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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Scientists Confirm Existence & Size Of Rogue Planet; At Least 40 Dead, 119 Injured In Swiss Ski Resort Fire; Tension Escalates Between Iran, U.S. Amid Deadly Protests; Trump Shops For Marble For New White House Ballroom; Price Hikes Hit Millions As Obamacare Subsidies Expire; Money Matter - Planning With Purpose; Multiple Explosions In Venezuela's Capital Caracas; Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 03, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: -- planet floating free in space. It's about 70 times larger than earth, and 10,000 light years away in our Milky Way galaxy, all but invisible in the sky the scientists used ground and space observatories that picked up that planet bending the light of a star. The Peking University scientist who led the research team said the discovery offers evidence that the galaxy may be teaming with these mysterious drifting planets. How about that? Thanks for joining us for this hour of "The Story Is."
The next hour of "The Story Is" starts right now.
"The Story Is" Swiss fire investigation taken to the scene as authorities now say they know what caused the blaze?
"The Story Is" getting your money to work for you in 2026 economist Ryan Patel here live.
"The Story Is" climate change. Al Gore who's sitting down with CNN, sounding the alarm on President Trump's environmental policies.
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AL GORE, BUSINESSMAN AND FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is one of the dumbest strategic economic decisions in the whole history of our country.
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"The Story Is" did the Stranger Things box office experiment work journalist Jeff Conway and Emily Longeretta live with what it means for the future of entertainment.
Live from Los Angeles. "The Story Is" with Elex Michaelson.
Welcome to the show. Welcome to the weekend. I'm Elex Michaelson. We start at an Alpine Ski resort in Switzerland, which is still awash in grief and shock. At least 40 people were killed when flames ripped through a popular bar during a New Year celebration. Families now have the agonizing wait for news of loved ones. Authorities say it could take days to identify those killed around 119 people from nine European countries were also injured in that fire. Dozens of people are being transferred to other European countries for specialized treatment. One witness says he'll never forget the horror that he saw that night.
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JEREMY HALNA, FRENCH TOURIST (translated): What shocks me the most are the images, the images that stay with me, the people burned, burned so badly. You couldn't even recognize them. In fact, people were burning bald, their hair burned, their hands burned. You could see skin dripping off. That was truly shocking. That's what stays with me, and I think will stay with me for the rest of my life. Then there were the screams, the screams the people crying all around.
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MICHAELSON: Officials say sparklers and champagne bottles likely started the fire, igniting the ceiling and causing a possible flash over effect, which is a surge of flames that ignited everything in the room almost simultaneously. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible criminal responsibility. CNNs Nic Robertson reports from the scene.
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NIC ROBERTSON, INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR, CNN: We're right in the middle of Crans-Montana here. Mountains in the background, Le Constellation bar right here. The atmosphere here is very quiet. It's very subdued this town. It is a very up market ski resort. You can see that when you look in the stores around here. What we know about what happened just over 24 hours ago now, in the very early hours of the first of January, the downstairs underground bar was crowded.
There were a lot of people in there. And we know from talking to youngsters in this town that this bar was popular with the sort of 16,17, 18 year olds, 19 year olds, young 20s. How many people were in the downstairs, underground bar at the time? That's part of the investigation. But already investigators and fire experts and the hospitals, in fact, are talking about a down draft. The fire took hold and spread so quickly. They're dealing in the hospitals, they say with people with severe burns, in some cases, the police say that they're still trying to identify even the injured, and this is a hugely painful time for the families, and we've seen families here in the streets.
A father whose son is still missing, he was on his knees weeping in the streets. That sense of pain and grief is very palpable here. A lot of journalists here. There are some dignitaries arriving. We know that there have been French among the dead, injured and missing. We understand there are Italians among the dead, injured and missing. But of course, there are so many questions about the dead and injured, the identification police are saying that could take days, but the fact that you have senior politicians from outside of Switzerland coming really shows the gravity and the reach of this tragedy.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
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MICHAELSON: So sad. Nic, thank you. At least two people were killed and 12 others hurt when a powerful 6.5 magnitude earthquake shook southern Mexico on Friday morning.
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The tremor was felt as far as Mexico City, where a 67-year-old man died after tripping while leaving his second floor apartment. A woman in the state of Guerrero died when her house collapsed. President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum appeared to motion a journalist to evacuate the room. Look at this. Alarm goes off right in the middle of her press conference. Hundreds of aftershocks have now been recorded.
Tensions are escalating between Tehran and Washington, sparked by deadly protests in Iran. Iranian officials are warning the U.S. to not interfere after protests erupt this week over the country's slumping economy. This video shows protesters trying to break into a government building, according to Iranian state media. President Donald Trump says the U.S. will step in if Iran kills peaceful protesters. He wrote on social media, "We're locked and loaded and ready to go."
Iran is now threatening to target American troops in the Middle East if President Trump actually follows through with that threat. Iran's Foreign Minister warned that the country's armed forces, "Are on stand by and know exactly where to aim." Speaker of Iran's Parliament says, "All American centers and forces across the entire region will be legitimate targets for U.S. in response to any potential actions." Shopkeepers, bizarre merchants, students took to the streets in several Iranian cities this week. They chanted antiregime slogans. They demanded better economic conditions after Iran's currency hit record lows.
Last hour here on "The Story Is" I was joined live on set by Roozbeh Farahanipour, an Iranian-American political activist who helped to lead the Iranian student uprising back in 1999. He told me that U.S. military action might not be the best solution.
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ROOZBEH FARAHANIPOUR, LEADER OF IRANIAN STUDENT UPRISING IN 1999: When they talk about the military consequences, that's going to be first of all, dangerous for the U.S. national security. The regime is very dangerous. In other hand, remember during the time of the apartheid regime in South Africa, when the international community together boycott the countries so the people get a chance to remove the regime apartheid regime. The people are divided half and half. 50 percent of the people they are loves whatever hear from the media and administration. Other half try to criticize whatever they hear from the administration.
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MICHAELSON: President Trump did some shopping on Friday, heading out to visit a stone importer near Mar-a-Lago in Florida to view samples of marble and onyx for his White House Ballroom. He says he'll pay for the stone personally. It's not clear how much it's going to cost. The planned ballroom has mushroomed inside since it was announced last summer, with cost estimates at $400 million, remember, this is paid for by private donors.
The project, the demolition of the East Wing, sparked an outcry from some. It has led to legal challenges, which claim that President Trump was bypassing the normal approval process. President Trump is insisting that he's in perfect health. As scrutiny has intensified over his age and fitness for office. It comes after he admitted that he takes a higher dose of aspirin than his doctors have recommended. He says that's why his hands are bruised. He told The Wall Street Journal "They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don't want thick blood pouring through my heart. I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart."
Does that make sense? They'd rather have me take the smaller one. I take the larger one, but I've done it for years, and what it does so it causes bruising. Admitted that he puts makeup on that bruises. The President also facing concerns about swelling in his legs, and he's appearing to fall asleep during public events. He said, "Sometimes they'll take a picture of me blinking and they'll catch me with the blink. House's top Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries is pushing for an investigation into the President's health.
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HAKEEM JEFFRIES, U.S. HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER: I don't believe that this is something that should wait until the American people give Democrats the majority in the aftermath of the November election later on this year. I think that it's something that James Comer, if he's actually being honest about Congress being a separate and coequal branch of government, we don't work for Donald Trump.
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MICHAELSON: Earlier tonight, I filled in for Kaitlan Collins and hosted the source here on CNN, and I spoke to political commentators Adam Mockler and Michael Knowles. I asked them if questions about President Trump's health are legitimate. After all, the concern on the right for years about former President Biden's health.
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MICHAEL KNOWLES, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Elex, I have to ask you, do you imagine Joe Biden ever picking up the phone for The Wall Street Journal and going on and on about his unusual eccentric healthcare regimen, of course not. This is night and day. So with Biden, we know actually, probably the most prominent anchor at this very network, wrote a very popular book about the massive White House cover up of Joe Biden's physical and cognitive decline.
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When it comes to Donald Trump, this is a man who says he hates exercising. This is a man who says that people are born with a finite amount of energy, and he doesn't want to waste it on frivolous activities. This is a man who brags about his McDonald's input, and yet, what are we seeing from him? We see a ton of energy. The man barely ever sleeps. I was in the longest cabinet meeting ever in White House history with him. If the cabinet secretaries were falling asleep. This guy was going and going and going. I think there are all sorts of ways the left can criticize Trump. I don't think that his stamina, his energy or his health are one of them.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: I mean, Adam to that point, what do you say to people that says, look, he's still doing his job. Is there any evidence of any of this stopping him from doing his job? And in fact, he is more engaged than President Biden was, at least publicly.
ADAM MOCKLER, HOST, THE ADAM MOCKLER SHOW ON MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK: Well, first of all, Trump has repeatedly fallen asleep in cabinet meetings, and I reject Michael's framing that he was transparent with The Wall Street Journal. What he said to The Wall Street Journal is that he is in "Perfect health. He's in perfect shape." This is exactly what Trump criticized Biden for. He is now doing the exact same thing. We see Trump falling asleep in the middle of press conferences on camera. We all see it. We see his swollen ankles. We see his black bruised hands. He's reportedly taking three to four times the recommended dose of aspirin, which shows that his judgment is clearly off. His health is deteriorating far more than the White House is revealing.
But what I find the most concerning, I think the most concerning out of all of this has to be the insecure projection in regards to the auto pen. So he removed Biden's portrait and he replaced it with the auto pen. But when Trump is asked, when Trump is asked about multiple pardons, including the pardon of the Binance Founder, or even the pardon of the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, Trump says, "I don't know him, or I don't know the guy," so you can't, in one breath, accuse Biden of using the auto pen, then not even know who you pardoned yourself, which it's either one of two things. He doesn't know who he's pardoning on a daily basis, or he does know, and he willingly pardoned the former Honduran president who trafficked 500 kilos of cocaine into the U.S. Michael, which one do you think it is?
KNOWLES: Well, I think the fact that you're like collecting from the topic of the debate here, Adam, you'll -- excuse me, the fact that you're deflecting from the topic of the debate, which is supposedly President Trump's health, to some pardons that you don't like, I think gives away the whole game, which is that you all the mighty events for which the Democrats could try to criticize President Trump, his health is simply not one of them. The man has an extraordinary amount of energy, even to the point on the bleeding in the aspirin. He says that he's taken this level of aspirin for 25 years because he's superstitious, and I believe him, because if that weren't true, it's a bad excuse. So people can criticize Trump based on all sorts of conventional wisdom, but his entire political mantra is defying conventional wisdom. It seems to be working out well. I think Democrats need a new song.
MICHAELSON: Michael Americans may be more concerned with their own health care at this point. We know those enhanced Obamacare subsidies have finally ended, which means that millions of Americans have just seen their health insurance premiums go up for Republicans. Do they now own this? And is that bad politics for your party?
KNOWLES: The Republicans don't own the health care issue, but it is a big problem for them. It's worth remembering that the American health care system as we know it began under Franklin Roosevelt, accelerated under LBJ and was supposedly completed, perfected for all time by Barack Obama. Obviously didn't work out that well, but the American health care system has been driven by Democrats, but it's in a bad state, and now the Republicans have unified government, so it is a big issue.
If you look down at all of the issues, Democrats are on the wrong side of most 80/20 issues. The one issue that they continue to lead on, however, is health care, and I think Republicans ignore that at their own pearl. If the Democrats can keep momentum up through the midterm elections, it will be because of health care. That's what they bet the government shutdown on, and that was a smart calculation. Now it didn't work for them in the government shutdown. They might have better luck in the midterms, but Republicans cannot ignore it.
MICHAELSON: Let's talk about it. Go ahead, Adam, real quickly.
MOCKLER I'll do say I disagree that the government shutdown aspect didn't work. I can just speak for -- from a personal lens, one of my close friends mom didn't understand that she was reliant on these ACA subsidies until the government shutdown hit, and now she's been laser focusing on what's going to happen next. Because, it's hard when you're a paycheck to paycheck American, a 400 percent increase in your premiums could be lethal for you. So now she actually did see that 400 percent increase, and she's been hyper focused on this since the government shutdown. So it did help bring awareness to the issue.
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MICHAELSON: Thanks to Michael and Adam, and thanks for the opportunity to CNN as well to host "The Source" tonight.
Still ahead here on "The Story Is" Americans mood about money is changing. Financial expert Ryan Patel is standing by live to talk to you about how you can be smarter with your money in 2026. We're getting you fitter and we're getting you richer. It's a big night to watch "The Story Is" stay with it.
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MICHAELSON: You daily investments 2026 New Year's financial resolution study says Americans are preparing for a year of planning with a purpose that means paying close attention to spending and investment and taking a focused intentional approach to financial planning. So what does that include? Well, 64 percent of Americans set financial resolutions this year. That's up from 56 percent last year. 44 percent want to save more money. 36 percent want to pay down debt. 30 percent are looking to spend less.
And if you don't understand your money, it may be costing you. New research from the Financial Educators Council shows that Americans on average are losing nearly $1,000 a year just from poor financial know- how? So how do you stop leaving money on the table? Joining us now to help you is Ryan Patel, Senior Fellow at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. Ryan, welcome back to "The Story Is." Happy New Year my friend.
RYAN PATEL, SR. FELLOW, DRUCKER SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, CLAREMONT GRADUATE UNIVERSITY: Happy New Year buddy.
MICHAELSON: All right, so you got some tips for us. Number one, we put up on the screen. Understand your cash flow. What do you mean by that?
PATEL: Well, you mentioned table. Understand your table.
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Well, you're actually leaving so understand cash flow. Let me -- let's start with this. Start really simple. Write down your ins and outs per month, and better yet put it on Excel sheet and look at if you're green or red every month, just start there. Just start there for a couple times, and you're going to start to see a pattern. You can't cut expenses until you actually know what your expenses are actually are, and where your money is going to. So what does that mean? Know your cash flow, what are you actually taking in per month? Because then it allows you to view not just your expenses, but your income too. Do you got to pick up a side gig where two-thirds of the U.S. economy has how much is it do you need, right? The reason why it's important because the unknown is scary. It gets us to be more emotional impact and we're making financial decisions at the same time. If you don't know what you're bringing in.
MICHAELSON: A lot of people just have no idea what's coming in, what's coming out, because they're just doing their thing. Another tip you have consolidate debt. How do you do that?
PATEL: Well, you mentioned it earlier with that stat, majority of the U.S. credit card debt is at all-time high. So what does that mean? So that means you're paying an interest rate that is a lot higher you're paying per month. So if you've got a 20 percent interest rate on a credit card, and you can consolidate that meaning putting debt together and pay a 9 percent interest rate, you save money on doing that. So obviously you want to attack the higher number of the debt, percentage of the interest rate. And some people, I know it sounds simple, but it is scary to even look at that number when you have a debt on there. And so I think it's important to see where you can get the best rates, and it's worth the time where you can save some money per your cash flow.
MICHAELSON: What do you mean by expect the unexpected?
PATEL: I feel, we get into this routine of like, oh, we think everything is going to get better. This year is going to be normal, which I don't even know what that means anymore. And what I mean unexpected is that there's always something that you have to create a reserve or savings for. And so you're -- you have to understand that you have to be adaptable and flexible in your own budgeting and in your own plan that things that are coming up nature wise.
MICHAELSON: Meaning you don't know there's going to be a car crash, or there's going to be some medical expense, or there's going to be something where, oh my God, all of a sudden I got to pay for this, and this was not part of my plan.
PATEL: Yeah. And the best part of that is, if you take some money automatically and automating it somehow from $100, $200 away from your check per month that you don't see, you don't use, you got a rainy day fund that you can use and not be as stressful.
MICHAELSON: There's so many people living paycheck to paycheck that's hard for them to even imagine doing that. So speaking of automated payments, you think automatic payments are a plus?
PATEL: I think so, because if you know your cash flow and down the things that we're saying, you don't miss a payment, you don't fall into the aspect of the debt of interest rates are behind the rate. And so automating payments, and also why that's important. What are you automating? How many accounts do you have? Do you have too many accounts? You need to shut it down, so that way you don't miss a payment. You understand what subscriptions do you have? Do you have some unnecessary ones behind it? So going through the process of automating payment also understands what you actually pay.
MICHAELSON: And is this even worth it to do. There are some folks that are into the buy now, pay later. We see that all over the place. Now, bad idea, right?
PATEL: Listen, it's a trend for those to help manage the things that you need, right? Like, if it's a washing machine that's broken, you buy now, pay later allows you to pay per monthly here's the bad idea behind it. If you do that across everything, you're not managing what you have in your savings. If you don't pay those monthly installments, what happens? You end up paying more for that cost and the buy now, pay later. It's easy for us to say, oh, we'll do it later. So you do it once. You do it twice, five times, six times. How you going to keep up to date of all the things that you've paid that you're supposed to pay.
MICHAELSON: Right. And that's how we had the housing crisis in 2008, right? That was basically an entire build on buy now, pay later. All these people bought homes. They couldn't afford them, and then the entire market crashed.
PATEL: Yeah, it's meant to be as a tool, right? It's a tool to help you. Not supposed to say, let me spend the money that I don't have and maybe down the road be able to pay it.
MICHAELSON: So what is your advice to people who truly are living paycheck to paycheck, who are struggling to make ends meet at all?
PATEL: Yeah, I think that's the income piece, right? You tend to have, when you think the job market, it's kind of -- it's pretty tight right now.
MICHAELSON: Yeah.
PATEL: How do you create other ways. Again, we see the side gigs. And what I mean side gigs, like do you have a hobby that you can sell? Can you do -- just to create a little bit more breathing room? Because really, what the end of the day is, like you just mentioned, it's really hard to live paycheck and you don't have any margins to be able to give yourself a breathing room behind it.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. So we've been talking all week about the big story in sports, in 2026 in tech and fitness. What do you think is going to be the big story in finance?
PATEL: Financial literacy? I'm tired. I'm really tired people keep talking. What you saw the percentage of people want to talk about how to get themselves. Financial literacy is equal to your health and wellbeing. Really understand what finances do for your family, for yourself. Teach that among other people, I hope 2026 will be that something of where we haven't seen that. We've been talking about AI literacy is going past financial literacy. I think it's important to be able to take control over that. And we will educate not just yourself but the next generation. And I'm hoping this year will be the case because of how important it is.
MICHAELSON: Well, thank you so much for coming in. Happy New Year to you and your family.
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PATEL: You too.
MICHAELSON: And thanks for watching the Rose Parade yesterday with your family, which we appreciate as well. You are watching "The Story Is" with me Elex Michaelson. Thanks to our viewers around the world who are going to be leaving us on CNN International, but our viewers here in North America, I'll be right back with more including an entertainment panel about the big stories coming forward in that space. Thanks so much. Hope you're having a great weekend.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need you to fight one last time. Life has been --
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MICHAELSON: That is a snippet of the final episode of the Netflix hit series Stranger Things. Some fans got to watch the finale in movie theaters when it debut on New Year's Eve, theaters were not allowed to sell tickets to the showings. Instead, fans were required to buy concession certificates to attend. Early estimates reveal theaters took in about $25 million from the Wednesday and Thursday showings. Let's bring in my pop culture and entertainment panel. Jeff Conway is the Hollywood & Entertainment Senior Contributor at Forbes and Emily Longeretta is the Senior TV Features Editor for Variety.
Welcome to you both for the first time here on "The Story Is."
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JEFF CONWAY, HOLLYWOOD & ENTERTAINMENT SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR AT FORBES: Thanks for having us Elex.
EMILY LONGERETTA, SENIOR TV FEATURES EDITOR, VARIETY: Thanks for having us.
MICHAELSON: All right, Emily, let's start with you as the TV writer here. Talk to us about the importance of this moment for Stranger Things, and it's sort of unique role at Netflix.
LONGERETTA: Absolutely. I mean, it is Netflix's biggest show, and it has been for the last decade, so the fact that it is wrapped up, it means what's next? It's everyone at Netflix wondering, where do we go from here? How do we continue this success? And do we continue putting things in theaters sometimes? How is that going to work for fans? I mean, I will say the cool thing about theaters is that some of the cast kind of sprinkled through and watched it incognito, which I always think is really fun.
MICHAELSON: It's interesting. Jeff, the whole Netflix business model was to not have stuff in theaters, right streaming.
CONWAY: It makes more than 25 million in one day at the box office. So it shows that this can do this. But also the show came out in 2016 so these fans have been all about like, I want to see this in a big way, serious finale. And it paid off for Netflix. It paid off for movie theaters.
MICHAELSON: Yeah. I mean, I personally sort of dumped out of this a couple of years ago. OK, I've seen enough of this. Some people clearly can't get enough. Did are you guys addicted to this?
LONGERETTA: Yeah, I watched the minute it dropped from my own couch. I need to go to a theater.
MICHAELSON: Would you think?
LONGERETTA: You know, I think it's been having a tough couple seasons the last couple. It's hard when there's that big of a break. There was almost a four year break in between last season and this season. So it was tough to kind of dive back in. I think that it was, they wanted to be a big movie event. They wanted this two hour event, and that's what it -- that's what it was.
MICHAELSON: You think it delivered.
CONWAY: I think it was great. There's always going to be things just like Game of Thrones. We're not going to like everything that happens. But there's a lot of --
MICHAELSON: Well, nobody like the Game of Thrones finale that was like a zero percent.
CONWAY: This is a little higher, I would say.
MICHAELSON: OK. So it's a better finale than that.
CONWAY: I think it was.
MICHAELSON: Yeah, well, let's talk about the show that's so hot right now, which kind of came out of nowhere, which is heated rivalry, which is this typical storyline that you think of for commercial success, a gay hockey drama, and you interviewed the stars, and your interview kind of went viral. This is Connor's story, and Hudson Williams, here's some of that.
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HUDSON WILLIAMS, CANADIAN ACTOR: I would tell Shane that his ideas of I think perfection and masculinity are wrong. They're immature. They're juvenile, and that's not his fault.
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MICHAELSON: So that's some of it. You asked them, sort of what would they tell over their character?
CONWAY: Yeah. So much. My signature question like to ask actors that plays great roles is, what would you say to your character if only you could? So he was talking about Hudson, was talking about, what I say to Shane, which was really emotional. Connor did the same thing with Ilia, and this show has blown up. But not only are they great actors, but Jacob Tierney, the show creator, it's a pristine production. It's a beautiful show. And it was from Crave Canada, HBO Max now acquired it for the U.S., and the Season 2 is coming. Everybody on social media is going crazy for the show.
MICHAELSON: Yeah, I was thinking about how good it looks for Season 1 with not a very big budget for Crave Canada. Can you imagine how Season 2 is probably going to look?
CONWAY: I think Crave is going to keep most of the goods about like HBO still going to put it on, but Crave is going to be like, we're calling the shots still, HBO is going to keep it. But --
LONGERETTA: Yeah, something we spoke to. We spoke to Casey Boys, the head of HBO, about this and about acquiring it, and he actually said we came on very late, and end of Season 1 right, right before it came out that we weren't a co-producer, and we're not going to be for Season 2 either. Even though it's such a huge success, they don't feel that they need to jump in. He said, why would I put my input into something that clearly is working? They know what they're doing?
MICHAELSON: Why do you think it's working so much?
CONWAY: I think it's really as an LGBTQ gay man, I would say that it's really authentic to what love stories can be, and it's also very optimistic. Sometimes in the gay lifestyle, you have these tragic stories. This is about two people that love each other. Yes, it's hard to be prolific hockey players and live a life, but they're finding a way. And I think there's really something really beautiful about the story from Rachel Reid's bestselling books that really resonate with people no matter what your orientation.
MICHAELSON: Yeah, because to have this kind of numbers, you got to be way more than just the gay community.
LONGERETTA: 100%. I mean, I am not part of the community, and I am obsessed with. I've watched it three times through now.
MICHAELSON: Well, women are huge book lovers of it too.
LONGERETTA: Absolutely 100%. and I will say -- I just want to say also that's right. That's right. I also want to say that we're at a time where it's really tough to get a show off the ground. It's a really tough to make a show and just figure out what people want to see. They want to see these crazy effects, like Stranger Things. They want to see that. But this is a reminder that people want good storytelling, and they don't need all of the glitz and glam. They need heart to heart conversations. They need storytelling that's going to connect people. They want connection.
MICHAELSON: Another show that does great storytelling is The Pitt, which won the Emmy last year for Best Drama. They filmed that show literally across the street. We can see it from our window where they film that show. It is part of the HBO family as well, which is part of the CNN family for at least the next five minutes. And so what do we hear about Season 2? It drops next week, January, 8th, right?
CONWAY: And it's going to be 15 episodes again, and every episode, just like Season 1, is an hour in this Pittsburgh emergency room. Noah Wyle, we have Shawn, we have Katherine Lanasa.
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They all won their Emmys last year, so they're coming off of a big momentum with this show. And it's a great show. It's great acting. The production value is amazing. I think it's going to be just more of the same greatness.
LONGERETTA: And set on 4th of July weekend, so which means there's going to be a lot of crazy injuries coming through.
CONWAY: Clean fireworks.
LONGERETTA: That's right. Fireworks explosions. And it's -- there's a lot going on. I've gotten to see a little bit of the season, and I can it delivers just as much.
MICHAELSON: Yeah, because they intended to make this the most real medical drama ever, even more so than ER, which Noah Wyle and John Wells and a lot of the people put together, and it is amazingly addictive. I mean, the show is, it's -- it -- I think it would be, I watched it last year kind of all at once. I think it would be hard to watch it week-after-week, because it's so good. LONGERETTA: I would agree. I watched nine episodes over the holidays of the upcoming season, over two days, because you just can't stop because it is so realistic and you fall in love with all of these characters.
MICHAELSON: So what -- other than that show what would your tip be as somebody watches so much TV as show to watch right now?
LONGERETTA: Oh, man. I mean, I would say The Pitt is on my list. I would also say to keep an eye out for Season 2 of paradise coming back to Hulu in February.
MICHAELSON: Oh, that's a great show. That's with Sterling K. Brown.
LONGERETTA: That's right.
MICHAELSON: It's sort of the end of the world.
LONGERETTA: Yes.
MICHAELSON: And Season 1 was really good.
LONGERETTA: And I'll say it's pretty hopeful in Season 2, which we all need a little bit hope.
MICHAELSON: OK, Season 1, not very hopeful.
LONGERETTA: No.
MICHAELSON: Jeff, you're another show to watch.
CONWAY: Another show I got to speak with Simu Liu and Melissa Barrera, The Copenhagen Test on Peacock right now. I think it's a really great show. It's a great espionage thriller. Both of them are great actors. Obviously, Melissa's off of her scream franchise that she's no longer a part of. She's gone on to this, and people are loving it. It's a fun espionage thriller. If you want a little escapism, all eight episodes are already out, so just binge them.
MICHAELSON: OK. And let's show something fun to wrap up this conversation as well. We love Will Ferrell, right? I mean, he's my all-time favorite SNL's cast member, and he always for years has been showing up at different sporting events. And let's show you some video of what he did at with the referees at the Kings game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL FERRELL, ACTOR & COMEDIAN: You never know if one of these guys go down they -- I may have to put on the skates and get out there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When's the last time you put skates on?
FERRELL: 15 years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, see your shot.
FERRELL: I'm very nimble. I'm still ready to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: I mean, there's nobody like Will Ferrell.
CONWAY: But Elex, like you said, like he's done this before he -- December 2024 he dressed up as Buddy the Elf with a cigarette in his mouth and his pants. So like he brings --
MICHAELSON: He gotten as Ron Burgundy before. He's a big deal at the LA FC games. He's a co-owner at LA FC, though. There we go. We've got that ready deal.
CONWAY: Buddy deal.
LONGERETTA: Buddy deal.
CONWAY: Holidays. I don't know what --
LONGERETTA: That's right. That's right.
MICHAELSON: I mean, he's got, he's kind of got a unique place.
CONWAY: He's a character.
LONGERETTA: Absolutely. And he always brings the joy. And anyone who -- there might be some new hockey fans after heated rivalry. So they also get to see, Will Ferrell, I mean, a full package for his fans.
MICHAELSON: Package probably not the phrase for heated rivalry.
CONWAY: But on theme.
LONGERETTA: Unintended, I guess. Yes.
MICHAELSON: Yes, you do get a full package if you watch that show and more. Jeff, Emily, great to have both of you.
CONWAY: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: Hopefully, it's first of many appearances. Really appreciate the perspective.
LONGERETTA: Thank you.
MICHAELSON: We're right back. More of "The Story Is" right after this.
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[01:40:00]
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This is CNN breaking news.
MICHAELSON: We have major breaking news. CNN just learning of explosions in Caracas, Venezuela, after the threats from the Trump administration of potential military action in that region. We have now have CNN own teams that have personally witnessed explosions. We're told it's several of them in Caracas started around 01:50 in the morning, local time that we know that there are certain areas that are apparently without power. We want to go now live on the phone. Journalist Mary Mena joins us. She is in Caracas.
Mary, what have you seen? What have you witnessed?
MARY MENA, JOURNALIST, CNN: Yeah, well, we woke up early in Caracas with the sounds of plane passing by across the city and then detonations in several areas. We need to remember that Caracas is a valley, so the sound is clear around the city. Many people reporting on social media and of course, we are concerned with friends and family and myself, I could hear definition explosions in several moments. They are not constant. They are -- they keep happening across the -- as long as the hours are passing by.
But right now, I just heard one, for example, but we don't know exactly the information what is going on, because we could be following and looking for information coming from the Maduro government. And so far they have remained silent. For example, right now I have the television on the state channel, and so far they have not reported any situation. This is just people waking up in the city of Caracas with the sound of these detonations, and now I can hear fire, power fire in -- it is different from the sounds that I heard before. I heard before, like song detonations. And now I can hear like, like guns in the industry, we don't know yet, that what is happening exactly as I said, but their reports are that there are key institutions, key areas in the city like the LA Carlota airport in the main city of Caracas, then La Guaira.
[01:45:00]
People from that place also reporting that and in the area of the west of Caracas, where is located the presidential palace Miraflores.
MICHAELSON: Wow. So when you said you just heard this, you like, literally, as you were speaking to us, you just heard another explosion.
MENA: Yeah, I'm nearby of a window, and I keep looking, as I said, some areas there have electricity. I have electricity right now. I can see clearly some buildings people, of course, waking up and trying to find some information. Some information especially. Well, the people are not trying not to go to the street properly, but they are waking up right now with this situation in the main capital of Venezuela.
MICHAELSON: And so from where you are right now, you're seeing fires and like buildings on fire.
MENA: No, no. I can hear some detonations. I could heard those for many minutes so far, but right now I cannot see a fire or something clear that I can give me some idea of what is happening.
MICHAELSON: How are you feeling right now? Are you concerned for your own safety? And do you see people in the streets? Or how are people reacting?
MENA: Well, yes, of course, we are careful. We are Venezuela's -- were advised of this situation for many months. Just yesterday, the Trump administration campaign began when they launched a major operation in the Caribbean. But this is a new step, the biggest step so far informal. And this is significant because this is a four of January in the country and well, it is close to a big moment for the country. It is supposed to take the Parliament, the new swear in -- on Monday. And of course, this is causing stress for a lot of people. And peoples are aware some or most people are aware. I can see some lights. I can see what it seems to be a plane passing by, small plane. And that's it. Well, it's what is going on basically here in Caracas.
Information, official information coming from authorities, as I say is scared. We don't have enough information to provide coming from the government officials in Caracas. What we hear is planes, it could be just one helicopter passing by, it seems right now, that is calmer. That is more silence than the ones that we have, like a half an hour ago. But as I say, it's not permanent. It keeps going and happening in several minutes, and then it starts again.
MICHAELSON: So just to be clear, again, we have reports from Mary and from CNN zone journalists on the ground of several explosions that have happened in Caracas, Venezuela, including while we've been on the air. We do not have any official confirmation that this is from the United States government. We do not have any official response from the Government of Venezuela. Interestingly, Mary says that on Venezuelan state TV right now, they are not discussing this.
From the reports that are out there right now, it appears that some of the spots that may have been hit are important spots for the Venezuelan government. So we are trying to gather information as we speak. If Mary this is, in fact, the United States government, which again, we do not know. What would you make of that fact, because that would be a major escalation from what we've seen in terms of, it's one thing to hit boats out at sea. It's another thing to target the ground and target the country itself.
MENA: Well, as you said, it is difficult to establish what is happening right now. We heard the detonations. We don't know where they are coming from. And it could be that the military enforcers of Venezuela are also taking a step to control the situation, and that is why they are not restoring anything so far.
[01:50:00]
We are expecting from that specific information. I can hear a helicopter right now passing, flying over the city of Caracas. I'm in the middle of the city, nearby Plaza Venezuela, which is a main square in the city. And the buildings, they have electricity, everything seems like a quiet night, but of course, the detonations make them unusual, an unusual night today in Caracas.
MICHAELSON: So we are getting reports of dozens of potential of these explosions. There was no warning of this tonight. Mary is there anything that you're planning to do to try to take cover, or what are you doing to try to ensure your own safety now?
MENA: Well, we are at home, many, many Venezuelans and residents of Caracas. We are at home, of course, watching or waiting for information. We keep, of course, it is a difficult situation to come back to our regular schedule, but right now, we are waiting for clear information that is what is hoping for, and especially with these conditions that we are facing right now.
You expect some sort of information, at least one tweet or something like that. But so far, they said they began like an hour ago. It is 02:51 local time, so we can say that it started an hour ago. And right now, what we hear is less explosions and more helicopters and planes passing by in the city of Caracas. People or residents are not leaving their houses for now. They are being careful. I live in a big apartment in a big building, and the people are awake, but inside the building, not outside of the -- in the streets so far.
MICHAELSON: Can you give us some context in terms of the political dynamics at play if, in fact, this is sort of a military action against your country. How that is seen and felt from the residents of your country, and how that impacts the political standing of Nicolas Maduro?
MENA: Well, we need to remember that for many months now, the government has been saying, the government of Nicolas Maduro that they are bracing or getting ready for a situation like this one. They say they have started the military drills. They contacted citizens to enroll in the militia. They did several activities beforehand, waiting for a scenario like this one.
So right now we get that they are trying to organize and respond in some sort of way. Of course, as I said, we don't have enough information to say that it's a foreign action inside Venezuela, or it could be something that is within Venezuela with members of military forces. It could be many hypotheses, but we have so far, no confirmation of that foreign action is happening.
We just heard what is -- what we can see is an explosion, several explosions, several detonations. We cannot say even the type of detonation that we hear. We just can say it's loud. It's being heard across the city because many people, multiple people, reporting in several areas of Caracas, from the east to the west, and even in the area of La Guaira, which is about 20 minutes from Caracas, that -- in that area, it is the main airport of Caracas, the Simon Bolivar airport. Some people there also telling me that that they hear something.
Now, as I said, it is a little bit quiet in the city, and we have, of course, receiving reports of some people some specific areas without electricity, but in the area where I'm standing now, we have power, and we have electricity running in this center area of Caracas.
MICHAELSON: Well, Mary, thank you.
[01:55:00] We wish you well, and we appreciate you joining us with your perspective tonight for this major, major breaking story. Again, explosions in Caracas, Venezuela. CNN just getting a report that the smoke appears to be rising from the vicinity of Fort Tiuna, which is where the Venezuelan Ministry of Defense is headquartered, which would seem to indicate that somebody is targeting the defenses of Venezuela. This is after the United States has threatened potential military activity against Venezuela.
Again, we do not have confirmation that that's what's underway now, but it certainly seems like a major operation is under way in Venezuela. CNN is going to stay on top of this very, very important story throughout the night and continue to follow it and my colleague, Polo Sandoval, pick up our coverage after a short break. I'm Elex Michaelson reporting from Los Angeles.
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