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CNN This Morning

Priscilla Presley Contests Validity of Will; Screen Time Linked to Cognitive Impairment; Renewed Debate over Binge Versus Weekly Television Viewing. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 31, 2023 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[06:31:20]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Priscilla Presley is now disputing the validity of her daughter's will. She was removed as a co-trustee back in 2016 and replaced by Lisa Marie's children. But Priscilla's lawyers now say there are several issues with the document. They say Priscilla's name was spelled. Lisa Marie's signature doesn't look right. As you know, Lisa Marie is Elvis Presley's only child. She was laid to rest at his Graceland estate earlier this month.

Joining us now to talk about this is CNN's chief business correspondent, and "EARLY START" anchor, Christine Romans.

OK, so a living trust is basically this form of a way to control your assets while you're still alive.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Right.

COLLINS: What is it - I mean what is the dispute here over?

ROMANS: So, the issue here is that Priscilla Presley didn't know in 2016 that this - the -- the trustees had been changed upon the death of Lisa Marie. It wasn't notarized. That's one of the things she's concerned about. She wasn't alerted, and that is required ironclad part of this trust is that she must be notified of any changes to this document. And she wasn't. So that's why her lawyers have petitioned the court to see if this 2016 amendment to her will is actually legal and valid.

COLLINS: Wow. I mean it - it -- how long could this take, do you think?

ROMANS: So, I was looking at the Michael Jackson estate. That took 12 years to settle. Michael Jackson was heavily in debt when he died. And what's interesting to me, by the time they settled that whole estate, it was profitable again. It was like four times as profitable as it had been.

So, you've got an estate here that includes a 15 percent stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises, Graceland, the mansion, which Pricilla, at one time had said, is it - or Lisa Marie had said is absolutely 100 percent mine. It will always be mine, Graceland. It will always be. And when it is no longer mine, it will be my children's. And that is that.

And now we are at the place where her children are named in this will as her trustees now, and her own mother is disputing it.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Is not.

ROMANS: So, it's granddaughters and a grandmother together over the future of what is a very complicated, complicated fortune.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And you mentioned Michael Jackson because, you know, they had that connection. But often, I mean, when you look at -

HARLOW: Yes.

LEMON: Most of the folks who die, a lot of them die in debt, and then -

ROMANS: Right.

LEMON: Because they're not spending it, quite often, within months or years, they end up - you know, the estates just go up in value exponentially.

ROMANS: Elvis Presley made much more money in death, frankly, than he did in life.

LEMON: In life.

ROMANS: You know, that has been a brand that has been just, you know, just sterling.

LEMON: Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, on and on and on.

ROMANS: Yes.

HARLOW: Four-day work week. Let's switch gears here.

So, Maryland lawmakers -

ROMANS: Yes.

HARLOW: Are propose this bill for a four-day workweek, but you can't force a private company to do that, right? It would be all the federal agencies - or state agencies?

ROMANS: No, but you can - no, it's about tax incentives. It's giving tax incentives to companies to try it. And this is inspired by this four-day workweek global pilot that we have reported on here on this program that found productivity went up, burnout went down, people didn't have to commute as much, they saved money. I mean had very good results of this global pilot.

HARLOW: Uh-huh. ROMANS: So you have some lawmakers in Maryland who say, maybe we should put taxpayer money behind this and see if some companies would like to try it.

HARLOW: I suppose it would incent, well, more hiring, right, because like you need to have the same number of doctors. They need three anchors when we take Friday's off.

LEMON: Yes, I mean, four-day workweek, bosses, are you listening?

HARLOW: Right.

ROMANS: Look -

HARLOW: You'd have to hire replacements for some necessary jobs.

LEMON: It's so productive (INAUDIBLE).

ROMANS: But it's -- it's a response to the great resignation. I mean people seemed - people seemed to really like it. They do all of their personal business on whatever day they have off of the week. You don't have the pressure and the stress to go to your kids -

HARLOW: Wait, Kaitlan doesn't want it. Is that what you said?

COLLINS: I said I'd be bored. Sorry, guys.

LEMON: I'd be bored too, on a beach.

HARLOW: I'd hear less complaints from my kid saying, why do you go to work every morning?

ROMANS: But sales rose at the companies that tried this. And sales and profits rose.

HARLOW: Oh, interesting.

LEMON: Yes.

ROMANS: So, it turned out it was profitable for the companies. It wasn't just nice, it was profitable.

HARLOW: Love that.

LEMON: Thanks, Romans.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

[06:35:00]

LEMON: Always a pleasure. Good to see you.

HARLOW: There is a new study that shows that too much screen time now for your kids, I hope my kids are listening, can impact your kids later academically. Dr. Tara Narula is here to explain.

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[06:40:12]

LEMON: An historic match-up. Two black quarterbacks will play against each other for the first time on football's biggest stage ahead of the Chiefs versus Eagles, Mahomes versus Hurts showdown. Bears quarterback Justin Fields spoke to our very own Coy Wire about how significant this moment is for the future of the NFL. Watch.

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JUSTIN FIELDS, CHICAGO BEARS QUARTERBACK: I'm excited for it. I know those guys are going to be, you know, hyped up and, you know, ready to play. But, you know, it's definitely a big moment for, you know, a lot of back, you know, young QBs coming up. And just, you know, being -- having them inspire them, and, you know, maybe, you know, they're saying to themselves that, you know, that can be me one day.

So just, you know, being able to see that, you know, if you're a young kid out there, a young black quarterback, being able to see that and kind of say, wow, like, you know, it's actually happening, you know, that could be me one day. So, it's definitely awesome to see for sure.

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LEMON: So, if Mahomes wins against the Eagles, he will be the first black quarterback with multiple Super Bowl wins. And if the Eagles beat the Chiefs, well, Hurts would become the fourth black quarterback to win a Super Bowl joining Mahomes, Doug Williams, and Russell Wilson.

HARLOW: How much tablet time is too much? A new study finds your child's academic success may start with their screen time, or lack of screentime, when they are infants.

Our medical correspondent Dr. Tara Narula joins us now.

Infants.

DR. TARA NARULA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Infants. Yes. It's amazing that so many parents are giving tablets to kids who are less than 12 months old.

LEMON: It's a babysitter.

NARULA: Yes. I mean it's become so much a part of our culture. We have kids. You know that kids want to use screens. And so how do we navigate this? And I think this study really gives us an idea of just how potentially damaging this can be.

And so in this study, they basically looked at around a little over 400 children and they assessed their screen time as early as 12 months. And on average it was about two hours, which is a lot. And then they followed them for about nine years and they found that once the kids reached about nine years, they actually showed signs of decreased executive functioning and attention. What is executive functioning? It's really how we focus, how we pay

attention, multitask, make decisions, plan. It's so critical to our professional academic success, our ability to mentally and emotionally regulate ourselves and function. So, these are really critical skills.

And the other interesting part of this study is that around 18 months, some of these children had an EEG, which is a way of assessing brain function, and they already saw early changes on the EEG.

Now, you can't definitively prove that it's the screen time that was associated with this and not something else in the home environment in that -

HARLOW: Correlation is not necessarily causation.

NARULA: Exactly. So maybe parents who gave their kids screens, there was something else going on at home too.

But the bottom line is, when a kid is looking at a screen at that young of an age, they're not -- their brain isn't developing in the normal way. They're not able to learn with that face-to-face interaction back and forth that they get with a parent. The hands on, the socialization. That 2D just doesn't cut it.

And so this really fits with the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations that under 18 months children should not be using screens unless they're using it to video chat with a family member. And then from ages two to five, it should be limited to less than one hour.

HARLOW: Yes. Yes.

NARULA: So, it's hard to do. I have kids. It's hard to tell them to put the screen down, but really, really important.

LEMON: We don't have kids, so, we don't have to deal with that for now.

NARULA: You might someday.

COLLINS: Every Sunday when I get my screen time, though, from iPhone that sends you the - Apple sends you your screentime. I'm like, oh, my God, I'm on my screen so much.

But all this also ties into the other topic that we're talking about this morning, which is learning loss for children.

NARULA: Yes.

COLLINS: You know, my mom's a fourth grade teacher. And this is because of Covid. And she saw this a lot. A lot of families where people said, oh, well, your kids at home, they can do their school work on their computer or whatever and it was a real struggle for a lot of kids.

NARULA: Yes, and it's just not the same. And that's what this other study that we're talking about showed. It was an international study that looked at about 15 countries, 42 studies, they put together all the data, and they, in fact, found that kids had about a 35 percent learning loss compared to a normal year. This deficit started early. It has persisted. So we haven't made up for it. It affected disproportionately children from disadvantaged backgrounds. And also it seemed like the losses were greater in math versus English or reading or other language skills.

But, you know, how do we catch up? At this point, I think, is really the question. And so some of the researchers suggest after school programs, summer programs, lengthening the school day, potentially online or learning apps as well. But really tough.

HARLOW: All things I support.

NARULA: Yes.

HARLOW: I just do. Longer school day? Longer into the summer.

NARULA: Yes.

HARLOW: But, controversial, I know.

NARULA: Yes.

HARLOW: Thank you, Doc.

COLLINS: Thanks, doctor.

All right, you can read more about this story on cnn.com. All of these questions about, you know, just the effects that it did have.

[06:45:00]

And ahead we're going to talk about how scientists also are now using artificial intelligence to make a grim prediction on global warming and our efforts to fight climate change.

LEMON: And a new HBO drama, "The Last of Us," is renewing the debate, which is better, binge or weekly watching? We will discuss.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm taking you with me. We can just keep our histories to ourselves. We don't tell anyone about your condition.

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COLLINS: HBO's latest hit, "The Last of Us," has had viewers essentially glued to their screens, while we're talking about screen time, the last Sunday -- three Sunday nights. The show is an adaptation of a video game. It has filled HBO's prime Sunday evening slot.

And in an era of binging, HBO and some other streamers are sticking to dropping weekly episodes for some of their hottest shows.

[06:50:07]

It has renewed a debate over binge watching and which is better.

Joining us now to talk about this is chief TV critic for "Rolling Stone," Alan Sepinwall, and CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas.

We want to mention, HBO shares the same parent company as CNN, which we all know.

But this show, everyone I know is talking about it. Everyone is obsessed with it. But there is a question over how you watch TV. Do you watch it all at once? Do you -- is it better to do a weekly drop for these biggest - biggest shows?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: We've been talking about it for the last hour.

ALAN SEPINWALL, CHIEF TV CRITIC, "ROLLING STONE": Yes.

MELAS: So I'm going to let him take this one first because he has TV critic in the title of his name. So I'll let you go first.

SEPINWALL: I would say, in general, there's a handful of shows that are better if you binge them. But, for the most part, I think TV's better weekly. It's better episodically. I think this episode of "The Last of Us" is a great example of that.

LEMON: You're just old school, Alan.

SEPINWALL: I'm - yes, I'm old and old school. But also, like, you get to spend a whole week thinking about this show, talking about it. You're seeing it on the same night as everybody else is seeing it. So, when somebody does something really special, it still feels like an event, even in this really fragmented state of television where there's too many shows. You don't get that with a binge. This would be the third episode you would watch in a weekend, and then you would move on and you would forget about it.

MELAS: And everyone is talking about the last episode being one of the best hours of television possibly ever.

HARLOW: Really?

MELAS: Yes. And if you look at what our CNN critic, sorry, Brian Lowry is saying, he says it's absolutely spectacular. And he's very, you know -

HARLOW: Critical.

MELAS: He doesn't like a lot of things. Sorry, Brian. But, you know, it's - it's - it makes me want to speed up to this - to the third episode.

Now, I've been very introspective this morning about what I watch on television. And I have -

LEMON: Oh.

MELAS: I have discovered that I too am an old lady. Everything - everything -

SEPINWALL: We all are old ladies.

MELAS: Everything that I like to watch on television is episodic. I will tell you what I watch. There's a theme here. "Billions," Showtime, episodic. "Succession," love "Succession," HBO, episodic.

HARLOW: Love.

MELAS: All of these shows are about money. I need it.

"White Lotus," HBO.

LEMON: Yes.

MELAS: I mean, come on. I mean I'm obsessed with Jennifer Coolidge. We talked at the Golden Globes. And I will tell you now, she's upset, too, that she's -

HARLOW: Dead. That she died.

LEMON: She is. Yes. She's (INAUDIBLE).

MELAS: Yes. Yes. She told me this. She told me this. And I - I know. And then "This is Us," sorry, got to say it, I think it's great television, NBC.

LEMON: Is that on - I think they were done.

MELAS: It's over now -

LEMON: Yes.

MELAS: But I'm telling you like everything I like is appointment television. And I think that what it goes to show you is that people like communal moments together.

HARLOW: Yes.

MELAS: And sharing this and talking about it and anticipating it together.

LEMON: Does that count for the original "Law and Order" that I watch over and over and over every single day? It's (INAUDIBLE).

MELAS: Turns out procedural TV is still something that's really popular.

SEPINWALL: Yes. Yes. You've got all these hits. I mean Peacock just launched one that Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne are doing called "Poker Face," like the classic '70s style mystery of the week. So, it's real - it's still really fun if you just watch one episode and then wait and get the next one a week or so later.

HARLOW: How has no one mentioned "Sopranos."

SEPINWALL: I mean -

HARLOW: Remember.

SEPINWALL: If you get me talking about "Sopranos," we'll just be here all week.

HARLOW: I just - OK, so I'm old lady too, which is actually what Luca, my son, calls me, but -

MELAS: My son Luke - my son Luke calls me old lady.

HARLOW: Because we're old ladies -

MELAS: Yes.

HARLOW: My young producer had to e-mail me about this last night. She's like, personally, as much as I love binge watching, I also love having something to look forward to each week and discuss. And I think she, a young viewer, nailed it.

SEPINWALL: Yes.

HARLOW: Because when it's all binge, then if you don't watch it right away you're going to find out on social media what's going on.

MELAS: But we will say, though, adversely, some of the shows that you can binge, like "Stranger Things" on Netflix, quite possibly one of Netflix's biggest hits you were saying.

SEPINWALL: Yes.

HARLOW: Yes.

MELAS: And, you know, also "Wednesday Adams" on Netflix was incredibly popular.

SEPINWALL: Yes. That was very popular. Hulu had a show called "The Bear," which I think would have gotten lost in the shuffle if you ever watched one at a time.

HARLOW: Oh, yes.

SEPINWALL: But because the algorithm would keep playing it for you, I think that really caught on back in the summer. So, sometimes a binge can work. I just think, for the most part, weekly episodic is still superior.

MELAS: And I think that the other thing that he spoke to me about, which I had never heard about before until this morning, and when I tell you, like, we've already -- I already interviewed him this morning for like an hour.

SEPINWALL: We're best friends.

MELAS: There is decision fatigue, which is the story of my life at night, where there's so much to watch on some of these streaming services and I need something - I need order in my life. I need to be able to know what to watch.

LEMON: Well, you need to watch "Law and Order" then. So like, shon (ph) tong (ph).

MELAS: I need to know what to watch every week. I can't have all of these options, you know, it can be too much.

Now, binging went up during the pandemic.

LEMON: Yes.

MELAS: You know, and that is still the more popular form of watching television.

LEMON: I feel like I got to the end of like streaming during the pandemic, and I've seen a lot of it. And I won't mention which, you know, streaming service.

MELAS: What are you watching right now?

LEMON: You - honestly, look, you know, you know I know I love Jennifer Coolidge and whatever. I watch a lot of Apple.

MELAS: Yes.

LEMON: Not Apple TV, but YouTube.

MELAS: Yes.

LEMON: Like, I narrow cast. And so it kind of feeds you what you want to see. So I very rarely watch anything in real time. But this --

[06:55:01]

MELAS: And the reality TV is episodic.

LEMON: Can I just - just real quick, what it is -- why are people upset about the introduction of this gay character, at least people figuring it out in the final episode, of course?

SEPINWALL: Well, I mean, I definitely have seen a lot of excitement. A lot of people very sort of refreshingly were warmed by how beautiful this love story was. But I think there's a certain segment of the gamer audience in particular who is just in denial about this. My understanding in the game is that the character is very clearly gay, but it's a little bit implied, and here it was very explicit. And, for them, they just don't want it. And it's unfortunate.

COLLINS: But it made for a really special hour of TV.

SEPINWALL: Yes. COLLINS: IT's getting rave reviews.

MELAS: Maybe the best ever, right?

LEMON: Yes.

SEPINWALL: I cried multiple times.

MELAS: Yes.

COLLINS: Because of that episode?

SEPINWALL: Yes.

COLLINS: Why?

SEPINWALL: It's just amazing. Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett are incredible. It's a beautifully told love story in the space of a single hour of television.

LEMON: Thank you, guys. We cried and we laughed and we got to learn about each other.

SEPINWALL: Exactly.

LEMON: I'm talking about this moment right now. Thank you very much, Chloe Melas and Alan Sepinwall.

HARLOW: Thank you, guys.

LEMON: Thank you.

And straight ahead here on CNN, why some car insurers are refusing to cover certain Hyundai and Kia models.

HARLOW: And in just a few minutes, Tyre Nichols' brother will join CNN this morning live. What he believes should happen to the officers who beat his brother and the officials who failed to act when Tyre needed them most.

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