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Yes but Westworld started out with a brilliant first season and went downhill from there until the 4th season was nearly unwatchable. The Sopranos was good righ

Yes but Westworld started out with a brilliant first season and went downhill from there until the 4th season was nearly unwatchable. The Sopranos was good right up until the end, which is not how I would have ended it. HBO might as well sell Westworld to a less premium outlet.

maxfurman 4y ago
Many (most) HBO shows do not live up to The Sopranos, and FWIW I completely agree with your assessment of Westworld, but I also agree with GP - part of the pitch of HBOGO, and then Max, is access to the whole back catalog of HBO. The Sopranos, yes, but also John From Cincinnati and a host of other ambitious also-rans. HBO isn't selling off Westworld because it's bad, they're selling it off because their penny pinching CEO doesn't understand what made HBO worth the subscription in the first place.
- labrador 4y ago
  He has the numbers though. He can see if hardly anyone is watching Westworld on HBO and calculate he could make more money by selling it and then using that money to create something people do want to watch. As for harming the brand, I know what HBO used to be but don't know if it's that anymore. I don't know anything about calculating a brand image or how much it's worth, so I couldn't say in a landscape of thousands of competing outlets
  - magicalist 4y ago
    > He has the numbers though. He thinks he has the numbers. He could also raise the subscription price and make more money that way too, if most people stick around. Do that enough and they won't, though.
    - emodendroket 4y ago
      Maybe I'm wrong, but my impression from the sudden change of fortune of all these movie and television streaming services is, maybe making really good content doesn't really make the business model work. Maybe it only really works if you're churning out low-budget, mindless trash reality TV. Though it is less clear if that was understood at front and this was a way of growing the subscriber base or if there was more optimism that was warranted.
      - brewdad 4y ago
        Ok. But why ditch the shows you've already paid to produce? Maybe the future cash flows are greater by taking the cash today but that's a hell of a wager to place on the future. My annual sub renews in 12 days. I will probably re-up for one more year but only because I can get a significant discount through my credit card. Will I, and others, re-up in for 2024? I am very uncertain.
        oneoff786 4y ago
        If you’re going to buy it this year I would expect a pretty low bar for you to buy it next year
        emodendroket 4y ago
        The answer seems to be they don’t want to pay residuals.
haswell 4y ago
Westworld is hardly the first show on HBO that isn't exactly stellar start to finish.
mathieuh 4y ago
The Sopranos is a masterpiece on all levels, if that’s going to be your yardstick there’s not going to be much left.
locusofself 4y ago
Was there a 4th season? I couldn't make it halfway into the 3rd season. The first season was brilliant
rob74 4y ago
Well yeah... the problem with Westworld was that it didn't really have an overarching plot, they just figured out what to do from season to season. Season 1 was brilliant, season 2 still good, but with some worrying misanthropic themes (like positing that human intelligence was vastly inferior to that of the androids), and then it apparently went downhill from there. I only ever watched seasons 1 and 2, but was planning on taking a look at 3 and 4, and finding out I won't be able to (legally) without forking out for the DVD box sets (which, at least in this case, still exist) makes me feel exactly like the article describes: as if someone stole a toy which I didn't play with, but was vaguely looking forward to playing with sometime in the future...
josephd79 4y ago
Most people didn't like season 3 because it went so far sci-fi instead of the Wild West. I thought season 3 was great and season 4 was amazing. It's weird that they are removing content like Westworld but there's a ton of trash on their platform that they could axe and no one would even know.

maxfurman 4y ago

Many (most) HBO shows do not live up to The Sopranos, and FWIW I completely agree with your assessment of Westworld, but I also agree with GP - part of the pitch of HBOGO, and then Max, is access to the whole back catalog of HBO. The Sopranos, yes, but also John From Cincinnati and a host of other ambitious also-rans. HBO isn't selling off Westworld because it's bad, they're selling it off because their penny pinching CEO doesn't understand what made HBO worth the subscription in the first place.

labrador 4y ago
He has the numbers though. He can see if hardly anyone is watching Westworld on HBO and calculate he could make more money by selling it and then using that money to create something people do want to watch. As for harming the brand, I know what HBO used to be but don't know if it's that anymore. I don't know anything about calculating a brand image or how much it's worth, so I couldn't say in a landscape of thousands of competing outlets
- magicalist 4y ago
  > He has the numbers though. He thinks he has the numbers. He could also raise the subscription price and make more money that way too, if most people stick around. Do that enough and they won't, though.
  - emodendroket 4y ago
    Maybe I'm wrong, but my impression from the sudden change of fortune of all these movie and television streaming services is, maybe making really good content doesn't really make the business model work. Maybe it only really works if you're churning out low-budget, mindless trash reality TV. Though it is less clear if that was understood at front and this was a way of growing the subscriber base or if there was more optimism that was warranted.
    - brewdad 4y ago
      Ok. But why ditch the shows you've already paid to produce? Maybe the future cash flows are greater by taking the cash today but that's a hell of a wager to place on the future. My annual sub renews in 12 days. I will probably re-up for one more year but only because I can get a significant discount through my credit card. Will I, and others, re-up in for 2024? I am very uncertain.
      - oneoff786 4y ago
        If you’re going to buy it this year I would expect a pretty low bar for you to buy it next year
      - emodendroket 4y ago
        The answer seems to be they don’t want to pay residuals.

haswell 4y ago

Westworld is hardly the first show on HBO that isn't exactly stellar start to finish.

mathieuh 4y ago

The Sopranos is a masterpiece on all levels, if that’s going to be your yardstick there’s not going to be much left.

locusofself 4y ago

Was there a 4th season? I couldn't make it halfway into the 3rd season. The first season was brilliant

rob74 4y ago

Well yeah... the problem with Westworld was that it didn't really have an overarching plot, they just figured out what to do from season to season. Season 1 was brilliant, season 2 still good, but with some worrying misanthropic themes (like positing that human intelligence was vastly inferior to that of the androids), and then it apparently went downhill from there. I only ever watched seasons 1 and 2, but was planning on taking a look at 3 and 4, and finding out I won't be able to (legally) without forking out for the DVD box sets (which, at least in this case, still exist) makes me feel exactly like the article describes: as if someone stole a toy which I didn't play with, but was vaguely looking forward to playing with sometime in the future...

josephd79 4y ago

Most people didn't like season 3 because it went so far sci-fi instead of the Wild West. I thought season 3 was great and season 4 was amazing. It's weird that they are removing content like Westworld but there's a ton of trash on their platform that they could axe and no one would even know.