HBO

The Hollywood Reporter has a good read this morning on the last-minute negotiations to end the writers strike. It seems to come pretty much entirely from the studios’ perspective, but it’s a good read anyway.

You can now watch two more major HBO series on Netflix. We already knew the Warner Bros. Discovery shows would be showing up on Netflix, but it’s still a big deal.

Just like Netflix, Max will now show you a carousel of the top 10 most popular TV shows and movies on the platform. The streamer says it will refresh the list on a daily basis.

Sam Levinson and The Weeknd’s unfathomable, anti-sexy, HBO drama The Idol has been canceled after only one season. The show, which concluded early with five episodes instead of six, was criticized for its regressive, lurid depiction of sex and stardom. Back in June, it was rumored that the show had been canceled mid-season. Now that rumor is official.

According to Variety, the number of layoffs is in the “double digits,” but it doesn’t affect the company’s content division. Warner Bros. Discovery has had a rocky last few months, as it put productions on pause due to the Hollywood strikes, and lost subscribers following the rebranding of HBO Max to Max.

The service is getting ready to launch a new sports streaming tier in time for the MLB playoffs in October, according to a report from CNBC.

Ahead of The Righteous Gemstones’ upcoming season 3 finale this Sunday, HBO’s renewed the show for yet another season of saintly and sanctified bullshittery that it’ll be able to start production on once Hollywood’s ongoing double labor strike is over.

Craig of the Creek’s adventure-filled world has always been pretty expansive, but this fall, it’s getting even bigger with the arrival of Jessica’s Big Little World, a new spinoff series from Matt Burnett, Ben Levin, and Tiffany Ford about Craig’s (Philip Solomon) little sister Jessica (Lucia Cunningham) stepping out into the world.

After all the drama surrounding (HBO) Max’s The Idol from Sam Levinson, one would hope the show might actually have something interesting to say that warranted co-creator The Weeknd’s pre-premiere theatrics. But as Variety so elegantly puts it, at two episodes in:

So to recap: about a year ago, Chris Licht took over CNN and immediately announced the CNN Plus streaming service would Go90 within 30 days of its initial launch.

While Kim Cattrall might still be on the outs with some of her former Sex and the City cast mates, Variety reports that she’s reprising her role as Samantha Jones for Max’s And Just Like That...:

Max lumped several categories into a ‘Creators’ label not out of grumpiness about the WGA strike, but because Warner Bros. Discovery’s IT people didn’t have time to do it right, says a new report in Deadline (via AVClub).

As if it wasn’t already painfully obvious how ready studios are to further devalue the labor workers do to make their films and TV shows possible, Max’s new interface has done away with listing writing and directing credits in favor of a catch-all “Creators” label.

Warner Bros. Discovery is repeating past mistakes with the Max app that rolled out for Apple’s tvOS today. It’s using a custom video player, which means you lose out on some features and a convenient method of quickly scrubbing through content with the remote.

The service formerly known as HBO Max is finally going through with its silly, disruptive rebrand this week, and to mark the occasion, Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly gearing up for yet another round of layoffs expected to impact the company’s cable TV business.

The revamped streaming service will have more than 350 of them. That said, HBO Max apparently already has customizable avatars, but I can’t figure out how to actually set one. Hopefully Max makes that easier!

And Just Like That’s always been pretty lighthearted, but this “Last Supper”-esque ad for the show’s second season really makes it seem like it’s going to lean into the Che Diaz hate this summer.

What you’ll get is likely to be a blank screen. Streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, and HBO Max are understandably nervous about letting people make copies of their copyrighted stuff — but just as understandably, fans want photos and clips of their favorite scenes. Here’s how to get that screenshot you’re trying for.

Stewy, the devious private equity guy from Succession, took over Slate’s Dear Prudence advice column this morning with some, well, frank life tips. “Lawyer the f*** up and wait for the pusillanimous piece of fool’s gold to die,” Stewy advises a reader scared of being cut from their uncle’s will. “Who is this guy? He sucks ass,” he says to a woman complaining about her lazy husband. “Block this f***er,” he orders a reader conflicted about a needy friend.

If Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda had somehow shown up in The White Lotus’ second season, things might have turned out very differently for Tanya McQuoid. But if Tanya hadn’t met her fate the way she did, there’s a chance that Belinda might not be coming back for The White Lotus’ third season on HBO.