Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon guide to the best new work at Puck.

First up today, Bill Cohan chronicles the rising speculation on Wall Street that Comcast co-C.E.O. Brian Roberts is contemplating a bold bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. As Bill notes, a hypothetical merger would involve folding NBCUniversal—including Versant—into WBD, along with Roberts possibly ceding voting control of the company to make the deal palatable to Trump. A long shot, maybe, but it might be one of Comcast’s last chances to stay relevant in the streaming wars…

Plus, below the fold: Dylan Byers reveals some of the high-profile talents Bari Weiss is hoping to poach for CBS News. Leigh Ann Caldwell scoops a possible resolution to Washington’s interminable shutdown. Rachel Strugatz considers how Hailey Bieber’s Rhode can maintain momentum after the E.l.f. acquisition and a surprisingly soft Q2. And for Inner Circle members, Marion Maneker presents a chat between collector Glenn Fuhrman and Swiss artist Nicolas Party about the pricing and politics of studio visits—and the freedom of creating art that’s not for sale.

Meanwhile, on the pods: Matt Belloni is joined by Black Bear Pictures’s Teddy Schwarzman on The Town to discuss the delicate art of independently distributing movies. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby and Eriq Gardner discuss how the D.O.J. is homing in on Trump’s political adversaries.

🚨 Special announcement!: Next Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET, Leigh Ann will interview Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim in Washington, D.C., to discuss the making of their new nuclear armageddon thriller, A House of Dynamite, hosted by Puck and our partners at Netflix. R.S.V.P. here.

WALL STREET

A new analyst note highlights a heightened sense around Wall Street that Comcast co-C.E.O. Brian Roberts doesn’t merely want WBD, but also truly needs the company—and has a real shot at the asset.

MEDIA

Bari’s takeover of CBS News, and her direct line to David Ellison, is sending a clear message: This is Bari’s CBS now, layoffs and all. The big question is what talent she’ll get to join her. Anderson Cooper will be her first test.

WASHINGTON

News and notes from D.C. as the government shutdown enters a fifth week: a potential way out, the Trump power void, Thune’s false “rifle shot” proposal to force incremental votes, bubbling questions about Schumer, and why some Democrats are eyeing November 21 as their date of maximum leverage.

FASHION

A recent S.E.C. filing from Rhode’s new parentco revealed surprising new financial details about Hailey Bieber’s lip gloss juggernaut. But the more salient takeaway was what it seemed to signal about E.l.f.’s anxieties regarding the growth trajectory of its new portfolio company.

ART

At Puck’s Art of Influence event in September, collector Glenn Fuhrman interviewed Swiss artist Nicolas Party about the challenges and opportunities of being a successful international artist—from pricing and the politics of the studio visit to the freedom of creating work that isn’t for sale.

HOLLYWOOD

Matt is joined by Teddy Schwarzman, the founder of Black Bear Pictures, to discuss the challenges and strategies behind an independent production company launching its own distribution division. They talk about the risk of making big bets on small movies in theaters, how the industry has evolved, and whether Teddy sees A24 and Neon as competitors.

WASHINGTON

Eriq Gardner joins Peter to discuss what’s really going on with the D.O.J.’s prosecution of three of the president’s political enemies: James Comey, Tish James, and John Bolton. Eriq explains why some of the cases are flimsier than others, thanks in part to the missteps of interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan—a handpicked Trump loyalist who has never prosecuted a case.

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