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