Lemon’s Still Life, Peltz’s Times Treatment, Zaz’s Bull Case

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your pocket guide to Puck’s best new reporting.

First up today, Matt Belloni thumbs through the C.V.s of the four internal Bob Iger succession candidates, before considering how a Disney regime change might actually unfold. Plus, observations on Nelson Peltz’s big Times profile.

Then, below the fold: Bill Cohan envisions an Apollo-Paramount arranged marriage. Dylan Byers wades through the tumult surrounding the Don Lemon imbroglio at X. On The Town, Matt is joined by copyright expert Jeremiah Reynolds to untangle the plagiarism accusation hounding The Holdovers. And on The Powers That Be, Jon Kelly reunites with Peter Hamby to mull the bull case for an increasingly beleaguered David Zaslav, before exchanging impressions on the newly enshrined, self-appointed college sports “think tank.”

MATTHEW BELLONI

Now that Disney, under the watchful eye of Nelson Peltz, appears to have settled on a quartet of internal (yet by no means ideal) candidates, can it manage a complex process that allows for one winner without creating three sore losers?

WILLIAM D. COHAN

Apollo is certainly not the suitor that Shari Redstone dreamed about. But is it the best she can get? And what “value” might they “extract” from the family empire?

DYLAN BYERS

Don Lemon made his name and millions by being a live wire during the firecracker broadcast era. Now, his second employer in less than a year has passed on his gestalt. Where to go from here?

MATTHEW BELLONI

Matt is joined by copyright law expert Jeremiah Reynolds to untangle the recent plagiarism accusation by screenwriter Simon Stephenson over Alexander Payne’s ‘The Holdovers,’ then outline whether or not this case has merit. They discuss famous past examples of copyright infringement, whether the WGA can help with plagiarism, and what a writer can do if they feel their idea is being stolen.