CNN on Trial, Full Nielsen, A Murdoch Succession War

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon download of Puck’s best new reporting.

First up today, John Heilemann offers an inside look at the pre- and post-debate calculus for the Trump and Harris camps heading into a night that both sides agree is a bona fide B.F.D. After Philly, what critical variables will shape the campaign’s homestretch?

Plus, below the fold: Lauren Sherman relays the anxiety-tinged euphoria surrounding Pieter Mulier’s exemplary Guggenheim show. John Ourand digs into a Nielsen ratings micro-scandal at the dawn of the NFL season. Scott Mendelson extracts a handful of pressing Hollywood lessons from the success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. On The Town, Matt Belloni is joined by Lucas Shaw to ponder five burning questions keeping Hollywood insiders up at night. And on The Powers That Be, Peter Hamby rings up Eriq Gardner to unpack the Succession-style courtroom battle enveloping the Murdoch clan, before discussing a pair of defamation lawsuits against CNN and MSNBC.

JOHN HEILEMANN

The Harris and Trump war rooms agree that Tuesday night’s debate is a bona fide B.F.D.—with a gargantuan audience and potentially game-changing consequences. But both sides are already looking past what happens in Philly to a handful of critical variables that will shape the campaign’s homestretch.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

See all the ways we’re investing in America.

LAUREN SHERMAN

The fabulous Guggenheim show was a testament to Pieter Mulier’s slow, steady, post-founder re-creation of Alaïa. Both Mulier and Alaïa are just what the industry needs right now… so hopefully he doesn’t bolt for Chanel.

JOHN OURAND

After enraging the sports media community last year by attempting to integrate Amazon’s numbers into its data, Nielsen will use some first-party data in its calculations for the NFL this season. But the devil is in the details.

SCOTT MENDELSON

Not all legacy sequels work out, but ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ had a number of factors guiding its success—multigenerational appeal, the return of Tim Burton, and a pair of stars who are nearly as relevant now as they were more than 30 years ago.