Every regulator on Earth approved the merger and it still can't close

David Ellison spent the better part of a year and something like a hundred and ten billion dollars getting sixty-eight separate governments to squint at his plan to bolt Paramount onto Warner Bros. Discovery, and on Friday he got the last one. Mexico, of all places, was the final holdout. The European Union already said fine. China said sure. Canada, Brazil, the UK, and the DOJ back in June all looked at it and shrugged. Every serious regulatory body on the planet has now inspected this thing and waved it through — and it still can't happen. Twelve states led by California's Rob Bonta are suing to block it, and Paramount has agreed not to close the deal until June of 2027 at the earliest. The biggest transaction in the history of the business is fully approved and fully frozen, a hundred-and-ten-billion-dollar object idling in a Burbank parking lot, waiting on a courtroom in Sacramento.

Two days after every regulator on Earth blessed the sale, the crown jewel of the whole fight — HBO — is about to launch its best-reviewed show in ages. Timing is everything and nobody in this business has any.

The Drops

Lanterns (HBO Max, Aug 16)

A Green Lantern show. I know. Stop. Because here's the thing, it's good — not "good for a superhero show," which is the grading curve we've all quietly agreed to, but actually good. Chris Mundy, who ran Ozark, took two intergalactic space cops and dropped them into rural America to work a murder, and the result plays like a detective drama that happens to have a magic ring in it. Kyle Chandler is Hal Jordan, the veteran. Aaron Pierre is John Stewart, the rookie, and Pierre is the reason to watch; the man is a movie star who hasn't been informed yet. Nathan Fillion turns up as Guy Gardner, which is precisely the correct dose of Nathan Fillion. Eight episodes, one a week into October. TIME said it's better than most superhero television and then couldn't help adding "but it's no Watchmen," because a critic is contractually required to mention Watchmen. Skip that part. It's the pick this week. Below.

Outer Banks, Season 5 (Netflix)

The teens are finished. Five seasons of very attractive people digging for treasure off the Carolina coast wraps August 20, all ten episodes at once, and it opens right after they killed JJ off in Morocco last year, which is a sentence I did not expect to write. The Pate brothers turned this into a genuine machine for Netflix: beautiful people and a steadily rising body count. If you were on the boat, you already know you're finishing it. If you never boarded, do not climb onto a moving franchise at the last stop.

The Girls: A Khloé Kardashian Project (Hulu, Aug 21)

Khloé Kardashian made a reality show about her friends. Not about herself — she's the producer. About the six women in her orbit navigating marriage and motherhood in the reflected light of a Kardashian. Six episodes, all at once, on Hulu. Somewhere a development executive pitched "Khloé, except the camera points slightly to the left of Khloé," and got a green light and a budget. The machine is gorgeous and it does not stop.

The Dynasty: UConn Huskies (Apple TV+, Aug 21)

Three parts on Geno Auriemma and the most dominant program in the history of women's college basketball, twelve national titles across four decades. Produced by Skydance Sports, which is to say David Ellison's company — the same man currently trying to swallow Warner Bros. He can't close a merger in eighteen months but he can land a clean three-part UConn doc on Apple. Priorities. If you like sports documentaries where the ending is "and then they won again," it's a good one.

Pick of the Week

Lanterns (HBO Max). A Green Lantern show is the last thing I expected to hand you, and it's the easiest call of the month. Sunday night, HBO Max, Aaron Pierre carrying the whole thing. Watch it before some billionaire files a motion that changes the logo sitting above it.