Matt Belloni joins guest host Julia Alexander to break down the massive success of KPop Demon Hunters, Netflix’s second-most-watched original film, and why it’s keeping Sonys executives up at night. Then they debate the Duffer brothers’ jump from Netflix to Paramount—and whether their defection signals a broader shift in Hollywood.

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Jon Kelly and Peter Hamby reunite for a talmudic reading of David Ellison’s first week on the job and some obsessive theorizing about his tech fantasies. Then they delve into the convergence of cable news and podcasting.

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Axios’s Sara Fischer returns to the pod to help make sense of the biggest sports media plot lines from the past few weeks: Paramount’s $7.7 billion deal with UFC, ESPN’s respective bombshell pacts with the NFL and WWE, the network’s forthcoming D.T.C. product, and much, much more.

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Lauren Sherman joins Peter to assess how much magazine covers actually move the cultural needle in today’s digital-first media landscape. While big stars are still lining up for attention-grabbing shoots, Lauren suggests these expensive productions now mostly serve industry insiders, celebrity egos, and social media feeds. Peter and Lauren also explore the shrinking footprint of legacy magazines and the growing dominance of digital platforms in shaping pop culture.

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John Ourand joins Peter Hamby to break down a consequential stretch in sports media, with Paramount cutting a $7.7 billion check for UFC rights and ESPN expanding its sports empire ahead of football season with its forthcoming super app. As John explains, these moves are part of a concerted push by legacy media to fight back against the rise of tech platforms and streamers. And despite the industry upheaval, the old guard still holds one powerful advantage: bigger audiences.

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Ian Krietzberg joins guest host Julia Ioffe to discuss Sam Altman’s latest gambit: offering ChatGPT Enterprise to U.S. government agencies for next to nothing, in hopes of building muscle memory inside the government and promoting the widespread adoption of A.I. in day-to-day operations. Yet, as adoption grows, so do the questions and concerns—about security, reliability, and the costs of running energy-hungry systems prone to unpredictable errors.

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Abby Livingston joins guest host Julia Ioffe to break down the August recess town halls, where some members of Congress are dodging the spotlight while others face heat over the Big Beautiful Bill and the Epstein scandal. They also discuss the latest Texas redistricting battle—and what it all means for the road to the 2026 midterms.

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Jon Kelly and Peter Hamby reunite to discuss some of the overlooked complexifiers in David Ellison's conquest of Paramount. They also assess the challenging points of leverage between ESPN and Fox and their respective college football media heroes, Pat McAfee and Dave Portnoy  

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Katie Drummond, global editorial director of Wired, joins the pod to reflect on her overhaul of the tech magazine—transforming it into a sharp-edged outlet covering the dystopian intersection of technology, politics, and culture. She discusses the significance of original reporting, Wired’s notable growth and ambitions growth strategy, A.I.’s threat to journalism, and much, much more.

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Kim Masters joins Peter to dig into the latest buzz around Hollywood: that Paramount C.E.O. David Ellison is eyeing a slimmed-down Warner Bros. as a potential acquisition target. They consider the potential upsides of a merger, the regulatory hurdles, and the implications for the entertainment ecosystem writ large.

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