Happy New Year to those who celebrate. It’s our semiquincentennial, and if the guttural message that Sam Elliott intoned that proved to be the first commercial I saw in 2026 is any example the over-the-top approach we’re gonna be indulged with for at least the first half of the year I’m gonna be googling Bicentennial Minutes before long. At least then we got variety and diversity with our patriotism.
In the worlds that we muse in–media, sports, politics and life–it’s been anything but celebratory of late, and the nonstop rain we’re getting here in La-La Land as we begin anew is a sobering reminder of all that. Things have to improve, don’t they? We have to have something to look forward to besides more insensitive X-eets from a tone-deaf farting fascist, no?
Well the short answer is–maybe. As you hopefully read yesterday, when I threw out my ten best predictions and wishes for 2025 in hindsight my track record was decent but not enough to claim an outright win. And we actually did hit a couple of longshots. So with that in mind, we’re gonna truncate our list and perhaps take a few bolder stabs today that might just give you some reasons to booknote this site and anything else that might be associated with it. Here goes nothing:
- STEPHEN COLBERT’S NEXT ACT WILL BE A LIVE NIGHTLY SHOW ON YOUTUBE.
Colbert popped in on the drunk uncles of his almost corporate cousin CNN last night (Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, kids) and appeared to be both at peace and hinting he knew something that we don’t. Given YT’s desire to embrace old school content as a way to bring in audiences they actually don’t already have (hello, Oscar) a move to give the least popular internet draw of the existing crop of “late night” talk show hosts is a no-brainer. And yes, they can afford the $40M annual hit that CBS claimed they couldn’t to produce THE LATE SHOW as is. But why bother, especially since the online audience is far less attentive anyway? No, I believe his sweet spot is a nightly hour-ish cross between his first TV hosting gig–the much missed COLBERT REPORT–with a little bit of Larry King interactivity thrown in, which he could easily do remotely. And drop it at 7 PM Eastern so that it comes close to mirroring his 5:30 pm ET tape time and get a head start on even Gutfeld, not to mention provide something else for the fan and demography otherwise watching JEOPARDY! and WHEEL OF FORTUNE to check out. Let him also do some more of his “instant” animation akin to TOONING IN THE NEWS or OUR AMERICAN PRESIDENT if you can, but with all due respect to the talents of Louis Cato and the history of the Ed Sullivan Theater, they’re not the draw. Methinks his agent Baby Doll Dixon is already well into such a plan as well as pointing out the numerous mistakes that John Mulaney made in his effort on what is now YT’s arch-rival. Or should be.
- APPLE WILL (OR WILL BE WELL DOWN THE PATH OF) ACQUIRING DISNEY.
It’s supposedly Bob Iger’s final contracted year (though that’s changed before) but it’s also his 75th year on Earth, which is as good a time to waltz off into the sunset as any. One way or the other, the love triangle of Paramount, Netflix and Warner Brothers will have reached resolution and, more importantly, set an importance precedence for the template and appetite of mega-mergers. They’ve indeed danced together before as we’ve frequently mused; though the attempt to populate Apple’s currently overpriced and underselling Vision Pros with immersive 3-D courtside NBA action remains squarely in the development stage. That said, the long-term potential of both is excellent, not to mention the opportunity for all of Apple’s devices to take full advantage of the likely explosion of creative expression once Pluto becomes a legitimate guest star in one’s next Open AI-assisted TikTok.
Besides, Apple’s finally on a roll with original creative series in arenas where Disney rarely succeeds such as horror and suspense (yay Pluribus and Severance!) and Disney’s facing a crucible of a year where they’ve got some compelling MCU content (will AVENGERS: ENDGAME prove to be a prescient title?) that needs to prove they can still make movies involving humans that aren’t performing via motion capture cameras. So I’m a tad more bullish on this potential as some other more conservative observers are. As to potential complications with their investments in other old school businesses that could rain on this parade, just this week a friend passed along a fascinating insight piece authored by TV TECH’s Tom Butts that offers up a very creative way for Disney to deal with it without necessarily having to drag Brendan Carr back into their business. And don’t think Apple couldn’t figure out an even more creative way to leverage it. You don’t think Comcast might not salivate at the chance to have triopolies in the top five DMAs where ABC also controls broadcast licenses and Apple couldn’t benefit from favored nations rates from their internet provider services?
- REGARDLESS OF HOW THE ABOVE WINDS UP, DANA WALDEN WILL DEPART THE COMPANY BEFORE YEAR’S END
Don’t get me wrong, I like and respect Dana quite a bit. The way she came to Jimmy Kimmel’s side and defense in the midst of all of his tsurris last fall earned her even more respect and admiration among a lot more Democrats than merely her friend and occasional El Coyote dining companion Kamala Harris. And she’s got a pretty big year ahead of her as well; as THE ANKLER’s Lesley Goldberg noted in her 2026 preview piece from earlier this week, she’s got a whole bunch of new Ryan Murphy content to help prop up her current “work husband” John Landgraf’s slate now that he’s finally become her neighbor on the Burbank lot. And honestly, some of it looks pretty darn good.
But he seems to be losing ground in her battle to eventually replace Iger. CINEMABLEND’s Dirk Libbey shone a light on it a coupla weeks back when he updated what has unfortunately turned into yet another ill-fated talent search within Mouseschwitz akin to the AMERICAN IDOL franchise Walden played a huge role in shepherding both at her former employer and now. And it just doesn’t seem she seems to have the same magical effect on Iger the way she once did with Peter Chernin–and I’ll let you fill in those blanks. And being a buddy of Mamala isn’t exactly helping her street cred among those perhaps looking to make one last deal.
So I’m suggesting that before she’s asked to leave by someone less qualified she might decide to do her friend’s party a solid and choose a higher calling–the kind that one of her Disney executive predecessors Jeffrey Katzenburg proved incapable of doing. With any luck, she might be able to steer her girlfriend toward the sideline and turn her impeccable eye for talent onto the balance of the party in a manner more akin to the opening rounds of IDOL–something I’ve been shrieking to anyone who will listen that someone in that party might actually choose to do rather than champion pep rallies and send “threatening letters” to those currently in charge. The Democratic Party, and frankly America, needs someone like Walden even more than Disney does. I’d love to see her make such a decision by, say, July 4th.
- JUST LIKE IN MUSIC, AN AI-GENERATED MOVIE WILL WIN AT LEAST ONE WEEK AT THE BOX OFFICE
Yes, I know that’s a sacreligious thought to a majority of frightened creatives. Especially after we’ve noted that so many potentially strong projects are awaiting both the silver and the “small” screens in 2026. But as you might recall we saw BREAKING RUST give Jelly Roll a run for his money last fall, and someone Jelly’s still making money as quickly as he sheds weight. It even inspired me to have a go at it, and I can’t carry a note.
Clearly, the established studios don’t want to encourage this–well, most of them, since Amazon’s now in the mix. But they’re not exactly overwhelming theatre owners with product, and if indeed Netflix emerges triumphant in the tug-of-war with Paramount the strong likelihood is that a lot fewer dates will be covered at the multiplexes around America. Just yesterday DEADLINE’s Jake Kanter told us about one Charlie Brooker and how he’s proposing to fill some of those dates. If I’m someone like AMC Theatres’ Adam Aron, I’m paying attention. If I’m hoping to satisfy the supposed growth spurt in IRL events for Generation Z that are willing to accept that $40 for what pretends to be a quality cocktail and healthy fried mac and cheese is a fair price to pay, they’re quite capable of accepting something like a Charlie Brooker masterpiece as a feature presentation. Do remember that in the last 15 months they showed up in enough droves to support number one weeks for a documentary about a live performance tour and a temporarily displaced Netflix acquisition of Korean anime courtesy of Sony.
- SORRY TO SAY, SOMEONE’S GONNA GET SHOT
A few hours ago, in the bowels of a long-vacant subway station that once carried passengers for only slightly more than what he’s proposing to charge current day New Yorkers the Zohran Mamdani era began. With none other than Leticia James presiding over the festivities, and as AM NEW YORK’s Robert Pozarycki observed, with his hand squarely on a Qu’ran (yeah, I never knew it was actually spelled that way, either).
I know he’s promised the world and as recently as last month he seemed to get a thumbs up from the farter-in-chief. But New Yorkers are an especially impatient lot, and we’re acutely aware said farter is as exemplary of that as anyone who currently lives there. And if you’re a young Jewish person struggling with finances as so many of those who ushered him in happen to be, your particular amount of rope you’re willing to offer is barely enough to hang a spatula.
And yet, with the likes of Bernie Sanders repeating James’ midnight stunt in the light of day, with “Presidential hopeful” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez serving as emcee looking longingly as to how come I couldn’t snag a beefcake like that myself, the Democratic party as a whole is making him the face of their midterm push because they somehow saw polling that indicated Frank Sinatra’s intoning of “if I can make it there I’m gonna make it anywhere” was scientifically projectable. I’ve yet to see that study. Nice song, though.
This holy war has the strong potential to accelerate greatly as the year drags on toward intolerably warmer days and the way the Mets and Yankees are shaping up there won’t even be baseball to distract those kept waiting for those free buses and healthcare which somehow the actual plans to deliver them haven’t quite been worked out. Perhaps that’s why Mamdani’s got such an enthusiastic supporter in D.C.; they seem to operate from the same bait-and-switch playbook that mollifies blind zealots infatuated with their vibe. The generations and pigmentations might be different, but the end games are remarkably alike.
The actual election cycle of 2024 produced two credible attempts on a candidate’s life and several other more tragic incidents. In an off year we saw an incendiary young zealot’s life taken in what eventually turned out to be an act not seen seen John Hinckley was trying to prove his manhood to Jodie Foster (which in hindsight was a particularly doomed crush). I sure hope it’s not Zohran himself, but I wouldn’t want to lay odds against it.
- AT LEAST ONE MAJOR SPORTS LEAGUE WILL FOOLISHLY CHOOSE TO STRIKE
It’s nearly zero hour for the WNBA players who have threatened to walk away from the league pretty much since their most successful season ever ended in September–and without who seems to be the bane of existence for so many of these jealous mean girls Caitlin Clark anywhere near the court. Mind you, her mere sideline and commercial presence was ubiquitous, and it sure helped us learn the names of those who actually got to hold hardware. A goodly number of them are preparing to start an “off-season” in Year Two of the player-centric Unrivaled next week, which the remnants of TNT Sports will devote a significant amount of prime time shelf space to as they await their own fate ownership-wise.
Which in their questionable minds gives them “leverage” to take the re-revised action which NBC NEWS’ Doha Madani updated her readers on just before Christmas. We’re actually getting a ten-day cooling-off period to start 2026 while those busy beavers sweat it out before crowds in the hundreds in a made-for-TV arena in Florida in front of a viewing audience that on average was about a fourth of what the W delivered in a lower viewing-level time of year. Maybe said beavers might get a glance at next week’s overnights while they rethink their strategy, but somehow based upon Madani’s reporting I’m anything but optimistic that they will.
But at least their financial gripes as a whole have some justification. That’s a lot more that can be said for the major league baseball ownership brass who appear hell bent on blowing up their own sport by year’s end. Earlier this morning the WASHINGTON POST’s Chelsea Janes headlined her first piece of 2026 with a detailed and downright frustrating update on the thinking and rationale, such that it is.
As an unapologetic and already frustrated Mets fan about to begin his fifth decade without a title–and as a burdgeoning Liberty fan who was kinda hoping at least one New York summer team would deliver on promise–I’m particularly hoping my dark cloud Nostradumbass call is dead wrong in this case. But as my further review of 2025 showed, even when I factor out my own personal goals I wasn’t quite as bad at predictions as I initially proffered.
Let’s all pray my track record doesn’t markedly improve in 2026, and that instead all of our fortunes actually do. We’ll start by learning how to spell semiquincentennial correctly.
Until next time…