For some time, Netflix has been sabotaging its own brand with catastrophic decisions worthy of ridicule.
Now, HBO Max has just invited Netflix to “hold my beer.”
Discovery recently acquired Warner Bros, and this horrific merger has turned into the best streaming service’s swan song.
Warner Bros has existed since before the brothers settled in Hollywood. Did 90 Day Fiance kill this entertainment behemoth?
We cannot emphasize enough that HBO Max has been knocking it out of the park for some time, now.
In 2016, DC Comics (owned by Warner Bros) first dropped the hints that it would launch a streaming service.
DC Universe, a streaming service and comics-reading app, launched with tremendous success.
In addition to capturing nostalgia with familiar properties now available to stream, the service offered new material.
The highly anticipated new season of Young Justice helped build up hype. So did the Titans premiere.
Other hits, like Doom Patrol and Harley Quinn, followed. DC Universe outstripped expectations.
It was only natural that the folks at Warner Bros took notice that their niche streaming app was a success.
Imagine if Disney had started with a Marvel-only app before launching Disney Plus with their full catalogue.
That is more or less what happened here. DC Universe’s television was rolled over into a new service. HBO Max was born.
HBO Max’s timing could not have been better.
With the COVID-19 pandemic making theater-going either impossible or fatally irresponsible in 2020, people needed access to movies.
For the first time, “Home Box Office” truly lived up to its name — with free movie releases for subscribers. Some came out in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously.
HBO Max boasts a wealth of content from Warner Bros properties, including exciting blasts from the past.
More DC Comics properties aired, including new seasons of DC Universe shows.
The newfound streaming giant also unveiled a long-awaited surprise remaster of beloved scifi classic Babylon 5.
But where HBO Max truly blew other streaming services out of the water was its latest original programming.
The streaming service had some technical issues when it launched, it’s true.
But in 2022, the app was running smoothly … and absolutely dominating the streaming market.
Peacemaker remains, to date, one of the best television shows that anyone has seen, let alone superhero shows.
(Worth noting that the Watchmen series meets the same description … and also aired on HBO Max)
Then came the surprise hit, Our Flag Means Death, a comedy that remained the highest-in-demand show on streaming for more than a month after the season finale.
Before HBO Max is nothing but a fond memory, you should check out most if not all of the shows that we’ve mentioned here.
That’s not just us — every show that we’ve mentioned is critically acclaimed.
Unfortunately, as we all know, we live in a corporate hellscape where giant companies consume each other.
Sometimes, one company acquires another because merging technology or networks simply makes sense.
Other times, one companies buys up another just to destroy it because some fancy paperwork said that it was a good idea.
That’s how companies like Toys R Us get demolished. Seemingly, that is now happening to most of Warner Bros.
Earlier this year, there was something of a Red Wedding over at The CW.
Multiple shows — particularly series focusing upon BIPOC and LGBTQ+ stories — faced abrupt cancelation.
At the time, most assumed that this is because The CW is up for sale, and thus in a state of limbo.
However, it now seems to fit a larger pattern.
TBS and TNT’s original scripted content is all being canceled, including Full Frontal With Samantha Bee.
A single show can have ratings up and downs. Multiple channels losing all original programming is a massacre.
Then, things got worse. This week, the world learned that Batgirl will never see the light of day.
The film is done. Warner Bros spent $90 million. The cast and directors were all excited for us to see it.
Is the movie bad? It doesn’t sound like it. Allegedly, Warner Brothers Discovery wants all DC movies to be huge spectacles.
And then things got even worse.
On Wednesday, reports came out with increasing detail about horrific plans that Discovery has for HBO Max.
Allegedly, HBO Max is about to lose about 70% of its development staff as it phases out almost all original programming.
If reports are true, then HBO Max will soon become a footnote in Discovery’s own app, Discovery Plus.
Can you imagine? We’re talking about one of the biggest and arguably the best streaming services.
It’s about to be just another tab in the app that people use to take funny screenshots of Big Ed.
(Like this one)
Already, HBO Max has “quietly” removed some films from the platform.
Analysts have explained that Discovery is basically pulling a The Producers, making more money by reducing and sabotaging their own content.
This has been happening for a while, actually.
People on social media have been going through the catastrophic and sometimes inexplicable choices that Discovery has made.
Discovery appears to be laying waste to Warner Bros properties … including several finished projects.
When the first ominous whispers of Discovery purchasing WB made the rounds, it sounded like a joke.
You know on 30 Rock when the running joke is that NBCUniversal is owned by a company called Sheinhardt Wigs?
That’s what this feels like, but so much worse. How did this happen?
Simply put, Discovery has been making a lot of money filming inexpensive reality television and making colossal profits.
90 Day Fiance was a deviation from Discovery’s brand of documenting white, straight, Christian families almost exclusively.
But the franchise’s colossal success helped launch Discovery Plus … and also helped to create our new nightmare.
Right now, so much of the streaming world looks dismal. Even exciting projects
One hopes that the massive public outcry on social media will bully Discovery (or stockholders will) into making less catastrophic choices.
It’s hard to hold out hope for a better world. Especially when the feckless FTC allows margers like this to happen.