5 ms·

HBO cancels ‘Westworld’ in shock decision

40 points by hhs 4y ago

tinglymintyfrsh 4y ago
How does Hollywood gossip map to HN's mission?
- ectospheno 4y ago
  Hacker News has a mission statement? Where?
MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
Is it really shocking?
- D13Fd 4y ago
  It’s shocking that they actually recognized the issues with the show and made the right call in canceling it.
baron816 4y ago
I thought they canceled it years ago. They certainly should have.
pessimizer 4y ago
That's good. It was very bad for the price, and only getting worse. The first season was very fun and intriguing. After that, it went nowhere insightful, and all of the cowboys and indians disappeared. It became a bunch of bores arguing in conference rooms between superspy missions.
- smodo 4y ago
  The 'human diorama' plot made the show. Baffling that they threw that overboard so quickly. By the third season it was just vague mumblings about technology.
  - nwah1 4y ago
    I think the point of Season 3 was that the whole world had been transformed into a kind of Westworld through predictive algorithms and surveillance, and that we aren't really that much less programmable than the robots.
- nwah1 4y ago
  I thought season 3 was good. Better than Season 1. The plot was relevant in the world of big data. The show Devs had this kind of theme as well. It asks interesting philosophical questions. But yes, Season 1 had more artistry and nostalgia.
teg4n_ 4y ago
I can’t wait for the real life Westworld reality series the Discovery CEO green lights to replace it /s
OptionX 4y ago
Liked the first season a lot. The second turn me off the show. Haven't seen it since. I imagine this mirrors the same story for a lot of people.
snapetom 4y ago
There were warning signs in Season 2 when things started to get weird, and in my circle of friends, they dismissed it - still claiming how brilliant the show was. I have no idea nor do I remember what the hell happened in Season 3, and by the beginning of 4, finally even my wife admitted she had no idea what was going on. Just another show that let its early success get to its head.
- zwkrt 4y ago
  I found that season two had the same problem that a lot of nexflix-style shows run into. The first season was a heavily crafted narrative of interconnected stories. I remember when I first watched it I described it as a puzzle box. It was always a few steps ahead of the viewer. But the second season didn't have any of the intrigue. It felt like the pacing of the plot was delayed without payoff. Instead of keeping viewers (or at least me) interested through good storytelling, it draws out the inevitable. I think this happens because in the first season the writers and showrunners have to produce an entire work without feedback from the audience. But after that first season, characters take on a life of their own through the fanbase. We expect Maeve to be a bad-ass, we expect The Man in Black to get his comeuppance, etc. This was the fundamental problem with the end of GoT as well. Think of how many episodes we watched Bran sit under a tree doing nothing.
p2detar 4y ago
I enjoyed thoroughly the first and second seasons. The third I haven't watched, yet. However, after the strong ending of the second season, I really could not imagine that there could be anything groundbreaking to add to the series.
synu 4y ago
My opinion of course, but it was terrible immediately after the end of the first season. But that first season was incredible.
- Someone1234 4y ago
  I feel like Futureworld (the second Westworld Movie) had a better concept for what should follow Westworld. The movie is bad and was critically panned, but at least it kept to a working formula, rather than using it as a jumping off point into areas nobody was asking about. Westworld Season 2+ felt like writers wanting to create a different show and had the Westworld cast as their canvas.
lkrubner 4y ago
The first season was very, very good, the second season I could tolerate, mostly because it felt like it was a transitional season, and perhaps the 3rd season would be better. But then the 3rd season went off a cliff. I watched the 5 episodes and then I just gave up, something I almost never do. It was just too awful to watch, as it descended into cliche and forgot everything that made the series interesting. We've all seen this happen with some shows, but Westworld was an extreme case.
- robbiep 4y ago
  I actually thought it had finished at the end of season 3. I thought it finished coherently? I was shocked, shocked! To see it come back for season 4. Pleasantly so then confusingly so as the season drew on. I haven’t finished the last episode - gave up half way through
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- berberous 4y ago
  FWIW I disliked Season 3, but thought season 4 was excellent.
insane_dreamer 4y ago
Season 1 was mind-blowing -- maybe the best season of any show? at least in the disussion. Season 2 was pretty amazing too. Season 3 was ... huh, okay. And Season 4 was ... lost.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
duderific 4y ago
I think I'm one of the few that hung in there through all four seasons. Season two was really bad, but three and four were pretty good; I really enjoyed the last season, although I thought the end of the season was a bit disappointing. I just really enjoyed the "not-too-distant-future" take on technology and society that the show provided, and I was willing to accept a little ambiguity in the storyline to go along for the ride.
- vt240 4y ago
  I haven't watched season 4 yet, after the first season it doesn't really fall into 'must see tv' anymore, where I'd bother to tune in on a weekly basis. It must be a minority opinion, but similarly, I hated season 2, and actually thought season 3 was a fun watch. I think viewed as a totally different, and not-so-serious sci-fi action series, it was okay.
abeppu 4y ago
Like many shows, it got a lot worse in later season -- but I think later seasons were still really expensive to produce. Given that this seems to be such a common pattern, I wonder if there's a viable model, where the show's budget ramps down as the audience shrinks. Much like with tech companies, it doesn't have to be binary between a really expensive operation which requires a mass audience to be profitable or fully dead/cancelled. What if it could gracefully shrink until it was a small, cheap show with a niche audience, until a final season watched only by philosophy undergrads is a series of dialogues about Baudrillard or Merleau-Ponty between a single 'robot' and human character in a blank white room?
tdsanchez 4y ago
Fans who care aren't surprised. I must have watched Season 1 3 or 4 times. Really incredible. Second season started out interesting and then became just branding by the end. It's pretty clear seasons 3 and 4 are influenced by real-world events around devleoping AI tech but it didn't lend anything to the story. I think Aaron Paul is great but he just didn't fit in season 3. His character is more believable in season 4. Still season 4 just sucked. Aaron Paul ending up as a host was a predictable Starbuck moment. Westworld went sideways the same way Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica did - the creators got high on their own supply while the stories stagnated.
kristianpaul 4y ago
After watching last season. I wasn't so sure if there was going to be a 5th season to be honest...
rasz 4y ago
Wasnt 4th season all about Bernard figuring out he cant just simply shoot the 'bad guy', making him weave an elaborate game of cat and mouse that ends up with hiding a pistol so ... someone just shoots the 'bad guy'?
uslic001 4y ago
I have had a hard time even finishing season 1 as I don't find myself rooting for any of the characters. Now that it is canceled I guess I can move on to a new show that actually makes me want to watch the next show.

40 points by hhs 4y ago

tinglymintyfrsh 4y ago

How does Hollywood gossip map to HN's mission?

ectospheno 4y ago
Hacker News has a mission statement? Where?

MonkeyMalarky 4y ago

Is it really shocking?

D13Fd 4y ago
It’s shocking that they actually recognized the issues with the show and made the right call in canceling it.

baron816 4y ago

I thought they canceled it years ago. They certainly should have.

pessimizer 4y ago

That's good. It was very bad for the price, and only getting worse. The first season was very fun and intriguing. After that, it went nowhere insightful, and all of the cowboys and indians disappeared. It became a bunch of bores arguing in conference rooms between superspy missions.

smodo 4y ago
The 'human diorama' plot made the show. Baffling that they threw that overboard so quickly. By the third season it was just vague mumblings about technology.
- nwah1 4y ago
  I think the point of Season 3 was that the whole world had been transformed into a kind of Westworld through predictive algorithms and surveillance, and that we aren't really that much less programmable than the robots.
nwah1 4y ago
I thought season 3 was good. Better than Season 1. The plot was relevant in the world of big data. The show Devs had this kind of theme as well. It asks interesting philosophical questions. But yes, Season 1 had more artistry and nostalgia.

teg4n_ 4y ago

I can’t wait for the real life Westworld reality series the Discovery CEO green lights to replace it /s

OptionX 4y ago

Liked the first season a lot. The second turn me off the show. Haven't seen it since. I imagine this mirrors the same story for a lot of people.

snapetom 4y ago

There were warning signs in Season 2 when things started to get weird, and in my circle of friends, they dismissed it - still claiming how brilliant the show was. I have no idea nor do I remember what the hell happened in Season 3, and by the beginning of 4, finally even my wife admitted she had no idea what was going on. Just another show that let its early success get to its head.

zwkrt 4y ago
I found that season two had the same problem that a lot of nexflix-style shows run into. The first season was a heavily crafted narrative of interconnected stories. I remember when I first watched it I described it as a puzzle box. It was always a few steps ahead of the viewer. But the second season didn't have any of the intrigue. It felt like the pacing of the plot was delayed without payoff. Instead of keeping viewers (or at least me) interested through good storytelling, it draws out the inevitable. I think this happens because in the first season the writers and showrunners have to produce an entire work without feedback from the audience. But after that first season, characters take on a life of their own through the fanbase. We expect Maeve to be a bad-ass, we expect The Man in Black to get his comeuppance, etc. This was the fundamental problem with the end of GoT as well. Think of how many episodes we watched Bran sit under a tree doing nothing.

p2detar 4y ago

I enjoyed thoroughly the first and second seasons. The third I haven't watched, yet. However, after the strong ending of the second season, I really could not imagine that there could be anything groundbreaking to add to the series.

synu 4y ago

My opinion of course, but it was terrible immediately after the end of the first season. But that first season was incredible.

Someone1234 4y ago
I feel like Futureworld (the second Westworld Movie) had a better concept for what should follow Westworld. The movie is bad and was critically panned, but at least it kept to a working formula, rather than using it as a jumping off point into areas nobody was asking about. Westworld Season 2+ felt like writers wanting to create a different show and had the Westworld cast as their canvas.

lkrubner 4y ago

The first season was very, very good, the second season I could tolerate, mostly because it felt like it was a transitional season, and perhaps the 3rd season would be better. But then the 3rd season went off a cliff. I watched the 5 episodes and then I just gave up, something I almost never do. It was just too awful to watch, as it descended into cliche and forgot everything that made the series interesting. We've all seen this happen with some shows, but Westworld was an extreme case.

robbiep 4y ago
I actually thought it had finished at the end of season 3. I thought it finished coherently? I was shocked, shocked! To see it come back for season 4. Pleasantly so then confusingly so as the season drew on. I haven’t finished the last episode - gave up half way through
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
berberous 4y ago
FWIW I disliked Season 3, but thought season 4 was excellent.

insane_dreamer 4y ago

Season 1 was mind-blowing -- maybe the best season of any show? at least in the disussion. Season 2 was pretty amazing too. Season 3 was ... huh, okay. And Season 4 was ... lost.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

duderific 4y ago

I think I'm one of the few that hung in there through all four seasons. Season two was really bad, but three and four were pretty good; I really enjoyed the last season, although I thought the end of the season was a bit disappointing. I just really enjoyed the "not-too-distant-future" take on technology and society that the show provided, and I was willing to accept a little ambiguity in the storyline to go along for the ride.

vt240 4y ago
I haven't watched season 4 yet, after the first season it doesn't really fall into 'must see tv' anymore, where I'd bother to tune in on a weekly basis. It must be a minority opinion, but similarly, I hated season 2, and actually thought season 3 was a fun watch. I think viewed as a totally different, and not-so-serious sci-fi action series, it was okay.

abeppu 4y ago

Like many shows, it got a lot worse in later season -- but I think later seasons were still really expensive to produce. Given that this seems to be such a common pattern, I wonder if there's a viable model, where the show's budget ramps down as the audience shrinks. Much like with tech companies, it doesn't have to be binary between a really expensive operation which requires a mass audience to be profitable or fully dead/cancelled. What if it could gracefully shrink until it was a small, cheap show with a niche audience, until a final season watched only by philosophy undergrads is a series of dialogues about Baudrillard or Merleau-Ponty between a single 'robot' and human character in a blank white room?

tdsanchez 4y ago

Fans who care aren't surprised. I must have watched Season 1 3 or 4 times. Really incredible. Second season started out interesting and then became just branding by the end. It's pretty clear seasons 3 and 4 are influenced by real-world events around devleoping AI tech but it didn't lend anything to the story. I think Aaron Paul is great but he just didn't fit in season 3. His character is more believable in season 4. Still season 4 just sucked. Aaron Paul ending up as a host was a predictable Starbuck moment. Westworld went sideways the same way Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica did - the creators got high on their own supply while the stories stagnated.

kristianpaul 4y ago

After watching last season. I wasn't so sure if there was going to be a 5th season to be honest...

rasz 4y ago

Wasnt 4th season all about Bernard figuring out he cant just simply shoot the 'bad guy', making him weave an elaborate game of cat and mouse that ends up with hiding a pistol so ... someone just shoots the 'bad guy'?

uslic001 4y ago

I have had a hard time even finishing season 1 as I don't find myself rooting for any of the characters. Now that it is canceled I guess I can move on to a new show that actually makes me want to watch the next show.