Plus: No bouquets for “The Bride!,” “Hoppers” is a plush-toy merchandising bonanza waiting to happen, and both “Rooster” and “Vladimir” use easily riled 20-something college students as foils for middle-aged angst.
Paramount’s plan to combine HBO and Paramount+ raises several logistical questions, including the future of HBO’s Casey Bloys, as a premium platform just coming to terms with a Netflix takeover preps for its fourth potential owner in a decade
www.status.news/p/hbo-casey-...
Ron Burgundy, move over.
David Ellison said “incredible” a lot, but his CNBC interview wasn’t.
Feels like I’ve heard that before…
Alternate hed for the geriatric: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
“Black Mirror” can retire.
Bari Weiss’ Steele Dossier?
Other than the need for a URL, why should what’s clearly a programming strategy be a headline? “Blowing up” is the whole point.
Thing I’m thinking about - when do the markets hit Trump’s pain point.
Scott Jennings pushed a dubious White House talking point on Iran to millions, only for CNN’s actual reporters to knock it down—an episode that drew blowback inside the network, Status has learned.
Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/scott-jenn...
Your occasional reminder that we have Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch to thank for the fact that this man is running the world’s single biggest government agency, with the power to kill millions of people in a few moments’ time.
“Yeah, not great news. In fact, if I may quote anyone who’s ever accidentally sat on their Roku remote, ‘Oh shit, I’m in Paramount now, how the fuck do I get out of this?’” —John Oliver, on news that Paramount is on track to become his new “business daddy.”
As U.S. and Israeli forces launch deadly strikes on Iran, the inherent challenges of covering the country are exacerbated by recent newsroom cuts, social media distortion, and a White House prone to telling lies.
Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/iran-war-m...
NBC: THREE U.S. SERVICE MEMBERS DEAD, FIVE WOUNDED Iran retaliates amid U.S. and Israeli strikes
Fox News 3 US service members killed, 5 seriously wounded in Iran operation
ABC Iran live updates: 3 US service members killed, 5 wounded, CENTCOM says Live Updates See All 10+ 7:03 AM • 3 US service members
CBS News U.S. confirms first casualties of war as Iran lashes out with missiles
One of these headlines is not like the other (and it’s the one from the network whose owner still needs to close a major acquisition deal)
A highly complex website showing two betting accounts earning nearly $500,000 and $120,000 on a minimal number of positions.
In case you were wondering, Polymarket had yet another spate of likely inside traders betting that the US would strike Iran by February 28.
Per the due diligence investigation service Bubblemaps, the wallets used were created 24 hours earlier.
The Pentagon Pizza Index has been replaced.
In other words, “bias” is for thee, not for me.
Half of this is true*
(*for now).
After years of branding Donald Trump as the anti-war “peace president,” much of MAGA Media erupted in cheers as he launched an unauthorized war on Iran—though not everyone is happy.
Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/iran-trump...
Seems like a good time for TCM to show “Wag the Dog.”
A special edition of Power Lines has landed.
We break down how Donald Trump delivered Warner Bros. Discovery to David Ellison, the panic inside CNN as staffers brace for Bari Weiss, and how the news network will be reshaped under MAGA-friendly ownership.
Watch on YouTube: youtu.be/nWEG5jUrP2Q?...
Veteran Warner Bros. producer Chuck Lorre joked on his vanity card that working for the studio is like having a single mom “who keeps bringing home strange men.” Like a bad marriage, for employees mergers are usually toughest on the kids.
Plus: “DTF St. Louis” should make you “DTW” (Down to Watch), “Scream 7” serves old wine in an old bottle, and “Marshals” is basically just “Montana Five-O.”
After the "who won” part of the Paramount-Netflix-WBD sweepstakes, it's time to turn to the human toll of a proposed deal with a “Noah’s Ark problem,” with thousands of jobs that will be lost as the new owners reduce people to “efficiencies.”
www.status.news/p/paramount-...
With David Ellison poised to take control of Warner Bros. Discovery, a chill has settled over CNN as staffers fear for the future. "The panic at CNN right now is off the charts," an insider tells Status.
Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/cnn-david-...
A senior CBS News staffer expressed sympathy for employees at CNN who are frustrated and upset over the Paramount news. "I need to keep reminding myself it can - and will - always get worse," the staffer told me, adding that CNN staffers "should" be freaking out since "it's hell over here."
Getting this out of my system now but the Transformers-Justice League crossover is going to suuuuuck.
Media consolidation is bad for democracy.
A combined Netflix-WBD would have been bad.
A combined Paramount/Skydance-WBD is even worse given Ellison's pattern of offering to censor viewpoints that Trump doesn't like in exchange for regulatory favors.
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/w...
This really feels like an Orban/Erdogan situation in which the aspiring dictator is making sure his friendly oligarchs control as much media as possible
www.cnbc.com/2026/02/26/w...
