Oct 17, 2026

PREVIEW VERSION

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Jon Kelly

Good morning,

Welcome back to The Backstory, your weekend review of the best new work at Puck and Air Mail.

It was a truly incredible week: Matt Belloni broke an extraordinary amount of news—Bela Bajaria’s Netflix exit, Jeff Shell’s next chapter, and Druski’s history-making SNL booking. Meanwhile, Eriq Gardner audited a $14 million A.I. streaming scam; Dylan Byers took the temperature at CBS News after the latest Bari Weiss flare-up; Ian Krietzberg spotlighted Washington’s understaffed A.I. watchdog; Bill Cohan marveled at the Skydance debt stack; John Ourand vetted an ESPN whistleblower; Lauren Sherman decoded John Demsey’s Gap exit; Malique Morris clocked Hillary Super’s Victoria’s Secret revival; and Marion Maneker discussed the next generation of art collectors with Jennifer Rubio and Sophia Cohen.

Down in D.C., Julia Ioffe investigated Trump’s flummoxing détente with Putin; Leigh Ann Caldwell unmasked the White House’s designated midterm fall guy; Peter Hamby sized up the D.N.C.’s gloves-off makeover; and Marianna Sotomayor caught wind of a centrist counter to Medicare for All.

Check out these stories, and others, via the links below. And stick around for the backstory on how it all came together.

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FASHION

Lauren Sherman reads between the lines of John Demsey’s Gap exit.
and…
Malique Morris breaks down Hillary Super’s Victoria’s Secret glow-up.

ART MARKET

Marion Maneker convenes Jennifer Rubio and Sophia Cohen for a tête-à-tête about art’s next-gen collectors.

HOLLYWOOD

Matt Belloni scoops Bela Bajaria’s Netflix exit, sniffs out Jeff Shell’s new chapter, and heralds Druski’s SNL breakthrough.
and…
Eriq Gardner presages the coming wave of A.I.-abetted streaming fraud.

A.I.

Ian Krietzberg goes inside CAISSI, the government’s skeleton-crew A.I. gatekeeper.

AIR MAIL

Michael Douglas remembers the golden age of Hollywood in conversation with Sam Wasson.
and…
Charlie Gowans-Eglinton details modern Ozempic etiquette.

MEDIA

Dylan Byers probes the Bari Weiss–era Israel fault lines at CBS News.

SPORTS

John Ourand weighs an ESPN whistleblower’s gambling-coverage allegations.

WALL STREET

Bill Cohan tallies the implications of Skydance’s $52 billion debt stack.

WASHINGTON

Julia Ioffe