David Ellison attends the 48th Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Shannon Finney/WireImage)
This week, within hours of prodding Warner Bros. Discovery back to the bargaining table, Paramount again found itself in the middle of a public-relations mess: Stephen Colbert, already on his way out the door in May, engaged in a war of words with his bosses at Paramount-owned CBS over booking Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, amid pressure from Donald Trump’s Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr.
In the jockeying over WBD, and before that Skydance’s acquisition of the studio, Paramount’s David Ellison and his ultra-rich father Larry have appeared willing, if not eager, to give the thin-skinned Trump what he wants. While that might be an effective strategy to gain a regulatory advantage, in conversations with Status entertainment veterans wonder about the reputational damage the company is doing to itself in famously liberal Hollywood…
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Mike Tirico anchors NBC's 2026 Olympic Games coverage. (Screen grab via Snapstream/NBC)
NBC’s Golden Olympics Scorecard: What started with indignation and we-won’t-watch threats from conservatives—over Olympic athletes daring to address political issues, leading to blowback that sounded a lot like “Shut up and ski”—is finishing as the most-watched Winter Games in a dozen years. That serves as a testament to both the power of the Olympic ideal and just how slickly produced this 17-day affair has been as a television show.
The Winter Games have evolved to suit TV’s needs in obvious ways, loading up on X Games-style events intended to appeal to younger viewers, while simultaneously pushing the limits on “How do you do that the first time without dying?” wonder. Like Alex Honnold, the “Free Solo” climber who recently conquered a Taiwanese skyscraper, these Olympics appeared tailor-made for daredevils, with more traditional appeal to those absorbed by the princes and princesses who dominate figure skating and its various permutations.
By now, NBC—which began its modern Olympic relationship in 1988—has mastered the formula, but there’s still reason to wonder whether…
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