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James Ackerman's avatar

I don't get where the WBD crowd got the idea of dropping HBO to make MAX!!! (with the exclamation marks to come I'm sure) to be a good idea. If anything, I suspect it will generate not only more confusion on the part of their customers, but they'll end up changing it back because people will start canceling the service since it doesn't have the HBO branding (that they trust!) on it anymore

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david scardino's avatar

Probably from the same place they got the "idea" to cancel "Westworld" and thus give the middle finger to millions of loyal, SUBSCRIBER PAYING fans. Shows you want being an executive of a reality program network(s) does to your judgment.

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Sonny Bunch's avatar

To be fair, that show was insanely expensive and had *terrible* ratings in its last season. It's one of very few HBO shows I've given up on. I watched literally every season of BIG LOVE, just couldn't do another Westworld.

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James Ackerman's avatar

To also be more fair to WBD on that one, after season 2, they kinda lost the thread. Especially when they decided to not pay-off the end credits scene of season 2

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david scardino's avatar

Just to be clear, I wasn't necessarily commenting on the quality of the show (I checked out after Season. 1) but rather on the wisdom (or not) of pissing off a big bunch of paying subscribers.

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Sonny Bunch's avatar

The broader point here though is that there weren’t that many paying subscribers watching the show! HBO keeping shows that aren’t performing but are cheap and earn awards/think piece buzz on the air is one thing (eg, GIRLS). But it’s harder to keep making a show that costs between $80 and $160M on the air of the audience is evaporating season after season.

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david scardino's avatar

Time will tell. Given the Zaslav mentality, I worry for TCM. I pray I'm wrong.

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david scardino's avatar

That may be, however I was viewing it thru the prism of a business decision a la, why would you piss off so many paying subscribers? I have the same question about a lot of the Zaslov decisions. As a boss of mine once instructed, "It's SHOW business... not business business."

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