The Swift and Rapid Downfall of HBO Max

(*Sigh*)

So... funny story...

I was wrong when I said that HBO Max was the streaming service for hot, sexy people.

In fact, I was so wrong about HBO Max being the streaming service of choice for young cool people, that I would like to retract my previous statement about "HBO Maxing and Relaxing" being the next big trend, and instead recommend buying DVD box sets of shows and pirating the content you like so that it does not become lost media.

(For legal reasons, this is a joke.)

(“Please do not pirate content on the internet," she said, completely seriously.)

In case you haven't heard, HBO Max basically imploded on itself earlier this year, by deciding to merge with Discovery+ (a confusing and misguided decision if there ever was one), and opting to delete entire projects from their platform. This began with the now infamous Batgirl movie (which was never released despite being completely finished) and quickly snowballed into multiple original shows being removed from HBO Max's catalog entirely. (For a full list of shows that have been deleted and/or erased from the platform, you can read about them here.)

In protest of this terrible decision, I've decided to talk about the shows that I've enjoyed on the platform, despite the nonsense that is happening with the company merger. With corporate cost-cutting comes the loss of jobs, the loss of creativity, and the loss of motivation to make things that are as wonderful and unique as I'm about to mention here. It's not fair to punish the creators of these shows just because the platform hosting their content decided to screw them over. In a lot of cases, they'll miss these shows more than I or anyone else ever could.

So, I'm here to lay flowers on the grave that is HBO Max, and to give more flowers to the creators of these wonderful shows. 

So- in no particular order- here are the wonderful shows that HBO Max produced before the deadly merger was announced.

10. Infinity Train

In case you weren't aware, I love Infinity Train.

There's already a review of all four seasons of this show on my blog, however, thanks to the HBO Max merger, the entirety of the show has been effectively wiped from streaming services. Now, you're lucky to find the first two seasons in DVD collections that are being sold by price gougers on Ebay. 

For specific details about why this show was so amazing and revolutionary, I recommend reading my initial review, however, there were some additional things I wanted to say about Infinity Train, considering that it is on the verge of becoming a piece of lost media along the lines of ABC's Selfie.

Infinity Train was a Cartoon Network original show about a series of kids getting lost on a magical train that was transitioned to an HBO Max Original midway through its four-season run. It was one of HBO Max's most popular original series on the platform in 2020, according to Observer. However, due to the HBO Max/ Discovery+ merger, it is no longer available to watch through Cartoon Network or through the HBO Max streaming service. 

In fact, as of September 2022, Infinity Train is only available to watch in a paid capacity if you purchase certain episodes or seasons from Amazon Prime, Google Play, or YouTube (among other pay per season services). 

Even more troubling is the account from the creator of the show, Owen Dennis, that no one who worked on Infinity Train was alerted to the show's removal before it happened, and no one was made aware of the reasoning behind its removal. For more insight, I sincerely recommend reading Dennis's thoughts on this entire merger on his blog post regarding this incident. He has some interesting thoughts on the nature of the entertainment industry and the value of pirating entertainment in an age that is increasingly ruled by monopolies.

The one good thing about Infinity Train is that it was already canceled by executives that believed a fifth season had "no child entry point" way back in 2021 (yes, I'm still bitter). Even before this merger, there was really no hope of this show being revived. However, not being able to rewatch the show without pirating it or buying it from a less than trustworthy tech conglomerate (I'm looking at you, Amazon and Google) also does not bode well for the future of not only this show, but streaming exclusive content as a whole.

9 & 8. Minx & The Sex Lives of College Girls

Ironically, I wrote about these shows a few months ago, when they were on a platform that wasn't on the brink of imploding. I stand by my reviews of these shows, though, and I really think that they should continue on the platform, despite this merger. 

Both Minx and the Sex Lives of College Girls are alike in their sex-positivity and their quirky sense of humor, and I really adored both of them when I watched them earlier this year. Minx follows a feminist magazine editor in 1970s California as she teams up with a sleazy porn editor to print salacious magazines for women readers interested in men. The Sex Lives of College Girls follows... well, the sex lives of college girls in a fictional university. Go figure.

I still highly recommend both shows, in case you couldn't tell.

As of September 2022, both Minx and The Sex Lives of College Girls have announced they were renewed for a second season, however, neither have received release dates for those seasons yet, and it is uncertain whether the platform will survive long enough to provide us with a third season of either show, considering the platform's falling market capital.

However, I'm hopeful they can weather the storm and remain on the platform even after the merger. 

7. Harley Quinn

HBO Max's Harley Quinn is actually one of the best depictions of the character put to screen, animated or otherwise.

Harley Quinn is an adult animated series that follows the titular Harley Quinn after she decides to break up with her notorious boyfriend, the Joker, and go on a journey to become her own supervillain. Along the way, Harley teams up with other baddies such as Dr. Psycho and Poison Ivy, along with some lesser-known supervillains, such as Clay Face, King Shark, and (my personal favorite) Kite-Man.

The third season recently ended a few weeks ago (and while it was still enjoyable, I would definitely recommend the first two seasons over this past one), and it followed Harley in her new relationship with her best friend and girlfriend, Poison Ivy. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that it also provides a lot more insight into Bruce Wayne as a character, which was interesting to see.

Unlike a lot of the other shows on this list that have been axed or discontinued due to the merger, Harley Quinn actually did get a fourth season greenlit on HBO Max, much to the new showrunner's (and my) surprise.

I sincerely hope that this show can survive whatever comes next for this HBO Max/ Discovery+ merger, but as of right now, only adult animation seems to be safe from the axe.

6. F-Boy Island

As someone who typically isn't into reality TV, (let alone reality dating shows) I'll be the first one to admit that I had my suspicions about F-Boy Island. However, let me be the first one to tell you that this show is bananas, in the best way possible.

F-Boy Island is a reality dating competition show that follows three eligible women who are on an island with 24 men, and they are on a mission to find a match in order to win $100,000. The only catch is: 12 of the men on the island are "Nice Guys," while 12 men on the island are self-proclaimed "F-boys." If the women can't weed out all of the "F-Boys" in the batch to find their match, then the women risk not only having their heart broken by an "F-Boy" on television, but the F-Boy gets to keep the full $100,000 instead of splitting it with the women.

The concept sounds insane on paper, but the execution of it is actually a lot messier, if you believe that. I never watched a single episode of The Bachelorette, but I have a feeling that it's something like this, only somehow tamer, because there was no money on the line.

This show has everything: dramatic reveals, twist endings, surprise appearances from candidates that you thought had been eliminated... If you like drama and experiencing secondhand embarrassment, then this show is your bread and butter.

This reality show was unhinged in both seasons that it aired, however, as of September 2022, this series has not been renewed for a season 3 yet. I would assume that this has something to do with the show's budget, as it is significantly higher than other reality shows of its type (a la Love Island, or Love is Blind). In a corporate merger where every dollar counts, I wouldn't be surprised if F-Boy Island got axed, despite being a delight to watch.

5. Hacks

I've mentioned Hacks briefly in my review of the forgotten show, Selfie (2014), but this show is definitely one of the better offerings on HBO Max.

Hacks is a comedy-drama series about a washed-up comedienne, Debra Vance, as she attempts to get her career back on track after losing her Las Vegas residency. In an effort to do this, she has her agent hire Eva, a millennial writer who was struggling in Los Angeles. Together, the two are a real odd couple, but they work together to change Debra's set in an attempt to rebuild her career.

For me, this show is more fun the longer it goes on. Season two was released in May of this year, and I really loved it, even more than the first season. Debra and Eva have a complicated mother-daughter dynamic that works, while they also work to make each other funnier. This show has a crazy amount of heart, and I'm glad that this has earned Jean Smart two Lead Actress Emmy wins in the past couple of years.

As of June 2022, this show has been renewed for a third season, which surprised and excited me, because I was sure that the show would be canceled after this past season ended earlier this year. 

It cannot be overstated, however, that I think this show was renewed because of the audience's response to the show, and not because it was so good that it couldn't be axed. According to the head of original content at HBO Max, "We are overjoyed at the audience and press response to the new season, and glad to give viewers more of this gorgeous, hilarious, moving show” (Variety, par 3). This leads me to believe that the show was only renewed because of its successful viewership and its ability to generate awards buzz for the (now sinking) platform, when they desperately need to hold on to one shred of respectability.

Nonetheless, I am glad to get a season 3 of this show, as I really enjoyed season 2, and I'm excited to see where the writers take each of the characters in the future. I highly recommend it if you haven't already seen it.

4. The Other Two

I've recommended this show before, and I still think that this show is amazing.

In case you didn't know, The Other Two is about a pair of siblings, Brooke and Carey Dubek, as they attempt to rise out of the shadow of their famous teen heartthrob brother and their Ellen-inspired mother. While their brother and mother rose to fame practically overnight, Carey and Brooke seem to be barely holding on.

The Other Two started out on Comedy Central when it initially aired in 2019, but then it was picked up by HBO Max for its follow-up, and now tertiary season. This show is a heartfelt, satirical comedy with a solid premise, and I still recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet. 

Now, I don't have much to say about The Other Two that I haven't already said, but I will note that as of September 2022, this show is still shooting its third season, presumably for release sometime next year. Hopefully this show remains on HBO Max when airing its third season, and it manages to secure another season from the streaming service in the future. But if not, I'm hoping I can still watch it on another network, like Comedy Central.

3. Gordita Chronicles

I feel kinda bad for Gordita Chronicles, because they were never really given a fair shake.

Much like many other family sitcoms taking place in decades past (The Goldbergs, Mixed-ish, Fresh Off the Boat), Gordita Chronicles followed an immigrant family from the Dominican Republic as they moved to Miami, Florida in the 1980s. The nuclear family includes two daughters, Cucu and Emilia, and their parents, Victor and Adela, as they try to assimilate while integrating their Hispanic heritage into their new American lives. 

Now, I'll be the first one to admit that this show started off a little rough for me. As someone who had seen the formula done to death on several other TV networks (see ABC for all of the aforementioned nostalgia-based sitcoms), I was a little skeptical that this show would leave an impact on the already bloated marketplace. After the first three episodes or so, I was convinced the show was a bit of a dud.

However, after giving the show a fair shake and watching the initial 10-episode season, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Gordita Chronicles put me in the mind of Fresh Off the Boat and The Goldbergs in a pleasant way that highlighted both the time period that the family was in and the family's cultural struggles to blend in with American culture. To top it off, it was produced by huge Latina actors Zoe Saldana and Eva Longoria, and so it was bound to make a big splash.

But then... the show got axed.

Now, I understand that not every show gets renewed for more seasons. This could be for ratings reasons, or just because the network had to make budget cuts (or in the case of Julie and the Phantoms, literally for no reason at all!!), but either way, it's a shame that this show was canceled shortly after it's June 2022 release date.

However, it is very clear that Gordita Chronicles was canceled because HBO Max could see the Discovery+ merger coming down the pipe, and they wanted to jump the gun in terms of "curating content."

According to a statement from HBO Max, printed by Variety, “Live-action kids and family programming will not be part of our programming focus in the immediate future, and as a result, we’ve had to make the very difficult decision to end ‘Gordita Chronicles’ at HBO Max" (par 2).

Despite the terrible news of cancelation, I think Gordita Chronicles was a show that would benefit from having additional seasons. The beginning of the show is admittedly slow, but with time, it begins to develop into a loveable story that could easily become someone's comfort show. 

As of September 2022, the first season of the show is still available to watch on HBO Max, but who knows if the Discovery+ merger will have any bearing on this show's removal in the future.

I honestly feel horrible for the creators of the series who poured their heart into the project, only to be told that "they're not the company's focus" anymore. I especially hope the showrunner, Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz, and the creator of the show, Claudia Forestieri, can manage to sell Gordita Chronicles to another network (possibly ABC?) so that the show can continue, but more likely is that the show is just dead in the water, which is a complete shame. 

2. The Rehearsal

The Rehearsal is a baffling show- not only in theory, but also in practice.

I'll try to explain: The Rehearsal is a comedy docu-series that follows comedian Nathan Fielder as he attempts to help people "rehearse" for upcoming events in their lives, in order to prepare for the outcomes.

Now, as someone with a certain level of anxiety, this show sounds like the perfect way to prepare for intimidating social interactions or major life events that would be scary to deal with without preparation. However, in practice, this show is... messy (and amazing, but we'll get there).

Nathan Fielder is well known for his Comedy Central show, Nathan For You, in which he would help struggling business owners by pitching them insane ideas in order to make their business better or more marketable. As someone who has never seen that show, I can only imagine that it's only a fraction as insane as The Rehearsal.

Here is an example that show how insane this show is: Nathan attempted to help a Christian woman prepare for having a child by paying a series of child actors to emulate her fictional son, Adam, as he grew up over the course of 30 days. He also then decided to participate in this rehearsal in order to practice being a parent, only to then confuse a real life six-year-old actor who was convinced that Nathan was his actual father. 

The show is wild because it's truly hard to tell what is a "bit" and what is part of the actual rehearsal. Some of the show seems incredibly heartfelt, until you realize that the entire scene was rehearsed and none of it was real. If you're curious about the full insanity of this show, you should read the episode descriptions on Wikipedia for season one. Although, if you don't like meta-commentary in your media, this show probably isn't for you. I personally found it incredibly enjoyable, if not a little unhinged. 

I suppose the good news is that in August of 2022, it was announced that The Rehearsal would be returning to HBO Max for a second season. This leaves me feeling a little bittersweet, though, because I enjoyed the show immensely, but I'm not sure if I wanted a second season. The first season ended perfectly, in my opinion, and so I would have actually been okay with that being the final episode of the show altogether.

Nonetheless, I am glad that more good content is being put into the world, even if it is a little unorthodox.

1. Made for Love

Made for Love was a lot different than I thought it would be when I started watching it.

Made for Love is an HBO Max original drama-series about Hazel Gogol, the wife of billionaire tech mogul, Byron Gogol (which seems like a thinly veiled play on Google, but if HBO Max's legal said they could get away with it, go off, queen). Hazel has run away from her husband after having a chip put in her brain against her will and being held hostage at his tech compound. She is able to escape, but through the chip that her husband implanted in her brain, Byron is able to see everything that Hazel sees and hear everything that she hears. Eventually, the two come to an agreement about their marriage, and the chip is removed.

Now, I didn't want to get into too many spoilers with this show, because I think this show is a lot more nuanced and interesting than I've seen people give it credit for. I also glossed over major plot details in the series that happened in both the first and second seasons of the show, but if you're interested in them, you should definitely watch Made for Love for yourself.

This show is bizarre and uncomfortable, but also insightful and incredible in its discussions of what abuse can be and what it looks like. It feels like an extended episode of Black Mirror sometimes with how dystopian some of the concepts are, but it's still got a surprising amount of humor in it, too.

Season two of Made for Love ended on a cliffhanger, where (SPOILER for season two of Made for Love) Hazel ends up taking over Gogol's company and becoming pregnant with Byron's child, while Byron seems to have been trapped in a virtual space, presumably as revenge for putting the chip in her head, along with other abuses (as I mentioned, this show gets a little dystopian). We do not get to find out anything more about this, however, because unfortunately, the show was canceled shortly after the season ended.

As of yet, no official reason was given for canceling the show, but I can't help but be a little upset that the show didn't end in a satisfying way. For now, I guess I'm just grateful that the series is still available to watch on HBO Max, despite feeling a bit unfinished.

Well, that's the end of the list. Now, I love all of the shows I listed, and I highly encourage people to check them out while they are still available on HBO Max. If they aren't and have already been removed, please check them out wherever they are available (I tried to include links to where to find the shows now).

This list is not comprehensive, by the way. There are several other fantastic and wonderful shows that face an uncertain fate as HBO Max has essentially pulled the rug out from under them. Other wonderful shows that I didn’t mention on this list include shows that air through the BBC, which may or may not be available on HBO Max anymore. These are shows such as Ghosts (UK) and Starstruck.

Poster for Starstruck (starring Rose Matafeo): A romantic comedy show about a normal girl falling in love with a celebrity and navigating this complicated relationship. (It’s a lot less fan-fictiony than it sounds, I promise)

Not every show listed above is in danger of being removed from HBO Max, either, as some of the show's I've listed here are some of the most popular series on the platform. (We have Emmy winners and nominees on this list for crying out loud!) Also, some of these shows have already been canceled by the network, even without the corporate merger. However, the fact remains that whatever security we felt with streaming no longer exists.

The format of having a movie or a show disappear from one streaming service only to appear on another one weeks later has somehow desensitized us to what can happen when a piece of media is just... gone.

For example, in the days following the Batgirl announcement where Warner Bros. pulled the movie from its streaming schedule, they also quietly removed several other movies from their platform, including one I had seen, called Moonshot.

Poster for Moonshot (2022) starring Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse.

Moonshot was a 2022 HBO Max original romantic comedy that starred Lana Condor (of All the Boys I've Loved Before fame) and Cole Sprouse (from Riverdale). The plot follows Lana and Cole's characters as they stowaway on a rocket ship to Mars to meet their respective significant others who have colonized the planet. However, like any other rom-com, the two leads fall in love along the way.

As you can probably tell, I didn't have a lot of strong thoughts about this movie. When I watched it the first time, I thought the movie was completely... fine. It wasn't offensive (unlike The Royal Treatment), and it wasn't genre defining. It was just... okay. It was a good way to kill time if you're bored on an afternoon.

However, in the months since it premiered in late March, the movie has been scrubbed from HBO Max's platform, and it is only available on streaming on-demand services like YouTube or Amazon Prime, where you can purchase it digitally.

This feels like a shame for more than one reason.

Firstly, this movie was dubbed an HBO Max original movie from the beginning of its inception, and now... it's not. The movie is no longer available on the platform that produced it, which sets a bad precedent for streaming services down the line who would like to offload their unwanted content. For example, if Netflix removed half of their original movies today, we would risk losing more than just the infamous Tall Girl series, we would risk losing the iconic To All the Boys movies, or Marriage Story. 

If a streaming service can just decide to get rid of the content that it helped to produce because it no longer serves their bottom line, that is a bad sign for all of us. 

This is how lost media is created.

Erasing Moonshot isn't the end of the world in a literal sense, but it does very much feel like a canary in a coal mine. It is a sign of bad things to come, and bad things that have already happened. Infinity Train and Moonshot are no longer available to watch unless you know where to look for them and are willing to pay to watch them. 

Eventually, there will come a time when no one will remember these things even existed.

As someone who conducted a review on a piece of media that quietly disappeared, I can't help but feel a similar emotion when I consider the future of so many streaming shows, on this list and otherwise.

I'm not trying to say that everything is lost, but it seems like this HBO Max merger has broken the system that we believed was the end-all-be-all of entertainment. Streaming seems to be dying out slowly, and the only response that I have for this issue is to make sure you preserve the shows you love in any way that you can (Again, I'm not *directly* advocating for piracy).

In a lot of instances, this simply means supporting the artists of the things that you like. Because as bad as this is for us as consumers, this must be truly heartbreaking for them.

I believe that the worst part about this whole incident is that the creators (specifically animated creators, who were especially shafted by this merger) never get to see their shows develop in the way that they dreamed they would when they agreed to have their shows stream on HBO Max. They have been disrespected in favor of a quick buck or a company merger that is actively going to make the streaming service worse in the eyes of the consumer. I think the creator of Infinity Train, Owen Dennis, said it best in his blog post about the HBO Max/ Discovery+ merger:

Across the industry, talent is mad, agents are mad, lawyers and managers are mad, even execs at these companies are mad. I can’t think of a single person who works in...entertainment that, when you bring this all up, doesn’t say “What the fuck are they doing? How do they plan to have anyone ever want to work with them again.”

...What is the point of making something, spending years working on it, putting in nights and weekends doing their terrible notes, losing sleep and not seeing our families, if it’s just going to be taken away and shot in the backyard? It’s so incredibly discouraging and they’re definitely not going to be getting their best work out of whoever decides to stay.

We’re working at the intersection of art and commerce, but the people in charge have clearly forgotten that they’ll have no commerce without the art. (par 24-26)

I hope that Owen Dennis can go on to create another hit show for another network that doesn't remove his content without explanation (or better yet, doesn't remove it at all). I hope that the creators of all the shows that were cancelled or discontinued continue to create great art, despite this horrible business failing. I will continue to support the shows that I love and the artists behind them, because as an artist myself, I know just how much that means.

RIP to HBO Max. It was nice knowing you while you were cool.

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Thank you for reading. Consider supporting your local artist during this trying time.

Stay blessed.