12/27/2023 0 Comments Hbo tinderbox![]() The company left boxing behind in 2018, and the difficult men of early breakthroughs like Oz and The Sopranos have given way to a more diverse slate spanning Insecure, I May Destroy You, and Big Little Lies. HBO has evolved its approach over the years. You can draw a straight line from that decision to the violence and nudity that became HBO’s hallmarks, for better and for worse. Even the “male skew” of HBO’s audience touted in the infamous slideshow is the result of a deliberate choice to zig where others zagged: While networks traditionally programmed with women in mind, former CEO Michael Fuchs made a conscious effort to cater to the male demographic. A paywalled service couldn’t offer the same exposure as the free channels, so HBO offered creative freedom instead-a trade-off many TV veterans deemed worthwhile. ![]() A fledgling cable network couldn’t outbid the broadcast networks, so HBO specialized in cheap or undervalued formats like concerts, comedy specials, and boxing matches. For half a century, HBO has honed its initial disadvantage into an edge of its own. On the whole, however, these stumbles pale in comparison to HBO’s accomplishments. There’s a lot of TV out there. We want to help: Every week, we’ll tell you the best and most urgent shows to stream so you can stay on top of the ever-expanding heap of Peak TV. Some of the crunch was inevitable, but also exacerbated by sluggish development and a reluctance to innovate at the potential expense of cable profits, both of which dogged the network throughout the aughts and 2010s. Even after the historic success of marquee series like The Sopranos and Sex and the City, HBO faced stiff competition from other cable channels and, increasingly, streaming services. One of its most influential executives departed in scandal 15 years ago after assaulting his then-girlfriend in public, underlining HBO’s reputation as a boys’ club hostile to women on and off the screen. The network struggled to navigate the localized labyrinth of early cable networks in the 1970s before satellite technology gave it a path to national distribution. Not that HBO has been immune from its own challenges. “Despite the fact that there was often chaos and stupidity going on at the parent company, HBO was able to still chart their own course.” “HBO was kind of like the kids who had a series of parents constantly yelling and screaming and divorcing each other, and somehow they stayed safe in the house,” says James Andrew Miller, the author of the comprehensive oral history Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers, which was published last fall. As the network celebrates a half century of broadcasting this week, it can attribute its longevity to a steady stream of reliably premium programming-regardless of the surrounding noise. The roller coaster ride of HBO’s parent company stands in contrast to the commendable consistency of HBO itself. ![]() But for all the anxiety that change creates, especially around the potential impact to a beloved brand like HBO, it can be calming to remember that the brand has survived seismic shifts before. The entertainment business is prone to upheaval, and as the industry consolidates amid a pivot to streaming, it’s in an especially intense period of change. The Oral History of the First Season of ‘Hard Knocks’ And in 2000, Time Warner was one half of what The New York Times has called “one of the most ill-fated marriages in the history of the media and technology business” when it sold itself to online upstart AOL. In 2014, media mogul Rupert Murdoch attempted a takeover of Time Warner for $80 billion, a failed coup straight out of HBO’s own Succession. In 2018, AT&T acquired HBO’s parent company, Time Warner, an awkward match that came with culture shocks of its own. is significant and ongoing, but HBO has been here before. The fallout from the merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery Inc. Before the presentation, the rumor mill buzzed with panic over potential cuts, fueled by drastic moves like pulling the movie Batgirl weeks later, subscribers were aghast to realize that dozens of titles had been pulled from Max without warning, including HBO series like Vinyl and Mrs. Addressing investors, the PowerPoint made the case for combining Discovery+ with HBO Max, a much bigger and buzzier streaming service, in large part due to the namesake cable channel that supplies some of its most popular shows. Discovery unveiled a slideshow outlining their plans for the newly merged company. ![]() This past summer, executives at Warner Bros. To celebrate the network’s 50th birthday, The Ringer hereby dubs today “ HBO Day. On November 8, 1972, the Home Box Office was born, and television was changed forever.
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