I've seen the leaked first episode. There is a quick Gandhi reference and I could see them never referencing him again

Arguably, the Hollywood difference is that it's an industry with relatively limited spots for who gets to star in a (non-independent) movie or TV show, and all of them are built on so many levels of gatekeeping.

There's thousands and thousands of hospitals and blue collar warehouses and McDonald's locations. Each movie studio only makes a dozen-ish movies a year. Each network only makes so many scripted series a year.

"Harder to sell ads on reruns of things."

Might legitimately be a new idea for a guy whose success was in the old broadcast network and recent unscripted cable models. Both of which essentially ran on the idea that people turn on a channel and will keep it on all evening, even if lots of the night is reruns.

In this call, he also kept playing up how Discovery+ users will stay subscribed no matter what, and HBO Max subscribers will cancel between shows... so obviously, the answer is to make HBO Max more Discovery+-like

Tried it. It just tried to make me watch the Modern Family pilot. Every time.

Would love a feature where I could select, say, some sitcoms and get served random episodes of them

Yeah, Daniel Craig could never be James Bond.

I also have totally believed ageing was the reason Kendall's kids aren't on screen, but they're still mostly invoked in the most recent season in a "you never see them and don't care about them" way. It's not really a retcon but I thought it was interesting that they were kinda lumped into the show phasing out anyone younger than the main characters (some of them definitely as retcons). You'd think there'd be something to explore about the adult kids, constantly questioning their loyalty to Logan, having their own heirs to worry about or fear.

Generally I don't think what I said about Logan's dementia was wrong. It's the catalyst for the start of the series, and the first season plays with to what degree it's a real concern, but once he announces he's staying on and the show shifts to merger storylines, or Shiv and Roman getting moments in the sun, (outside the 'cat under the chair' episode) Logan's not pissing on carpets anymore or making business moves that seem less than calculated.

Succession actually changes a decent amount over the first season, as they hone in on a show about the adult children vying for a kiss from daddy. Some of it is just downplayed until eventually written out, like the old media vs new media angle of Kendall going all-in on a blog.

But they also eliminate like half of the family, with varying levels of abruptness. Greg's mom, played by Reno 911's Mary Birdsong, disappears after the pilot. Roman's first girlfriend was originally credited in the pilot as his wife, and there was a daughter never seen again; they break up a few eps later. I think Connor's also implied to be married? Marcia's son gets a promotion to Europe in a dramatic reveal, then is never heard from again. Kendall's kids become only talked about, and then essentially forgotten. (Interestingly, most of these result in the generation of the Roy family younger than the main characters basically being eliminated.)

Edit: Also, they bring it back for the 'cat under the chair' episode, but it does feel like the show became uninterested in Logan's dementia after season 1, as the story demanded the character be more consistently cunning and ruthless.

I mean, this rumor seems based on nothing more than "could happen, Disney likes universes"

Also doubt Disney would put that much investment into something they don't own