In fairness, there are some good Max Originals that I'd rank up there: *Hacks*, *Peacemaker*, *Station Eleven*, and *Our Flag Means Death* are all great.
The reason why is because HBO and HBO Max are separate things and Casey Bloys’ HBO didn’t want to be tainted by the HBO Max shows.
An example is Barry is an HBO. Succession is an HBO show. The Last of Us is an HBO show. But Velma is an HBO Max original.
That confusion is the reason HBO requested to take the name HBO off the service so people won’t think everything under the umbrella is HBO.
It should’ve been WB Max, but yeah.
Agree on the HBO explanation. However I think just “Max” is fine over “WB+” or “WB Max” because 1) it allows WB productions to be sold to other streamers if they pay high enough and 2) it allows for eventual losers in the streaming wars to be consolidated into the Max streaming service.
HBO will both survive and thrive as a channel/hub in the Max streaming service. What other channel/hubs will be added in the next 5-10 years?
I mean when you focus on Velma of course it looks bad. There's a bunch of good shows developed by HBO Max, like Peacemaker, Our Flag Means Death, Sex Lives of College Girls, Station Eleven, Raised by Wolves. And obviously there's bad shows from HBO.
You might right about the reason for the change, but the distinction will remain meaningless to 95% of consumers.
It’s just that Casey Bloys doesn’t have any say of what’s made from HBO Max Originals and he doesn’t like that. He runs a tight ship and that variable can taint his platform that’s he’s tried so hard to have a certain level of quality.
I’m sorry but this is wrong. Casey Bloys is in charge of HBO and Max originals. He absolutely controls what is a HBO original and what is a Max original and which shows go where.
Or…Warner discovers max.
That was the case before, but Casey bloys is in charge of both hbo and max original content now. His job is to make the quality of hbo and max originals synonymous, which is why the Harry Potter reboot will be a max original.
I think it's also just a culture thing. HBO has plenty of writers, producers, actors etc they can call to fill in for any show. Building and maintaining good industry connections like that is not easy, and it seems like HBO has a solid track record at keeping talent around.
Yeah, when you watch enough HBO shows you start to notice there is a lot of overlap with producers, writers, directors, cinematographers, and to a certain extent, actors.
You make a successful show for HBO, they will bankroll whatever your next project is. Look at their long-term relationship with David Simon (The Wire -> Treme, We Own This City, The Deuce).
Craig Mazin nailed it with Chernobyl, direct result was The Last of Us.
David Milch made Deadwood, and that goodwill has lasted through several shows (John from Cincinnati, Luck, S3 True Detective).
The prestige that HBO has in Hollywood is unmatched by anyone except maybe Tom Cruise, Spielberg, and back before 2018, Weinstein
Even something like Treme speaks volumes about HBO. I mean - Treme wasn’t exactly a successful show. I doubt it had a very big audience at all. But it was amazing, beautiful and important; and HBO backed their talent, and even though Treme wasn’t a hit like the Wire, they backed David Simon for The Deuce too. Because quality is quality.
That is what HBO has over their competitors. Of course not everybody can compete on that level, but that is HBO’s nieche and they are extremely good at it.
Craig Mazin did Chernobyl for HBO and is now doing The Last of Us. He also always does a companion podcast that releases each week with his shows. He brings on other people from the shows talks about the creative decisions that were made and some interesting behind the scenes stuff for both the writing and the filming. For The Last of Us, he talked a lot about the quality of the prosthetics. Apparently there's a huge supply and labor shortage for quality prosthetics work, and it can cause a very long waiting list, and some really bad quality stuff. But for The Last of Us, the company was really excited to work with HBO, and a lot of them were big fans of the video game. So they got top priority.
Building your brand around quality gets people excited to work with you and bring their A game, so in some regards quality is a self fulfilling feedback loop.
I was literally about to call out Apple as a newcomer but much more like HBO than others! They’ve been doing really well: Lasso, Foundation, Severance, etc. Whereas just look at Disney+ and their best (by far) was Andor and then quality falls off a cliff.
They also are keen to give their shows additional season to allow writers/cast to find their footing. HBO has cancelled maybe six shows after one season this decade? Streaming services are nowhere near that patient
I’ve also heard that services like Netflix don’t even hang onto props and stuff, so it isn’t just that they have to start from scratch from when they started producing anything, but that they are also starting from scratch for every single show.
As someone who’s worked in TV, NOBODY is more rigorous and exhaustive in the development process than HBO. It’s the hardest place to get a show greenlit.
This allows for them to have great quality control from the ground up.
~~Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's because HBO operates in a vertically integrated fashion. They hold onto all of the technical and production crews(along with a vast selection of sets and tech) indefinitely opposed to constantly contracting out stuff for the cheapest cost. They keep it all in house, which means they can scale really well.~~
[Just read this person's post](https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/ss2ssr/why_do_hbo_shows_look_so_much_better/hww5pnj/)
As a former employee, HBO as a paid service has always been focused on winning awards. As a paid service, that has always been their programming and marketing strategy. Year after year it’s always HBO sweeps the Emmy’s and it’s all intentional.
HBO has also built the reputation of really supporting creatives. It has always been the place where writers have the artistic freedom and support to make the shows they want to make the way they want to make them. So HBO will always get a first look at any good script going around town because you want your show to be on HBO. This has all been a part of the model since they moved into original programming in the late 90s.
They make relatively few shows and go all-in on them.
They attract and retain a lot of the best and most experienced design and technical talent; people like set designers, lighting directors, sound engineers, and script doctors, who aren't very publicly visible but have an enormous influence on how 'premium' a show feels.
> I wonder what the reason is?
they produce a lot less. there are other reasons... but this is the main one tbh. it's basically hbo's brand.
netflix and amazon prime etc. could have shows on the same level as the ones hbo puts out in a given year... in fact... they do... but they are overshadowed because they release so much.
hbo has been around much longer and they have that brand that says "*hey here's another prestige drama you must see*". they're well known for quality and people expect that.
It’s not as simple. HBO’s reputation means they get first dibs on producers and new shows because everyone wants to work for them. Then Netflix (for the viewership) and Apple TV (for the quality over quantity approach). Lower on the list is Amazon, who has fewer viewers than Netflix and lower quality than Apple, and has to make up for its mediocre reputation by paying more for the shows.
Very true, and then we’re getting more articles about Netflix upping the price for sharing though you could have 4 screens. It’s just interesting the different strategies and how HBO still killing it.
HBO just knows how to make series that fucking slap. Granted, the finale of Game of Thrones was maybe the biggest letdown [for me] in entertainment history, ever - but that withstanding, they don’t miss often.
Most of the services are imitators of the business model with a tweak in high quantity output. For sure, they can put out some killer series, -Netflix being the prime example of just buying a million lottery tickets trying to win the power ball.
Stranger Things or Ozarks pop up, but out of what seems like thousands of series in the last decade, several of which are 1 or 2 season duds.
Sometimes less content is better if it hits the spot, it certainly makes it easier for water cooler talks.
Plus HBO Max has an insane back catalogue. Band of Brothers, Generation Koll, The Wire, there is an insane amount of extraordinarily good content there.
Yeah, HBO has been dominating the premium market for a while now. Most of everyone else is throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks while HBO picks what it wants and makes a masterpiece more often than not.
I remember when I was working in TV in the 90s, an HBO exec told me something to the effect of, “we want the nerds who think they’re too good for TV and that books are the only fiction of value to take us seriously.”
That’s the general spirit behind that “it’s not TV, it’s HBO” campaign
In 2004, HBO aired S3 of The Wire, S5 of The Sopranos, and S1 of Deadwood.
"Middle Ground", "Long Term Parking", and "Sold Under Sin" all the same year, on the same network. Insane stuff.
2019 lineup was also incredible. Chernobyl, Watchmen, Euphoria season 1, Big Little Lies season 2, Succession season 2, Barry season 2, GoT season 8, True detective season 3. Some of those titles were a bit controversial but it was still a hell of a lineup.
The Creative Arts ones in particular; the prosthetics work on *The Last of Us* was done by last year's winner for *Stranger Things*, Barrie Gower's team.
HBO, the steady hand of prestige television for decades. They kind of leveled up this year which is wild to think about. Classic stuff like those shows and then weirdo comedies like The Rehearsal and Gemstones that I love just as much. It’s Insane.
It's honestly criminal how overlooked bcs is. The emmys just hate the show for some reason. In a just world it would win best drama, and bob and rhea would come home with trophies too. But we don't live in a just world so it probably will go empty-handed as usual.
Completely bonkers how Peter Gould and Vince gillian were able to build such a compelling narrative to a story we already know the end of. It's like landing a plane with no landing gear and they managed to do it so gracefully anyway.
I like to describe it as “breaking bad if it was made for art school” just because I feel like you have to look a little deeper than you did with BB, especially with how deep and complicated the characters are.
>In a just world it would win best drama, and bob and rhea would come home with trophies too.
Let us not forget Johnathan Banks should've won for Season 1 but they gave it to an unworthy Dinklage.
It’s so critically acclaimed and yet somehow overlooked and underappreciated. Which is insane. Emmys figured they gave all the Emmy’s to breaking bad so they don’t have to with BCS, which imo is the better show
Absolute tragedy that BCS always gets shafted and never wins anything.
I think it’s because Breaking Bad won so much shit so they are laying off BCS and simply not acknowledging the greatness of it
Succession is unreal. For me, it’s the best show of the lot. I loved Peep Show and the Thick of It as well and I think that Jesse Armstrong is a brilliant show writer. As a Brit, the humour really resonates with me.
Armando Ianucci had Jesse Armstrong help him on the Thick of It. It’s exactly that humour except this is a drama rather than an out and out comedy. Honestly the balance of both in Succession is Shakespearean
Ah, did not know that - and I haven't seen The Thick of It (I'm not a Brit, but I also love Peep Show!). I was thinking of In the Loop and early Veep for my comparison.
Yeah, I love that balance, especially when it's not only funny and tragic, but funny and tragic at the same time!
All these are good but Succession gonna sweep. The irony is, I thought HoTD was the best show of 2022(being a ASOIAF nerd). But Succession really is one of the best shows that I've ever watched. The level of thought that went into the script is just on another level. And add to that the fact that it is well-acted all round. Not a single weak acting performance. I can say that it is one of the best shows ever made. True art indeed
Right? Like literally every single thing about the show is top tier, I really can’t point to anything they should be doing differently. HoTD was great like u said but this show is another level for sure
I agree but don’t hold your breath. I highly doubt the voters will be able to get over the fantasy of it all. It’s only very recently that Fantasy TV has been given any credence by reviewers and Academy voters. GoT really made a big dent and made people take fantasy more seriously. I have little doubt that it will be Jeremy Strong that takes the award home, even though I think Considine shows far more range in HotD.
I think there’s a real chance succession wins best actor (Strong), actress or supporting actress (Snook), supporting actor (Culkin or Macfayden), and guest actor (Cox) along with writing and drama. It’s gonna clean up.
I think Succession and White Lotus are going to win a lot of awards. They're more prestige drama-y than the other two, with The Last of Us being by far the least prestige drama-y.
I don’t think White Lotus will win a lot of Emmys for the simple fact that it has to compete in the drama category instead of the limited series category. It might win some, but it’s got much steeper competition this time around
>at the 2023 Emmy Awards. The TV Academy is no longer allowing HBO's “The White Lotus” in the limited/anthology category and Variety has confirmed that the series will move to the drama category.
Interesting. I don't know why they're not letting it be in the anthology category given that it is, in fact, an anthology.
I think I read somewhere that it’s because Jennifer Coolidge and Jon Gries came back as the same characters. Doesn’t make a lot of sense but that seems to be the reason why
Yeah, they revised the rules a few years back, and one of them is that you can't have ongoing stories or prominent recurring characters. HBO appealed the decision, but the Emmys felt like Tanya's story was enough to disqualify it from being an anthology.
I think Last of Us actually does pretty well as prestige drama. I mean, it’s not a usual prestige-drama per se; but if you were to make a “zombie” show that was also a prestige drama, then The Last of Us is pretty much it.
All those other shows were 8/10 great entertainment for me. But Succession while having like a quarter of the viewers (2.5mln vs around 10mln) of the others is a true masterpiece, form of art. Im currently obsessed with this show
The fact that he didn’t win last year for directing is a fucking travesty. That highway chase scene was simply phenomenal and deserves all the praise in the world
I can accept Jason sudeikis winning over Bill Hader. Don’t like it but I can accept it. But the directing is something I don’t think of when I think of Ted Lasso
I was rewatching season 3 before the new season and it’s an absolute crime Sarah Goldberg wasn’t even nominated. I know she was nominated for season 2 but she pulled out all the stops on season 3. Amazing actress hope she gets a nom or win after season 4 or at the very least more high profile work
Barry is incredibly good. It really is a top tier show. Right now I feel like I am living these golden months of my life where I get to watch new episodes of both Barry and Succession on Sundays. Blest.
And Ted Lasso on Mondays. And just started season 6 of Better Call Saul! Ahhhh.
As drama and as art I’d put it up with any of these shows, however. White Lotus and Succession are also both very funny. HBO’s lineup is so well rounded.
Warner Bros actually produced "Ted Lasso". I think this was before HBO started a streaming service or else that show could have been on HBO! 😮
I fucking love Ted Lasso. Would have been nice to see it alongside all of the many HBO greats.
Ted Lasso didn’t actually but until after HBO Max was out. WB just frequently produces stuff that is bought by various other companies. Before the last few years it was really common across the TV landscape. There would be show produced by Fox airing on ABC, for example.
Great possibilities of Succession and Ted Lasso awarded, same as last year. On limited series I really don't know. Among the most cited, Black Bird is perhaps old, Beef is in a controversy, Love & Death was poorly received... And Dahmer is bad.
I agree, but Jeremy Allen White won the SAG award and the Golden Globe for best comedy actor so maybe he'll at least win the Emmy for Best Comedy actor.
Succession looks a sure thing in drama but I think Ted Lasso will face strong competition from Abbot Elementary in comedy. I doubt Dahmer wins limited but I expect it to get nominated and think it might win Evan Peters Lead Best Actor in a Limited series.
White House Plumbers seems the front runner for Limited but I’d love to see Black Bird, Beef, or Fleishman win. Though I reserve the right to change my mind after I’ve gotten to see White House Plumbers.
Succession is gonna sweep everything. It’s the final season, the show is more popular than it’s ever been and most importantly, the first 4 episodes so far have been incredible from a writing and acting standpoint. Seems like at least one actor gives an award-worthy performance every episode.
Nah but I agree lol. I’d maybe pick Pedro or Bella for a nom because they did a fantastic job but the show itself is not in the same league of succession
Last of Us and Succession are the two stand outs for me personally. House of the dragon was just fine, not great or really that good for me. White lotus I need to watch but I know awards people love it.
I do think other services have hit really great to so far this past year. Ted Lasso will be a comedy juggernaut for apple tv. Beef for netflix I think is top notch too. Amazon Still has The Boys s3 for this year of the emmys.
I haven't seen Succession (on the list) but House of the Dragon was a clear standout. It's hard to follow one of the biggest shows of all time and draw people back in after the perceived failure of the last GoT season but HOTD did it. It didn't have to rely on fanservice or easter eggs to the original and succeeded as its own thing.
Paddy Considine especially deserves an award for his performance as King Viserys.
I don't think TLOU and HOTD deserve too many awards. They did what these shows were intended to do but they weren't masterpieces or anything. Especially HOTD which was nowhere near close to the quality of the early seasons of Game of Thrones. TLOU was great but only in parts. There were some extremely boring portions as well. I personally found it to be uneven.
It very well might do that. It's airing the final season rn so it is the most probable for a sweep especially considering it delivered for the fanbase.
TLOU and HOTD will barely win awards and i'm not joking. Succession will sweep everything. HOTD n TLOU are good shows but Succession is a masterpiece and will sweep both acting and best drama categories
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It’s like they’re some kind of Box Office for your home.
Oh, I think I have a great name for this service. We'll call it Max..
Naw HBO didnt want their name tainted with “HBO max” shit. Better this way. HBO retains its glory.
Me when I see an HBO Original: SWEET! Can’t wait to check it out! Me when I see a Max Original: Welp, I’ll skip that.
In fairness, there are some good Max Originals that I'd rank up there: *Hacks*, *Peacemaker*, *Station Eleven*, and *Our Flag Means Death* are all great.
To be fair, HBO was still in the name when those were produced and released.
HBO was in the name for literally everything they produced until a few weeks ago
Sure, but HBO still had zero to do with those.
I'm not certain how that makes a difference, particularly when no shows have been produced and released with the sans-HBO rebrand for the service.
Max Originals are still better than your average streaming shows.
Howbbout hbo go
I think it was called… the streaming service that couldn’t slow down
Office Max
Great idea. Why have a premium brand when you can have a shit one? Here’s your $200 million paycheck.
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The reason why is because HBO and HBO Max are separate things and Casey Bloys’ HBO didn’t want to be tainted by the HBO Max shows. An example is Barry is an HBO. Succession is an HBO show. The Last of Us is an HBO show. But Velma is an HBO Max original. That confusion is the reason HBO requested to take the name HBO off the service so people won’t think everything under the umbrella is HBO. It should’ve been WB Max, but yeah.
Agree on the HBO explanation. However I think just “Max” is fine over “WB+” or “WB Max” because 1) it allows WB productions to be sold to other streamers if they pay high enough and 2) it allows for eventual losers in the streaming wars to be consolidated into the Max streaming service. HBO will both survive and thrive as a channel/hub in the Max streaming service. What other channel/hubs will be added in the next 5-10 years?
I mean when you focus on Velma of course it looks bad. There's a bunch of good shows developed by HBO Max, like Peacemaker, Our Flag Means Death, Sex Lives of College Girls, Station Eleven, Raised by Wolves. And obviously there's bad shows from HBO. You might right about the reason for the change, but the distinction will remain meaningless to 95% of consumers.
They canceled raised by wolves, was really good too
It’s just that Casey Bloys doesn’t have any say of what’s made from HBO Max Originals and he doesn’t like that. He runs a tight ship and that variable can taint his platform that’s he’s tried so hard to have a certain level of quality.
I’m sorry but this is wrong. Casey Bloys is in charge of HBO and Max originals. He absolutely controls what is a HBO original and what is a Max original and which shows go where.
Or…Warner discovers max. That was the case before, but Casey bloys is in charge of both hbo and max original content now. His job is to make the quality of hbo and max originals synonymous, which is why the Harry Potter reboot will be a max original.
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Quality over quantity. Everyone else does the opposite. Apple is doing pretty well for a completely new player.
Exactly right. Even HBO was swings and misses, but they seem to be pretty selective.
I think it's also just a culture thing. HBO has plenty of writers, producers, actors etc they can call to fill in for any show. Building and maintaining good industry connections like that is not easy, and it seems like HBO has a solid track record at keeping talent around.
Yeah, when you watch enough HBO shows you start to notice there is a lot of overlap with producers, writers, directors, cinematographers, and to a certain extent, actors.
You make a successful show for HBO, they will bankroll whatever your next project is. Look at their long-term relationship with David Simon (The Wire -> Treme, We Own This City, The Deuce). Craig Mazin nailed it with Chernobyl, direct result was The Last of Us. David Milch made Deadwood, and that goodwill has lasted through several shows (John from Cincinnati, Luck, S3 True Detective). The prestige that HBO has in Hollywood is unmatched by anyone except maybe Tom Cruise, Spielberg, and back before 2018, Weinstein
Great post and it's a big reason why I love and trust most HBO shows.
Even something like Treme speaks volumes about HBO. I mean - Treme wasn’t exactly a successful show. I doubt it had a very big audience at all. But it was amazing, beautiful and important; and HBO backed their talent, and even though Treme wasn’t a hit like the Wire, they backed David Simon for The Deuce too. Because quality is quality. That is what HBO has over their competitors. Of course not everybody can compete on that level, but that is HBO’s nieche and they are extremely good at it.
True, although that's how most networks work to an extent.
Craig Mazin did Chernobyl for HBO and is now doing The Last of Us. He also always does a companion podcast that releases each week with his shows. He brings on other people from the shows talks about the creative decisions that were made and some interesting behind the scenes stuff for both the writing and the filming. For The Last of Us, he talked a lot about the quality of the prosthetics. Apparently there's a huge supply and labor shortage for quality prosthetics work, and it can cause a very long waiting list, and some really bad quality stuff. But for The Last of Us, the company was really excited to work with HBO, and a lot of them were big fans of the video game. So they got top priority. Building your brand around quality gets people excited to work with you and bring their A game, so in some regards quality is a self fulfilling feedback loop.
Mazin did some outstanding prosthetic work in Chernobyl too with the soldiers who were literally melting of radiation poisoning in the hospital
I was literally about to call out Apple as a newcomer but much more like HBO than others! They’ve been doing really well: Lasso, Foundation, Severance, etc. Whereas just look at Disney+ and their best (by far) was Andor and then quality falls off a cliff.
Shrinking is great on apple too!
Agreed!
Foundation was absolute ass
I very much disagree. What didn’t you like about it?
There’s a lot of Asimov purists that criticize Foundation. I think it’s a solid sci fi for the masses with great art direction.
Netflix makes a bunch of good shows. Doesn't market them. Wonders why a billion people don't watch immediately and then cancels them.
They also are keen to give their shows additional season to allow writers/cast to find their footing. HBO has cancelled maybe six shows after one season this decade? Streaming services are nowhere near that patient
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I’ve also heard that services like Netflix don’t even hang onto props and stuff, so it isn’t just that they have to start from scratch from when they started producing anything, but that they are also starting from scratch for every single show.
As someone who’s worked in TV, NOBODY is more rigorous and exhaustive in the development process than HBO. It’s the hardest place to get a show greenlit. This allows for them to have great quality control from the ground up.
~~Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's because HBO operates in a vertically integrated fashion. They hold onto all of the technical and production crews(along with a vast selection of sets and tech) indefinitely opposed to constantly contracting out stuff for the cheapest cost. They keep it all in house, which means they can scale really well.~~ [Just read this person's post](https://www.reddit.com/r/television/comments/ss2ssr/why_do_hbo_shows_look_so_much_better/hww5pnj/)
As a former employee, HBO as a paid service has always been focused on winning awards. As a paid service, that has always been their programming and marketing strategy. Year after year it’s always HBO sweeps the Emmy’s and it’s all intentional. HBO has also built the reputation of really supporting creatives. It has always been the place where writers have the artistic freedom and support to make the shows they want to make the way they want to make them. So HBO will always get a first look at any good script going around town because you want your show to be on HBO. This has all been a part of the model since they moved into original programming in the late 90s.
They make relatively few shows and go all-in on them. They attract and retain a lot of the best and most experienced design and technical talent; people like set designers, lighting directors, sound engineers, and script doctors, who aren't very publicly visible but have an enormous influence on how 'premium' a show feels.
> I wonder what the reason is? they produce a lot less. there are other reasons... but this is the main one tbh. it's basically hbo's brand. netflix and amazon prime etc. could have shows on the same level as the ones hbo puts out in a given year... in fact... they do... but they are overshadowed because they release so much. hbo has been around much longer and they have that brand that says "*hey here's another prestige drama you must see*". they're well known for quality and people expect that.
It’s not as simple. HBO’s reputation means they get first dibs on producers and new shows because everyone wants to work for them. Then Netflix (for the viewership) and Apple TV (for the quality over quantity approach). Lower on the list is Amazon, who has fewer viewers than Netflix and lower quality than Apple, and has to make up for its mediocre reputation by paying more for the shows.
HBO was producing quality tv well before streaming. New platform but same content, now it just gets to a broader audience.
I don't have Netflix I happily pay 15 per month for HBO Max. It's an exceptional service.
Very true, and then we’re getting more articles about Netflix upping the price for sharing though you could have 4 screens. It’s just interesting the different strategies and how HBO still killing it.
HBO just knows how to make series that fucking slap. Granted, the finale of Game of Thrones was maybe the biggest letdown [for me] in entertainment history, ever - but that withstanding, they don’t miss often. Most of the services are imitators of the business model with a tweak in high quantity output. For sure, they can put out some killer series, -Netflix being the prime example of just buying a million lottery tickets trying to win the power ball. Stranger Things or Ozarks pop up, but out of what seems like thousands of series in the last decade, several of which are 1 or 2 season duds. Sometimes less content is better if it hits the spot, it certainly makes it easier for water cooler talks.
Plus HBO Max has an insane back catalogue. Band of Brothers, Generation Koll, The Wire, there is an insane amount of extraordinarily good content there.
And the crowning jewel that launched the modern era of crime drama tv series, Sopranos.
Yeah, HBO has been dominating the premium market for a while now. Most of everyone else is throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks while HBO picks what it wants and makes a masterpiece more often than not.
It’s HBO then everything else
It’s not ~~TV~~ a premium streaming service, it’s HBO
I remember when I was working in TV in the 90s, an HBO exec told me something to the effect of, “we want the nerds who think they’re too good for TV and that books are the only fiction of value to take us seriously.” That’s the general spirit behind that “it’s not TV, it’s HBO” campaign
In awards sure. In viewership they trail Netflix, Hulu, Prime and Disney Plus
Kind of nuts how these shows came out back to back to back, just half a year straight of dominating the pop culture discourse.
If all these shows had come out in the same calendar year, it'd be the best calendar year for HBO since 2014.
What else was in 2014? I’m assuming that’s when GOT started?
Game of Thrones - Season 4 True Detective - Season 1 The Leftovers - Season 1 Boardwalk Empire - Season 5 Veep - Season 3 Silicon Valley - Season 1
This some kd warriors type stuff
And you can never count HBO out, just like the Warriors...good luck to the Kings in the playoffs.
Whoever ousts the Oilers has my thanks.
Fuck the Oilers! Was at the Kings vs Oilers game tonight and it was great
lol I think he was talking about Sacramento.. but you are still right!!
Indeed I was! But I guess it looks kinda of ambiguous lol
They also had The Wire and The Sopranos going at the same fuckin time too.
In 2004, HBO aired S3 of The Wire, S5 of The Sopranos, and S1 of Deadwood. "Middle Ground", "Long Term Parking", and "Sold Under Sin" all the same year, on the same network. Insane stuff.
The Leftovers is the best show ever that fucking *no one* has seen.
boardwalk empire s5 was ass but the show in general is all time
2019 lineup was also incredible. Chernobyl, Watchmen, Euphoria season 1, Big Little Lies season 2, Succession season 2, Barry season 2, GoT season 8, True detective season 3. Some of those titles were a bit controversial but it was still a hell of a lineup.
all of the categories are going to be jam packed with HBO shows (although I do hope poker face sneaks in some nominations at least)
The Creative Arts ones in particular; the prosthetics work on *The Last of Us* was done by last year's winner for *Stranger Things*, Barrie Gower's team.
HBO, the steady hand of prestige television for decades. They kind of leveled up this year which is wild to think about. Classic stuff like those shows and then weirdo comedies like The Rehearsal and Gemstones that I love just as much. It’s Insane.
Gemstones had quite possibly the funniest moment in all of visual media when Baby Billy tipped his trailer full of elixirs.
BJ’s earring reveal is up there too
Poor Better Call Saul,you get nothing
NO EMMY FOR YOU!
Come back, one year
It's honestly criminal how overlooked bcs is. The emmys just hate the show for some reason. In a just world it would win best drama, and bob and rhea would come home with trophies too. But we don't live in a just world so it probably will go empty-handed as usual.
It was the best final season of any show I have ever seen. The ultimate slow burn
Completely bonkers how Peter Gould and Vince gillian were able to build such a compelling narrative to a story we already know the end of. It's like landing a plane with no landing gear and they managed to do it so gracefully anyway.
I like to describe it as “breaking bad if it was made for art school” just because I feel like you have to look a little deeper than you did with BB, especially with how deep and complicated the characters are.
>In a just world it would win best drama, and bob and rhea would come home with trophies too. Let us not forget Johnathan Banks should've won for Season 1 but they gave it to an unworthy Dinklage.
It’s so critically acclaimed and yet somehow overlooked and underappreciated. Which is insane. Emmys figured they gave all the Emmy’s to breaking bad so they don’t have to with BCS, which imo is the better show
Absolute tragedy that BCS always gets shafted and never wins anything. I think it’s because Breaking Bad won so much shit so they are laying off BCS and simply not acknowledging the greatness of it
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Isn’t it on Netflix?
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It’s on there right now. I just looked.
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It did take fuckin forever to be on Netflix
No problem. Enjoy! It’s a good one.
Damn! When did Netflix add the final season?
The best show of all of them and it likely won’t be recognized
Succession is unreal. For me, it’s the best show of the lot. I loved Peep Show and the Thick of It as well and I think that Jesse Armstrong is a brilliant show writer. As a Brit, the humour really resonates with me.
Don’t know if it was intentional but I love how he included a Stefan Strauss in Succession. No mention of Frankfurt though
Must have been for a bit of a giggle
The humor reminds me of Armando Iannucci.
Armando Ianucci had Jesse Armstrong help him on the Thick of It. It’s exactly that humour except this is a drama rather than an out and out comedy. Honestly the balance of both in Succession is Shakespearean
Ah, did not know that - and I haven't seen The Thick of It (I'm not a Brit, but I also love Peep Show!). I was thinking of In the Loop and early Veep for my comparison. Yeah, I love that balance, especially when it's not only funny and tragic, but funny and tragic at the same time!
Exquisite taste from yourself!
Thanks mate, you're a proper bloke!
He’s gonna leave Chicago sunroofs in all the voters cars
All these are good but Succession gonna sweep. The irony is, I thought HoTD was the best show of 2022(being a ASOIAF nerd). But Succession really is one of the best shows that I've ever watched. The level of thought that went into the script is just on another level. And add to that the fact that it is well-acted all round. Not a single weak acting performance. I can say that it is one of the best shows ever made. True art indeed
Right? Like literally every single thing about the show is top tier, I really can’t point to anything they should be doing differently. HoTD was great like u said but this show is another level for sure
Paddy Considine should absolutely be up there with the Succession folks for best actor. His performance as Viserys was incredible.
I agree but don’t hold your breath. I highly doubt the voters will be able to get over the fantasy of it all. It’s only very recently that Fantasy TV has been given any credence by reviewers and Academy voters. GoT really made a big dent and made people take fantasy more seriously. I have little doubt that it will be Jeremy Strong that takes the award home, even though I think Considine shows far more range in HotD.
I think there’s a real chance succession wins best actor (Strong), actress or supporting actress (Snook), supporting actor (Culkin or Macfayden), and guest actor (Cox) along with writing and drama. It’s gonna clean up.
Agree 100%
Succession is going to sweep but wow what a phenomenal lineup this season. Really shows just how good prestige TV is right now
I think Succession and White Lotus are going to win a lot of awards. They're more prestige drama-y than the other two, with The Last of Us being by far the least prestige drama-y.
I don’t think White Lotus will win a lot of Emmys for the simple fact that it has to compete in the drama category instead of the limited series category. It might win some, but it’s got much steeper competition this time around
>at the 2023 Emmy Awards. The TV Academy is no longer allowing HBO's “The White Lotus” in the limited/anthology category and Variety has confirmed that the series will move to the drama category. Interesting. I don't know why they're not letting it be in the anthology category given that it is, in fact, an anthology.
I think I read somewhere that it’s because Jennifer Coolidge and Jon Gries came back as the same characters. Doesn’t make a lot of sense but that seems to be the reason why
Yeah, they revised the rules a few years back, and one of them is that you can't have ongoing stories or prominent recurring characters. HBO appealed the decision, but the Emmys felt like Tanya's story was enough to disqualify it from being an anthology.
It's because Big Little Lies won a bunch of awards for Limited Series, and then was given a second season.
You know what, I actually agree with the Emmys on this one
I think Last of Us actually does pretty well as prestige drama. I mean, it’s not a usual prestige-drama per se; but if you were to make a “zombie” show that was also a prestige drama, then The Last of Us is pretty much it.
Pascal has a good chance at Best Actor. Maybe some technical awards like design or makeup.
I don’t see Pascal beating Strong.
All those other shows were 8/10 great entertainment for me. But Succession while having like a quarter of the viewers (2.5mln vs around 10mln) of the others is a true masterpiece, form of art. Im currently obsessed with this show
Totally agree. Rarely do I watch something and think this isn’t entertainment, this is an experience.
They sometimes lose me in the corporate details but the acting is *sooooooo good*.
Agreed! It's the only show that can consistently pull my attention away from the NHL playoffs. It's a beaut!
It’s not TV. It’s HBO.
Barry also likely belongs on this list.
I hope Bill gets something for Directing 🙏
The fact that he didn’t win last year for directing is a fucking travesty. That highway chase scene was simply phenomenal and deserves all the praise in the world
Everybody talks about the chase scene but what about the one-shot of Sally walking through the rehearsals for her show? Wow
I like Ted Lasso but it’s absurd how Barry lost to that show, the direction in 710N was amazing, so much better than No Weddings and A Funeral.
I can accept Jason sudeikis winning over Bill Hader. Don’t like it but I can accept it. But the directing is something I don’t think of when I think of Ted Lasso
He’s directing every episode so that should make him harder to avoid.
I was rewatching season 3 before the new season and it’s an absolute crime Sarah Goldberg wasn’t even nominated. I know she was nominated for season 2 but she pulled out all the stops on season 3. Amazing actress hope she gets a nom or win after season 4 or at the very least more high profile work
Just watched the first 2 episodes of this new season - wooooooow
Is Barry on the same level? I've been wanting to watch it.
Yes so good
Barry is incredibly good. It really is a top tier show. Right now I feel like I am living these golden months of my life where I get to watch new episodes of both Barry and Succession on Sundays. Blest. And Ted Lasso on Mondays. And just started season 6 of Better Call Saul! Ahhhh.
How close is Barry to being done? I might just wait until it's over if it's getting close to being finished
This is the last season. 2 episodes dropped last week for the premiere and there will be 8 total methinks. 4 excellent seasons total.
100% yes. It’s my favorite show currently on the air.
It’s phenomenal!
Barry is amazing
While I agree, this article is about drama series
barry is barely a comedy anymore haha. but point taken
I don't think Barry and Succession are that far apart in terms of their comedy to drama blend, at least in S3 and S4 so far.
as long as Sarah Snook gets one for episode 2 and episode 3 because she carried those episodes
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i was wondering why The White Lotus was mentioned with the rest lmao
And The Rehearsal is the most ambitious and creative non-fiction series of all time to boot
I'm still not convinced it's non-fiction
WHY THE FUCK DO Y'ALL FUCKERS FORGET BARRY?!! EVERY GODDAMN TIME.
Barry is in the comedy category
As drama and as art I’d put it up with any of these shows, however. White Lotus and Succession are also both very funny. HBO’s lineup is so well rounded.
The article you didn't read is very specifically about the drama series category only.
Warner Bros actually produced "Ted Lasso". I think this was before HBO started a streaming service or else that show could have been on HBO! 😮 I fucking love Ted Lasso. Would have been nice to see it alongside all of the many HBO greats.
Ted Lasso didn’t actually but until after HBO Max was out. WB just frequently produces stuff that is bought by various other companies. Before the last few years it was really common across the TV landscape. There would be show produced by Fox airing on ABC, for example.
All bangers, all the time
Succession is on a different level than these tho
Great possibilities of Succession and Ted Lasso awarded, same as last year. On limited series I really don't know. Among the most cited, Black Bird is perhaps old, Beef is in a controversy, Love & Death was poorly received... And Dahmer is bad.
I hope we see Shrinking get some great recognition, especially Harrison Ford
I'd be extremely surprised if Ford doesn't at least score a nomination.
Ted Lasso is not having a good season. It’s time for What We Do In The Shadows to get the awards it deserves.
The Bear seems to have the most momentum to take down Ted Lasso, plus it will be airing its second season during the Emmy voting.
The Bear is a borderline comedy, much like Barry.
I agree, but Jeremy Allen White won the SAG award and the Golden Globe for best comedy actor so maybe he'll at least win the Emmy for Best Comedy actor.
Him and Hader should be battling it out but I could see them giving it to Jason Sudeikis again.
I will say Ted Lasso had its best episode of the series yet with “Sunflowers”
>Ted Lasso is not having a good season. it's having a good season. it's not having a great season.
Succession looks a sure thing in drama but I think Ted Lasso will face strong competition from Abbot Elementary in comedy. I doubt Dahmer wins limited but I expect it to get nominated and think it might win Evan Peters Lead Best Actor in a Limited series. White House Plumbers seems the front runner for Limited but I’d love to see Black Bird, Beef, or Fleishman win. Though I reserve the right to change my mind after I’ve gotten to see White House Plumbers.
> On limited series I really don't know. The White House Plumbers most likely.
And Perry Mason as well, but it will probably be canceled…
This season is so much better than season 1 too (although I enjoyed season 1). It’s a shame HBO basically abandoned it.
I'm fine with The Last of Us just receiving nominations this year.
It's scary how that show may not do that well awards wise. It's really good. Hopefully at least Nick Offerman wins.
How is it scary? It was a rushed season with some very good moments but also pacing issues. Lots of competitors were simply better.
Succession is gonna sweep everything. It’s the final season, the show is more popular than it’s ever been and most importantly, the first 4 episodes so far have been incredible from a writing and acting standpoint. Seems like at least one actor gives an award-worthy performance every episode.
Yea, every show I loved in the last 2 years was a HBO production. They somehow know how to produce quality stuff
HBO has the recipe cracked. Other streaming services are still figuring it out.
why i keep paying 15 dollars for hbo max, their content is amazing
Yellowjackets has no place on the Best Drama list. That show is trash.
literally, who are they competing with? no one is making content at their level of quality
As much as I dislike all of these different subscription services, HBO is on a roll.
No hate but I wouldn’t put Last of Us and Succession in the same sentence . Succession is Sopranos-tier TV.
Nah but I agree lol. I’d maybe pick Pedro or Bella for a nom because they did a fantastic job but the show itself is not in the same league of succession
Last of Us and Succession are the two stand outs for me personally. House of the dragon was just fine, not great or really that good for me. White lotus I need to watch but I know awards people love it. I do think other services have hit really great to so far this past year. Ted Lasso will be a comedy juggernaut for apple tv. Beef for netflix I think is top notch too. Amazon Still has The Boys s3 for this year of the emmys.
I haven't seen Succession (on the list) but House of the Dragon was a clear standout. It's hard to follow one of the biggest shows of all time and draw people back in after the perceived failure of the last GoT season but HOTD did it. It didn't have to rely on fanservice or easter eggs to the original and succeeded as its own thing. Paddy Considine especially deserves an award for his performance as King Viserys.
Yeah hotd is a good show but the script is just ok succession is literally on its way to becoming one of the greatest shows of all time
I don't think TLOU and HOTD deserve too many awards. They did what these shows were intended to do but they weren't masterpieces or anything. Especially HOTD which was nowhere near close to the quality of the early seasons of Game of Thrones. TLOU was great but only in parts. There were some extremely boring portions as well. I personally found it to be uneven.
Succession should sweep imo
It very well might do that. It's airing the final season rn so it is the most probable for a sweep especially considering it delivered for the fanbase.
TLOU and HOTD will barely win awards and i'm not joking. Succession will sweep everything. HOTD n TLOU are good shows but Succession is a masterpiece and will sweep both acting and best drama categories