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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Spacecraft Brings Russians, American Back To Earth; Paramount Launches Hostile Bid For Warner Bros. Discovery; Former Trump Attorney Alina Habba Resigns; Dozens Injured After Magnitude 7.5 Quake Strikes Northern Japan; Joe Walsh On Giving Away His "Stuff" For Upcoming Julien's Auction; Breaking Down this Year's Golden Globe Nominees; Manhunt for Olympic Snowboarder on FBI's Most Wanted List; CNN Tries Out Prototype of New A.I.-Powered Glasses. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired December 09, 2025 - 01:00   ET

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

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[01:00:14]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Here in L.A. County, holiday cheer is returning despite a difficult start to the year when fires devastated communities, Altadena has now illuminated its popular Christmas tree lane to mark the first holiday season since January's fires.

Palisades and Eaton fire killed 22 people, destroyed nearly 12,000 homes and caused nearly $54 billion in property damage. Residents are calling Altadena Street of Lights symbol of resiliency and renewal for the town.

Thanks for watching this hour of The Story Is. The next hour starts right now.

The story is hostile takeover. Paramount makes its move to buy Warner Brothers Discovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN Chief Media Analyst: You can really sense from Paramount CEO David Ellison a sense of frustration, maybe some bitterness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: With us, CNN's chief media analyst Brian Stelter.

The story is an atmospheric river moving into the Pacific Northwest. We're live in Seattle.

Music that makes a difference. We're at the iconic Troubadour stage with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that was the Rock and Roll hall of Fame induction.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Auctioning off rock history for great cause.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michaelson.

MICHAELSON: We begin this hour with breaking news in Kazakhstan, where crew members of the Soyuz MS27 touched down on Earth within the last hour. This is brand new video. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and his two Russian crewmates receiving a warm welcome home despite the below freezing temperatures there in Kazakhstan, you got to start somewhere. I don't know if Kazakhstan is the first place you want to be.

One of the cosmos described the touchdown as a soft landing and said his crew mates are feeling great. Once they're examined and medically cleared, each of the three crew members will board a helicopter and return to base. From there, astronaut Jonny Kim is due on board a NASA jet to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

By the way, Kim is a native of Southern California, grew up in Los Angeles, was a member of the Navy SEAL team, was a Harvard graduate and an astronaut. And this was his first mission to the ISS. He was aboard for about eight months, been gone for 245 days. His first time feeling gravity in that time. And you can see his family grateful to have him back here.

Now to the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery. Just three days after the media giant accepted a buyout offer from Netflix. Paramount, Skydance is now looking to steal the spotlight with a hostile takeover bid. Paramount is going straight to shareholders with an all cash $30 a share offer for the entire company. On Friday, the WBD board accepted the Netflix offer of 200 27.75 per share.

But that does not include the company's linear networks, including CNN, Discovery Channel and T and T. Those are expected to be spun off into a separate company. Paramount CEO David Ellison explains why he thinks his company's offer is better.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ELLISON, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, PARAMOUNT SKYDANCE: We're sitting on Wall street where cash is still king. We are offering shareholders $17.6 billion more cash than the deal they currently have signed up with Netflix. And we believe when they see what is currently in our offer, that's what they'll vote for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSONI: Any deal will face regulatory hurdles, and President Trump's friendship with the Ellison family could play a role. But he tried to stay noncommittal when asked about that situation on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You support the Paramount bid for Warner Brothers? That can --

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't know enough about it. I have to see what percentage of market they have. We have to see the Netflix percentage of market. Paramount, the percentage of market. I mean, none of them are particularly great friends of mine, you know, just, I want to -- I want to do what's right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: New York is CNN's media correspondent Brian Stelter. Brian, when we talked to you last week, the last thing I said to you is we haven't heard yet from Paramount in terms of what they have to say, and that may have an impact on this. Now we have. So, walk us through sort of what Paramount's point is and what they can do here.

STELTER: Paramount says it has a superior offer for Warner Brothers Discovery, but that it was spurned, that it was ignored. You can really sense from Paramount CEO David Ellison a sense of frustration, maybe some bitterness with WBD CEO David Zaslav, because there's a perception from the Paramount camp that Zaslav and WBD was favoring Netflix, that they wanted to do a deal with Netflix and they wanted to ice Paramount out.

[01:05:02]

But Paramount, Ellison, this is how it all started a few months ago. And David Ellison was able to take control of the famed Paramount Studio, merge his company Skydance with Paramount, and then Ellison right away looked to bid for WBD to get even bigger.

Ellison, of course, the son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, he wants to become one of the top media moguls in the world. He wants to rapidly grow his media company to take on big tech firms like Amazon and Apple.

And so here is Ellison with this grand vision. He feels like WBD iced him out. So he's going straight to shareholders with this $30 a share bid. And frankly, $30 is probably not the end of this.

You know, we will probably hear about a Sweden or we will probably hear about other developments in the days to come, as you have now Paramount fighting very publicly with, for control of WBD and also saying to the public, hey, we will better stewards for Hollywood. We will better for the movie theater industry. It's really interesting now Ellison is pushing those talking points.

MICHAELSON: And not only for the movie industry. And again, this is the weird part for us to discuss this, but for CNN, because the plan if Netflix takes over is that CNN becomes a separate company with some of the other cable outlets. But if Paramount Skydance takes over, it seems like Ellison wants to combine CNN and CBS News.

STELTER: Yes, he does. And he made that relatively clear on Monday, even though he talked his way, danced his way around a little bit. He talked about his vision for the news business, focusing on trust and truth, trying to reach what he said is the 70 percent of Americans he describes as moderates or in the proverbial middle. He has talked about this before when with regards to CBS News. And he has positioned himself as a fair, impartial minder of CBS News.

But there are a lot of skeptics about that out there, partly because he installed Bari Weiss as the editor in chief of CBS News and in part because of the efforts he has made this year to ingratiate himself with the Trump administration.

Paramount is complicated. You know, it is a company that, yes, has struck some deals that are favorable to Trump this year. It's also a company that puts on South Park, which is one of the most scathing, skewering comedies out there, going against Trump.

You know, Paramount is a company that is having Stephen Colbert show go off the air in a number of months, but it's also a company that employs journalists to rigorously cover the Trump administration. So there are a lot of different points of view and perceptions about Ellison. Is he a savvy businessman or is he capitulated to Trump?

This debate is swirling and it's getting even louder now that he's made this hostile takeover bid for WBD because he is signaling that he does want CNN as well as HBO and Warner Brothers and the rest of the assets. And I think it is important to emphasize here, the main play by all these big companies is for the entertainment assets.

They want the movie studio. They want the HBO streaming service. But one of the knock on effects here is about ownership of CNN going forward. And we know President Trump is interested in that.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And President Trump also put out this weekend that he was frustrated with CBS for their interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene on 60 Minutes just weeks after he was on 60 Minutes. So there's that aspect of it. So how much of a role does President Trump have in deciding this? Is he the ultimate decider of who controls Warner Brothers?

STELTER: But he's -- I would say he's not the ultimate decider. I would say someday it might be up to some federal judge who doesn't know they're even involved yet, you know, because while Trump can make this process more painful for whatever company is involved, he does not get an absolute veto.

And it's important to, I think, lay this out because we talk oftentimes about the limits of presidential power and Trump trying every way he can to expand on those limits.

Historically, two companies want to merge and the Justice Department takes a look at it. Antitrust lawyers scrutinize the deal. Historically, presidents stay far away from those decisions. Trump, of course, is doing the opposite. He says he will be involved in this decision and he has reshaped the DOJ to his liking in that way.

But even though he can and will be involved, he doesn't get the final say. Ultimately, the Justice Department could sue to block Netflix and Warner Brothers from doing their current deal. But then it's going to go to court. Netflix is going to have arguments to make in court. And one of the last times this happened, AT and T was trying to buy CNN and HBO and AT and T prevailed in court and the Trump Justice Department lost.

That was -- what was that, eight years ago? That was in 2017. So this has happened before. And just because Trump is opposed to a deal doesn't mean the deal falls apart. It does make it harder, though. It does make it more painful.

And one of theories in Hollywood right now is that Netflix is just going to try to wait Trump out, try to let this go on for a long time. Wait until after the midterms. Let this drag on. In the meantime, Netflix benefits by having Warner Brothers stay out of the hands of Paramount.

Ultimately, this is a drama between these men who control these streaming services about how the streaming world is going to work in the future. And as we said last week, this is going to take a long time to resolve itself and impact.

[01:10:08]

MICHAELSON: And impact Hollywood, impact everything that we all see and impact the future of business, especially for the West Coast. Brian Stelter, thank you so much for your perspective. Really appreciate it.

STELTER: Yes. Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Donald Trump's former personal lawyer has resigned as the acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey. This comes after federal appeals court found that Alina Habba was unlawfully serving in that position.

On Monday, the panel of judges ruled that the Trump administration violated the law, but it installed Habba as the acting U.S. attorney after failing to win Senate support. Habba announced that she would step down to protect, quote, the stability and integrity of the office I love. Judges across the U.S. have made similar rulings against U.S. attorneys appointed by the Trump administration. The president is railing against the confirmation process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I can't appoint a U.S. attorney that's not a Democrat because they put a block on it. So if you appoint in Virginia or in New Jersey or in California, a U.S. attorney or a judge, I mean, a judge situation is ridiculous. The only people that you can get by are Democrats because they will put a hold on it.

If I put up George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to be U.S. attorney in New Jersey or to be U.S. attorney in Virginia, we have Democrat senators. They will not approve them.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: Japan's prime minister says at least 30 people are injured after a massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit the country on Monday night. The U.S. geological Survey reports it struck about 70 kilometers, or 44 miles off of Japan's east coast. CNN's Hanako Montgomery has more from Tokyo on how the region is coping.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake was reported off the shores of northeastern Japan late on Monday evening. And this earthquake was so powerful that it caused this office building to rattle very violently. You can see the blinds here actually tremoring in this quake. Also, piles of copy paper falling to the ground.

In a separate video, you can see surveillance cameras across Japan shaking at the time of this earthquake. And in a separate video, also, debris fell due to this earthquake, causing damage to cars parked in that nearby area.

Now, the Japanese government initially issued tsunami warnings for three prefectures after this earthquake. Those warnings were issued to Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate prefectures. That means that waves of up to three meters in height could have been hitting Japan's shorelines.

However, the Japanese government has now lifted all tsunami advisories, all tsunami warnings, which is good news for the country as the damage might not be as extensive as initially feared. But the Japanese prime minister urged residents to remain vigilant, to exercise caution, especially in the coming days. This is what the prime minister said.

SANAE TAKAICHI, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Working closely with local authorities and under the principle of putting human life first, the entire government must devote its full efforts to emergency disaster response.

MONTGOMERY: Now, we have to remember that this earthquake hit Japan very late on Monday night. So it was difficult for the Japanese government to ascertain the extent of damage. But now that it's daytime here, the government is confirming initial reports of injuries and damage. So far, they've said that at least 30 individuals have been injured.

We're also seeing reports of some power outages in the northern part of the country where again, the biggest damage and the most severe damage was reported.

Now also, it's important to note that the Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a megaquake advisory for this part of the nation. Now, what that means is in the next week or so, residents are expected to exercise extreme caution and stay extra vigilant about a magnitude 8 earthquake or higher.

Of course, Japan is no stranger to earthquakes, but they're now saying that because of that very powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake, the chances of a megaquake happening in the next week or so at increased slightly to now 1 percent probability. But again, the Japanese government is urging people not to be alarmed, to remain calm and also, again, exercise caution. Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: In America, a strong atmospheric river is hitting the Pacific Northwest where several inches of rain are expected to fall. Parts of Washington state and Oregon are feeling the impacts already. Wet conditions are forecast to continue into midweek. With that comes the threat of landslides, flash floods, potentially widespread river flooding.

Here's a look at the flood alerts right now for the Northwest. Several regions in Washington are forecast to hit major flood stage.

[01:15:02]

Peak flood potential expected on Tuesday and Wednesday. Joining me now from Washington State is KING 5 reporter Madison Wade. Thanks so much for being with us. Talk to us about what you're seeing on the ground right now, including what you're seeing behind you.

MADISON WADE, KING 5 REPORTER: Well, Elex, thank you so much for having me on. Right now we are in the middle of this category 4 atmospheric river which is pummeling our state, specifically western Washington right now. I am by one of the rivers we are watching really closely tonight. This is the Puyallup River. It runs down from Mount Rainier into the Tacoma part of our state into Commencement Bay.

This river, as you can see behind me, is surging right now. It's about 20 feet. And we're watching it to get close to around 24 feet or more, which is that action stage for flood concerns. We have, as you mentioned, 13 flood warnings that we are tracking. With that comes the threat of landslides as well as several more inches of rain that is coming down here.

Now, if you're not familiar with Washington state, Pierce County, where I'm standing right now, is just south of Seattle. It took us about an hour and a half to get here. We're in the town of Orting. Again, this river is incredibly close to the city right now.

So, Elex, people here are preparing for that. They're hoping for the best, though, as they're continuing to see the rain come down at this hour.

MICHAELSON: Yes, you can hear the power of that river behind you. It's loud. So talk to us about some of those preparations for what we expect in the next few days.

WADE: So right now, as we mentioned, those flood concerns are really widespread, specifically for where I am with the Puyallup River behind me. We were talking to people all over the town of Orting today who are preparing by grabbing sandbags and making sure they're checking in on their neighbors as well. This area has seen flooding before, so it really isn't. It's nothing new for them. But some other areas are not being caught off guard tonight. But

definitely we're seeing more concerns in other parts right now. For example, some of our sheriff officials are going door to door in Gold Bar right now, which is in the Snohomish County area, checking on neighbors, making sure they're alert and aware that they might need to evacuate their homes tonight. We're hoping that doesn't happen. But again, we're following that closely as well. Elex.

MICHAELSOIN: We're thinking of all of our friends in the Pacific Northwest, Madison Wade, from KING 5, our CNN affiliate. Thank you so much. Really appreciate your report.

Still to come, my interview with Grammy award winning Eagles legend Joe Walsh who's auctioning off precious memorabilia for a good cause. We caught up earlier today at another iconic spot, the Troubadour. Stay with us.

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[01:22:05]

MICHAELSON: Life's been good to the Eagles' Joe Walsh, the legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter is now getting ready to put hundreds of treasures from his personal archive on the auction block. Letting go of some of those items is not so easy.

The Grammy winner showed me some of the memorabilia earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON (voice-over): Joe Walsh is performing on guitars. He's preparing to auction off to benefit his nonprofit VetsAid.

MICHAELSON: How are you feeling about sort of letting this go, letting your fans have something?

JOE WALSH, EAGLES GUITARIST, SINGER, SONGWRITER: It's painful. I don't like thinking about when I'm not here what's going to happen to it. So I would rather have somebody have a shot at having it.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): Julien's is auctioning off 800 items from Walsh at their iconic Troubadour stage in West Hollywood.

MICHAELSON: Is that cool to be at the Troubadour with you?

WALSH: A lot of friendly ghosts here. They're all looking at me. These are really hard to tune. Especially if you're stoned.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): One of the Items is this 12 string guitar Walsh played on his album Barnstorm.

WALSH: Holy smokes. Look at all this stuff.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): Also included is this suit Walsh wore to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

WALSH: Kind of unimpressed with what everybody wore. And I thought --

MICHAELSONI: That makes a statement.

WALSH: Yes, it does.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): This shirt reading so what? Reminds Walsh of the album of the same name he wrote after his young daughter was killed in a car crash.

WALSH: And it's important that you grieve, but it's important that you move on.

MICHAELSON: Yes. So that's part of your healing.

WALSH: Yes.

MICHAELSON: It's part of your healing. That's beautiful.

WALSH: Yes. So what? My father was killed in 1949.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): Walsh has long supported vets after losing his own father, an Air Force pilot.

WALSH: A homeless vet. I can't stand that. I am a gold star kid. I lost my father when I was 2.

Waiting around the farm.

MICHAELSON (voce-over): Walsh is clear this auction does not signify his retirement.

MICHAELSON: How do you see your musical legacy?

WALSH: Well, I'm not done yet.

MICHAELSON (voice-over): To that point, the Eagles returned to their residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas in January.

WALSH: It's 21st century technology. Digital. Fantastic. Amazing. We're a 20th century band. And that works. That works.

[01:25:00]

MICHAELSON: (voice-over): Julien's auction at the Troubadour is set for December 16th and 17th.

WALSH: It's time.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

WALSH: It's just playing time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Our thanks to Joe Walsh. How cool is that? Still to come, the nominees have been announced for the Golden Globe Awards. But did everyone who deserved recognition get on the list? We'll talk about that live when we come back. Plus, a big news when it comes to late night. Stay with us.

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[01:30:19]

MICHAELSON: Welcome back to THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson.

Let's take a look at today's top stories.

Ukraine's president is shoring up support from European allies as negotiations over the U.S. peace plan continue. Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with or met with European and NATO officials in London and Brussels on Monday. He says Ukraine needs security guarantees and that the country cannot legally surrender its territory to Russia, despite Russian demands.

President Trump has approved the export of computer chips used to help complete tasks performed by A.I. The Nvidia chips are just one of many chips wanted by China. The president suggests the U.S. government will take a cut of the profit from those sales, and says the Department of War is working on deals with other chip companies as well.

The battle to buy Warner Brothers Discovery is heating up. Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile takeover bid, offering $30 a share for the entire company, which includes linear networks like CNN and The Discovery Channel. The WBD board accepted a Netflix offer on Friday for the Warner Brothers movie studio and HBO, but not for CNN.

Let's talk entertainment

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They got her. Now they're coming after us. I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't ask for this. That's just how the cards were rolled out for me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not cards. You don't roll cards, it's dice.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dad, what is wrong with you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're right. Let's go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: A quick look at "One Battle After Another", the movie directed by Paul Thomas Anderson leading the film nominations for the 83rd Golden Globe Awards. It is up for nine awards, including best director and best motion picture, musical or comedy.

Coming in a close second is the film "Sentimental Value". That scored eight nominations, including best motion picture, drama. It's quite the competition, going up against Chloe Zhao's "Hamnet" and Ryan Coogler's "Sinners", among others. And that's only scratching the surface. That's the best motion picture, drama.

Joining now to talk about everything film and TV is entertainment journalist Segun Oduolowu. Great to see you. Welcome back.

SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Thank you for having me. Let's talk Golden Globes.

MICHAELSON: Yes. So what do you think of the drama nominees. Because I've only seen "Sinners" and I'm probably like everybody else in the country that have only seen "Sinners".

ODUOLOWU: Well see, and that's the thing we talked last week about it being retreads and a whole bunch of not-new fare. And that's what makes "Sinners" so exciting. It was an original screenplay that everybody saw.

Nobody's seen "Hamnet", you know, all love to Chloe Zhao and nobody's seen "Hamnet". Know the -- ok, to be -- to be honest -- to be honest, there is a lot of competition in the category for drama, but it should be Ryan Coogler, it should be "Sinners". This should it should sweep.

It was what everyone was talking about in the beginning of the year. It's what people are still talking about now. And I think because people haven't seen the other movies, that's what's going to carry the day.

MICHAELSON: But it matters -- what about the judges? Because as we know, the Hollywood foreign press or whatever's left of the Golden Globes has always been accused of sort of corruption, of not being a big enough body, not having enough diversity. They tried to scrap it and redo things, but still, there's always sort of questions about that, right?

ODUOLOWU: Yes. We know as much about the Hollywood foreign press as we do the Illuminati. Like they are -- they are that secretive. You don't really know who they are.

And honestly, unlike with the Oscars, you don't know what they lean towards. Do they -- do they lean towards a Chloe Zhao and her style of -- and her style of movie where it is very precious. It is well done. It is talking about Shakespeare.

Or do they go to the technical wizardry of a Ryan Coogler and "Sinners"? You -- we don't know.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

ODUOLOWU: And if you're trying to go based off what you like, good luck with that, because the Hollywood foreign press will always leave you wanting.

MICHAELSON: Well, and the old group that voted used to go for big stars because it was better for the award show if you had a bunch of big stars in the room. And that's why they sometimes would put things in the comedy category that have no business being in the comedy or musical -- ODUOLOWU: Always.

MICHAELSON: -- category in order to get those big stars there.

M1; But wait. Elex, let's be honest, there are no more big stars in Hollywood. Well, let me rephrase that. There's Tom Cruise, there's Denzel Washington, and then there's every other actor or actress who has sold out and is doing commercials.

You've got Oscar winners like Billy Bob Thornton doing T-Mobile commercials. I've seen Idris Elba, you name it, I'm seeing them do commercials.

Old Hollywood, to the point of what the Golden Globes, like you said, used to lean towards were the Brad Pitts, the George Clooneys. George Clooney is selling coffee like these -- there are no more stars.

MICHAELSON: George Clooney has made over $1 billion selling stuff.

(CROSSTALKING)

ODUOLOWU: Well selling -- selling Casamigos.

[01:34:48]

MICHAELSON: Pretty good for him. Yes.

ODUOLOWU: But when it comes to acting, if I've seen you in a commercial, every time I turn the dial, I'm not getting out of my chair to go to theater. And the theater, that's where they used to be bigger than life.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

ODUOLOWU: And there aren't any more actors or actresses bigger than life anymore.

(CROSSTALKING)

MICHAELSON: Well now, the biggest stars are all on TV.

ODUOLOWU: Yes.

MICHAELSON: And so let's look at the TV nominees for drama, which frankly, a lot more people have seen than seen these movies. We're talking about "The Diplomat", which stars Keri Russell; "The Pitt", which stars Noah Wyle; "Pluribus", which is Rhea Seehorn; "Severance", which Is Adam Scott; "Slow Horses", which is Gary Oldman; and "The White Lotus", which is like 15 different people.

So I don't want to say one star is better than others. Although Patrick Schwarzenegger is my favorite of the crew because he's a friend of mine. But --

ODUOLOWU: It's not because he's naked like half of the movie.

(CROSSTALKING)

ODUOLOWU: He's naked half the movie, right?

MICHAELSON: No.

Let's talk about that. And really, Apple TV+ --

ODUOLOWU: Killing it.

MICHAELSON: Or now just Apple TV is killing it. I think the two best shows of the year are both -- "Severance" is amazing.

ODUOLOWU: "Severance" is amazing, "Pluribus" is good --

MICHAELSON: Yes.

ODUOLOWU: -- but "Slow Horses" is my favorite. I love "Slow Horses". I love British drama. But you're right.

Look, Netflix might be the biggest, baddest bully on the block. They're trying to buy the block, but Apple, they're on the penthouse of that block.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

ODUOLOWU: Three of those six films that are in the category are Apple TV+. Sorry -- three of those TV shows --

MICHAELSON: They feel like films though.

ODUOLOWU: But they do feel like films.

MICHAELSON: I mean, "Severance", the finale of "Severance" felt like a better movie than anything that was out there.

ODUOLOWU: It's outstanding.

MICHAELSON: And "The Pitt" is also fantastic, which won the Emmy last year. A great, great show.

ODUOLOWU: And we haven't even gotten to the other categories where you're going to see "The Studio" and you're going to see "The Morning Show".

MICHAELSON: Yes.

ODUOLOWU: Like these -- Apple is putting out prestige television at such a high clip that they pretty much own the Golden Globes. When you're talking about who saw it, who's got the big stars and who's talking about it when it comes to their shows?

MICHAELSON: Well, "The Studio", of course, is all about the entertainment industry --

ODUOLOWU: Absolutely. MICHAELSON: -- starring everybody in the entertainment industry. They literally have a show about winning awards at an award show. So that group loves it.

(CROSSTALKING)

MICHAELSON: There's something -- there's something new this year called best podcast. And I want to read the nominees for that.

ODUOLOWU: Ok.

MICHAELSON: Weve got "Armchair Expert" with Dax Shepard; "Call Her Daddy"; "Good Hang" with Amy Poehler; The Mel Robbins podcast, "Smartless" and "Up First".

ODUOLOWU: Yes, it's called aka No Diversity. So like where it -- first of all where are the Joes?

MICHAELSON: Golden Globes so white on this one.

ODUOLOWU: Absolutely. Well, not just so white but where are the Joes. Where's the pod father, Joe Rogan. Where -- like his pod.

MICHAELSON: Yes, Biggest podcast there is.

ODUOLOWU: Biggest podcasters swung -- basically swung an election whether we like him or not, it's the epicenter of bro culture. Where's the Joe Budden podcast for -- not just for people that look like me or like hip hop music, but honestly that's his model of how you get podcasts out is enormous. And it should be in there.

So this podcast, what this podcast category, what it really looks like, thrown together with a bunch of like you said, let's get some stars, let's get Amy Poehler, let's get "Call Her Daddy". Like, ok, let's get Dax Shepard.

Ok, great. Not saying that their podcasts aren't good. Look, I listen to "Smartless", love Jason Bateman. I think it's absolutely funny.

But you're missing a lot of heavy hitters in that category for it to be the first time up.

MICHAELSON: Yes, first time up and "Pod Save America" also not nominated. We had them on the show a few weeks ago. They were all excited about the prospect of getting a nomination and they didn't get one. So "Pod Save America" obviously goes to war with Donald Trump all the time.

Jimmy Kimmel has had quite the battle with Donald Trump.

ODUOLOWU: Yes. And won.

MICHAELSON: And well, I guess they're both winning in their own ways.

ODUOLOWU: No, no, no. Kimmel won.

MICHAELSON: Jimmy Kimmel, we get news now that Jimmy Kimmel has been extended at ABC for at least another year.

ODUOLOWU: Rightfully so.

MICHAELSON: There was some talk before this whole battle that put Jimmy Kimmel off the air, that maybe he was nearing retirement. Every year he talks about this.

He's got the greatest deal that he gets to take like a month and a half off in the summer, which wouldn't that be amazing to do that. He works four days a week, which is great. And Jimmy Kimmel is now going to be back.

ODUOLOWU: Absolutely, he should be back because I fought the law and I beat the law, right. The opposite of the song. At the time where they were taking him off the air, Jimmy was being vilified and everyone was like, you know, he's got to go. Late night is dead.

Well, we are living proof that late night not only exists, but it's getting better and better. And Jimmy -- and Jimmy coming back also shows -- shows Disney that the fans wanted him.

Remember when they pulled him off the air, there were people in the streets like never before for a late-night host for Jimmy Kimmel. And it's because of what Jimmy was standing for.

Like, you might not like my jokes, you might not like what I say, but don't misquote me. Don't paint me to be something I'm not.

I think Disney saw that. I think it reinvigorated Jimmy, and he's got a whole new fan base of younger people that look at him as this kind of figure that's upholding, you know, for that Gen Z. So yes, come back, Jimmy.

MICHAELSON: That being said, the highest rated person in late night who was on an hour earlier. So that makes a difference is Greg Gutfeld on Fox News Channel.

[01:39:44]

ODUOLOWU: Yes. But again, they play to an audience. Can we -- can we dive into like the Fox? Can we talk about them or should we not talk about them. Because I'm happy --

(CROSSTALKING)

MICHAELSON: Go ahead.

ODUOLOWU: I'm happy to talk about it. Ok. If you pander, which is what a lot of their, their programing is.

MICHAELSON: You could Jimmy Kimmel panders to his people too, right.

ODUOLOWU: No. But I think Jimmy challenges his people to look objectively.

MICHAELSON: Right. Right. ODUOLOWU: There's one thing to speak to your audience and ask them to

think, even though they might be in the same pew as you, and you know, in your church.

It's another thing to just pander. And that's a lot of what Fox does. And it works for their audience. They give you what you want to hear, as opposed to challenging thought.

And I love that Jimmy, and people like Stephen Colbert, they challenge thought. And when you do that, you're going to rub people the wrong way. You know this, you challenge thought.

When you challenge thought --

MICHAELSON: That's what we try to do.

ODUOLOWU: We try to challenge thought, challenge thinking.

MICHAELSON: It is interesting that at a time when Paramount Skydance is sending Stephen Colbert packing, that Jimmy Kimmel will now be staying on past that time. And so there was questions about his late- night TV going away. And it's not.

ODUOLOWU: No.

MICHAELSON: Not on ABC and not on NBC. And we'll see what replaces it on CBS down the road, which will be interesting to see what the Ellisons do with that time slot.

Thank you so much.

ODUOLOWU: Always a pleasure.

MICHAELSON: It's always great to talk with you. Really interesting time.

ODUOLOWU: We got to take on Fox. I love that.

MICHAELSON: You brought that -- I guess, I brought it up.

ODUOLOWU: You brought that up.

MICHAELSON: I brought it up.

ODUOLOWU: You see how quickly he threw me under the bus, America. You saw that, right?

MICHAELSON: I brought that up. Yes. I didn't think we were going to go there, but there you go.

All right. We got -- we have love for everybody here. Segun, thank you.

NASA has released images of an interstellar comet approaching the earth. Pictures from the Hubble telescope have helped scientists monitor the comet since it was first spotted in July. It's only the third object ever observed coming from outside our solar

system to pass through it. The fact has earned it the name "Three-eye Atlas" for the third interstellar.

They say the comet will come within 170 million miles of earth on December 19th, but it will be on the other side of the sun and poses no threat to us. That's good.

You're watching THE STORY IS. For our international viewers, WORLDSPORT is next. For our viewers in North America, I'll be back with more news.

[01:41:51]

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MICHAELSON: NBA player Terry Rozier has pleaded not guilty to sports betting charges. The Miami Heat guard is accused of conspiring with friends to help them win bets on his performance in a March 23rd -- 2023 game when he was with the Charlotte Hornets.

Prosecutors say gamblers made tens of thousands of dollars on that game. More than 30 people have been arrested in the sprawling federal investigation of illegal gambling linked to professional sports.

An Olympic snowboarder is on the run as one of the FBI's ten most wanted fugitives. Authorities have put a $15 million reward out for the capture of Ryan Wedding as part of Operation: Giant Slalom.

CNN's Randi Kaye has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Ryan Wedding is a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar.

RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding in the 2002 Winter Olympics, competing in the giant slalom. More than two decades later, he's a wanted man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wedding abandoned an Olympic-level athletic path for depraved violence and cocaine trafficking.

KAYE: Wedding is now at the center of a massive international investigation known as Operation: Giant Slalom. The goal is to capture Wedding and his alleged associates.

PATEL: He's a modern-day iteration of El Chapo Guzman. He is responsible for engineering a narcotrafficking and narcoterrorism program that we have not seen in a long time.

KAYE: After his sports career ended, Wedding enrolled at Simon Fraser University and moved to Vancouver, according to "Rolling Stone". The magazine reported he took a job as a bouncer at a club and from there entered the drug underworld. Over the last decade or so, authorities believe Wedding has moved an average of 60 tons of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico for distribution in the United States and Canada. He's also accused of ordering multiple murders around the world.

Others allegedly involved in his criminal enterprise helped by laundering money, providing intelligence, assisting in murders and training hitmen.

The Justice Department says more than 35 people have been indicted in this operation.

PAMELA BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY-GENERAL: He controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world. He is currently the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada.

KAYE: These are pictures of the drugs authorities say they've seized as part of the investigation.

AKIL DAVIS, ASST. DIRECTOR IN CHARGE, FBI'S L.A. FIELD OFFICE: Make no mistake, Ryan Wedding is extremely dangerous.

KAYE: Wedding is also apparently a very rich man, according to officials, who say his operation's annual revenues exceeded $1 billion. These days, investigators believe Wedding is hiding out in Mexico.

DAVIS: He's being protected by the Sinaloa cartel, along with others in the country of Mexico.

KAYE: Over the years, Wedding is believed to have used nicknames including El Jefe, Giant and Public Enemy. An indictment just unsealed last month accuses Wedding of ordering the murder of a U.S. federal witness in Medellin, Colombia. The witness was allegedly shot five times in the head at a restaurant earlier this year.

BILL ESSAYLI, FIRST ASST. U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CA: Wedding placed a bounty on the victim's head in the erroneous belief that the victim's death would result in the dismissal of criminal charges against him and his international drug trafficking ring.

KAYE: Of the 16 defendants in this case, at least 12 are in custody. Ryan Wedding is still on the run, but some of the others were arrested in Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Michigan, and one suspect right here in Florida.

Agents raided this mansion in Miami, Florida where they arrested a music executive in connection with the investigation.

If captured and convicted, Wedding would face a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

Randi Kaye, CNN, Palm Beach County, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MICHAELSON: Imagine getting directions, answering a call, or searching the Internet without even touching your phone. Still ahead, how Google is using artificial intelligence to power its new smart glasses.

[01:49:38]

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MICHAELSON: This video from Chinese tech company Engine A.I. shows its humanoid T-800 robot kicking the company's CEO during a controlled demonstration. We realized that the video to quiet the rumors about the earlier footage of the robot. What you're seeing on screen right now, was made using CGI.

Aside from kicking its boss, the company says the T-800 can adapt to a variety of scenarios for industry service tasks, running, and yes, fighting.

Imagine being able to look at something and information about it appears right before your eyes. Well, that's the goal of Google's new smart glasses. The tech giant says they'll take photos, give you directions, even handle your calls.

CNN's Lisa Eadicicco got a chance to try out a prototype.

[01:54:48]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA EADICICCO, CNN TECH EDITOR: I had the chance to try out some prototype smart glasses from Google that will be launching next year. The company is working with partners like Samsung, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to design the glasses.

And Google has shown this prototype before but what's new is the software that it was running on. I got an early look at some apps like Google Maps and Uber that gives us a closer look at what the glasses will be like when consumers are able to buy them.

And the idea behind these glasses isn't necessarily to replace your phone, but to make certain things easier so that you don't have to reach for your phone as often.

And after using these glasses, I can kind of get a sense of what that's like. For example, when using Google Maps, I was able to look ahead to see turn by turn directions and then glance down to see the map. That's just one example.

Glasses like these are also really useful for live language translation. In my demo, I had someone speak to me in Chinese and have the glasses show and also recite translations in English in real time.

Now, this isn't Google's first time trying this. They released Google Glass roughly a decade ago, but those glasses largely failed to catch on with consumers for a few reasons. They were expensive. They weren't very functional. They didn't look like a pair of glasses.

But Google and other companies that are in the smart glasses race like Meta, especially, and Snap, believe that things will be different this time around because of A.I. which allows you to do things like look at books on a shelf and ask for details about it, and really process information about the world around you and get answers in real time without having to take out your phone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Thank you so much. What do you think? Cool or creepy? There's a lot of people on both sides on that one.

Thanks so much for watching. We really appreciate it.

We'll see you back here tomorrow for more of THE STORY IS.

[01:56:30]

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