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Last night, I was able to have a rare date night with my wife. We went to Target Field in Minneapolis to see the (Dixie) Chicks, who were opening for headliner Tim McGraw, along with Lady A, 49 Winchester and Timothy Wayne (who is McGraw’s nephew).
We first saw the Chicks more than 25 years ago, when we first got together and were living in San Jose. They have always been fiery live performers, and reviews of their tour three years ago suggest that hadn’t changed.
Sunday evening’s performance was compelling, yet strangely awkward at times. Lead singer Natalie Maines seemed off, either mentally or physically and closeups of her during the performance showed someone who appeared to be struggling with some challenge.
The fifteen-song set was also light on hits. The biggest group of songs came from the trio’s two most recent albums - Taking The Long Way Home and Gaslighter - which struggled on country radio following the group’s “canceling” by country radio in 2002. Although they did close with Goodbye Earl, which sent the crowd into a frenzy of loud, sometimes off-key singing.
Overall, it was a fascinating performance and the trio sounded solid and apparently unaffected by aging. It made me wish to see them headlining their own concert, and while they have scheduled some solo dates, there is nothing remotely close to me.
It also made me wish they’d record a new album. Their quirky cover of Sabrina Carpenter’s Manchild suggests they still have plenty to say. And while releasing a new album when you are considered primarily a legacy act isn’t a sure thing, the crowd at Sunday’s concert shows the band still has a substantive audience eager to hear more.
And btw, my choice for a great Chicks song that is woefully underappreciated is “Voice Inside My Head” from the 2006 album Taking The Long Way. It has this classic 1970s rock sound and it may be the best song Linda Ronstadt never covered.
So Far, Most Of The Paramount/WBD Merger Battle Has Played Out In The Press
When people think of the 2024 film It Ends With Us, they likely remember the lawsuits that followed between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively more than the movie itself.
Lively accused Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, of sexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior during production, and later alleged that Baldoni’s team retaliated by coordinating a campaign to damage her reputation after she raised workplace concerns. Baldoni denied the allegations and argued that Lively and her representatives had tried to take control of the movie and destroy his reputation.
The resulting legal battles sparked a seemingly endless string of conflicting insider-based press leaks, and by the time the two sides came to an agreement, both had been severely damaged by the news coverage.
It is turning into a similar situation in the battle between Paramount and the group of 12 state attorneys general who are attempting to block Paramount’s effort to merge with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Even though a lawsuit filed by the state AGs is moving towards a trial, both sides continue to wage most of their battle in the press.
The latest move comes from California’s attorney general Rob Bonta, who has canceled a meeting with representatives of Paramount that was scheduled for Monday, complaining that Paramount had acted in bad faith by leaking details of what it claimed was set to be discussed on Monday:
“Not only did Paramount leak the alleged substance of settlement discussions, but they misrepresented these discussions, demonstrating a lack of good faith,” Mr. Bonta said in the statement. “As soon as Paramount stops playing games and engages sincerely, my office is happy to meet again.”
Sources I spoke with on the AG side of the legal battle told me this morning that the AGs were especially irritated by a Wall Street Journal piece by Joe Flint and Jessica Toonkel that reported directly on preliminary talks between the two sides. And this argument will sound familiar if you have been reading this newsletter over the past couple of weeks:
Bonta has been adamant that he will fight the deal in court unless Paramount agrees to structural remedies. Paramount has committed to making 30 theatrical releases a year when the deal closes but hasn’t shown a willingness to sell assets or agree to management structures that would limit potential cost-savings and synergies.
A sale or spinoff of even a handful of cable networks could hurt Paramount’s bottom line and make it harder to service the nearly $80 billion in debt it will be carrying once the deal closes. While the cable-network business is struggling with cord-cutting and declining ad revenue, the channels still generate significant cash.
People close to the talks between the two sides are doubtful significant ground will be made Monday.
AGs were also irritated by posts such as this one from NY Post columnist Charles Gasparino, which they saw as coming directly from the Paramount executive suite:
As I have written before, Gasparino is seen by many opponents of the merger as someone the Paramount side uses to anonymously surface comments critical of anyone opposing the merger.
In this specific case, these comments (along with several other comments that surfaced Sunday) were being used as a way to set the stage for blaming the state AGs when the talks between the two sides went nowhere.
“If he (Ellison) spent as much time trying to come up with terms both sides could live with as he does spinning the story, we would have a deal already,” one exasperated attorney general told me early Monday morning.
So what happens next? The two sides will have to meet at some point, given that the judge in the case has requested they try to find common ground before discovery begins.
To a large extent, this decision to put off talks was the state AGs' way of highlighting their frustrations with Ellison’s efforts to try the case in the press. I was also told that a number of AGs objected to Paramount’s attempts over the weekend to turn comments from Mark Ruffalo about Oracle into a campaign trying to frame opposition to the merger as somehow anti-semitic.
But despite all of the back-and-forth in the press, the bottom line is that there are substantive differences between the two sides and it’s difficult to see how those are resolved.
My understanding is that the Paramount proposals will focus on essentially procedural guarantees:
Paramount and Warner Brothers films will continue to be distinct studios. But they will share some production, distribution, marketing, and exhibition groups.
A guarantee for the production and distribution by each motion picture studio of a minimum of 15 theatrical films per year with an exclusive theatrical window of at least 45 days before PVOD exploitation and 120 days before SVOD exhibition. However, the definition of what qualifies as a “full theatrical film” is still to be determined.
Paramount will agree not to move major production, back-end, or executive functions out of Southern California for a specified amount of time (the figure I heard most often was five years).
Paramount will name an oversight group to ensure the editorial independence of CNN
And here are the general outlines of what the state attorneys general are proposing:
The maintenance of Paramount and WBD motion picture studios as separate studios, with each studio maintaining its own production, distribution, marketing, and exhibition groups as distinct divisions. Or.
The sale of the Warner Brothers studio lot, along with some unspecified WB IP in order to make the sale more viable.
The spinning off of the Warner Bros. Discovery cable channel portfolio (excluding HBO and TCM). This sale is what WBD was proposing when it had agreed to sell off its studio to Netflix. Shedding the cable nets would lessen Paramount’s grip on future carriage negotiations with live TV platforms and would also remove CNN from the grip of David Ellison.
A commitment to produce films and television shows in the United States at no less than the average percentage produced in the United States during the past five years.
A commitment for Paramount to remain based in Los Angeles for at least ten years.
There are smaller asks on both sides, but these are the parameters of the two positions, and you can see they are vastly different.
The bottom line is that Paramount can’t afford to make any of the concessions the AGs are asking for without blowing up the underlying economic framework that drives the merger. Paramount needs a massive cable TV network portfolio in order to generate the short-term revenue it requires to pay down the company’s massive debt.
It also needs to be able to strip away as much overlap between Paramount and Warner Brothers’ studio operations as possible. Retaining Warner Brothers as a separate entity drastically lessens the amount of “redundancies” that can be wrung out of the company.
I continue to think the story of the Paramount/Warner Bros. Discovery merger attempt is one of greed and arrogance. David Ellison agreed to terms such as the ticking fee that were ill-advised because he was convinced he had the process greased up in his favor and that no one would be able to delay the merger before the fees would kick in. He bid up the deal to block out Netflix, and it turned out to be a gamble he was likely to lose.
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Odds & Sods
(L - R) Bryony Hannah as Agatha Christie, Miles Jupp as G.K. Chesterton and Cara Theobold as Dorothy L. Sayers.
The Gentleman has been renewed for a third season by Netflix. Here is the trailer for season two, which premieres on September 3rd.
Filming has begun on the new detective drama The Detection Club, a 10-part mystery drama from creator Kit Lambert, inspired by the golden age of detective fiction. Here is the official logline: “Set against a backdrop of literary glamour, social change and deadly intrigue, The Detection Club follows the mysterious society formed by three of Britain's most celebrated crime writers Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and G.K. Chesterton, as they are drawn into a series of real-life murder investigations.
Jo Gardiner, who competed in the second season of Race Across the World, has died of cancer at age 61. Her passing comes a year after her son, Sam, who competed with her on the show, lost his life in a car crash.
Netflix UK Revenues Topped £2bn In 2025
According to new data published by the UK government’s Company House over the weekend, Netflix’s UK revenues exceeded £2bn in 2025 - which means the streamer is now generating more income than any of the UK’s commercial public service broadcasters (PSBs).
At the same time, there was a significant drop in the number of UK originals Netflix ordered last year, according to data from Broadcast Intelligence’s Programme Index. Netflix ordered 22 shows produced in the UK in 2025, down 51% from the 45 shows it commissioned in 2024.
This all comes as Netflix has just announced it is renewing several UK originals, including House Of Guinness, Being Gordon Ramsay, At Home With The Furys and Legends.
What’s Coming Tonight And Tomorrow
MONDAY, AUGUST 24TH, 2026:
Blue Murder Motel Series (Acorn TV)
Margarita: Make Your Story Count (HBO Max)
NFL Hometown Eats Series Premiere (The Roku Channel)
POV: How To Build A Library (PBS) - (Trailer)
TUESDAY, AUGUST 25TH, 2026:
Bobby’s Triple Threat Season Premiere (Food)
Jeopardy! Masters (ABC)
1000-lb Roomies Season Premiere (TLC)
Stamptown (Netflix)
The Good Ship Murder Season Three Premiere (Britbox)
Untold: The Testimony Of Vince Young (Netflix)