I may be cancelling my subscription.

First Los Espookys and now At Home with Amy Sedaris, Legendary & Made for Love. Given the shows listed, I’d wager other shows I love (Random Acts of Flyness, Hacks, Flight attendant and Barry) aren’t safe either.

Pretty much only leaves shows that are added a year or so after they air - Abbot Elementary, South Park and Rick & Morty.

"Of course, if and when WBD decides to sell itself to Comcast or Apple or Amazon in 2024? Well, all bets are off."

The question is whether anyone will want to buy it. Amazon has dozens of IPs to work with and Apple seems confident that 100% original content and live sports are their backbone. Anyway, it seems to me that Zaslav bought it hoping the era of "content is king" would last longer.

Except he hates that and wanted more cheap reality shows in the first place.

I wish I could. I got suckered into a one year subscription. This was back in October, and I thought this bullshit was in the rear view. Turned out fortune telling isn't my forte. The only thing that's giving me hope is The Last of Us. HBO Max is by far the worst streaming service I have, and not too long ago, it was at the top.

I mean, I don't mind so much that shows are getting cancelled, that's part of the territory unfortunately. But I have never seen a streaming platform just remove shows at the rate that this one is. And these are shows that they OWN. Movies and shows get shuffled around from one streaming service to another all the time, because another studio owns them. HBO Max is deep-sixing shows that they produced and aired over their streaming platform or on their cable service. It's like Netflix pulling Stranger Things.

>Anyway, it seems to me that Zaslav bought it hoping the era of "content is king" would last longer.

But then why is it that literally very single move that's been made since the merger was to reduce or eliminate content?

> I got suckered into a one year subscription.

I was in a subscription that, thankfully, ran out the day after the latest Harley Quinn season ended. When I saw the yearly subscription deal come back, coupled with a few positive things (Gunn's promotion, Quinn special, etc), I thought maybe I was too hasty, but ultimately decided to stick to my guns.

Really happy I did, as I really don't know what is going on, but I don't feel like HBO is the type of service I'll gladly pay just to support. It makes me sad, mostly because I no longer know what is going to happen, or if it will be even a shell of its former glory.

Someone like Apple should pick up every canceled HBO show just as a huge fuck you to Zazlav.

They're already circling for Batman: Caped Crusader (one of Kevin Conroy's final projects)

Shit HBO passed/lost/impatient on the Masters of the Air show(Band of Brothers/The Pacific). It will be on Apple TV Plus. IDK how they fucked that up.

Every company will be bending backwards to get the HBO catalogue and wb franchises(Harry Potter, Game of thrones, DC to name a few)

Cancelled my subscription, I can’t bear to watch this disaster unfold.

> Of course, if and when WBD decides to sell itself to Comcast or Apple or Amazon in 2024? Well, all bets are off.

I have a feeling that Apple or Amazon would be way less likely to go a-cutting given that they get their profits largely from things hit far less hard by cord-cutting.

Worst merger of all time

Pawn stars and dumpster wars will be epic on hbo.

AT&T merger is worse. How do you think Discovery could buy WBD without AT&T mess everything up?

Wasn’t it very expensive so they didn’t go through with it

While I get people getting mad about their shows getting cancelled... People, including myself as of today, are getting laid off because of this merger. I don't work for HBO or Discovery. The trickle down effect of this on VFX companies is heartbreaking.

Yeah Discovery is making financial decisions that suck for consumers but it makes sense financially speaking, however, AT&T actively sabotaged both the Warner and HBO brand with their brain dead decision making. Discovery bought a heaping pile of mismanaged debt and is making very cold—and I would argue isn’t worth the consumer backlash that will occur—decisions about the debt. Discovery isn’t a company I support in anyway shape or form, but AT$T deserves at least 60-75% of the blame

They are aware that they need to have tv shows on their tv show streaming service right? Like people don't just give them money for shits and giggles.

Loved At Home with Amy Sedaris and pissed I can no longer stream the amazing Thanksgiving episode.

The fact that they locked people into year long subscriptions because they knew all this content removal was going to drive people to leave the service really says a lot about where their headspace is.

Because Zaslav comes from Discovery. Where he rose to the top of the pyramid by rebuilding discovery as the home of cheap to produce low brow reality television that pulls in a lot of viewership numbers despite being the most mind numbingly inane content with zero value or worth.

To quote moviebob, he's the fucking honey boo boo guy.

Barry is filming 1-2 more seasons and back to back. I think that show is totally fine.

“Do you know what my favorite holiday is? Christmas. Then probably Easter. But of all the Turkey themed holidays, it’s still Christmas. But right after turkey burgers on the grill for Fourth of July, it’s Thanksgiving.”

Glad to hear that.

Which makes HBO feel still like such a terrible fit. God I hope HBO can maintain production of new high caliber shows but I’m so doubtful

I thought Apple TV+ was strapped for resources. Would be smart to raid HBO

I read an article saying Westworld was actually being removed from HBO Max. Canceling is a cost cutting measure. Removing is dumb, they own the show.

Barry is supposed to conclude its story arc with Season 4.

From now on, all focus and resources are to be allocated to a beautiful plethora of GOT spinoffs, HOTD, maybe Snow, etc,

And an Entourage restart.

And some Curbing of thy Enthusiam of course

So like 3 shows I watch on HBO

Why am I just finding out Los Espookys is canceled? I'm so sad now...😞

They'll have it, shitty reality shows. HBO is going to be more discovery than HBO.

In the article they explain that it looks better on the amortization charts for their balance sheets. Meaning the costs of keeping the show on the platform has a price tag and by removing them makes the money on the books look more attractive to investors.

I disagree with the way this company is going to be managed going forward and I highly doubt I will be renewing my subscription in 2023.

It’s crazy to think that HBO, for so long the pinnacle of television, will soon be second to a host of trash reality and pseudoscience shows on this new ‘Max’ platform. There’s something poetic in it all where you have the best in-class writing and production value television mixed with the worst of shite people have ever put on television.

My bets are on Apple taking over as the future best source for original TV drama.

I had assumed with the massive demand in the market, most of these jobs would be same, just going through a transition.

how is the industry looking from the inside?

Broadly speaking it seems most media companies are cutting back in q4 2022 and preparing for a bad 2023

Can’t believe they’re cutting Minx :-/

They own the show, but they have to pay royalties to actors, license fees for music renewals, etc etc.

I don't like it, but keeping it there is costing them money.

I’m not sure why it’s so upsetting to people that some shows are getting cancelled.

There is too much content. There is just too much to watch, you could spend the next 5 years just working through a backlog of great scripted shows that have come out in 2017-2022, and you would still not get through it all.

There are hundreds of high quality scripted shows that you haven’t seen yet. Just watch one of those.

Shows are made to end. Yes, it’s sad, but it’s inevitable. We can love shows and still lose them. They can’t rage against the dying of the light forever.

I cancelled my subscription yesterday.

I get people are pissed, but the shows they are moving off the service are likely shows people aren’t watching.

Imo Casey Bloys is still cooking with HoD, Last of Us, Succession, white lotus, White House plumbers, Idol, Barry, Curb, Love and Death, Perry Mason, and Winning Time.

I do hope some of the Max stuff sticks around. And I get people just being pissed, for example if Warrior gets cancelled I’ll be grabbing my pitchfork with everybody else.

I don't know man, I'm paying a lot of money to watch White Lotus once a week

Because people get invested in the shows they like and get no proper ending. If someone discontinues your favorite product you are likely to be frustrated even if there are many other good products available.

Every show runner has a responsibility to have an ending ready at any time, and build their show in a way that it feels like a satisfying end whenever, because they know the media environment they exist in.

I enjoy a lot of their movies too, but I’ll definitely concede at least 40% of that is dependent on the Fox searchlight deal.

I feel terrible for all those in industry for losing their jobs. I really liked Minx so I’m sad to hear it was cancelled but if they save money/jobs by getting rid of underperforming media, I can’t be mad.

Do the kind of people that like that pay for streaming services?

>There is just too much to watch, you could spend the next 5 years just working through a backlog of great scripted shows that have come out in 2017-2022, and you would still not get through it all.

You're underestimating how much content I can fit in a day, but also that's not the point. People are upset cause shows they like are not only being cancelled but also removed from the platform.

Youre entirely missing the point. They are not just cancelling shows, but completely removing them. Westworld Season 4 only just aired in August.

>backlog of great scripted shows that have come out in 2017-2022,

How does one go through a backlog if the titles are removed?

Cancelled mine as well. Hopefully the subscriber impact sends a strong message

The more niche shows are the ones people become passionate about and stick around for. You found a "hidden gem" so you are more likely to try more shows on the service. Except slowly the pattern continues and those keep disappearing abruptly and then HBO is only worth paying for this month if the big show you care about is airing new episodes.

My god what must that cost even be?

The industry is looking to go into a recession if I'm honest. It isn't looking good for any VFX companies right now. Between outsourcing to India and projects getting either cut or pushed, it is not looking good. They just cut over half my company yesterday. My last day of work is December 30th. The studio is closed Dec 26th-30th. So I essentially get a paycheck for this week and next week and then have to try and survive on unemployment until I can find something else. Unemployment is a joke where I will be getting maybe $300 a week, which is less than half what I was making a week. People are getting fucked by this in so many ways.

Despite what this sub thinks, it's not as simple as Zaslov = evil. Media companies are cutting back across the board because they've been overspending for years to speed-run a back catalogue, but now interest rates are rising and the expected streaming profits never materialised, so cutting back is the only viable option.

I get it. But it’s not like they are deleting ALL the content, so of course there are still lots of shows to watch.

More broadly, I guess maybe I just never believed that streaming services would hold content in their service forever…or even for very long.

It’s in the streamer’s best interest to create “windows” as they always have…from first-run to re-runs; to the Disney Vault; to sending shows to Netflix 90 days after DVD release.

This has always been a part of the industry and I see no reason to expect that they would have changed just because the delivery mechanism has changed again.

But…who’s gonna keep paying $15/month for that?

How did AT&T sabotage them?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/business/media/att-time-warner-deal.html a long but very insightful read into everything that has transpired over there since the initial idea for a merger. Some of the best reporting of the entire year in that article

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