In case you didn’t already know, Paramount CEO David Ellison really wants to make sure this afternoon that everybody is clear those pesky state Attorney Generals and their antitrust lawsuit are ruining a really good $111 billion thing — and now even Mexico agrees with him.

“Paramount and WBD could and would close today and begin delivering the benefits recognized by regulators around the world, theater owners and others across the industry but for the actions of just 12 state attorneys general,” declares a Friday news dump by any other name from Paramount as America’s immediate south neighbor joins “68 countries worldwide, including the European Union, UK, Australia, Canada, Brazil, China, COMESA, the U.S. Department of Justice” in approving the increasingly bitter merger

“While we remain confident that the law and the facts are on our side, we have offered commitments and concessions and remain open to working constructively with the State AGs to find a path forward in the interest of our employees and the creative community in California and across the world – just as we have with the regulators in 68 countries worldwide,” Ellison is quoted as saying.

Read today’s full “news announcement” from Paramount Skydance here

The long anticipated action from California’s Rob Bonta, New York’s Letitia James and other Blue State AGs against the MAGA inclined Ellison, Para and WBD was filed on July 13. The WGA leapt on the bandwagon with a suit of their own. With a truncated TRO in place, Oakland-based U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín set a two-week trial to start on March 2 2027.

Both sides have consequently dug legal and PR trenches to snipe at the other and rally endorsements. To that Team Ellison has dribble out a series of executive elite themed leaks in recent weeks, including leaving the home of Hollywood for the likes of Texas, Tennessee or Georgia.

There are no settlement talks, though Paramount’s legal boss Makan Delrahim has said “everything is on the table” to make a deal with Sacramento and Albany.

To that Paramount claims they have submitted a number of concessions to the AGs, but they need some response by October 1 — which is when a $7 million a day ticking fee to WBD shareholders kicks in. That ticking fee, potential further payouts and the declining net worth of Papa Ellison and Oracle founder Larry, adds a multi-billion dollar bill for Paramount to the $80 billion debt the combo company will have on Day 1.

To that in perspective, the penalties bill that could exceed $10 billion, and see no ParaBros in the end.

So, reiterating a lot of the same talking points and math the company has been making for months, and offering none of the specifics the likes of the Teamsters and others have demanded, we now have today’s self-styled “news announcement” from the Melrose lot.

An announcement that is taking the blame game to great heights or lows, depending on your POV and who is blackmailing who — to paraphrase Bonta banger of earlier this week.

“Rather than support a stronger Hollywood and deliver tangible commitments to invest in for the benefit of labor, talent and other industry participants, the current path the 12 State AGs are on additional delay for a trial beyond the engagement of the last 9 months will impose needless costs from penalty fees, litigation expenses and business disruption,” Paramount asserts today.

Instead of proclaiming investment in L.A. production (which the company received nearly $38 million in Golden State tax credits for earlier this week), Paramount pours gasoline on the fear fire.

“As a business with many stakeholders, including pension and state retirement funds, Paramount is required to consider how it can absorb the unnecessary additional financial costs while preserving the longer-term strength of the combined company,” the over 110-year old studio states. “The better path would be to resolve this through a settlement that would serve the interests of workers, consumers and the consumers in each of the 12 states.”

Let’s just say, with a bit less ominous implications, the top law enforcement officials of some of the biggest and richest states in the union aren’t buying into Paramount’s premise.

“We’ve made our legal position clear: As it stands today, the proposed Warner Bros./Paramount merger will mean higher costs, less competition, lower wages, job cuts, and fewer movies and TV shows,” a spokesperson from the California AGs’ office told Deadline in reaction to Paramount’s Friday release

“This merger violates long-standing federal antitrust law,” Bonta’s team added in language we’ve all heard dozens of times before the last month or so. “Further, as the court indicated when it ruled in its July temporary restraining order our case is likely to succeed on its merits. The California Department of Justice remains committed to enforcing the law.”

Looks like, as Hollywood packs up for one of the last weekends of the summer, we have a very sticky stalemate.

A month ago, I wrote an editorial about how criticisms of “historical accuracy” in popular culture are often weaponized to enforce and legitimize bigoted concepts about the past. I was defending Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” but libraries are littered with stories that use historical revisionism to make an important point about the present, offer valuable context about the past or even just have a good time. Literature like, I dunno, let’s pick a random example out of a hat … Homer’s “The Odyssey.”

I should have also pointed in the direction of “Six,” a blockbuster London West End stage musical about Henry VIII’s six infamously ill-fated wives. That’s two divorces, two beheadings, one death from natural causes and one who stuck it out, but whether that counts as a “win” depends on how fun you think it’d be to stay married to a two-time wife-killer.

These queens have been scrutinized, analyzed and immortalized many times over, but until “Six” came along, they’d never been reimagined as a pop act with wicked pipes and sick, sick beats. It’s ahistorical, but only a-holes would complain, because the alternative to accepting this fascinating, energetic concept is to wag your fingers and say it isn’t patriarchal or sexist enough. And if you think there hasn’t been enough patriarchy or sexism, I don’t think you’ve learned anything about history at all.

“Six” was written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, and since its debut in 2017, it’s won two Tony Awards, four Drama Desk Awards and the hearts and minds of audiences all over the world. Now, like recent celebrated productions of “Merrily We Roll Along” and “Hadestown,” it’s an official pro-shot motion picture, filmed live onstage with the original West End cast. If you couldn’t make it to the theater before, now you can make it to another kind of theater and see what all the fuss is about. Good news: The fuss is about a fabulous, electrifying (albeit short) pop phenomenon.

“Six: The Musical Live!” opens with the wives of Henry VIII taking the stage, decked out in sparkly, sexy, color-coded medieval costumes. They’re here to put on a show and, in a riff on reality singing competitions, battle it out for a coveted prize. After six radio-friendly numbers, each detailing a different tragic marriage, a lead singer will be crowned based on which queen got royally screwed over the most. If you’re wondering how these other queens think they can compete with Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, who were literally decapitated, well, so are Anne and Katherine — and Anne is particularly salty about it.

A half-dozen women debating who had the worst marriage doesn’t sound particularly feminist but, of course, “Six” eventually flips its script and world history upside down. Liz Clare directs the film and sticks to familiar, effective stage-show cinematic lingo until a late-stage twisteroo that changes the visual language. Briefly. Just enough to make an impact, because we have to get back to the (admittedly satisfying) basics. It’s not on Clare to completely reinvent how live musicals are filmed for the big screen, so we can complement the filmmaker on a wholly professional, absorbing experience with one memorable gimmick.

Every performer who returns for “Six: The Musical Live!” gives a stunning performance, modeled after an iconic pop music stage persona. Catherine of Aragon (Jarneia Richard-Noel) brings the Beyoncé, Anne Boleyn (Millie O’Connell) is a lively Lily Allen, Jane Seymour (Natalie Paris) belts à la Adele, Anna of Cleves (Alexia McIntosh) is a Nicki Minaj homage, Katherine Howard (Aimie Atkinson) channels Ariana Grande, and Catherine Parr (Maiya Quansah-Breed) is on par with Alicia Keys.

They’re evenly matched but not evenly festooned. This problem may be unique to the film version, but Anne Boleyn’s sharp-angled costume is so shiny and such a bright, effervescent green that she pulls focus whenever she’s on camera, even when she’s in the background and in shadow. The other costumes are balanced between one Crayola color and muted black; Boleyn’s ratio is a wild contrast, which befits her characterization but distracts the camera. Millie O’Connell is a standout performer, easily the cattiest queen in “Six,” so it doesn’t hurt her in the slightest. It’s just that sometimes we’re trying to watch Jane Seymour belt an emotional number, and Jane should be our point of interest.

Of course, a filmed version of a stage play isn’t the same as watching it live. There’s probably an adaptation worth producing down the line that shoots “Six” like a reality television competition instead of a live cabaret experience, but that’s not this version. This is the closest most of us will get to seeing this show unless we move to a major metropolitan area or at least get a meaningful pay raise. (In this economy? Now that’s implausible.)

“Six: The Musical Live!” is a fabulous document of a fabulous stage show. The only real complaint is that it’s such an efficient production that it’s over too quickly. A great performer always leaves us wanting more — and six great performers leave us wanting six hundred percent more.

EXCLUSIVE: Scrubs is staffing up for Season 2. Keyla Monterroso Mejia (The Studio, Abbott Elementary) is joining the ABC comedy series as a recurring guest star.

She will play Mimi, Turk’s (Donald Faison) new surgical nurse. A bit quirky with some sass, she is a high-energy and loyal assisting hand for the surgeons.

Mimi is joining Sacred Heart amid some turnover, which includes the departure of charge nurse Raymond, played by X Mayo.

The Scrubs reboot had been set up in a way that all cast except returning stars Zach Braff (John “J.D.” Dorian), Faison (Christopher “Turk” Turk) and Sarah Chalke (Elliot Reid) had been recurring. That is changing in Season 2 when Ava Bunn, who plays one of the new interns, Sam Tosh, is being promoted to series regular alongside Braff, Faison and Chalke.

In Season 2, J.D., Turk and Elliot have leveled up from interns to icons at Sacred Heart. Now, the respected doctors inspire the next generation while balancing the ups and downs of working in a hospital. Together with characters new and old, they are navigating this next chapter with laughter, heart and some surprises along the way.

The original series’ creator Bill Lawrence serves as executive producer on the revival via his Doozer Productions alongside the company’s Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer as well as showrunner Aseem Batra and stars Braff, Faison and Chalke. Scrubs is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios. The series will return to ABC on Wednesdays Sept. 30 and stream next day on Hulu.

Mejia, known for her arc as Maria Sofia Estrada on Larry David’s HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, has been keeping busy recurring on several high-profile comedies, including as Seth Rogen’s harried assistant, Petra, on Apple TV’s Emmy-winning The Studio and as chaotic teacher’s aide Ashley on ABC’s Abbott Elementary.

She will next be seen recurring on the upcoming second season of Apple TV’s Bad Monkey opposite Vince Vaughn and the third season of of Netflix’s Nobody Wants This. The casting on Bad Monkey may have paved the way to her joining Scrubs as both series come from creator Bill Lawrence.

Mejia is repped by UTA, Artists First and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.