Summer 2021 media preview; new beginnings; Covid-19 'information lag;' Hollywood's comeback story; week ahead calendar; 'Mare' to the Max

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Welcome to June! Brian Stelter here at 8:45pm ET Monday. This special edition of Reliable is a look ahead to the next three months in pop culture, politics, business, tech, and more...

The great reopening

It's going to be a summer of vaccinations and unmaskings and in-person premieres -- albeit at different paces for different people. Plus, plans keep evolving due to the pandemic. "As more people get vaccinated and government Covid regulations seem to change by the week, concert and theater venues are scrambling to keep up and figure out when and how to welcome back the crowds they depend on," the NYT's Adam Nagourney wrote. The Hollywood Bowl is now on "Plan C."

Whether Plan C or D or E, it's going to be a summer of "post-pandemic life" and Roaring '20s parties and canned cocktails and "TikTok mobs." It's "America's Reunion Summer," the WSJ's Jennifer Levitz proclaimed. Hopefully it'll be a "summer of play" for kids and a "summer of reconnection" for adults and a summer of health for all. Let's get to it...

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

Coming up this week

Tuesday: President Biden will visit Oklahoma to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre...

Tuesday: Sally Buzbee's first day as Washington Post exec editor and Kevin Merida's first day as LA Times exec editor...

Tuesday: The 41st anniversary of CNN's launch...

Thursday: Warner Bros. opens Harry Potter New York...

Saturday: The Belmont Stakes...

Sunday: The Kennedy Center Honors air on CBS...

Tuesday's new releases

It's a big week for new books! Nonfiction titles include Dan Abrams' "Kennedy's Avenger;" Sasha Issenberg's "The Engagement: America's Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage;" Carol Anderson's "The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America;" Bill Bratton's "The Profession;" Clint Smith's "How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America;" Jean Becker's "The Man I Knew : The Amazing Story of George H. W. Bush's Post-Presidency;" and Alice Waters' "We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto."

FOR THE RECORD, PART ONE

-- Memorial Day weekend photo gallery: "People are making up for lost time..." (CNN)

-- One of Monday's biggest stories: "Naomi Osaka said Monday she is withdrawing from the French Open after refusing to speak to the media at the grand slam." She cited mental health and said she wants to find ways to "make things better for the players, press and fans..." (CNN)

-- Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw: "Refusing to do press for mental health reasons is an indictment of the inanity of most post-game press conferences, which most athletes clearly hate." He said it also "fits into a larger trend of celebrities opting out of traditional press..." (Twitter)

-- WH chief of staff Ron Klain, citing NYT data, said Sunday that Covid-19 cases "are now back down to where they were in March 2020. Wow." (Twitter)

-- Lena Sun's story on Page One of Monday's WaPo: "Experts say this critical next leg" of US vaccination efforts "will depend increasingly on targeting those in the 'movable middle,' who might still be persuaded on vaccination..." (WaPo)

SUMMER 2021 PREVIEW

Premieres, finales, and new beginnings

June 9: The Tribeca Film Festival opens in NYC

June 14: "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" welcomes back a full studio audience

June 18: The Obama Portraits begin a nationwide tour at the Art Institute of Chicago

June 24: The "Conan" finale airs on TBS

June 27: The BET Awards

July 3: The Hollywood Bowl reopens with Kool & the Gang. Tickets for the entire season go on sale Tuesday

July 6: Shakespeare in the Park returns to Central Park

July 9: "Black Widow" lands in theaters

July 10: The Boston Symphony Orchestra opens its Tanglewood season, resuming live performances "for the first time since March 2020"

July 29: Lollapalooza, "one of the first multi-day music festivals to return," begins at Grant Park

August 30: The US Open begins in Queens

September 2: "Hadestown" reopens on Broadway, two weeks ahead of the NYC theater industry's broader reopening

September 2: The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival begins

Tribeca will be a big moment

It has all the makings of a New York-is-back moment: "In The Heights," Lin-Manuel Miranda's love letter to Washington Heights, will open the iconic festival on June 9, two days before its long-awaited wide release. To make it an even bigger event, the festival is holding screenings in every borough. "Tribeca has been moving forward with an increasingly in-person festival as the city continues to emerge from pandemic restrictions," Deadline's Patrick Hipes reports. "Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" will have its world premiere on June 11. Steven Soderbergh's crime drama "No Sudden Move" will premiere on June 18. And there are many more...

A comeback story!

Megan Thomas writes: "Hollywood loves a comeback story and the stage appears set for one in entertainment this summer. If this weekend's pandemic box office record for 'A Quiet Place II' and the movie ads on billboards and building sides along Sunset Blvd. are any indication, it's popcorn season once again. I saw families lined up outside the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. over the weekend to see 'Cruella,' a street that's been ghostly for most of the pandemic. It feels like Los Angeles is slowly waking up..."

Key theatrical dates

June 11: "In the Heights." June 18: "Luca," "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard," and "Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway." June 25: "F9." July 2: "The Forever Purge" and "Summer of Soul." July 9: "Black Widow." July 16: "Space Jam: A New Legacy." July 23: "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania," "OLD" and "Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins." July 30: "Jungle Cruise." August 6: "The Suicide Squad." August 13: "CODA," "Free Guy" and "Respect." August 20: "Reminiscence" and "Cryptozoo." August 27: "Candyman" and "The Beatles: Get Back."

And that's just a sampling of the films coming to theaters this summer. (Some will also stream at the same time.) Check The AP and Rotten Tomatoes for fuller lists.

Streaming events

Along with day-and-date releases like "In The Heights" and "Black Widow," there are lots of streaming-only events on the calendar. Lisa Respers France has a streaming guide to June here. Some dates:

June 7: Season two of "Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries" on AcornTV. June 9: "Loki" on Disney+. June 17: A revival of "iCarly" on Paramount+. June 30: "America: The Motion Picture" on Netflix. July 2: "The Tomorrow War" on Amazon Prime Video and the first installment of the "Fear Street Trilogy" on Netflix. July 23: "Masters of the Universe: Revelation" on Netflix and season two of "Ted Lasso" on Apple TV+. August 18: "Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu.

Global sports highlights

The UEFA European Championship begins June 11... the Tour de France begins on June 26... the Wimbledon Championships return on June 28... The NBA Finals start on July 8... and the Tokyo Olympics are set to start on July 23, despite many misgivings about the Olympic plans. The NFL preseason begins with the Hall of Fame Game between the Steelers and Cowboys on August 5. The Paralympic Games are slated to begin on August 24...

FOR THE RECORD, PART TWO

-- NBC's Dylan Byers tweeted: "Sun Valley is going to be lit this year. (Yes, it's happening.)"

-- Alex Sherman has a new piece about "the next media mergers that make the most sense..." (CNBC)

-- Apple told creators on Friday that "that it is delaying the launch of Apple Podcasts Subscriptions" until sometime in June... (9to5Mac)

-- Smithsonian museums are reopening on a staggered schedule throughout the summer... (WJLA)

-- Theme parks are also reopening and expanding capacity, step by step. Robert Niles, editor of Theme Park Insider, says "I think we will see the pre-pandemic experience return later in the summer..." (WaPo)

-- My better half Jamie was featured in this NYT story by Sarah Maslin Nir over the weekend: "NYC Roads Are Busy Again, and So Are Traffic Reporters..." (NYT)

Events near you

Via local media sources, here are some local what-to-do recommendations for folks in the Hudson Valley of NY, the Hamptons, the DC area, Chicago, and the SF Bay..

A few of this summer's new books

The brand-new paperback edition of my book "HOAX" comes out next Tuesday, so I'm highly attuned to other nonfiction releases this month 😉

Also out on June 8: Lawrence Wright's "The Plague Year: America in the Time of Covid" and Emma Goldberg's "Life on the Line: Young Doctors Come of Age in a Pandemic." June 15: Scott Borchert's "Republic of Detours: How the New Deal Paid Broke Writers to Rediscover America;" George Packer's "Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal;" and Rosecrans Baldwin's "Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles." June 22: Mike Rothschild's "The Storm is Upon Us," about QAnon.

Now for a look later into the summertime. July 6: Christopher Cox's "The Deadline Effect;" Elie Honig's "Hatchet Man;" and Michael Pollan's "This is Your Mind on Plants." July 13: Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang's "An Ugly Truth," about Facebook; Rachel B. Vogelstein and Meighan Stone's "Awakening," about #MeToo; and Mark Levin's "American Marxism." July 20: Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell's "The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion." July 27: Ilhan Omar's autobiography "This Is What America Looks Like." August 3: Adam Serwer's "The Cruelty is the Point." August 17: Lizzie Johnson's "Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire." For more – much more! – check out LitHub's list here.

And for further lists, including fiction titles, check out TIME, Vulture, or the NY Post...

Key media industry dates

June 7 to 11: Apple's WWDC 2021

June 12 to 15: the E3 gaming expo

June 25: the Daytime Emmy Awards air on CBS and Paramount+

July 6 to 17: the Cannes Film Festival, though there are many "uncertainties"

July 13: Primetime Emmy nominations are announced

July 23 to 25: Comic-Con festivities are @Home for a second year

About the Emmys...

Brian Lowry writes: "Monday marked the close of the annual Emmy eligibility window, in a year that further blurred the line between TV and movies, and in which television both became even more fragmented (an ongoing trend) and more of a lifeline during the pandemic. To what extent will those factors influence the nominations? What will the growing impact of streaming services look like? And will the contenders provide more people with an incentive to watch after off-a-cliff ratings for award shows? We'll have a better idea when they're announced on July 13..."

Summer wildcards

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will welcome a baby girl sometime this summer...

A cat will likely join the Biden household...

The New York Times may strike a deal with The Athletic. Axel Springer may spring for Axios.

Amazon Prime Days will likely take place in June, but the dates have not been announced...

The Pentagon's UFO report may be released...

FOR THE RECORD, PART THREE

-- Here's a counterargument to the entire top of this newsletter: "Before filling up your calendar, take a moment to slow down and carve out some open, unstructured time to rejuvenate and prepare yourself for post-pandemic life..." (NYT)

-- For some at-home fun, Vulture has a list of "10 video games we can't wait to play this summer..." (Vulture)

-- Speaking of... The NYT ended its pandemic-era At Home print section on Sunday with a hopeful message: "We are heading out the door..." (NYT)

-- Savvy news sites have it both ways: The LAT, for example, has a list of "20 gloriously crowded, sweaty and loud music festivals" AND "the 20 shows worth staying inside for this summer..."

-- BTW, the organizers of Coachella teased a festival return on Monday... (NBC Palm Springs)

-- This summer guest hosts will sometimes helm "The Daily" while Michael Barbaro is on paternity leave. They include Astead Herndon, Sabrina Tavernise and Kevin Roose... (NYT)

No political vacation...

In the words of Politico's Marianne Levine and Sarah Ferris, "this summer will be the furthest thing from a vacation for congressional Democrats." Or for the Capitol Hill press corps! From infrastructure to police reform, Dems are "gearing up to sprint through Washington's sweltering season, trying to squeeze through a long list of top legislative priorities in barely two months."

>> To that point: Chuck Schumer plans to "force a vote" on S. 1 and H.R. 1, the party's "sweeping bill to overhaul elections," in June, "setting the stage for a high-profile clash over the filibuster..." (The Hill)

>> NYC's primary day is June 22... (NYT)

FOR THE RECORD, PART FOUR

-- Biden's warning while honoring fallen service members on Memorial Day: "Democracy itself is in peril..." (CNN)

-- For example... Trump's first national security adviser Michael Flynn "appeared to endorse a Myanmar-style coup in the United States on Sunday." Donie O'Sullivan has all the disturbing context here... (CNN)

-- Maggie Haberman with the key point: This crazy talk "is inextricably linked to the current efforts to focus on 'audits' in states like Arizona." People can try to ignore it, but "there's a world where a very dangerous conversation is still happening..." (Twitter)

-- Kyung Lah, who's been covering the "audit" for CNN, said on "Reliable" that right-wing media's warping influence in the US is "very familiar" to international journalists who cover the impacts of state-run media... (CNN)

-- On a related note, David Klepper reports that the "defense for some Capitol rioters" is "election misinformation..." (AP)

"A worrying picture"

Oliver Darcy writes: "Most Americans overestimate their ability to spot false news. That is according to a new study published Monday that found roughly three in four Americans believe they are better at navigating the info environment than they actually are. In fact, per the study, the people who are most confident in their abilities are often the ones most susceptible to falling for bad info. 'These results paint a worrying picture,' the study's authors said. 'The individuals who are least equipped to identify false news content are also the least aware of their own limitations and, therefore, more susceptible to believing it and spreading it further.' As I told Victor Blackwell on "CNN Newsroom," the study underscores our news literacy problem. Quite a few people are consuming misinfo and conspiracy theories peddled by sinister forces and have no idea..."

Is an "information lag" slowing America's recovery?

That's something I posited on Sunday's "Reliable Sources." It's very hard to know for sure, but I sense that reliable info about the reasons for the relaxed Covid guidelines and rules is lagging behind the announcements and adjustments. For example: How many American adults feel like they know the facts about (virtually nonexistent) outdoor transmission of the virus? Are they relying on one-year-old guesses rather than the latest research?

I have a sneaking suspicion that this "info lag" is a challenge for public health officials (who struggle to communicate clearly) and for the press too. Let's make sure we're not skipping the "why" when we report that restrictions are loosening up and life is returning to normal. Here's my conversation with David Leonhardt from Sunday's "Reliable..."

>> Key Leonhardt quote: If we conflate "tiny risks" with "real risks, we end up confusing people..."

>> Leonhardt also addressed the "lab leak" theory and said "a lot of people in the media" made a mistake...

Pressing for Danny Fenster's freedom

The parents of Danny Fenster, an American journalist detained in Myanmar while trying to fly home a week ago, joined me on Sunday's "Reliable" with a message for local authorities: Release him now. "It's a total nightmare; it's a total feeling of no control. It's heart-wrenching," Danny's mother Rose told me. David Goldman has more here...

UNC under pressure

Oliver Darcy writes: "If you want to understand the behind-the-scenes drama playing out at UNC over whether Nikole Hannah-Jones should get tenure, be sure to read this illuminating piece from John Drescher. Drescher obtained emails and spoke to sources who revealed that a mega-donor to the university's school of journalism, Walter Hussman Jr., has expressed concern over Hannah-Jones. Drescher writes that Hussman, who the school's j-school is named after, is 'an evangelist of old-school objectivity' while Hannah-Jones has been critical of the 'both sides' approach. 'Their divergent views,' Drescher notes, 'represent a new front in the debate over objectivity and the future of the field...'"

>> John Robinson tweeted: "Make no mistake, this is a pivotal week for UNC. The Board of Trustees could respect the integrity & judgment of the faculty & administration, or it could let politics rule. Choosing the latter would be damning to an already damaged reputation."

Inside the AP

Over the weekend I interviewed AP managing editor Brian Carovillano about Emily Wilder's firing and The AP's review of its social media policy. He said the newswire will step up with "better tools and better systems" to support journalists who are attacked and harassed online, but he defended Wilder's dismissal, saying the decision was unanimous among senior leaders. He said social media guidelines exist to protect The AP's credibility "because protecting our credibility is the same as protecting our journalists..."

>> Kashmir Hill's reaction to the Wilder firing and other recent news: "Our digital pasts weren't supposed to be weaponized like this..." (NYT)

Catch up on "Reliable"

If you missed Sunday's telecast, watch the video clips on CNN.com, catch the entire episode via CNNgo or VOD, or listen to the podcast edition via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite app...

FOR THE RECORD, PART FIVE

-- Correction: In Friday's newsletter we got the name of Report for America's president wrong. Sorry about that, Steven Waldman!

-- Rachel Syme's appreciation of the podcast "Who? Weekly" and its close-up study of a new type of maybe-celebrity: "Today's stars gain status not through distance but through aggressive proximity..." (New Yorker)

-- "Behind Hollywood producers' push to form a union. Will it succeed?" (LAT)

A loud start!

"A Quiet Place Part II" brought in an estimated $57 million in North America over the long holiday weekend, Frank Pallotta reports. "That amount not only blew past estimates, which projected the film to make closer to $36 million for 4-days, but more importantly is a great start for an industry that desperately needed a hit." Its 3-day opening was "the biggest domestic debut of the pandemic era so far."

Lowry's look ahead

Brian Lowry writes: "A lot of movie folks have July 9 circled on their summer calendars -- Marvel and 'Black Widow' are poised to test the movie-going appetite -- but there are some significant highlights earlier this summer, starting with 'In the Heights.' The one X factor is what impact shared theatrical-streaming releases will have on many of this summer's movies, which is already clouding the box-office picture for the 'Cruella' opening. Disney's not going to tell us, but I'd love to know ballpark what 'Cruella' made from premium streaming over the long weekend. The great unknown: How much theatrical revenue might have been left on the table. One interesting aside: Will projects with significant appeal to younger kids -- a demo too young to be vaccinated -- tilt more heavily toward streaming this summer, as cautious parents choose to avoid crowded public venues?"

Olivia Rodrigo's 'Sour' debuts at the top of the chart

"Olivia Rodrigo's debut album 'Sour' is No. 1," Chloe Melas writes. "The 18-year-old only recently stepped onto the music scene, and not only did her recent single, 'Good 4 U,' skyrocket to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but now her album is No. 1 on the Billboard 200." Read on...

'Mare' to the Max

I can't write much about "Mare of Easttown," since I haven't started watching yet, and I definitely don't want to know how it ended. Brian Lowry wrote all about the finale in this spoiler-filled column.

Sunday's premiere maxed out HBO Max, VF's Jordan Hoffman wrote: "For 28 exasperating minutes, would-be viewers hit refresh and checked other streaming services to see if the outage was actually on their end." On the bright side: The technical gremlins added to the feel of a communal viewing experience? Maybe? No spoilers please!

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST....

Pet of the day!

Judy and Larry Rutter email: "Ginger, a five year old rescue, patiently awaits the arrival of 'Reliable Sources' every evening, here on the West Coast, along with her owners..."