Happy October from spooky What I’m Hearing H.Q. I missed the big Bert Fields memorial today due to a family thing, but Puck’s legal expert Eriq Gardner was there. He’ll have more in The Rainmaker newsletter tomorrow (sign up here!), but he told me it was nice and star-studded, as expected. Clients Dustin Hoffman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Michael Ovitz spoke, and Tom Cruise and Elaine May appeared by video. I’m pleased that they showed a clip of Bert playing a lawyer on an episode of Dragnet. R.I.P.

On the podcast this week: Bill Simmons and I debated Lorne Michaels’s future at SNL; CNBC’s Julia Boorstin discussed her new book on female leadership; and John Ourand and I broke down the Amazon NFL numbers. If you’re not subscribed, do it here or here!

Discussed in this issue: Chris McCarthy, Jon Feltheimer, Jen Friedman, Will Smith, Norm Aladjem, Barbara Broccoli, Billy Eichner, Carolyn Everson, Jimmy Kimmel, and a funny New York Times screw-up.

But first…

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