Latest news with #KimRosenstock
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Decades After Its Joint-Venture Journey Began, Hulu's Sole Ownership By Disney 'Finally Resolved' With $439M Payment To NBCU, Bob Iger Exults
The long and winding road of Hulu, which started in the pre-smartphone era as a streaming joint venture involving NBC and Fox, has concluded with the finalizing of Disney's buy-out of Comcast. Disney is paying an extra $438.7 million to Comcast's NBCUniversal, on top of the $8.6 billion it committed in 2023 under the terms established in a put/call arrangement unveiled in 2019. That deal, which was accompanied by Disney's $71.3 billion acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox, fueled Disney's streaming ambitions as it prepared to launch Disney+. More from Deadline It Starts On The Page (Limited): Read 'Dying For Sex' Episode 1 Script "Good Value Diet Soda" By Kim Rosenstock & Elizabeth Meriwether Iris Apatow Joins Season 3 Of Hulu's 'Tell Me Lies' As Recurring 2025 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming While Disney gained full operational control of Hulu, the agreement preserved Comcast's one-third financial position pending the outcome of negotiations over the final price. A $27.5 billion floor value was set, with multiple third-party appraisals then entering the discussions. Disney's appraisal, not surprisingly, came in below the $27.5 billion level, while NBCU rendered an estimate that was 'substantially' higher, Disney said in an SEC filing. Disney CEO Bob Iger and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts publicly jockeyed over the value of the service in a sector increasingly defined by streaming. The transaction, completed Monday, 'takes into account the valuation of a third appraiser,' the filing explained. Had the NBCU appraiser prevailed, the result would have been a payment to Comcast/NBCU of about $5 billion, Disney said. The buyout is slated to close on or before July 24. 'We are pleased this is finally resolved,' Iger said in a statement. 'We have had a productive partnership with NBCUniversal, and we wish them the best of luck. Completing the Hulu acquisition paves the way for a deeper and more seamless integration of Hulu's general entertainment content with Disney+ and, soon, with ESPN's direct-to-consumer product, providing an unrivaled value proposition for consumers.' Comcast said in a statement provided to Deadline, 'Hulu was a great start for us in streaming that generated nearly $10 billion in proceeds for Comcast and created an important audience for NBCUniversal's world-class content. We wish Disney well with Hulu and appreciate the cooperative way our teams managed the partnership.' Disney has been more closely integrating Hulu with its Disney+ flagship and its linear networks in recent years. Hulu remains a key participant in Disney's vertical bundles as well as a successful one involving a third-party, HBO Max. After NBC and Fox hopped onboard the streaming pioneer ahead of its official founding in 2007, Disney soon followed and Time Warner would go on to take a 10% stake. In-fighting often hindered the progress of Hulu as its strategy continuously shifted. While each participant in the JV fell away as companies pursued their own independent strategies, the irony is that a Hulu-style coming together of legacy players is now coalescing as media giants grapple with the costs and murky financials of streaming compared with the lucrative pay-TV business. Best of Deadline Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds A Full Timeline Of Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Feud In Court, Online & In The Media Where To Watch All The 'John Wick' Movies: Streamers That Have All Four Films Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Guardian
29-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
‘Death is not a mystery': what happens to your body when you're dying?
'Who would like to hear about what happens when you're dying?' In the final episode of the FX series Dying for Sex, a hospice nurse with an oddly comforting sense of enthusiasm explains to a patient what to expect as she dies. 'Death is not a mystery. It is not a medical disaster. It is a bodily process, like giving birth or like going to the bathroom or coughing,' she continues. 'Your body knows what to do.' She'll eat and drink less, for example, and sleep a lot more; she won't get out of bed and might become delirious. Eventually, her breathing will slow down until the death rattles take over. She might even experience 'the rally', the nurse says, or a burst of energy and mental clarity days before her last breath. The scene is based on real events in the life of Molly Kochan, who received a terminal breast cancer diagnosis in 2015 and embarked on a sexual journey until her death four years later. Kochan, who died at age 46, documented her experiences in a podcast with her best friend, Nikki Boyer, which inspired the TV series. 'There's this assumption, understandably, that dying isn't something an audience wants to look at. It feels too scary or sad,' says Kim Rosenstock, the show's co-creator, writer and executive producer. 'So we felt like we had an opportunity to depict death in a different way. And in doing so, to hopefully make death feel even a tiny bit less mysterious and scary.' To some extent, each death is unique because it depends on a person's age, health status and reason for dying, says Julie McFadden, a hospice nurse and online educator in Los Angeles, California. But for those unaffected by a traumatic event, such as a car accident, most people will experience certain stages and symptoms. Experts say that knowing more about death – which they call 'death literacy' – can actually help quell fears of dying. Here's what they said about the science and psychology of the death process. Months before death, the transition phase begins, says McFadden. This entails spending more time in bed, eating and drinking less, and needing more help with daily tasks such as getting dressed and going to the bathroom. During this time, it can be hard to keep up with conversations and sleep will take up most of the day. This stage can be particularly difficult to notice in people who have conditions such as dementia or Parkinson's disease, adds McFadden, because the signs mirror those of their illness. The transition phase could also involve a 'detachment from the world' in a way that makes time feel non-existent, says Cole Imperi, a certified thanatologist, a specialist who studies death, dying, grief and loss. Senses will begin to dull as well, she says, so sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch won't be as intense. Due to a lower food and beverage intake, at this point it's possible to enter ketosis, a state in which the body burns fat for energy instead of glucose. Imperi says some people may experience pain relief or euphoria as a result, but it's not entirely clear why. Some research suggests the neurotransmitter Gaba increases during ketosis, which makes you feel calm, while cortisol, the stress hormone, decreases, says Imperi. All these symptoms will worsen until the last stage of life, called 'active dying', says McFadden. This can begin a few days or hours before death. For the most part, a person is unconscious, she says, and breathing and heart rate can become irregular. If respiration or heart rate becomes too erratic and causes discomfort, hospice workers can bring in a music-thanatologist to help stabilize vitals and ease anxiety, says Imperi. These trained professionals play the harp and use their voice at bedside. 'When we die, our bodies get less efficient at running like clockwork,' says Imperi, 'so when music-thanatologists come in, the body sort of tethers itself to the pattern of their music.' Sign up to Well Actually Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life after newsletter promotion This stage is also when 'the rally' happens. About a third of dying people undergo this sudden rush of mental clarity shortly before they die, according to McFadden. For a brief couple of days, hours or even minutes, personalities return, loved ones' names are remembered and favorite foods are craved yet again. 'There's not a definitive scientific reason why this happens,' says Imperi. 'But I will say that it is a beautiful, beautiful gift.' It's also very common, at any point during active dying, to experience hallucinations or visions that typically involve loved ones who have passed. Imperi says dying people often talk about needing to pack their suitcase or waiting to be picked up at an airport. The last thing that happens before death is a change in breathing pattern called Cheyne-Stokes respiration, says Imperi. Like a fish out of water, a person experiences a series of rapid breaths followed by long periods of no breathing. As a result, one can't swallow mucus or saliva, so it thickens and builds up in the back of the throat, making each breath sound a bit gurgly, says Imperi. These noises are called terminal secretions, commonly referred to as the 'death rattle'. Although it sounds painful, Cheyne-Stokes breathing doesn't hurt – just like most of the active dying process, says McFadden, who says she can tell based on patients' non-verbal cues. 'A dying person is like a baby,' McFadden says. 'Babies can't say they're hungry or teething, but you can tell something is wrong by how they're acting. Dying people are the same.' 'In American culture, death is largely feared and seen as this disaster to avoid at all costs,' says Rosenstock. 'It was important to us to convey the dying process in a truthful way.' It's normal to be scared of death because it's in our nature to survive, says Imperi, but the best way to quash a fear of dying is to educate yourself. Several studies show that the more we learn about and contemplate death, the less anxiety we have about experiencing it. Death literacy can be especially helpful for people who are already dying, McFadden says. 'Most people are not comfortable talking about it, so everyone skirts around the issue. But at the end of the day, they do want answers, and generally speaking, we have some,' McFadden says. 'We don't know exactly what it's going to be like after you're gone, but we know enough about what you can expect [during the process], and in most cases, my patients and their families sigh with relief once they learn more about it.' That's because one of the hardest parts about dying is losing control, says Imperi, and death education can help put the ball back in your court. On the other hand, some people might find a sense of control by refusing to learn more about what's happening to them or their loved one, adds Imperi, which can be equally as therapeutic. 'Supporting that resistance is sometimes more important,' says Imperi, because that might be what a person needs at that point in their journey. Above all, 'we are built for death just like we're built for birth', says McFadden. 'The more we understand that, the better we will live – and the more peaceful we will die.'
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘We didn't want Molly to die': ‘Dying for Sex' creators on finding the comedy in cancer
A comedy about a woman diagnosed with metastatic cancer seems like a contradiction in terms, but that's the high-wire act that FX's Dying for Sex accomplishes. Cocreators Liz Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock, who'd worked together on New Girl, teamed up again to adapt the podcast cohosted by Molly Kochan and her best friend, Nikki Boyer, into a limited series starring Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate. The series, which launched in April to critical rapture (98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), currently ranks in the top of Gold Derby's Emmy predictions for limited series and lead actress Michelle Williams, among other races. Here, the two executive producers reveal how they pulled off the impossible — capturing Molly's spirit, finding the chemistry between Williams and Slate, and the joke that still makes them laugh. More from GoldDerby Paul Giamatti talks 'Black Mirror,' playing a 'Star Trek' villain, and his go-to In-N-Out order Natasha Rothwell says goodbye to 'How to Die Alone' (for now), reveals what would've happened next The making of 'Matlock': 'I wanted it to be a love letter to women in the workforce' Gold Derby: Could you ever have imagined the response that the show was going to get? Liz Meriwether: I always imagine worst-case scenarios in my head, and I go into every project convinced that it'll be my last. But it's really been wonderful. There's been responses that have just meant so much to us, especially in the world of people who've had cancer, because it was so in our minds of just trying to get it right and put a show out in the world that told you something new about the experience. So those responses have meant an enormous amount to us. And also people who've experienced abuse in the same way that Molly did. Kim Rosenstock: One of our writers sent us a link to a Substack of the kink community, and said just so you know, they feel really seen, and that was very satisfying, honestly. We did a lot of work. We talked to a million people. Meriwether: These were areas that have been dramatized before, but we wanted to try to be as authentic as possible and to feel we were showing something new. I got an email from Seth Meyers, which made my whole year. He was really complimentary of the comedy, and that meant so much to me. Because that was another thing that Kim and I and the whole writers' room were very aware of — how do we find the comedy? How do we find the real funny moments? Rosenstock: We had to learn about so many things, and we had to be really diligent with our research — for the kink community, for the stage four metastatic breast cancer community, for the sexual trauma community. We weren't afraid to admit what we didn't what we didn't know. We leaned on so many experts and real people and our writers' room was incredibly diverse, and a lot of them had experience as caretakers or having been ill with cancer or other chronic illnesses. So we were able to make sure we were at all times checking ourselves and getting real perspectives from people whose lived experience reflected what was happening in the story. SEE'It's something only the two of us will share': How Michelle Williams and the 'Dying for Sex' cast navigated those eye-popping sex scenes So to ask the question you asked of yourselves, how did you tackle the idea of finding comedy in cancer? Rosenstock: It starts with the podcast. That is how the real people, the real Molly and Nikki, got through this together was their ability to laugh at it and make really dark jokes about it to each other. So I think we always took our cue from the real people and the real story. Meriwether: I think the podcast is so funny, and it was OK, that's the story that we're trying to tell. So it felt if we were telling the story in the right way, it was just going to be funny. Kim and I worked on New Girl for years, we come from comedy storytelling structure. So I think it was helpful, especially in the early episodes, to take all of the dramatic stuff that was happening around them, but to think about it in terms of comedy story structure and how could we build to a set piece, how could we build to a place that felt like the punchline of a joke from a structural standpoint. That was helpful muscle memory that Kim and I took into the project. Then later on in the show, we got to a place where it was OK, that just doesn't make sense anymore for what's happening in the story. Rosenstock: I also think it was really important to us, especially in talking to people with cancer, people who had dealt with chronic illness, to not let that define who you are. Being sick isn't your defining characteristic once you are sick. And I think, for us, that was a big part of why the comedy was so important. You don't get sick and then the rest of your life is a tragedy. Even if you get a diagnosis of a terminal illness, you can still be funny. You can still laugh. You can still have sex. You can still go out with your friends and have a crazy night. It's just to show that yes, there are very hard, painful, dark moments and days and pits of despair, but there's also these explosions of joy and light and humor. Meriwether: The other thing that was really important was that we were never laughing at people — isn't it funny that people have these desires. Rosenstock: Sex was never the punchline in any of the scenes where sex was part of the story. It was always about the people involved who were funny, but what they were doing was never something that we wanted to be the source of the joke. And I think a lot of the real story with the real Molly was about her having this very radical acceptance for what people liked. And I think we had to adopt that ourselves as the makers of this show, we wanted the show to always feel it was accepting of everything that we were portraying. Given that you are dealing with a real story, how involved was Nikki? Meriwether: She was our sounding board for what felt true, Molly's spirit keeping that part of the story alive for us. Because you do get lost in the writers' room, Nikki was this wonderful source of inspiration in keeping us honest and focused on what mattered. Rosenstock: She was always one of the most excited people when she would get a script or a cut. The first person we would always hear from was Nikki, and it was always a million exclamation points. I could count on one hand the number of times that she had a note or a thought on something that needed to change. One of them was her boyfriend in the show, his name was the name of her brother, and she asked, 'Could you just change his name, because that's my brother's name.' What was amazing really was getting feedback from her along the way that let us know we were on the right path. We were writing a lot of things that didn't necessarily happen and often it she'd be like, 'Oh my gosh, how did you know? This really feels like Molly.' Was Michelle Williams the person you always had in mind to play Molly? Meriwether: We just could not have done the show without an actress in the center of it who was so brave and just full of life and love. We needed a powerhouse at the center of the show because it does go to so many different places and has really complicated tonal shifts, and I don't think we would have made the show without Michelle in that part. I'm so grateful for what she brought to it and the fact that she was willing to go there and never looked back. She was in, and then she was all the way in. It was inspiring for us as writers. It inspired all of the actors around her. SEE'She cast a spell on me': Michelle Williams on how her character's 'radical acceptance of her own body' drew her to 'Dying for Sex' Her chemistry with Jenny Slate was pretty powerful. Meriwether: I continue to be in awe of actors, and I just don't understand how that works. How do you meet somebody and then have that kind of chemistry with them? But I do think they are such special people. They both are incredible actors and also really incredible people, and I think that that comes through on screen. The show requires of actors people who can go to really dark places and then pull out of those places really quickly. There's a really intense weird fart joke in the sixth episode, and an ability to have the most serious scene and then to be really silly. … I was so grateful to both of them because I never felt there was something we couldn't do. In fact, it was the opposite. It was, oh, I hope that we can live up to where they are with their performance. Rosenstock: It was so cool to watch how they built off of each other. Michelle is obviously one of our greatest living actresses. She can do anything, she's the amazing dramatic actress. And Jenny, there's nobody like her in terms of her comedy. She is so unique and special and brilliant. But to watch who they became around each other and what they were bringing out of each other, the comedy that was coming out of Michelle and then the absolute devastating emotional journey that Jenny goes on, was putting these two incredible ingredients together and then watching them just take off. It was very lucky for us because it made the show work. It's a high-wire act, for sure. Is there a moment really speaks to what you were trying to accomplish with the show? Meriwether: I am really proud of that fart joke. I am really proud of that whole scene in the bathroom, and I will carry that with me. Rosenstock; I'm also really proud of your fart joke. (Laughs.) I'm very proud of having put a caretaker on screen who doesn't seem a natural fit for the role — a disorganized, scattered person rising to the occasion and being entrusted with taking care of somebody. That moment where she drops her whole bag on the floor and then has to pick everything up, I'm just proud that we shot it, that that many things were in the bag, that we allowed it to be as long as it needed to be. I can't believe we were able to make a show about women in their 40s where they're not fighting, where they're just friends and they just love each other, and it's them against the world or the medical system. And the story is never about them against each other. I'm really proud that we pulled that off, and that we got to show a lot of crazy fun sex along the way. Meriwether: And being able to put a death on screen. I felt so moved by the research that we did about hospice and dying, and it was something that I never thought about and was honestly scared to think about. I know we were joking about not having the scripts done, but I think we were putting off writing that episode for a long time because I think we didn't want Molly to die. That's definitely a thing that I have taken with me into my own life is just the thinking about my own death and thinking about the death of people close to me as part of your life and as this natural kind of thing that we all go through and a chance to express yourself and be empowered even in the way that you die. Rosenstock: Our greatest hope would be that the show would inspire people to start talking about sex differently and that the show might inspire people to start talking about death differently. The show is about sex and death, and death definitely felt like the thing that was more taboo to talk about. We wanted to put that on screen with the same amount of honesty and emotion as we did the sex. Also, it's made me realize that aging is a privilege. I cannot complain. This is how old Molly got to. I think I'm probably the same age as she was in this story, and it makes you think. Best of GoldDerby The making of 'Matlock': 'I wanted it to be a love letter to women in the workforce' Is 'SNL' new tonight? Host, musical guest details How Natasha Rothwell helped Belinda get her groove back in 'The White Lotus' Season 3 Click here to read the full article.
Washington Post
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate kill in FX's ‘Dying for Sex'
It's hard to make cancer funny. It's almost as tricky, for different reasons, to make someone's search for sexual fulfillment narratively compelling. FX's 'Dying for Sex' manages to do both. The limited series, co-created by Kim Rosenstock and Elizabeth Meriwether, stars Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate as real-life friends Molly Kochan, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in 2015, and Nikki Boyer, who supports her right up till the end in her twin quests to explore her sexual needs and die on her own terms. Based on the popular 2020 podcast of the same name, in which the two women discussed Kochan's sexual escapades (and leaving her 13-year marriage), the show juggles health, humor and horniness with brilliant assists from guest stars Rob Delaney, Jay Duplass, Esco Jouléy, Robby Hoffman and Sissy Spacek. It's a weirdly good time.
Boston Globe
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘New Girl' creator Liz Meriwether has a new show about a serial killer
Advertisement It's a busy time for Meriwether. On April 4, 'Dying for Sex,' a half-hour dramedy that she co-created alongside Kim Rosenstock, will premiere on FX. The show is inspired by the acclaimed podcast of the same name, which tells the story of Molly Kochan (played in the series by Michelle Williams), who starts exploring her sexuality in the aftermath of her terminal cancer diagnosis. Williams stars alongside Milton native Jenny Slate, who appears as Molly's real-life best friend Nikki Boyer, who co-created the podcast with her. Rossum will co-produce 'Black Widow' alongside Meriwether, something she's previously done for the Starz drama 'Three Women' and the Peacock miniseries 'Angelyne.' She's no stranger to crime dramas, though — she last appeared in the Apple TV+ thriller ' Lisa Weidenfeld can be reached at
