Trump’s V.P. Syndrome, Delphine’s Catbird Seat, Netflix’s NFL Coup

Happy Friday, and welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon dispatch featuring Puck’s best new reporting.

Today, we lead with Matt Belloni’s riveting account of comedy legend Judd Apatow’s split from UTA, his agency of 30 years, and what his post-glory era struggles reveal about the pitiable state of the genre—and also Hollywood writ large.

Plus, below the fold: Lauren Sherman chronicles the latest convulsions in LVMH’s fashion division. Tara Palmeri spotlights Biden’s New York migraine and Trump’s central casting V.P. fantasy. John Ourand details the NFL’s streaming ambitions. On Somebody’s Gotta Win, Tara and CNN legal analyst Elie Honig dissect the looming presidential debates. On Fashion People, Lauren is joined by HommeGirls E.I.C. Thakoon Panichgul to forecast the future of ready-to-wear, magazines’ end state, and more. And on The Powers That Be, Baratunde Thurston and Peter Hamby brilliantly discourse on the A.I. arms race.

MATTHEW BELLONI

The Apatow Era has been effectively over for years now. But the plight of the man himself says a lot about the state of comedy, in particular, and Hollywood in general.

LAUREN SHERMAN

The surprise news that Michael Burke, the longtime Arnault lieutenant, was “stepping back” from his role as C.E.O. of LVMH’s fashion division has thrown Delphine Arnault into the catbird seat. Is her interim appointment a major step forward in the interminable sibling rivalry to one day replace her father?

TARA PALMERI

News and notes on the fallout from the presidential debate détente, Biden’s big House Democratic headache in New York, and what Mar-a-Lago needs from the Trump veepstakes.

JOHN OURAND

Perhaps sports media executives shouldn’t be surprised that the NFL—which does whatever it wants because it can—went with Netflix for a pair of Christmas Day games. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t pissed about it.