What happened to HBO? 2 2

[Xenosmilus]

There was a time when Sunday nights were always an event for me to sit down and watch HBO.  This was even before Game of Thrones.  Sopranos, Deadwood, Rome, True Blood etc.  Thoses days are over and am not sure how they screwed up?

[jcjames]

Barry is good, short seasons though.

 

[piper]

I've been enjoying Westworld.

[bronze_rules]

Tokyo Vice. Westworld. Still some good stuff there. I subscribed for the parallel movie releases, but that seemed to die down fairly quickly.

[Bosco685]

With the focus on HBO Max much of the energy is directed there.

With that, there have been plenty of solid shows. And more coming.

And so much more.

[Xenosmilus]

On 7/17/2022 at 5:43 AM, Bosco685 said:

With the focus on HBO Max much of the energy is directed there.

With that, there have been plenty of solid shows. And more coming.

And so much more.

Lot’s of content… The quality feels diminished to me anyways.

[Bosco685]

On 7/17/2022 at 7:06 AM, Xenosmilus said:

Lot’s of content… The quality feels diminished to me anyways.

Mare of Easttown, Watchmen, Barry, Harley Quinn TAS, Warrior and Peacemaker feel just as strong to me as past content. And at times groundbreaking.

But as was noted, even Tokyo Vice was a solid show about a Caucasian young reporter trying to break into the Japanese news market. Such solid casting and storytelling.

I wonder if it comes down to there are so many streaming and cable network now it breaks the uniqueness mold of the past? That may be it. Even with Paramount Plus putting out Star Trek shows at various stages of the timeline it can be quite overwhelming to keep up with it all. Including the animation shows.

[alexgross.com]

On 7/17/2022 at 4:06 AM, Xenosmilus said:

Lot’s of content… The quality feels diminished to me anyways.

i think this is the essential point. when GOT, breaking bad, mad men, (i know those 2 were not hbo) were on, by the ends of the runs, almost everyone in the usa was watching, or it felt that way. now, every single company has it's own app, Hbomax, disneyplus, netflix, hulu, paramount, amazon, fx, starz, showtime, apple, blahblahblah, and there is so much content that even if one show were head and shoulders above the rest in terms of quality, it could never make inroads in mass culture the way shows did ten or even five years ago. 

i discovered GOT in season one by accident, just turning on the tv on a sunday. now, i dont even have tv service, i just watch things on apps on my ipad, and barely have interest in shows at all. there is just too much content competition out there. 

[▫️]

 

On 7/16/2022 at 11:48 PM, Xenosmilus said:

There was a time when Sunday nights were always an event for me to sit down and watch HBO.  This was even before Game of Thrones.  Sopranos, Deadwood, Rome, True Blood etc.  Thoses days are over and am not sure how they screwed up?

Those days are definitely over. Family event night was exciting. People came running from the bathroom when they heard the theme song.

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by ▫️

[Bosco685]

On 7/17/2022 at 4:03 PM, ▫️ said:

 

Those days are definitely over. Family event night was exciting. People came running from the bathroom when they heard the theme song.

 

Brings back so many memories.

[Gatsby77]

I think the above posters have hit the nail on the head.

Whereas with cable TV 30 years ago we had the beginnings of media fragmentation, today, app proliferation means that fragmentation is now exponentially greater.

I (admittedly) don't watch a lot of TV - but the pandemic gave us such instant classics as Mare of Easttown, Queen's Gambit and Squid Game.

Today, the only two shows I care about for new episodes both happen to be on HBO: 

Westworld and Succession.

And (hopefully) this fall will bring the next season of The Crown on Netflix.

But I guarantee the audience for all of these shows is far less than for even average TV shows in years' past.

Simply because they're all competing for eyeballs against the best-of vintage TV - all instantly available via streaming.

On a lazy Wednesday night, is a potential new show better than a comfort food re-watch of:

• Friends
• Seinfeld
• The Office
• Game of Thrones
• The Wire
• Breaking Bad

etc. ?

That's both a paradigm shift from 10 years ago - when these shows weren't instantly accessible via streaming -- and it sets a high bar for any new show to compete with - and reach a decent audience.

[▫️]

On 7/17/2022 at 11:11 PM, Bosco685 said:

Brings back so many memories.

Yup, I even cherish the memories of being caught by my grandfather at midnight. It was worth it because boobs. 

[Xenosmilus]

On 7/17/2022 at 4:28 PM, ▫️ said:

Yup, I even cherish the memories of being caught by my grandfather at midnight. It was worth it because boobs. 

I thought I was the only one...

[Bosco685]

On 7/17/2022 at 5:16 PM, Xenosmilus said:

I thought I was the only one...

That and Playboy for the sports pieces

 

[thunsicker]

I know a lot of it is that there is too much fragmentation, but I believe there might be some that is due to the buyout by Discovery.  Discovery made its money by putting out low cost TV (reality tv, cooking shows, house fixing shows, etc.).  Not sure if they are willing to spend the money that HBO spent to make premium content.  That said I guess any effects of the Discovery buyout wouldn't be felt quite yet.

[chrisco37]

Succession is the best show on TV.

We Own this City was fantastic (albeit a short 6 episodes and on Mondays)

[Gatsby77]

On 7/18/2022 at 10:35 AM, chrisco37 said:

Succession is the best show on TV.

Agree.

I came to it late - but finished all three seasons in a week.

I've also rewatched about half of them since.

Phenomenal cast with not a weak link among them.