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Discussed in this issue: David Zaslav, Owen Dennis, Mike Flanagan, 200 vanished episodes of Sesame Street, and the future of HBO Max under Gunnar Wiedenfels’s P&L scalpel.

But first…

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Proven success is a phrase that’s come up a lot lately as Warner Bros. Discovery C.E.O. David Zaslav focuses on cost-cutting and debt service. Zaslav killed CNN+ (an estimated $1 billion saved) and Batgirl (a $90 million write-off), and has begun company-wide layoffs. But the penny-pinching maneuver that is most alarming to Hollywood’s creative community is his removal of some 36 series from HBO Max. The vanishings include 200 episodes of Sesame Street, among other children’s content, as well as beloved animated titles like Infinity Train, Close Enough, and OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes. Twenty of the removed series are HBO Max originals, including Summer Camp Island, Aquaman: King of Atlantis, and The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo...