1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 1: Johan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: and love all Things Tech. And we are in another 5 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:25,040 Speaker 1: classic episode, folks. This episode originally published May twelve, two 6 00:00:25,040 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: thousand fourteen. It is the third part of our HBO story, 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:34,120 Speaker 1: the conclusion at that point of the HBO Story. Obviously, again, 8 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:36,839 Speaker 1: a lot of stuff has happened since then, so at 9 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: some point I will need to do a big update. 10 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,560 Speaker 1: In fact, if you think that that's a good idea, 11 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: let me know on Twitter. I usually save this for 12 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,000 Speaker 1: the end, but on Twitter we use the handle tech 13 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:49,919 Speaker 1: Stuff hs W, So if you ever have a suggestion, 14 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:53,599 Speaker 1: send it my way through there. But now let's go 15 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: back and listen to this classic episode the HBO Story, 16 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: Part three. So July to nine, Time Incorporated acquires a 17 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,639 Speaker 1: fifty nine point three percent steak and a little company 18 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:12,959 Speaker 1: called Warner Communications Incorporated's creating Time Warner Incorporated the largest 19 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:17,880 Speaker 1: media and entertainment company in the world, and the following year, 20 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: Time Incorporate would acquire the remainder of Warner Communications, making 21 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: it a fully integrated company, So now it's even larger 22 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: media giant. HBO is still a big player in that 23 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: enormous corporation, And that same year HBO would launch HBOS 24 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: lesion Is and Espanol, later renamed HBO Espanol and then 25 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: later renamed HBO Latino. So you may have guessed. This 26 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: is a channel that offered in parallel with HBO for 27 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: certain Spanish speaking markets about twenty initially, and took advantage 28 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: of something called the secondary Audio program or s a 29 00:01:56,120 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: P to replace the English speaking track with a span 30 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: of speaking one. And it was a big success, so 31 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: much so that other markets began to add this to 32 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: their service, and so much so that eventually they would 33 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: start producing their own original content for those markets. Right, 34 00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: so instead of just say, taking an HBO original that 35 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:17,640 Speaker 1: was done in English and redubbing it, they actually made 36 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,079 Speaker 1: their own award winning HBO originals. So you could, if 37 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: you were a Spanish speaking person, watch these and and 38 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: really appreciate that same sort of approach HBO had to 39 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: making entertainment in English speaking countries or Spanish speaking ones. 40 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,480 Speaker 1: Now this was still in the United States. HBO has 41 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: not branched out into other countries as of yet so 42 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: this was for Spanish speaking populations within the US, which 43 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: you know, stirred up some cultural issues in certain markets 44 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 1: with people who might not be as um progressive in 45 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: some ways. Let's to be really diplomatic about it, but 46 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: at any rate, it was a bold move and it 47 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: paid off. And then HBO helped roll out another channel. 48 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:04,400 Speaker 1: They were behind the development of the Comedy Channel. So 49 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: their idea was to create a special channel specifically catering 50 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: to comedy. They had seen successes in other fields, right, 51 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 1: and their and their comedy specials for doing so well. Yeah, 52 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: so they're thinking, wait, we know comedy, we know comedy. 53 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 1: We we are the people who give comedians that that 54 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:27,080 Speaker 1: that cashe of. I've got an HBO special, I've made 55 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: it in the business. So so let's let's let's capitalize 56 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: on that. Let's take clips from the specials and for 57 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: movies and just toss them up on the air, and 58 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,440 Speaker 1: and let's not provide context for them, because that would 59 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:42,440 Speaker 1: be too complicated. Let's just let's just like clip the 60 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: jokes out of their context and they're going to be 61 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: just as funny standing on their own as they would 62 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: be within the UH. Incorporation of whatever set up there 63 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: was around that joke, right. You know, actually this sounds 64 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: a lot like YouTube. This was forward thinking, this was 65 00:03:57,080 --> 00:03:59,320 Speaker 1: ahead of its time. Yeah. See that they were trying 66 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: to follow the model of MTV. You know, they wanted 67 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: to do what MTV did with music videos, they wanted 68 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: to do with comedy clips. But it failed pretty wildly. 69 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: Yeah see, it just just was one of those things 70 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: where unless you had that extra context, you couldn't truly 71 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: appreciate the joke for what it was. You might find 72 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:20,719 Speaker 1: it amusing, but you wouldn't necessarily find it hilarious. Right. Um. Meanwhile, 73 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 1: Viacom launched a rival channel named HA with an exclamation 74 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: point to nontheless, which was even worse than than the 75 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 1: Comedy Channel. However, they merged these two terrible things together 76 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: to create the Comedy Network, which eventually became Comedy Central. 77 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: As we all know, I love right and so h 78 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: It's interesting to me because one of the things that 79 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,640 Speaker 1: did happen that helped differentiate the Comedy Channel from HAW. 80 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,040 Speaker 1: I didn't put this in our notes, but the Comedy 81 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:51,600 Speaker 1: Channel was the channel that started carrying a certain mystery 82 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: science theater three thousand uh and in fact, I remember that. 83 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 1: If you've ever read any of the MST three K histories, 84 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: they talk about how whenever they told people were on 85 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: the comedy channel, the response was, oh, you mean ha 86 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: oh no, no, no, the other the other comedy that's 87 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 1: called Yeah. So there was some confusion in the marketplace 88 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 1: until those two finally kind of merged into its own unit. 89 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 1: But was also when a certain HBO original series premiered, 90 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:24,800 Speaker 1: one that had a lasting impression on my childhood me 91 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:27,599 Speaker 1: as well, Tales from the Crypt YEP with the crypt Keeper. 92 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: So this was HBO's second attempt at making a horror 93 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,119 Speaker 1: anthology series. Yeah. The first one was The Hitchhiker, which 94 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: nobody cares about. Yeah, I mean I watched it that 95 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:38,880 Speaker 1: as a kid too. I mean I grew up during 96 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: this era, So I watched The Hitchhiker. But Tales from 97 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: the Crypt was I mean, I just I just want 98 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 1: to give the crypt Keeper a hug. The only thing 99 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: I have to say about Tells from the Crypt is, uh. 100 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,280 Speaker 1: It really is unfortunate that their very best episode was 101 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: also the first episode. It was all downhill after that. 102 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:59,160 Speaker 1: The Man Who Was Death phenomenal episode about a crazy 103 00:05:59,800 --> 00:06:03,880 Speaker 1: uh executioner who really loses his marbles when the state 104 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:09,359 Speaker 1: he's working in outlaws Capital punishment. Great episode, great music 105 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,799 Speaker 1: for that episode. Not particularly scary, but really well done. 106 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: Um and sadly, I do not believe any of the 107 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: subsequent episodes quite lived up to it, even the one 108 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: that had Tim Curry starring as like four different characters 109 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: in the single episode. I watched this a lot. Also 110 00:06:28,040 --> 00:06:32,280 Speaker 1: saw the premiere of the series dream On, which was, 111 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 1: you know, a comedy series following a a a divorced 112 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 1: guy who was trying to kind of find his place 113 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: and find love, and interesting that the show itself was 114 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:47,760 Speaker 1: was pretty amusing. Often it had raunchy situations, a lot 115 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: of gratuitous nudity, both in Tales from the Crypt and 116 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:53,440 Speaker 1: dream On, partially because they could get away with it, 117 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:55,920 Speaker 1: like this is HBO, so they're not they're not the 118 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: same standards as over the air TV SO and especially 119 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: the air later on at night. They're not going to 120 00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: get that many complaints from parent groups, right, So this 121 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: was one of those things where because they were able 122 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: to do it, they were encouraged to do it, even 123 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: if that wasn't in their plan when they were making 124 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: next at a show pitch that ended up being kind 125 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: of a directive handed down saying, look, guys, throw in 126 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:23,720 Speaker 1: some nudity and some violence in there, because because why not. Well, 127 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: I mean, that's also part of the point of Tales 128 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:26,520 Speaker 1: from the Crypt I think from the beginning is that 129 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: it was very much one of those old schlock h 130 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: B movie kind of throwbacks. Well yeah, and very much 131 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:34,200 Speaker 1: like The Twilight Zone, the sort of idea of the 132 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: karma coming back and haunting you, because it was usually 133 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: about really awful people doing really awful things and then 134 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 1: having really awful things happened to them as a consequence. 135 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: Sometimes it was not such an awful person and really 136 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: awful things would happen to them, but it was a 137 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: general general rule, whereas with dream On it was like 138 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: lots of cringe humor and and some other stuff. There's 139 00:07:54,840 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: some great moments and that I remember when David Bowie 140 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: showed up and he was phenomenal on dream On. See. 141 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: I watched a lot of HBO when I was a kid. 142 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: HBO rolls out HBO two, which was later named HBO Plus. 143 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: So HBO two is a complementary platform essentially has the 144 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 1: same sort of stuff that HBO has, but a different 145 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:18,760 Speaker 1: schedule made possible by this signal compression, which allows you 146 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:22,440 Speaker 1: to put multiple channels on a single transmission line. This 147 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: was a big deal because cable operators didn't want to 148 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: yield up channels multiple channels to one provider, all right, 149 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 1: They only had so much bandwidth to to to provide 150 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: and so therefore if you only, for example, have have 151 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: forty spots to put stuff in, uh, you know, having 152 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: giving one channel two spots is a big deal, right, 153 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 1: exactly when you could be increasing the variety that you're 154 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,439 Speaker 1: offering your potential customers, right, sure, and especially at the time, 155 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: I want to mention, everyone did not have like seven channels, right, 156 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: That's what signal compression made possible, because you could actually 157 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: put multiple channels across one transmission line by compressing the 158 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: signal of each one in multiplexing them. So with HBO, 159 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:06,560 Speaker 1: that meant that they could eventually start creating uh, targeted 160 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: hbos that would be marketed more towards a specific audience. 161 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: So you might have one that has more action movies, 162 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,880 Speaker 1: for example, and one with more comedy content or one 163 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 1: with more kid friendly stuff. I mean once again, like 164 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: this gave them the option of doing that without having 165 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: to put in as big an investment as something like 166 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: Festival or Take two was. Back in the other episodes 167 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: you heard us talk about those failed attempts at making 168 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: this kind of approach, but now the technology existed for 169 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:40,959 Speaker 1: them to do it. Also in HBO finally broke into Europe. 170 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: Not physically, not like you know, illegally, they actually made 171 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:48,599 Speaker 1: a foothold in Europe in Hungary. They had the Hungarian 172 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 1: cable system called Cable Calm. That's with Kay's for both 173 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: the cable and the calm, and that was partly backed 174 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:59,480 Speaker 1: by Time Warner. So this system again did not use 175 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 1: satellite system that was common in the United States. They 176 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:07,360 Speaker 1: didn't worry about getting a geostationary satellite in orbit above Hungary. 177 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: They instead made microwave transmission towers to get the signal 178 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 1: out to cable uper returning to that older technology, which 179 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: I mean was was less expensive. Overall, it was considered 180 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 1: too expensive to to put up a satellite for all 181 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: of Europe when you've got so many languages in such 182 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: a small area to work with, right, it was not 183 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:29,440 Speaker 1: a practical approach in the case of Europe. I mean, 184 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: if if everyone in Europe spoke the same language, then 185 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: it would be a different story. But with all the 186 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 1: different languages and cultures, it meant that HBO had very 187 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:41,079 Speaker 1: different products for each country that it started to get into. 188 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:44,319 Speaker 1: In fact, that's a story that happens over and over. 189 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: It's repeated over and over in HBO's history, where they 190 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:51,360 Speaker 1: would tailor make the experience for whatever market they were 191 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,880 Speaker 1: going into. But that meant the microwave transmission approach made 192 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:58,440 Speaker 1: way more sense than satellite. So they start over there, 193 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:02,200 Speaker 1: over in Europe, and then they start creeping into some 194 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,440 Speaker 1: other markets, about fifteen more European markets eventually. Meanwhile, that 195 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:08,959 Speaker 1: year they also launched in Central and South America. YEP. 196 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,520 Speaker 1: Much easier to do, as it turns out, because Central 197 00:11:12,559 --> 00:11:16,320 Speaker 1: and South America, with the exception of Brazil, share a 198 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,960 Speaker 1: common language for the most part, so they had Spanish 199 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:25,280 Speaker 1: speaking language channels that just broadcast by satellite over South 200 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: America and Central America. How the new channel was called 201 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:34,400 Speaker 1: HBO ol A. I'm surprised they didn't go with HBoL A. Honestly, 202 00:11:35,679 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: don't look at me. I'm not the one who named it. 203 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: I'm just saying I'm surprised they didn't. They didn't do 204 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: it that way. Um. Yeah, it was available in countries 205 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. I I 206 00:11:46,720 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 1: don't know how I feel about this HBO ol a thing. 207 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:52,920 Speaker 1: I guess probably other folks aren't upset by it. It 208 00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 1: just seems a little culturally insensible to me. But anyway, 209 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 1: HBO gets a coup with The Larry Sanders Show starring 210 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: Gary Schandling, and you might say, well, how is that 211 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 1: a coup? Well, Gary Schandling had really made a big 212 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:11,439 Speaker 1: success in the eighties and early nineties with another show 213 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:15,079 Speaker 1: called It's Gary Shandling Show, which was a send up 214 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: of sitcoms, and that aired on a different station, on Showtime, 215 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:22,880 Speaker 1: so direct competitor to HBO. Yeah, so Gary Schandling gets 216 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: gets uh notoriety through Showtime and the It's Gary Shandling Show, 217 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:30,880 Speaker 1: which by the way, I thought was hilarious, and then 218 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:34,960 Speaker 1: moves over to HBO for what you could argue was 219 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:37,960 Speaker 1: an even better show. The Larry Sanders Show was more 220 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:42,079 Speaker 1: of a send up of late night television talk shows 221 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:46,120 Speaker 1: like things like The Tonight Show or uh late night 222 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:49,520 Speaker 1: type shows, those kind of things, with the character of 223 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: Larry Sanders played by Gary Schandling as this very vain, 224 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: very petty host And it was supposed to show you 225 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:01,120 Speaker 1: kind of the backstage stuff that happens on these shows 226 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:05,760 Speaker 1: where on on camera everyone's really friendly and interested in 227 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,319 Speaker 1: each other, you know, the host has to be engaged 228 00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: with the guest, but then when the cameras go off, 229 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: they become nasty, petty, terrible people. Uh. And it was 230 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:17,439 Speaker 1: a pretty amusing show. This is also the year when 231 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: HBO launched another series called Real Sex, which was a 232 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 1: magazine format show about sexual matters and had a very frank, 233 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:29,040 Speaker 1: open minded approach. They it was a little bit documentary 234 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: and style and um, they covered some pretty like some 235 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:35,880 Speaker 1: things that could have easily been sensationalized or trivialized or 236 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:38,720 Speaker 1: or or portrayed in such a way as to say, 237 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,760 Speaker 1: aren't these people unusual? But but for the most part 238 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:44,600 Speaker 1: it was. It was pretty welcoming of the unusual, which 239 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 1: was which was really nice. Actually, I mean, and I'm 240 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:49,760 Speaker 1: not saying that it wasn't. I mean, you know, they 241 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:52,520 Speaker 1: were putting it on the air. I think largely because 242 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:56,480 Speaker 1: sex exactly some reason why they had so many so 243 00:13:56,559 --> 00:13:59,720 Speaker 1: much gratuitous nudity on dream on you know. But but 244 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:02,840 Speaker 1: at the same time, the uh Michael folks, you know, 245 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:07,480 Speaker 1: the CEO of of HBO said, look, this series is 246 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: what's giving us the money to fund all the documentaries 247 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 1: that you guys love, and we're trying to deal with 248 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,559 Speaker 1: this frank subject matter in a way that's respectful, which 249 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 1: could have easily gone a different way. So yeah, Also, uh, 250 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: the HBO expands yet again. See now they're entering into 251 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:28,680 Speaker 1: a new era of expansion where they're getting new customers. 252 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: They're not able to invent new customers in the United States. Uh, 253 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:34,400 Speaker 1: you know, people do that on their own, but they're 254 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: not able to create a new market. So what they 255 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:38,560 Speaker 1: did was they started to expand in other parts of 256 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:42,760 Speaker 1: the world. So in the launched HBO Asia, which initially 257 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 1: service the Philippines and Thailand, but eventually through multiplexing, the 258 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:51,480 Speaker 1: service would be available in uh several Asian languages and 259 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 1: spread to twenty three nations. I think Mandarin Chinese was 260 00:14:55,720 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: probably their biggest uh bet on that one. I would 261 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 1: imagine enormous population in China. Oh yes. Uh. Then in 262 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: HBO l A yeah, God, that's cringe. Where they know 263 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: they launched a second channel in Center in South America 264 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:17,240 Speaker 1: as well as a Portuguese language channel in Brazil, so 265 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 1: once again expanding in other markets, and Michael Folks gets 266 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: promoted to overseeing all of Warner Music, and Jeff Bukes, 267 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: who we mentioned in the previous episode, steps up as 268 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: the new head of HBO, and in we get the 269 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: premiere of one of I would say a predecessor to 270 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,800 Speaker 1: the really big breakout hits of HBO original program. It 271 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:44,400 Speaker 1: was the first hour long drama series produced for HBO, 272 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 1: and that was Oz Yes, which of course was the 273 00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:52,160 Speaker 1: drama series about a maximum security prison and the shenanigans 274 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:56,200 Speaker 1: they go on inside. Shenanigans is maybe a shanking, let's 275 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: let's have uh Yeah, And I never watched the series myself, 276 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 1: but but I've heard many colorful things about it. Yeah, 277 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: it was um, it was rough. It was a rough series. 278 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: But again, it was one of those things that HBO 279 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: did because one they knew there was going to be 280 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:12,640 Speaker 1: a market for it, and to no one else could 281 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: really do it. They didn't have the money for it, 282 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 1: and they couldn't do it on broadcast television, basic cable. 283 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: So uh, that ended up getting some notice, but it 284 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: wasn't a breakaway hit. Yet HBO produces a mini series 285 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 1: called From From the Earth to the Moon, which was 286 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: a big budget mini series. It was produced by Tom 287 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:35,360 Speaker 1: Hanks and Ron Howard. Tom Hanks did not star in it, 288 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:39,160 Speaker 1: he was just a producer behind the camera. Mostly starred 289 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:42,600 Speaker 1: actors who were not recognizable to most of the audience, 290 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:45,040 Speaker 1: and that was on purpose. It was to be able 291 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: to put the focus on the drama of the story 292 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: and to recreate the time of the story without distracting 293 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: by saying, Oh, it's such and such from so and so. 294 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:55,920 Speaker 1: Also to lower the costs a little bit, I imagine 295 00:16:56,040 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 1: probably also a factor. So this particular model would up 296 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:04,119 Speaker 1: serving as an example for future mini series that HBO 297 00:17:04,119 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: would produce, including things like Band of Brothers or John Adams. 298 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:10,359 Speaker 1: There was another one called Generation Kill, which probably is 299 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 1: not as well known as those two, but other ones 300 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: as well. So this was an approach to producing mini 301 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,359 Speaker 1: series which HBO had not really done. It tried a 302 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 1: couple in the early eighties, but in general had stayed 303 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,160 Speaker 1: away from mini series and had only been producing open 304 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,359 Speaker 1: ended series where run it season after season until you 305 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,360 Speaker 1: get tired and you stopped doing it. UH one one 306 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:34,679 Speaker 1: of those that that happened that began with Sex in 307 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:37,080 Speaker 1: the City at debut that year, and and as we 308 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 1: all know, became a pretty wildly successful spawned two films. 309 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: I mean, it was a big, big hit. Lots of 310 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:46,199 Speaker 1: people either loved it or hated it, or loved to 311 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:51,240 Speaker 1: hate it that love to hate it. I never ever 312 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: watched it. My knowledge of sex Sex in the City 313 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:59,919 Speaker 1: was based solely upon other people's conversations, and just like 314 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,720 Speaker 1: was aware of it culturally, but I never watched the show. 315 00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:05,399 Speaker 1: And uh, I got the feeling that I probably it's 316 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:09,119 Speaker 1: probably I'm not the right audience for that particular. I'm 317 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:12,200 Speaker 1: not sure either. I a fellow that I dated loved 318 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: it and and maybe watch the entire thing, so I 319 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:22,359 Speaker 1: hear past tense, delightful fellow, Okay, alright, fair, fair enough, 320 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: all right. Well, anyway, Sex in the City, uh, Sex 321 00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: and the City, I should say, ends up being one 322 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:32,439 Speaker 1: the first of the big three uh breakaway hits of 323 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 1: HBO originals. We've got a lot more to say about HBO, 324 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:38,639 Speaker 1: but before we can do that, let's take a quick break. 325 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:50,159 Speaker 1: All right. It's ninete, It's the year after Sex in 326 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:54,880 Speaker 1: the City debuts and gives HBO it's first real incredible 327 00:18:55,040 --> 00:19:00,640 Speaker 1: popular ship. Yebo ends up debuting another original series that 328 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: kind of sets the tone for what HBO original programming 329 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:07,000 Speaker 1: is all about, at least for several series that followed 330 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:12,120 Speaker 1: behind The Sopranos, obviously one of the most important series 331 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,119 Speaker 1: in HBO history, not only that, but in cable history, 332 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:19,879 Speaker 1: because The Sopranos was critically acclaimed. It was not just successful, 333 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:22,760 Speaker 1: the critics loved it, and it would win Emmy's in 334 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 1: two thousand four and two thousand seven. It was nominated 335 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,199 Speaker 1: for Emmy's every single year that it was eligible to 336 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: do so, because remember The Sopranos was one of those 337 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,160 Speaker 1: shows that would go on a hiatus for more than 338 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: a year, but it would garner more than it would 339 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:38,639 Speaker 1: garner a hundred and eleven nominations over the span of 340 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,400 Speaker 1: its life. So this was a cable show winning an Emmy. 341 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:44,119 Speaker 1: Now that's a big deal because for a while, cable 342 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: television was looked down on, like it was looked at 343 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:52,439 Speaker 1: something that was always pretending to be as good as 344 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 1: broadcast TV. And so the Emmys were for broadcast television. 345 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 1: That's where the quality programming was and and Furthermore, something 346 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 1: that might be h c D or or a little 347 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:04,480 Speaker 1: bit patronizing. Um, but yeah, but with with something is 348 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,800 Speaker 1: as hard hitting and dramatic and beautiful as the Sopranos. 349 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:10,600 Speaker 1: It was a hit. Yeah, So we started to see 350 00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 1: cable shows being taken seriously. They no longer needed to 351 00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,800 Speaker 1: have their own little UH Awards ceremony. The ACE Cable 352 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,919 Speaker 1: Awards were around back in the day where because they 353 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,560 Speaker 1: weren't really eligible for the Emmys, they were only eligible 354 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: for for ACE Cable nominations. The Sopranos definitely knocked that 355 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: door wide open by consistently being one of the most 356 00:20:32,359 --> 00:20:35,119 Speaker 1: nominated shows while it was on the air. So it 357 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,159 Speaker 1: really did change the entertainment industry. It's yet another reason 358 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:42,600 Speaker 1: why we talked so much about HBO, because again, I 359 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:47,000 Speaker 1: had this huge effect on how things happened following. You know, 360 00:20:47,119 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 1: the stuff that HBO would try, whether it was successful 361 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:51,919 Speaker 1: or not, it would end up impacting the rest of 362 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:55,080 Speaker 1: the industry and other industries as well. So then in 363 00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: two thousand we get the third of the Big Three. 364 00:20:57,359 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: We've already got Sex in the City, We've already got 365 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,159 Speaker 1: the Sopranos, So what comes next? Six under Yeah, this 366 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,400 Speaker 1: was a show about two brothers who inherit their father's 367 00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:11,719 Speaker 1: funeral service business after their father passes away. And it 368 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:14,359 Speaker 1: was a weird series. It's one of those series that's 369 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,240 Speaker 1: really difficult to describe to someone who's never seen it, 370 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:20,159 Speaker 1: because there were episodes where there's stuff that happened that 371 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,399 Speaker 1: was pretty funny, there was stuff that happened that was 372 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 1: really tragic. There was stuff that happened where you felt 373 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:27,840 Speaker 1: like there would be no scenery left unchewed. I mean 374 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,400 Speaker 1: it was you couldn't easily the whole range. Yeah, So 375 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 1: it was one of those that ended up again being 376 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:37,159 Speaker 1: wildly successful. So that's why you've got the Big three. 377 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,200 Speaker 1: And OZ was not part of the Big three because 378 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:43,880 Speaker 1: even though it was fairly popular and fairly well critically acclaimed, 379 00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:47,479 Speaker 1: it never reached that same level of popularity as the 380 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:49,120 Speaker 1: other the other three. I think it was a little 381 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:52,960 Speaker 1: bit less palatable to a very large market. Yeah. Yeah, 382 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,199 Speaker 1: there's another big show we'll be talking about briefly that 383 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: had a similar issue that it appealed to one particular 384 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,200 Speaker 1: market really really well and other markets not so well. 385 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 1: So two thousand two we have Jeff Bukes getting promoted 386 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:09,399 Speaker 1: to president and chief operating officer of Time Warner. So 387 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: now he has left HBO and joined the you know, 388 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:14,320 Speaker 1: the not left it, but he's now the head of 389 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:18,280 Speaker 1: the parent company. And so Chris Albrecht takes Bukes's place 390 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 1: as head of HBO, and all Breck would end up 391 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: struggling a bit. He was very big on taking chances, 392 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,919 Speaker 1: and he launched a lot of different programs on HBO, 393 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,280 Speaker 1: but he was really trying to aim to to continue 394 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: this momentum of the Big Three, to make another series 395 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:38,719 Speaker 1: that was just as impactful and compelling as those, and 396 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,360 Speaker 1: as it turns out, that's really hard to do. Sometimes 397 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,199 Speaker 1: you're just lucky, you know, you just strike on the 398 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 1: right formula that just happens to resonate with the audience. Uh. 399 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: And so even though they produced a lot of different shows, 400 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:54,399 Speaker 1: and many of them were really good ones, they didn't 401 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 1: really hit the popularity of the Big Three, and so 402 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,440 Speaker 1: HBO was kind of kind of floundering a little bit, 403 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: you know, trying lots of different stuff and occasionally launching 404 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,040 Speaker 1: something really ambitious and then pulling the plug when realizing 405 00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:10,200 Speaker 1: that okay, this is this isn't that it wasn't making 406 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 1: them as much money as they thought it would have been. 407 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:13,919 Speaker 1: In two thousand three, a show like that launched. It 408 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,800 Speaker 1: was called Carnival, which I personally love so much. It's 409 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:19,880 Speaker 1: really important. It's got the Kurgan in it, so I mean, 410 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,320 Speaker 1: you can't really go wrong. Oh yeah, yeah, the Kurgan 411 00:23:22,840 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 1: as as of course his philosophy. We should all remember 412 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:29,280 Speaker 1: it's better to burn out the feet away. Thank you, 413 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: thank you for that. Uh. And so it had excellent 414 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:36,320 Speaker 1: critical reception. It it got five Emmy's among fifteen nominations 415 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: over the two seasons that it was on the air, 416 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: which is pretty incredible. Um. But it was also costing 417 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:45,680 Speaker 1: the company two million dollars per episode, and um yeah, 418 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 1: it's the first in this whole range of series that 419 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:53,200 Speaker 1: HBO would start pursuing. Um. But also that year, Time 420 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,199 Speaker 1: Warners sold its stake in Comedy Central to Viacom for 421 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: one point to three billion dollars. So now Time War 422 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,240 Speaker 1: is out of the comedy biz as far as Comedy 423 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: Central is concerned. But is still, of course, HBO is 424 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:09,200 Speaker 1: still very much known for its comedy specials. And then 425 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 1: in two thousand and four we get an amazing comedy Deadwood, 426 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 1: a silly little show about cowboys. Deadwood was plenty funny. Um, yeah, 427 00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:20,480 Speaker 1: I guess if you found, uh, if you found if 428 00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:24,120 Speaker 1: you found the multiple uses of certain incredibly blue phrases 429 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: to be amusing, I did. Yeah. Well, no, I can't 430 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,040 Speaker 1: blame you. I've only ever seen two episodes and they 431 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,640 Speaker 1: weren't connected to each other, but they were both fascinating. 432 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:35,119 Speaker 1: So it's one of those things where I really wish 433 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:37,000 Speaker 1: I had been able to watch the whole series and 434 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:39,359 Speaker 1: just stick around, folks, because I'm about to get excited 435 00:24:39,359 --> 00:24:41,920 Speaker 1: towards the end of this podcast. But yeah, So it's 436 00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:46,199 Speaker 1: it's a Shakespearean Western. The language was very much inspired 437 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,159 Speaker 1: by Shakespeare. Now I'm a Shakespearean scholar so and I 438 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,520 Speaker 1: love Westerns, so both of these things appealed to me. 439 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: But it's absolutely filthy. Shakespearean Shakespeare's absolutely filthy. Just that's true. 440 00:24:57,640 --> 00:24:59,679 Speaker 1: That where the words don't mean the same thing anymore, 441 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:02,640 Speaker 1: that's air. So yeah. Then they also launched in two 442 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: thousand four Entourage, which was a show about making fun 443 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:08,400 Speaker 1: of the Hollywood lifestyle and trying to break into Hollywood, 444 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,360 Speaker 1: uh and and being a hanger on to someone who 445 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:15,160 Speaker 1: has met with some meager success Uh, it has fewer 446 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:18,639 Speaker 1: foul mouth cowboys in it. But Albert really struggled to 447 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: get another big hit like The Sopranos, and most of 448 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,479 Speaker 1: the shows that he produced were either critically acclaimed but 449 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: sparsely watched, or they were just outright panned. So a 450 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:29,800 Speaker 1: couple of the ones that didn't do well at all 451 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: were with titles like K Street and Unscripted, and that's 452 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:36,359 Speaker 1: two series that most people don't talk about anymore. Then 453 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:40,560 Speaker 1: there was also Louis c Kay's Lucky Louis sitcom, which 454 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:44,120 Speaker 1: didn't do very well either. Uh. Of course would pave 455 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,359 Speaker 1: the way for the actual series Louis, which is not 456 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 1: on HBO, But the this earlier attempt was not a success. Now, 457 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:56,840 Speaker 1: Deadwood lasted three seasons and then was very quietly killed 458 00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 1: off because HBO didn't want to make a big deal 459 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,679 Speaker 1: out of ending Deadwood. I mean, their their whole like 460 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,680 Speaker 1: corporate identity was that we produce shows that other people 461 00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:12,480 Speaker 1: cannot or will not do. We have that money, we 462 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:15,760 Speaker 1: have that flexibility, we have the customers who want it, 463 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:18,480 Speaker 1: so we're gonna do it well. And then they realized, oh, 464 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,840 Speaker 1: we might not actually have that much money. Yeah, Deadwood 465 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,399 Speaker 1: as it turns out another very expensive, changing the period 466 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 1: costume drama with really big actors and yeah, really big actors, 467 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,600 Speaker 1: really really expensive set pieces, and I mean it was 468 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,920 Speaker 1: a very ambitious show that cost a lot of money. Meanwhile, 469 00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,520 Speaker 1: they also had The Wire, which had an even smaller 470 00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 1: audience than Deadwood did, but the Wire was less expensive 471 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:46,639 Speaker 1: to produce and was also critically acclaimed. Yeah it was. 472 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:48,800 Speaker 1: It was still very much critically acclaimed. So if you've 473 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: got two series and you've got one that's really expensive 474 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,640 Speaker 1: and it's critically acclaimed, but only seems to be attracting 475 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:59,680 Speaker 1: mostly a male audience because men tend to like Westerns 476 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: and women tend not to. Those are just general trends, 477 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,800 Speaker 1: obviously not descriptive of everyone everywhere. So don't write me 478 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,680 Speaker 1: and tell me how you are a woman who loves 479 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:11,960 Speaker 1: Westerns and that I'm wrong. I actually wonder how the 480 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,560 Speaker 1: numbers on dead Wood chok out. Now I need to 481 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 1: research this well. At any rate, they weren't good enough 482 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,439 Speaker 1: for HBO, so they wanted to very quietly kind of 483 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,480 Speaker 1: back off. And they had originally said that they were 484 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: thinking about doing four seasons, they actually only did three. Um, 485 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:27,679 Speaker 1: they said that they were going to do two movies 486 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:30,000 Speaker 1: to follow up and tie up all the loose ends, 487 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 1: which never never have happened. They haven't surfaced, so pretty 488 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:39,679 Speaker 1: sure that that ship has sailed to mix some cowboy, 489 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: pirate and metaphors. But but The Wire they kept going 490 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:46,120 Speaker 1: because it was critically claimed and cheap. Yeah, so this 491 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,960 Speaker 1: way they got the benefit of having a critically acclaimed 492 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,200 Speaker 1: television show on their network, but it wasn't a huge 493 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: financial loss to the company. It was and to be fair, 494 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:59,639 Speaker 1: involved fewer contrasting plaids, which I know not everybody a 495 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:01,920 Speaker 1: prey dates to the level that I do. You obviously 496 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:04,800 Speaker 1: haven't watched The Wire season two. Contrasting Plaids was the 497 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:08,080 Speaker 1: subtitle of that season. I just made all that up. 498 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,919 Speaker 1: But yeah, so so that's you know, they wanted to 499 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,960 Speaker 1: have the benefit of having this kind of critically acclaimed 500 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:18,160 Speaker 1: programming on their channel, but obviously not have the albatross 501 00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:22,560 Speaker 1: of an incredibly expensive production around the corporate neck. Yeah, 502 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: which is why in two thousand five they started realm Okay, 503 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:28,600 Speaker 1: so clearly they did not. Maybe they learned from their 504 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: mistakes and that's how they were able to repeat them 505 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:33,360 Speaker 1: almost exactly well, I think that they learned to those 506 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:35,800 Speaker 1: I think that they made those mistakes after Rome had 507 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: already premiered, that they were still and that excited, let's 508 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 1: do everything we want to do phase with Rome. But 509 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,360 Speaker 1: it was also very expensive, hard to get viewers into it. 510 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,240 Speaker 1: They did, they canceled it after two seasons. Now, of course, 511 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,840 Speaker 1: originally they had talked about just being a mini series 512 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: where it would have only have been uh, something like 513 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: twelve episodes, but then they said that there would come 514 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:58,520 Speaker 1: back for a second season, and sometime in that second 515 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: season they're like, whoops, okay, let's just let this quietly 516 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:03,959 Speaker 1: die too. And there's only so many times you can 517 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,880 Speaker 1: watch someone fall out of a toga. I guess. Yeah. 518 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,760 Speaker 1: By the way, still in that era of hey, we 519 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:11,920 Speaker 1: can get away with it because we're on we're a 520 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:15,760 Speaker 1: paid television station, so let's create content. There's lots of 521 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 1: gratuitous violence and or nudity. Rome had plenty of both. 522 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:25,000 Speaker 1: All right, home stretch for this part of HBO's history. 523 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:27,600 Speaker 1: Before we can get to that, let's take another quake 524 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:38,160 Speaker 1: break two thousand seven. In November of two thousand seven, 525 00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:43,760 Speaker 1: a major event happened that affected all all television channels. Everywhere, 526 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: because at least in the United States, well, all television 527 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:50,080 Speaker 1: channels that were producing original content. Yeah, because that's when 528 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:53,480 Speaker 1: the Writer's Guild of America had a strike. Now, yeah, 529 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: animation was fine because they weren't in the Writer's Guild. 530 00:29:57,040 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: I knew a lot of animators who were grumbling a 531 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,880 Speaker 1: about this. But, uh, the Writer's Guild of America had 532 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: a strike, and so HBO had banked a lot of 533 00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 1: stuff that helped them kind of coast through the writer's 534 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,760 Speaker 1: strike without too much trouble. They had the mini series 535 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 1: John Adams that helped them get through it. They had 536 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:16,719 Speaker 1: another season of The Wire that helped him get through it. 537 00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:19,320 Speaker 1: But HBO did not get through two thousand and seven 538 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:23,120 Speaker 1: without some major trouble. For example, Chris Albrecht, the head 539 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: of HBO, was arrested following a physical altercation. It was 540 00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: actually he was arrested because he uh physically threatened his 541 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,960 Speaker 1: girlfriend at the time. Yeah, and that's not good. And 542 00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,400 Speaker 1: apparently it wasn't his first offense either. Yeah, and time 543 00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,880 Speaker 1: Warner called for his resignation. Actually, I read the letter 544 00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:45,320 Speaker 1: he wrote Albrecht wrote where he was very frank and 545 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,280 Speaker 1: admitted guilt and said I thought I had put these 546 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:50,720 Speaker 1: problems behind me. I was. I was an alcoholic. I 547 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,959 Speaker 1: went to alcoholics Anonymous two years ago. I thought, you know, 548 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,560 Speaker 1: I can handle drinking alcohol. And clearly I was wrong. 549 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:59,440 Speaker 1: So he was very much admitting his fault in it. 550 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: So at least there's that. I mean, it's still a terrible, 551 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,880 Speaker 1: terrible thing. But um, he didn't deny it, so I 552 00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 1: guess that's something. So Time Warner now is saying, all right, well, 553 00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:10,400 Speaker 1: what are we going to do with HBO? Who's gonna 554 00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:13,479 Speaker 1: lead it? There was not a specific person that they 555 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:17,120 Speaker 1: could point to and say, this is the person upon 556 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:20,960 Speaker 1: whose whose shoulders HBO should rest. So they ended up 557 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,920 Speaker 1: picking three people to kind of divide up the the 558 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: entire job of ruling this kingdom all of whom had 559 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: been working for HBO since the nine Yep, you had 560 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,960 Speaker 1: Bill Nelson who became the CEO of HBO, Eric Kessler 561 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,760 Speaker 1: became one of the co presidents, and the other was 562 00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: Richard Plepler. And yeah, they all had experience. Richard Plepler 563 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:44,760 Speaker 1: did not have any experience in programming going into it, 564 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 1: but would turn out to have some very keen ideas 565 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,760 Speaker 1: on where to go. Because remember this is still when 566 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,920 Speaker 1: HBO is trying to recapture the glory of the Big 567 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: Three and try and find another another original series that 568 00:31:57,360 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 1: they can they can really be proud of, and they 569 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:02,280 Speaker 1: can that can care area the company. So around the 570 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 1: same time, in two thousand seven, little upstart company called Netflix, 571 00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,120 Speaker 1: which had been in business for a few years, announced 572 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:10,960 Speaker 1: that it was going to create a streaming service, an 573 00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:13,840 Speaker 1: online streaming service. All right, they had already been offering 574 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:18,479 Speaker 1: DVDs via mail, but at this point they started offering streaming. Yep. So, uh, 575 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 1: this becomes another competitor to HBO because HBO now they 576 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 1: still have as part of their business this idea of uncensored, 577 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 1: uncut movies that you can watch but with Netflix streaming, 578 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,000 Speaker 1: and we can watched them whenever you want. Yeah, assuming 579 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 1: assuming that the title is in their library, which we 580 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,840 Speaker 1: all know is a huge assumption. And and and furthermore, 581 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:43,280 Speaker 1: they obviously at that time, we're not making their own 582 00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:47,040 Speaker 1: original content. Yeah. Yeah, Netflix was pretty much beholden to 583 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:52,000 Speaker 1: whatever uh studios were producing content at that time. But yeah, 584 00:32:52,080 --> 00:32:55,960 Speaker 1: this was another another competitor, and it was outside the 585 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: cable industry. Everyone got a little nervous at this point. 586 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: Including HBO. Oh sure. Speaking of that original content. However, 587 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 1: in two thousand eight, HBO debut True Blood, um, which 588 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:09,040 Speaker 1: was really its first, its first big hit since those 589 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,000 Speaker 1: Big three. Yeah yeah, this one was a huge hit. 590 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: It was extremely popular. You can debate upon whether or 591 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,680 Speaker 1: not it merits that. I know there are such debates. 592 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:20,920 Speaker 1: I've never watched the series, so I can't comment one 593 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:23,920 Speaker 1: way the other. It's terrible. I love it, yeah, okay, 594 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 1: I mean terrible things have their place in this world. Uh. 595 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,600 Speaker 1: Then other shows such as Boardwalk, Empire, The News Room, 596 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,400 Speaker 1: and Veep followed. So these were shows that didn't necessarily 597 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:36,600 Speaker 1: have the same following as the Big three, but again, 598 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:40,120 Speaker 1: we're critically acclaimed, seemed to be popular among the audiences 599 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,400 Speaker 1: that really love these shows. Um. And then you started 600 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 1: seeing a couple of major breakthrough hits that that followed 601 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: so three Yeah yeah, stuff like Girls and Game of Thrones. 602 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:57,720 Speaker 1: Do I can't do anymore because they'll they'll take us down. Yeah. No, 603 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 1: Game of Thrones, big big hit obviously or HBO. UM. 604 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 1: I don't have HBO. By the way, this is where 605 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:06,959 Speaker 1: I mentioned I don't own HBO, but I read all 606 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:10,160 Speaker 1: the books, so you can't spoil me, suckers. Yeah, you 607 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,040 Speaker 1: can tell me about stuff that happened in the show 608 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 1: but didn't happen the books. But here's the thing, I 609 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,239 Speaker 1: don't care because I read the books, so to me, 610 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,280 Speaker 1: that's the story. So bring it, is what I'm saying, 611 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 1: unless your name is George RR. Martin, in which case, 612 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:23,160 Speaker 1: do not bring it, sir. I will be happy to 613 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:25,399 Speaker 1: read it when you publish it, and take your time. 614 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:29,160 Speaker 1: Take your time, sir, as long as you need. Yeah, no, no, no, no. 615 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:32,000 Speaker 1: As as Neil Gaman once said, George R. Martin is 616 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:35,200 Speaker 1: not your bitch. Yeah. And then Paul and Storm sang 617 00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 1: a song, and then George RR. Martin came out and 618 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,880 Speaker 1: broke their their guitars. It's a great, great moment on YouTube. 619 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:43,000 Speaker 1: Look it up. For For the record, I've also read 620 00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,520 Speaker 1: the books. You cannot spoil me either. Yes, that's a 621 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:49,080 Speaker 1: challenge unless you're George R. Martin. Two. Yeah, I don't. 622 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:50,839 Speaker 1: I don't want him writing in and say guess which 623 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:53,960 Speaker 1: Stark dies next? Want it? I totally want him to 624 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 1: do that. Actually, oh, come on, it would be the best. Well, 625 00:34:56,520 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 1: then we can hold it over everyone else is George R. Martin. 626 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:02,440 Speaker 1: If you're listening, please right, it's spoiled me, spoil Lauren. 627 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:05,400 Speaker 1: We'd have to give them just your email address and 628 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: the one that I give out of the end it 629 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:09,200 Speaker 1: goes to both of us. Lauren, this is this is 630 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:12,360 Speaker 1: irresponsible of you. All right, Just send her a direct tweet, Okay. 631 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:16,120 Speaker 1: So in two thousand, HBO launches hbo Go, which is 632 00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:19,920 Speaker 1: its online streaming service for HBO subscribers, which allow HBO 633 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:23,520 Speaker 1: customers to watch content on demand for the first time, 634 00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:26,319 Speaker 1: only three years after Netflix had already been doing the 635 00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,080 Speaker 1: same thing. And of course it's limited to just people 636 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:32,960 Speaker 1: who will Theoretically, it's limited to just people who have 637 00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:36,360 Speaker 1: an HBO subscription. So if you do not subscribe to 638 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: cable and subscribe to HBO, you cannot access hbo Go legally. 639 00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:46,799 Speaker 1: I say legally because it is my understanding and again 640 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,560 Speaker 1: I do not do. This is my understanding that some 641 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:54,000 Speaker 1: people occasionally will lend out their logins to friends or 642 00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:56,239 Speaker 1: family who do not have HBO so that they can 643 00:35:56,280 --> 00:36:00,319 Speaker 1: watch things. In fact, that'll tie into something we're gonna 644 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:02,920 Speaker 1: talk about just a moment. Now we're we're finally up 645 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:05,239 Speaker 1: to current day. So here's the thing we don't have 646 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:08,120 Speaker 1: to take the way back machine back to present day 647 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:10,399 Speaker 1: because we are in present day now. So the way 648 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:13,120 Speaker 1: back machine. Yeah, now, granted we have been traveling through 649 00:36:13,160 --> 00:36:16,440 Speaker 1: time for three episodes and it's gotten a little warm 650 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,799 Speaker 1: in this room. Yeah, because that's the problem with being 651 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:21,960 Speaker 1: in this way back machine. It's like a quarter of 652 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 1: the size of our studio. So it's been a little, 653 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:26,680 Speaker 1: been a little Let's just go ahead and step out 654 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: right now. Okay, that's better. Yeah, that's way better. All right, 655 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,680 Speaker 1: So we're in present day now. First of all, Uh, 656 00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:38,360 Speaker 1: Game of Thrones, that that series we mentioned just a 657 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,839 Speaker 1: couple of points ago before we got off on our 658 00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:45,759 Speaker 1: George R. Martin please spoil us rand Uh. It's turned 659 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,120 Speaker 1: out to be the most pirated show in the world. 660 00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:55,280 Speaker 1: Almost more people illegally downloaded the Game of Thrones premiere 661 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,719 Speaker 1: for season four then the next closest rival, which was 662 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:04,880 Speaker 1: The Walking Dead, so almost more people's That shows that 663 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,960 Speaker 1: the show is incredibly popular, and in fact, in April tween, 664 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:12,520 Speaker 1: Game of Thrones broke the record for most pirated episode 665 00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:15,239 Speaker 1: within the first twenty four hours of going live, with 666 00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:19,719 Speaker 1: one point one seven million unique IP addresses torrenting the 667 00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:23,759 Speaker 1: premiere of season four, So that doesn't count all the 668 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:28,280 Speaker 1: people who used uh, someone else's HBO go profile. Okay, 669 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:29,799 Speaker 1: but but but I but I want to say here, 670 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:34,680 Speaker 1: it's drawing some seventeen million legit viewers per episode. Well 671 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,400 Speaker 1: legit or legit ish um, you know, you know, again, 672 00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:40,919 Speaker 1: not not counting people who are stealing that password. Um. 673 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:44,160 Speaker 1: But the thing is is that HBO officially does not 674 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:48,719 Speaker 1: care about that thing. CEO Richard Pepler has said, uh, 675 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 1: and I quote it's a terrific marketing vehicle for the 676 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:55,000 Speaker 1: next generation of viewers and also quote, we're in the 677 00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:59,319 Speaker 1: business of creating addicts. They've actually noticed that people have 678 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: subscribe to HBO after pirating stuff because they wanted to 679 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:05,960 Speaker 1: have access to this and I didn't want the problems 680 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:10,600 Speaker 1: of either using someone else's HBO Go pass, which might crash, 681 00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:12,680 Speaker 1: because that's happened a couple of times. That happened. On 682 00:38:12,719 --> 00:38:15,680 Speaker 1: the premiere of season four, too many people were trying 683 00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:18,200 Speaker 1: to access the HBO Go network and as a result, 684 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 1: it crashed under the demand, which caused a lot of 685 00:38:20,719 --> 00:38:24,200 Speaker 1: people to complain. I maintained that the people complaining we're 686 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:28,480 Speaker 1: borrowing someone else's HBO Go pass. I think that's probably 687 00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:31,080 Speaker 1: an accurate I haven't done any research on this. This 688 00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:33,360 Speaker 1: is based upon the people I saw on Twitter complaining. 689 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,719 Speaker 1: I'm like, you don't subscribe to HBO. You're using someone 690 00:38:36,719 --> 00:38:42,440 Speaker 1: else's pass, and you're complaining that doesn't work entitled much anyway, 691 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:47,000 Speaker 1: in the business of creating addicts, it's apparently it works 692 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:51,600 Speaker 1: really well. So, yeah, it seems like it's going pretty well. See, 693 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:53,360 Speaker 1: I guess I see some figures here you've got in 694 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:56,000 Speaker 1: this in this notes here, Lauren. Yeah, they're they're doing 695 00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:59,799 Speaker 1: pretty okay. They're they're operating at a profit margin of 696 00:38:59,840 --> 00:39:02,880 Speaker 1: the some one point three billion dollars they rake in 697 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:05,799 Speaker 1: every year. UM. They currently have some a hundred and 698 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:10,600 Speaker 1: thirty million subscribers worldwide, and and HBO that their subscription 699 00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:12,880 Speaker 1: base is growing faster than it has in the past 700 00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,960 Speaker 1: seventeen years. To be fair, Netflix is growing even faster 701 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:20,839 Speaker 1: still and has surpassed HBO in the number of subscribers 702 00:39:20,840 --> 00:39:25,760 Speaker 1: it did so back in Q three UM. But Netflix 703 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:28,200 Speaker 1: is operating costs are a whole lot higher, being that 704 00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:32,319 Speaker 1: it's still busy building its original content and investing in 705 00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:35,520 Speaker 1: all of those new markets. And HBO recently made a 706 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:39,600 Speaker 1: partnership with a direct competitor to Netflix that could really 707 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,839 Speaker 1: shake things up. We're talking about Amazon Prime. Yeah, yeah, 708 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:46,000 Speaker 1: they they announced a deal where Amazon is going to 709 00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:50,880 Speaker 1: get to stream a bunch of HBOS original content. Um, 710 00:39:50,920 --> 00:39:53,200 Speaker 1: not all of it. I think that Game Thrones in 711 00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:55,080 Speaker 1: Sex and the City were both left out of the deal. 712 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:59,000 Speaker 1: Game of Thrones specifically, not surprising anyone has left out 713 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:01,920 Speaker 1: of the deal. Yeah, but a lot of their older content, 714 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:05,239 Speaker 1: in particular things like The Sopranos and say Deadwood, will 715 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:08,520 Speaker 1: be allowed to stream on Amazon Prime. So that has 716 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:10,720 Speaker 1: me really excited because now I'll finally get to watch 717 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:13,919 Speaker 1: both those shows. I am not seen them so to me. 718 00:40:13,960 --> 00:40:16,960 Speaker 1: I mean, granted, I know a lot about what happens 719 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:19,640 Speaker 1: in them, it's just culturally you do share share, But 720 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:21,279 Speaker 1: but that's not that's not really the point. Now. The 721 00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:26,160 Speaker 1: performances and the execution, uh and literal senses in both 722 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:29,320 Speaker 1: in both those shows are what will be really interesting 723 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:31,200 Speaker 1: to me because I've always heard so much about them. 724 00:40:31,200 --> 00:40:34,240 Speaker 1: Now I hope that I'm able to go in with 725 00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:37,320 Speaker 1: with managed expectations and not just you know, super hyped, 726 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,919 Speaker 1: because obviously very few things live up to a super 727 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:43,360 Speaker 1: hyped expectations, but I'm looking forward to seeing them. But honestly, 728 00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:45,640 Speaker 1: Deadwood lived up to the hype for me, I'm I'm 729 00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:47,400 Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing it from the beginning because, like 730 00:40:47,400 --> 00:40:49,920 Speaker 1: I said, I only saw two episodes completely out of context, 731 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:53,040 Speaker 1: and that was that was troubling under each listeners, these 732 00:40:53,120 --> 00:40:57,160 Speaker 1: these shows are for mature audiences only or immature way 733 00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,719 Speaker 1: does that let let me out immature mature audiences? Yeah? 734 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:03,799 Speaker 1: So uh so, so, so don't go. Don't don't go 735 00:41:03,880 --> 00:41:10,360 Speaker 1: running out and watching this parents, that would be you know, 736 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:12,560 Speaker 1: don't don't be like Jonathan was watching Tales from the 737 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:16,040 Speaker 1: Crypt when he was a little kid. Clearly no damage 738 00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:20,920 Speaker 1: was done to either of us. We turned out completely normal. Um. 739 00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 1: But at any rate, now, this this entire Amazon deal, 740 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:26,279 Speaker 1: especially with Amazon expanding its empire to include that new 741 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:31,120 Speaker 1: fire TV gig, that that dollar Internet to TV device 742 00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:34,400 Speaker 1: streaming thing, um, could potentially mean a bit of a 743 00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:37,359 Speaker 1: crunch for Netflix. Yeah yeah, I mean this is this 744 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:41,160 Speaker 1: is the next era, right, So I'm sure Netflix's response 745 00:41:41,239 --> 00:41:44,400 Speaker 1: will be to go and invest even more in original programming, 746 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:47,600 Speaker 1: because again, you have to differentiate yourself. Um. They you know, 747 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:51,360 Speaker 1: they've had some very famous issues with keeping films in 748 00:41:51,400 --> 00:41:56,000 Speaker 1: their libraries and licensing licenses expiring. People get upset about that. 749 00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:58,719 Speaker 1: The funny thing is that's the way it's worked ever 750 00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:01,640 Speaker 1: since this whole pay TV model even started. I mean 751 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:05,000 Speaker 1: HBO had the same issues, which they would have a 752 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,680 Speaker 1: movie under license and then the license expires and they 753 00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:09,680 Speaker 1: don't have access to that film anymore. That's why you're 754 00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:11,719 Speaker 1: not going to see Star Wars all the time. It's 755 00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:14,440 Speaker 1: only whenever the license comes up and they're allowed to 756 00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:18,400 Speaker 1: show them. Also, as we said in our streaming content episodes, 757 00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:23,080 Speaker 1: Netflix's game plan right now is too and and I 758 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 1: think this was the quote, become HBO before HBO can 759 00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:30,160 Speaker 1: become us. Ye, So so the race is on. Both 760 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:32,600 Speaker 1: both of them are are racing out the gates, and uh, 761 00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:35,120 Speaker 1: we don't know. Maybe they'll maybe they'll be a photo finish, 762 00:42:35,400 --> 00:42:39,960 Speaker 1: Maybe we'll have two amazing content providers that we all enjoy, 763 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:42,080 Speaker 1: Maybe one will come out on top. We'll have to 764 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:44,640 Speaker 1: wait and see. But yeah, it's been great getting a 765 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:46,960 Speaker 1: chance to talk about HBO. And we know that we 766 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:49,680 Speaker 1: really went super in depth with this one, and that's 767 00:42:49,719 --> 00:42:52,440 Speaker 1: not normally what we do with our episodes, but in 768 00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:55,160 Speaker 1: this case, because it had such an impact on the 769 00:42:55,200 --> 00:42:58,319 Speaker 1: way cable television works today and the reason we even 770 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:01,160 Speaker 1: have cable in our our cities. We felt that it 771 00:43:01,239 --> 00:43:04,960 Speaker 1: merited this kind of discussion and that wraps up the 772 00:43:05,080 --> 00:43:10,800 Speaker 1: HBO story as a May fourteen. Like I've said multiple times, 773 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:13,680 Speaker 1: I'll probably have to go back do an update talk 774 00:43:13,719 --> 00:43:16,919 Speaker 1: about what's happened since then. Um, but yeah, if there 775 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:19,440 Speaker 1: are any topics that you would like me to cover 776 00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:23,480 Speaker 1: in the future, whether it's a company, trend in tech, 777 00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:26,359 Speaker 1: a specific technology and how it works, or you know, 778 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:30,040 Speaker 1: anything along those lines that is related to technology, let 779 00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:32,399 Speaker 1: me know you can do that. As I said over 780 00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:35,560 Speaker 1: on Twitter, the handle we uses tech stuff h s 781 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:44,319 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech 782 00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:47,839 Speaker 1: Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts 783 00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:50,640 Speaker 1: from my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, 784 00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:53,920 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.