch Project is getting re-imagined by Blumhouse. A new Heroes series is being pitched around town. And Elaine, do you have any memories of Melrose Place at all? Is that on your radar? David, do you know?
David Lidsky (03:12):
Yes, very much.
Sean McNulty (03:15):
I got you on that one. It's '90s. That's all I can do. So you remember Melrose Place, David. All right, Elaine, does that Melrose Place hold anything for you in your mind?
Elaine Low (03:21):
That was slightly before my time.
Sean McNulty (03:23):
A little before your time.
Elaine Low (03:24):
Yeah. When are they going to do the One Tree Hill reboot, that I'll be onboard for.
Sean McNulty (03:29):
Hollywood, they're listening.
David Lidsky (03:30):
You definitely should dust off your spec script for sure, Elaine.
Sean McNulty (03:33):
Yeah, get that One Tree Hill spec [inaudible 00:03:36].
David Lidsky (03:36):
[inaudible 00:03:36] One Tree Hill spec and do that for the reboot. And of course, Sean, not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but as you wrote about, actually not in The Ankler, but in a little publication called Vanity Fair, we have another reboot from the '90s, and that is the fight over Paramount.