Good morning, It was another incredible week: Matt Belloni captured Gen Z’s Marvel fatigue; Eriq Gardner previewed the next shoe to drop in the Baldoni-Lively circus; Dylan Byers revealed the backstory of Paramount’s freshest crisis; Lauren Sherman detailed Anna Wintour’s VF succession options; Sarah Shapiro illuminated the Away founders’ baggage; Rachel Strugatz examined Blake Lively’s new business headache; Marion Maneker inventoried the $1.26 billion in megaweek art sales; Julie Brener Davich studied Sotheby’s Old Masters; Julia Alexander analyzed Jimmy Pitaro’s streaming challenges at ESPN; John Ourand investigated Major League Baseball’s media auction headache; and Bill Cohan plumbed the depths of the Saks debt crisis. Meanwhile, Leigh Ann Caldwell presaged Mike Johnson’s next set of “Big, Beautiful Bill” challenges; Julia Ioffe uncovered a twist in the Trump-Putin dynamic; and Abby Livingston got a readout from itchy Republicans. Check out these stories, and others, via the links below. And stick around for the backstory on how it all came together.

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Lauren Sherman separates the pretenders from the players in the Vanity Fair succession sweepstakes and details Pierpaolo Piccioli’s pressures at Balenciaga. and… Sarah Shapiro touches base with Away co-founder Jen Rubio and new C.E.O. Jessica Schinazi.

Marion Maneker delves into the disappointing May auction sales and pulls the numbers on Picasso, Mondrian, Magritte, and more. and… Julie Brener Davich profiles an Old Master’s five-decade career.

Matt Belloni reassembles his teen focus group to reveal some of the town’s lingering blind spots. and… Eriq Gardner explains the latest sordid twist in Baldoni-gate.

Dylan Byers weighs in on the ongoing CBS News crisis. and… Julia Alexander scrutinizes Jimmy Pitaro’s streaming strategy and analyzes Bezos’s Twitch plan. meanwhile… John Ourand examines NBC’s bid for Major League Baseball.

Bill Cohan plumbs the depths of the Saks debt crisis.

Julia Ioffe reveals the breakdown in the Trump-Putin dynamic. and… Leigh Ann Caldwell foreshadows Mike Johnson’s headache in the Senate. meanwhile… Abby Livingston catches the Republicans fretting over their reelection battles.

Julia Alexander and Dylan Byers evaluate the Sam Altman–Jony Ive deal on The Grill Room. and… John and Fox Sports C.E.O. Eric Shanks talk about the network’s streaming pivot on The Varsity. and… Lauren welcomes Band of Outsiders and Entireworld founder Scott Sternberg on Fashion People. and… John Heilemann discusses the Biden controversies with chroniclers Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson on Impolitic. and… In a special two-part episode, Matt catches up with The Studio creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg on The Town. and… Peter Hamby and Eriq unpack the Swiftie revolt against Live Nation on The Powers that Be.

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On Tuesday evening, my Uber made a right on N. Ivar Avenue and delivered me to Sunset Room, right in the heart of Hollywood, for Puck’s second Stories of the Season event—an evening devoted to the stars of this Emmys nomination season. As I got out of the car, I was temporarily speechless: A line snaked out the door and to the corner, right by Netflix’s office.

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Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised. After all, the evening was an in-person celebration of what my partner Matt Belloni has created with both his industry-defining newsletter, What I’m Hearing, and podcast, The Town. (And the guy can act, too—I’m sure you’ve seen him steal scenes while playing himself on The Studio on Apple TV+.)

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Along with our other partners at Puck, Matt had curated an evening featuring the biggest stars of the small screen, the best showrunners and producers of the season, plus a series of exclusive fireside chats. I was already looking forward to hearing my newest partner, Kim Masters, the bard of Hollywood, interview both Jason Segel about his show, Shrinking, and David Oyelowo about Government Cheese. The peerless Lauren Sherman would be discussing White Lotus fashion with the inimitable Parker Posey. And Matt would be headlining the event in conversation with John Mulaney. Before showtime, the queue of attendees had stretched around the corner.

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We’ll be sharing some of these conversations on our podcast feeds and newsletter channels in the coming weeks, but I wanted to leave you with some pictures of the evening—a perfect night in Hollywood, really. The most redolent theme across the various sessions, however, was the transformation of the industry from the business we all grew up with. Segel poignantly summed it up in dialogue with Kim, acknowledging that he’d always wanted to star in a linear sitcom like the TGIF ABC shows he grew up with in the ’90s. It was only a few years into his work on Apple TV+, however, that he realized he was essentially re-creating the format on a new platform for a new day.

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The economic transformation of the industry came to the fore a few days later in the latest issue of What I’m Hearing. In Hollywood’s Report Card, According to High School Kids, Pt. 2, Matt reconvened his preferred focus group of Gen Z entertainment enthusiasts to offer their assessment of how Hollywood is catering to a new generation. Their responses are surprising and humbling, and a powerful anecdotal expression of just how quickly the industry is changing—and needs to change. The evolution of our creative industries is one of the great stories of our time, and a critical leitmotif at Puck.

Photo: Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for Puck

Have a great weekend, and happy 7th birthday to Holt Kelly, Jon

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