HBO Max (all purpose thread)

[Chaels Arms]

The finale for Tokyo Vice was very up and down.

There was some asinine decision making that was completely out of character and only served the purpose of hastily advancing some plot threads.

Spoiler

Samantha handing over all her money to the metrosexual dude to help free Polly made absolutely no sense and the way she didn't immediately realize what was happening when other similarly metrosexual dudes rolled up in the blue van as opposed to some scary tatted-up Yakuza guys was in line with horror movie bad decision making tropes.

Adelstein running around in a meth induced haze most of the episode was awkward.

Katagiri, a detective notorious for maintaining honor, balance and playing it slow and steady, enlists known dirty cop Miyamoto to infiltrate Tozawa? To what end? Sorry, not buying it one bit.

Yet, despite these awful moments the show also had some incredible ones.

Everything with Sato in this episode was excellent. It almost seemed like the writers just turned off their brains for every character other than Sato.

Adelstein's phone call to his dad was scripted and acted very well.

 

[les Habs]

3 episodes into Tokyo Vice and I really like it.

 

[John Price]

We own this city is pretty good.

 

[Martinez]

We own this city is pretty good.

It’s solid, I think it could use a little more drama or twists or something. Everything just kinda adds up right now and I’m waiting for something big to happen. Jon Bernthal is absolutely killing it though, he’s turning into a phenomenal actor.

 

[Randy Butternubs]

The finale for Tokyo Vice was very up and down.

There was some asinine decision making that was completely out of character and only served the purpose of hastily advancing some plot threads.

Spoiler

Samantha handing over all her money to the metrosexual dude to help free Polly made absolutely no sense and the way she didn't immediately realize what was happening when other similarly metrosexual dudes rolled up in the blue van as opposed to some scary tatted-up Yakuza guys was in line with horror movie bad decision making tropes.

Adelstein running around in a meth induced haze most of the episode was awkward.

Katagiri, a detective notorious for maintaining honor, balance and playing it slow and steady, enlists known dirty cop Miyamoto to infiltrate Tozawa? To what end? Sorry, not buying it one bit.

Yet, despite these awful moments the show also had some incredible ones.

Everything with Sato in this episode was excellent. It almost seemed like the writers just turned off their brains for every character other than Sato.

Adelstein's phone call to his dad was scripted and acted very well.

I quoted you while I still had one episode left. Really trying to not read any finale spoilers since the quote in the response is all text.

The Sato actor (Sho Kasamatsu) was just great. Loved the vibe of the whole show. I mentioned earlier in a different board that this is Cowboy Bebop without the sci-fi.

Right now I'm halfway done with the penultimate episode and the series is an 8.5 out of 10.

And now I break to watch the last episode.

This series makes me want to smoke.

Tozawa's face scars or whatever look bad.

Last episode:

Spoiler

left off on more cliffhangers than I expected. Totally thought this was gonna be a one season series.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

It’s solid, I think it could use a little more drama or twists or something. Everything just kinda adds up right now and I’m waiting for something big to happen. Jon Bernthal is absolutely killing it though, he’s turning into a phenomenal actor.

Agreed. I'm enjoying it so far but there needs to be a bit more. It's a short series so they have to step things up sooner than later. And yup, Jon is crushing it in his role.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

HBOmax (I like it written in camel case) should be the main outlet for TV expansions of the Pokemon Cinematic Universe (the one that started with Detective Pikachu), if they get around to it.

 

[kook10]

Agreed. I'm enjoying it so far but there needs to be a bit more. It's a short series so they have to step things up sooner than later. And yup, Jon is crushing it in his role.

I think I might have preferred fewer actors from The Wire. It is a little distracting and feels a little miscast. Jamie Hector in particular strikes me as a bit awkward in that role.

 

[MVP of West Hollywd]

Hacks is one of the best comedies on TV right now

 

[John Price]

Hacks is one of the best comedies on TV right now

I'll check it out.

Barry is pretty good too on HBO Max.

 

[John Price]

michael che has his own show on hbo max now, pretty decent so far

 

[John Price]

HBO Max Is Doing Well — So Of Course Changes Are Coming

Elimination of the unscripted division, fewer straight-to-Max movies, and even a new name are among the rumors looming over the service.

www.vulture.com

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Lots of speculation what this means with several possibilities

1) Zaslav plans to sell off various HBO series/properties to other streaming services
2) Zaslav plans to move shows such as this to planned FAST channels available thru things like Roku, etc or service as means to create additional revenue
3) Zaslav plans to remove series such as this from existence to prevent costs related to residuals, etc

Things look pretty bad with plans for merger with latest rumors of stupid name change, plan to hike price of service, flooding of Max with crap from Discovery and possibility those who get HBOMax via HBO subscription will lose access to Max



It really feels like in end Zaslav is on mission to destroy HBO and its brand at this point (Which to me is far strongest brand among merger and with growth of HBOMax in last two years seems dumb)

I personally think he is more likely to lose subscribers thru these changes then expand the subscriber base which he claims is a goal for planned merged streaming service

 

[Jovavic]

Season 2 of The White Lotus finished yesterday, every one should watch it, along with the first season

 

[Jussi]

Lots of speculation what this means with several possibilities

1) Zaslav plans to sell off various HBO series/properties to other streaming services
2) Zaslav plans to move shows such as this to planned FAST channels available thru things like Roku, etc or service as means to create additional revenue
3) Zaslav plans to remove series such as this from existence to prevent costs related to residuals, etc

Things look pretty bad with plans for merger with latest rumors of stupid name change, plan to hike price of service, flooding of Max with crap from Discovery and possibility those who get HBOMax via HBO subscription will lose access to Max



It really feels like in end Zaslav is on mission to destroy HBO and its brand at this point (Which to me is far strongest brand among merger and with growth of HBOMax in last two years seems dumb)

I personally think he is more likely to lose subscribers thru these changes then expand the subscriber base which he claims is a goal for planned merged streaming service

I hope The Nevers ends up on Disney+, Victorian X-Men is a the perfect fit.

 

[Hivemind]

The Nevers is garbage so I don't care what happens to it.

But as much as I hate Westworld after season 1, removing it from HBO Max is ridiculous. Actual HBO shows should remain on the HBO platform, and its hard to see this as any but Discovery trying to tank HBO's app. Guess I should rewatch season 1 while I still can.

 

[Jumptheshark]

more cuts in production today. Right down strange they cancel a series that had only one more episode to be filmed

Reportedly part of the problem the HBOmax is facing is the fact they can not launch here in Europe in many countries till 2025/2026 when current contracts end for all the best HBO shows

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

This reinforces why I still buy DVD's/Blu-Ray's of shows when possible (Of course many shows today are not getting released on DVD/Blu-Ray)

Never know when shit like this will happen

It's very possible many of these shows go the way of The Hitchhiker and others from 80's/90's that it appears will never be streamed or given a proper release of series on home media

Hell, rights disputes and residual stuff is reason a popular show in Tales from the Crypt (Ran for 7 years and was one if HBO's biggest shows in 90's) has never been available on a streaming service

 

[Osprey]

Hell, rights disputes and residual stuff is reason a popular show in Tales from the Crypt (Ran for 7 years and was one if HBO's biggest shows in 90's) has never been available on a streaming service

I was surprised when I looked for it a few months ago and found that it was available only on DVD. Same with Dream On, another hit of theirs in the 90s. There are other 90s programs of theirs that I have fond memories of, as well. It feels as if HBO doesn't care about anything that they made prior to The Sopranos. In contrast, Disney does care about their back catalog, remastering even relatively forgotten stuff like the Ewok TV movies in 1080p and putting it up on Disney+. This recent news makes it sound like HBO is a penny pincher, though, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised that they aren't wiling to spend to restore their older content.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

This reinforces why I still buy DVD's/Blu-Ray's of shows when possible (Of course many shows today are not getting released on DVD/Blu-Ray)

Never know when shit like this will happen

It's very possible many of these shows go the way of The Hitchhiker and others from 80's/90's that it appears will never be streamed or given a proper release of series on home media

Hell, rights disputes and residual stuff is reason a popular show in Tales from the Crypt (Ran for 7 years and was one if HBO's biggest shows in 90's) has never been available on a streaming service

In 10 years DVDs will be as useless as VHS are now. Haven't bought a DVD in probably 6 years.

And a quick google search shows Tales of the Crypt is available to stream on Pluto, Tubi, and Vudu.

 

[Hivemind]

In 10 years DVDs will be as useless as VHS are now.

So still perfectly useful and a totally valid item for people who enjoy collecting and don't want to be bound to various subscription services to view their media?

 

[The Crypto Guy]

So still perfectly useful and a totally valid item for people who enjoy collecting and don't want to be bound to various subscription services to view their media?

Sure. But not in 10 years. More and more companies are bailing on making DVDs since it doesn’t make them money.

You can easily buy movies/shows on Amazon without needing subscription services.

 

[Hivemind]

Sure. But not in 10 years. More and more companies are bailing on making DVDs since it doesn’t make them money.

You can easily buy movies/shows on Amazon without needing subscription services.

Companies stopped making VHS tapes for years, yet sales of VHS tapes rose 83% on eBay in 2022. Physical collectors will always be a thing. Plus there's tons of vintage media that doesn't and won't ever appear on streaming services.

Amazon downloads are still riddled with DRM, and require use of Amazon apps to watch. Hard pass.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

And a quick google search shows Tales of the Crypt is available to stream on Pluto, Tubi, and Vudu.

Tales from the Crypt is not available on any of those services

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Companies stopped making VHS tapes for years, yet sales of VHS tapes rose 83% on eBay in 2022. Physical collectors will always be a thing. Plus there's tons of vintage media that doesn't and won't ever appear on streaming services.

Amazon downloads are still riddled with DRM, and require use of Amazon apps to watch. Hard pass.

Well it says they are:

Tales from the Crypt

Find out how to watch Tales from the Crypt. Stream the latest seasons and episodes, watch trailers, and more for Tales from the Crypt at TV Guide

www.tvguide.com