Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | News | February 23, 2026
Ted Sarandos is the reason I stopped listening to Smartless. I grew up a fan of Will Arnett, Sean Hayes, and Jason Bateman. The idea of those three doing a podcast together was inherently exciting, and it helped distract me during the early days of lockdown. Then, ‘ol Teddy Boy appeared as a guest, the three hosts basically fellated him for forty minutes (at least that’s when I tapped out), and I never listened again. I know he’s their boss, but he was clearly enjoying it, and the whole thing felt gross.
It’s been plenty easy not to like the man ever since. His opinions on movie theaters are assinine, and his hostility toward them is infamous enough that one of the best stories about it involves Daniel Craig yelling at him for being stupid. Meanwhile, James Cameron has been out here getting folks into movie theaters and talking about how masculinity is a toxin that needs to be purged from the system. And yet, here I am, looking cockeyed at Cameron and digging Sarandos’ willingness to call him out.
To be clear: all of this is bad. No matter who buys Warner Bros., the industry is going to suffer. People are going to lose their jobs. It’s bad. So, hearing one of Hollywood’s biggest directors claim that one side would be better than the other has people like Mark Ruffalo justifiably confused. Cameron is claiming that Paramount will do a better job than Netflix, while alleging that they won’t stick to their proposed theatrical release window. It’s a fair complaint, but it feels more dubious when you realize Cameron has a documentary coming out through Paramount later this year.
According to Deadline, Sarandos wrote a letter to Senator Mike Lee of Utah slamming Cameron’s criticism of Netflix’s attempt to buy Warner Bros., saying that “his letter to you knowingly misrepresents our position and commitment to the theatrical release of Warner Bros. films.” Cameron claimed that Netflix would only have films in theaters for 17 days, and Sarandos claims that not only is that not true, but that Cameron knows it isn’t true because he told him himself in a meeting.
“During that meeting we talked about Netflix’s plans for Warner Bros., including our 45-day commitment. Mr. Cameron was very supportive,” Sarandos alleged. “If anything, he was more excited to talk about the at-home movie viewing glasses he is developing with Meta than exclusive windows for theatrical movies.” Damn! Tying Cameron to Meta glasses is a strong move because anyone using them is a joke. Again, this is all bad, and Sarandos sucks, but I’ll happily enjoy rich, powerful white men publicly taking the piss out of each other in the interim.
