Deadwood's final season?
Fri May 12, 2006 11:31 am
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/12/television.deadwood.reut/index.html
Damn them! That was the best show on HBO.
Damn them! That was the best show on HBO.
Fri May 12, 2006 12:05 pm
I thought it was like Carnivale. The first season was great and the second not so good. Sopranos aren't even that good this year. I am just waiting for Entourage to start up again.
Fri May 12, 2006 12:59 pm
Wow, Deadwood is my favorite show. Once it's gone, I'll probably drop HBO. All the previous reports were saying that HBO was near to reaching an agreement for a 4th season even though season 3 hadn't aired yet. I wonder if HBO is doing what I think they are doing: dumping expensive shows in favor of cheaper shows and then coasting on 'the buzz' they've built up over the years. Something doesn't seem right here, it's a 180 degree turn.
Fri May 12, 2006 1:06 pm
The guy who play "Dan Dority" commented on HBO's bulletin board before this story broke officially (he posts there from time to time, along with a few others)
"Having not slept for much of last night, I sit staring bleary-eyed at my computer. That phone call last evening floored me. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I see it coming.
I feel cheated.
I am cheated as an person because the way I was brought up a man's word is his bond. We were given word in Dec. that we'd be back for a fourth season. A formal annoucement of that fourth season was trumpeted in the press in March. Lives were planned accordingly.
I am cheated as an artist because something that I poured my lifeblood into has been given short-shrift and not allowed to conclude properly.
I am cheated as a fan because the verbally fleet and intricately plotted show shall just cease to be. It will just stop. No wrap up. No farewells.
It isn't like DEADWOOD had a tiny audience. No, our ratings -- based on what I've read -- were good, better than all HBO shows but one. They were not SOPRANOS huge, but then again, SOPRANOS did not become the cultural phenomenon until it's third season.
This is not the fault of David Milch. Given his druthers, he would never just leave a show hanging like this. I feel nothing but gratitude toward his largess. As for the coporate bean-counters...
It has been a high-water mark of my career. I seriously doubt I will ever again be a part of something so unique, so daring, and so special. I hang my head in sorrow...
W. Earl Brown
"
"Having not slept for much of last night, I sit staring bleary-eyed at my computer. That phone call last evening floored me. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I see it coming.
I feel cheated.
I am cheated as an person because the way I was brought up a man's word is his bond. We were given word in Dec. that we'd be back for a fourth season. A formal annoucement of that fourth season was trumpeted in the press in March. Lives were planned accordingly.
I am cheated as an artist because something that I poured my lifeblood into has been given short-shrift and not allowed to conclude properly.
I am cheated as a fan because the verbally fleet and intricately plotted show shall just cease to be. It will just stop. No wrap up. No farewells.
It isn't like DEADWOOD had a tiny audience. No, our ratings -- based on what I've read -- were good, better than all HBO shows but one. They were not SOPRANOS huge, but then again, SOPRANOS did not become the cultural phenomenon until it's third season.
This is not the fault of David Milch. Given his druthers, he would never just leave a show hanging like this. I feel nothing but gratitude toward his largess. As for the coporate bean-counters...
It has been a high-water mark of my career. I seriously doubt I will ever again be a part of something so unique, so daring, and so special. I hang my head in sorrow...
W. Earl Brown
"
Sat May 13, 2006 10:32 am
friggin lame
Sat May 13, 2006 11:26 am
That's a shame.
The Wire is by far their best show, and I am fully expecting the 4th season sairing this year to be the last.
HBO isn't dropping 'expensive' shows. If they were, Sopranos would have been the first to go as all the main actors make millions per season. I dropped HBO a long time ago, just not worth it with netflix out there and bit torrents of their shows within hours of the new episode.
The Wire is by far their best show, and I am fully expecting the 4th season sairing this year to be the last.
HBO isn't dropping 'expensive' shows. If they were, Sopranos would have been the first to go as all the main actors make millions per season. I dropped HBO a long time ago, just not worth it with netflix out there and bit torrents of their shows within hours of the new episode.
Sat May 13, 2006 3:12 pm
No, it was a cost factor. You might not believe this, but the guy who plays Dan Dority posts on the official HBO board, and gave the rundown on it. Deadwood was the second most expensive show HBO has, Rome has half it's costs carried by BBC. Milch was only going to do show for one more season. Even though Deadwood was HBO's second highest rated show, it has half the viewership that the Sopranos has. HBO had a banner year in 2004, but 2005 things slipped a bit.
If you want to read the whole post:
http://boards.hbo.com/thread.jspa?threadID=700001217&start=30&tstart=0
Scroll way down to post 206 from BigEarlB
whoops, that link doesn't work correctly, here's the cut n paste, sorry it's so long:
It has nothing to do with pregnancies. It has nothing to do with conservative watchdogs.
It has everything to do with money.
Chris Albrecht, HBO CEO, is in danger of losing his job. The network is bleeding red ink. His production side lost a ton of money. They sunk 120-million into ROME. They are committed contractually to another season, plus they have 120 invested already.
On DEADWOOD, they did not get foreign rights. Paramount had a deal with Milch to work for them. In exchange for them releasing him to HBO, they got foreign rights to our show. So for three years, HBO has not seen that money from around the world.
While we are the second biggest show on HBO, we are the 2nd most expensive to make (half of what ROME costs, mind you). Chris has shareholders to answer to and is panicked to cut the bottom line. Never mind the fact, that in 2004 he posted a 1-Billion dollar profit (the most for ANY network. Ever.) You might've won the Super Bowl last year, but if you go 0-16 this season, you're looking for another coaching job.
We had been given word of season four. They trumpeted the announcment of the season to the press in March. Chris, obviously having not been raised the way I was where a man's word is his bond, reneged on us. He offered Milch the opportunity to wrap up the series with either a 2 hour movie or an order of six episodes. David refused, feeling that to conclude with anything short of a full season (which we'd already been given word of) would demean all the work we'd done prior. I agree.
The shitty part of this is David's Paramount deal is over this year. Starting with season four, HBO would own the show outright. All world monies would be theirs. BUT... that doesn't help Chris with the shareholders today. He is cutting off his nose to spite his face.
Write HBO. Call HBO. Email HBO. It amounts to the bottom line. If the are overun by subscibers and the threatened cancellations are enough of an issue to seriously cut into their cash flow, they might change track.
Bottom line matters. CARNIVALE only had a weekly viewership of 2-3 million. SOPRANOS, on the opposite end, has 10-12. DEADWOOD drew 5-6. ROME has a comparable draw, although their viewership dwindled as the show went on. However (this is solely my opinion having constantly encountered fans on the street, in airports, etc. who are only now getting into the show via dvd of season 1) DEADWOOD is (was) still ascending.
We've been cut off at the knees.
Read this. Memorize this. I'm afraid some Monitor from Big Brother will soon delete it and I will never work for HBO again... at least while Albrecht is at the helm.
If you want to read the whole post:
http://boards.hbo.com/thread.jspa?threadID=700001217&start=30&tstart=0
Scroll way down to post 206 from BigEarlB
whoops, that link doesn't work correctly, here's the cut n paste, sorry it's so long:
It has nothing to do with pregnancies. It has nothing to do with conservative watchdogs.
It has everything to do with money.
Chris Albrecht, HBO CEO, is in danger of losing his job. The network is bleeding red ink. His production side lost a ton of money. They sunk 120-million into ROME. They are committed contractually to another season, plus they have 120 invested already.
On DEADWOOD, they did not get foreign rights. Paramount had a deal with Milch to work for them. In exchange for them releasing him to HBO, they got foreign rights to our show. So for three years, HBO has not seen that money from around the world.
While we are the second biggest show on HBO, we are the 2nd most expensive to make (half of what ROME costs, mind you). Chris has shareholders to answer to and is panicked to cut the bottom line. Never mind the fact, that in 2004 he posted a 1-Billion dollar profit (the most for ANY network. Ever.) You might've won the Super Bowl last year, but if you go 0-16 this season, you're looking for another coaching job.
We had been given word of season four. They trumpeted the announcment of the season to the press in March. Chris, obviously having not been raised the way I was where a man's word is his bond, reneged on us. He offered Milch the opportunity to wrap up the series with either a 2 hour movie or an order of six episodes. David refused, feeling that to conclude with anything short of a full season (which we'd already been given word of) would demean all the work we'd done prior. I agree.
The shitty part of this is David's Paramount deal is over this year. Starting with season four, HBO would own the show outright. All world monies would be theirs. BUT... that doesn't help Chris with the shareholders today. He is cutting off his nose to spite his face.
Write HBO. Call HBO. Email HBO. It amounts to the bottom line. If the are overun by subscibers and the threatened cancellations are enough of an issue to seriously cut into their cash flow, they might change track.
Bottom line matters. CARNIVALE only had a weekly viewership of 2-3 million. SOPRANOS, on the opposite end, has 10-12. DEADWOOD drew 5-6. ROME has a comparable draw, although their viewership dwindled as the show went on. However (this is solely my opinion having constantly encountered fans on the street, in airports, etc. who are only now getting into the show via dvd of season 1) DEADWOOD is (was) still ascending.
We've been cut off at the knees.
Read this. Memorize this. I'm afraid some Monitor from Big Brother will soon delete it and I will never work for HBO again... at least while Albrecht is at the helm.