Categories HBO Max
HBO Max is deleting these 6 reality shows, and fired the team behind Legendary, Fboy Island
Amanda Grace Jenkins and Markelle Smith in 12 Dates of Christmas season 2, one of the shows HBO Max is deleting soon. (Photograph by Joe Magnani/HBO Max)
Date published Aug. 17, 2022, 9:01 pm | Discussion 2 comments
As part of the merger between Discovery and WarnerMedia, the new company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is trying to save money. A lot of money: it has $50 billion in debt, and "vowed to find $3 billion worth of savings," as The New York Times reported.
Those "savings" are coming in the form of two things: 1) actual human beings' jobs, and 2) content including reality TV shows.
First, Warner Bros. Discovery fired the executive and team of people who developed its original reality TV series, such as Legendary, Fboy Island, and Selena + Chef.
They've said those shows may continue, but Deadline noted that "HBO Max was known to pay between $1.5 million-$2 million per episode of some of its unscripted shows, well above Discovery's usual tariffs, which generally go as high as around $500,000 per hour." That's a huge difference—and explains the huge difference in quality.
It's also dropping already-produced projects, including Batgirl; the second season of the wonderful sitcom Chad; and the completed TBS reality series The Big D, starring JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers. That form of accounting is called a "write-down," and they're doing a lot of it.
Part of that is removing existing content. As Indiewire reported earlier this month, those are shows that "have an opportunity for a partial write off."
Among the reality shows already deleted are:
Haute Dog, the better of the two dog grooming reality competitions
Full Bloom, the floral arranging reality show that aired two seasons
Years earlier, HBO Max deleted Karma, a competition very much like Endurance, which premiered along with HBO Max and then mysteriously disappeared a few months later.
This evening, HBO Max just sent an announcement to media saying that 37 shows "will be coming off of HBO Max this week." The company offered this explanation:
As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and discovery+. That will include the removal of some content from both platforms.
At the same time, we're already starting to bring our content catalogs together like the launch of the new CNN Originals Hub on discovery+ and a curated collection of Magnolia Network content coming soon to HBO Max.
The shows HBO Max is deleting next
This news, while distressing, is a good reminder that any show you rely on being available now may be gone soon.
The unscripted shows HBO Max is dumping this week (when exactly? *shrug emoji*) are:
12 Dates of Christmas, a two-season dating series that was one of the few to have queer leads
About Last Night, on which Stephen and Ayesha Curry quizzed celebrity couples about their relationships
Ellen's Next Great Designer, a reboot of an HGTV show
Generation Hustle, a documentary series that profiled "brilliant and brazen young individuals," including Anna Delvey
My Mom, Your Dad, a dating show produced by The Office EP Greg Daniels
Ravi Patel's Pursuit of Happiness, which followed the actor as he went "on a trip around the world as he investigates societal norms in search of answers to some of life's most pressing questions."
Somehow, Bethenny Frankel's awful new show is not on the list.
Here's the full list of shows HBO just announced it's removing:
12 Dates of Christmas
Aquaman: King of Atlantis
Detention Adventure
Ellen's Next Great Designer
Elliott From Earth
Esme & Roy
The Fungies!
Generation Hustle
Genera+ion
Infinity Train
Little Ellen
Mao Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart
Messy Goes to Okido
Mia's Magic Playground
Mighty Magiswords
My Dinner with Herve
My Mom, Your Dad
OK K.O.! – Let's Be Heroes
The Ollie & Moon Show
Ravi Patel's Pursuit of Happiness
Select Sesame Street Specials
Make It Big, Make It Small
Squish
Summer Camp Island
The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo
The Runaway Bunny – Special
Theodosia
Tig n' Seek
Victor and Valentino
Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs
Please stop
No one cares. No one watches those shows in the first place. Imagine a business doing a thing that's good for business. Shocking.
I've never heard of any of these shows. I agree that quality is better than quantity but I'm very wary of mergers and how their CEO's make decisions because it is all about the bottom line.