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This seems like a smart money grab. Keep the hot titles on streaming to keep your subscriber base, and those who really want to watch the fringe shows will prob

This seems like a smart money grab. Keep the hot titles on streaming to keep your subscriber base, and those who really want to watch the fringe shows will probably pay for them, earning HBO more money. Just recently paid for Angry Boys. It’s totally obvious why they would want to remove it from their platform in this culture, and even more so when they are still selling it elsewhere. I wonder if other titles removed are similarly as politically incorrect, or if it’s another reason like not drawing in a huge audience.

twoodfin 4y ago
The most likely theory is that HBO (under the former ownership) signed deals on streaming residuals for these shows that make them more expensive to keep available than they’re worth. They expected Westworld, for example, to do Game of Thrones-class numbers and continue to draw subscribers for years as a catalog title. It didn’t sustain that level of interest. And the new ownership doesn’t seem to believe in the value of catalog titles in the first place: I wouldn’t be surprised if The Wire and The Sopranos eventually get moved or sold elsewhere.
- rightbyte 4y ago
  Well I guess they need to do later seasons good in that case. Westworld season 2 was a joke. From a drama in S1 to mindless b-action in S2.
  - twoodfin 4y ago
    I’d disagree that S2 is where the show went wrong. It holds up quite well on rewatch, with probably 3-4 of the best overall episodes. Ironically, I think Nolan & Joy made the same kind of mistake Dr. Ford criticizes in the premiere: They forgot why people wanted to watch Westworld. Fundamentally, the show was about the park, with all its mystery and detail. They seemed to think it was actually about the ideas around AI, consciousness & free will they wanted to explore. Those were modestly compelling, and enough to ride the momentum of the first couple seasons to some passable storytelling assisted by some great performances. But not the same show at all & the plummeting audience reflected that.
    - rightbyte 4y ago
      Ye I agree with the later. People wanted a Western with cowboys. It also had this "Greec theater thing word" were the audience, the guests, knew the story but the actors, the hosts, didn't. Concerning the former I guess that is a matter of taste. I watched it with my wife and she was extremely dissatisfied with the change of genre and pace. Lets pretend you know her. You understand why she disliked it right? She loved S1.
      - twoodfin 4y ago
        Yeah, I can imagine a version of that show that’s basically S1 but stretched out much longer. I can also imagine it being quite enjoyable, there was a lot of story space back and front to explore that they didn’t get to before things went to hell in the park. Some of the best parts of S1 were in this mode: “Ooh, Pariah… that’s new and different!” On the other hand, I think it would have required robbing S1 of the coherent, two track, beginning-middle-end story that made it as compelling as any single season of any show.
      - oneoff786 4y ago
        Dramatic irony
        rightbyte 4y ago
        Oh ty
    - BLKNSLVR 4y ago
      > the ideas around AI, consciousness & free will they wanted to explore I haven't seen S2, but with that description, and as an avid fan of the various incarnations of Ghost in the Shell, I want to see S2 to see how they explore those concepts.
      - listenallyall 4y ago
        Poorly.
  - dbspin 4y ago
    Couldn't agree more. It's the most rapid descent from prestige television to soap opera in television history. Just took some people longer than others to realise it.
croes 4y ago
Some shows are permanently canned as a tax write-off. Final space for instance https://gamerant.com/final-space-warner-bros-discovery-tax-write-off/ https://gamerant.com/final-space-warner-bros-discovery-tax-w...
hedora 4y ago
In the short term, you are probably right. In the long term, people will move to the most convenient option. That means the experience has to be better than bit torrent.

twoodfin 4y ago

The most likely theory is that HBO (under the former ownership) signed deals on streaming residuals for these shows that make them more expensive to keep available than they’re worth. They expected Westworld, for example, to do Game of Thrones-class numbers and continue to draw subscribers for years as a catalog title. It didn’t sustain that level of interest. And the new ownership doesn’t seem to believe in the value of catalog titles in the first place: I wouldn’t be surprised if The Wire and The Sopranos eventually get moved or sold elsewhere.

rightbyte 4y ago
Well I guess they need to do later seasons good in that case. Westworld season 2 was a joke. From a drama in S1 to mindless b-action in S2.
- twoodfin 4y ago
  I’d disagree that S2 is where the show went wrong. It holds up quite well on rewatch, with probably 3-4 of the best overall episodes. Ironically, I think Nolan & Joy made the same kind of mistake Dr. Ford criticizes in the premiere: They forgot why people wanted to watch Westworld. Fundamentally, the show was about the park, with all its mystery and detail. They seemed to think it was actually about the ideas around AI, consciousness & free will they wanted to explore. Those were modestly compelling, and enough to ride the momentum of the first couple seasons to some passable storytelling assisted by some great performances. But not the same show at all & the plummeting audience reflected that.
  - rightbyte 4y ago
    Ye I agree with the later. People wanted a Western with cowboys. It also had this "Greec theater thing word" were the audience, the guests, knew the story but the actors, the hosts, didn't. Concerning the former I guess that is a matter of taste. I watched it with my wife and she was extremely dissatisfied with the change of genre and pace. Lets pretend you know her. You understand why she disliked it right? She loved S1.
    - twoodfin 4y ago
      Yeah, I can imagine a version of that show that’s basically S1 but stretched out much longer. I can also imagine it being quite enjoyable, there was a lot of story space back and front to explore that they didn’t get to before things went to hell in the park. Some of the best parts of S1 were in this mode: “Ooh, Pariah… that’s new and different!” On the other hand, I think it would have required robbing S1 of the coherent, two track, beginning-middle-end story that made it as compelling as any single season of any show.
    - oneoff786 4y ago
      Dramatic irony
      - rightbyte 4y ago
        Oh ty
  - BLKNSLVR 4y ago
    > the ideas around AI, consciousness & free will they wanted to explore I haven't seen S2, but with that description, and as an avid fan of the various incarnations of Ghost in the Shell, I want to see S2 to see how they explore those concepts.
    - listenallyall 4y ago
      Poorly.
- dbspin 4y ago
  Couldn't agree more. It's the most rapid descent from prestige television to soap opera in television history. Just took some people longer than others to realise it.

croes 4y ago

Some shows are permanently canned as a tax write-off. Final space for instance https://gamerant.com/final-space-warner-bros-discovery-tax-write-off/ https://gamerant.com/final-space-warner-bros-discovery-tax-w...

hedora 4y ago

In the short term, you are probably right. In the long term, people will move to the most convenient option. That means the experience has to be better than bit torrent.