Luck (2011) - HBO, Mann, Milch, Hoffman, Nolte

[ho bag brown]

those horses were the glue that held the show together

[Grover]

I don't envy whomever was saddled with making this decision. Gelding this far only to fail smdh

[Thalidomide]

Hoffman was doing some pretty important work in this show I thought. Sucks he'll probably never have a chance to get recognized for it now.

[badhat]

this is just shitty

[fatrick]

this is the first new show i've liked in five years or something

and now it's gone because some dumb old horses had to go and die

edit: r.i.p. old horses

[forest design]

they can't be cancelling the show for this. wtf?

if this does actually happen, the decision ultimately rested on ratings, not horses. whether it was the impetus they had been looking for to back out, or even if HBO was truly dedicated to the project, it was just not worth the hassle of having to deal with all the negative PR fallout from this, if the show had been getting better than mediocre ratings it wouldn't have been cancelled.

(this is in no way a comment on the quality of the show. though i haven't yet seen it, I do fully intend to.)

[traced out]

forest design with a lucid point

unreal

[glock mane]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flicka

[glock mane]

apparently a giraffe died during production of the Kevin James vehicle 'Zookeeper'

[dreamshake]

fuck this ruined my night.

[universe]

they can't be cancelling the show for this. wtf?

if this does actually happen, the decision ultimately rested on ratings, not horses. whether it was the impetus they had been looking for to back out, or even if HBO was truly dedicated to the project, it was just not worth the hassle of having to deal with all the negative PR fallout from this, if the show had been getting better than mediocre ratings it wouldn't have been cancelled.

(this is in no way a comment on the quality of the show. though i haven't yet seen it, I do fully intend to.)

A lot of decisions in Hollywood have to do with insurance, as well. With three horses dead, the cost of insuring the show probably would've gone through the roof. Horses are expensive.

[Kafkaesque]

insurance sounds reasonable. i don't think there's ever been a precedent for HBO canceling a show in the middle of shooting due to poor ratings. i wouldn't be surprised if they're contractually obligated to pay hoffman and the key creative personel what they're owed for the rest of the season.

[Feech La Manna]

Yeah it's not because of ratings. It would be pretty stupid to wait until the filming of the second episode of the second season if that were the case.

They would definitely put up more of a fight for True Blood or Game of Thrones though, I can agree with that.

[badhat]

this is just such a huge fucking bummer

and not just the cancellation but the deaths too.

for a show (and show runner) with such obvious affection and love for horses to be even remotely complicit in their deaths has gotta be devastating,

[Robo-Chachi]

Well, now I don't feel so bad about not getting in on this show.

[Feech La Manna]

this is just such a huge fucking bummer

and not just the cancellation but the deaths too.

for a show (and show runner) with such obvious affection and love for horses to be even remotely complicit in their deaths has gotta be devastating,

Yeah but I mean (outside of PETA's garbage) it sounds like they were just unlucky.

But yeah, overall the show was offering a pretty balanced look on what racing does to horses and increasing awareness of that world, including horse retirement, so it just fucking sucks.

Milch has gotta be pretty devastated. The article Sepinwall posted about going to the track with him when he was still at NYPD Blue and being told about his plans for Luck that long ago was just so sad.

[badhat]

yeah like none of us knows what happened and i struggled with the wording of that cuz i dont wanna make it sound like i'm rushing to blame milch for abusing horses, i doubt that.

just that theres horses that are dead xuz of the show, even if it was just pure bad luck, that sucks.

[Feech La Manna]

Reading comment sections about this is actually making me angrier than political comment sections

[Feech La Manna]

Which means I should probably stop

[someguy]

I hope HBO can strike some sort of deal to close the series with a movie (like they tried to plan with Deadwood).

But then again I haven't watched this show since ep 2 so maybe that would be completely unnecessary.

[Feech La Manna]

Yeah plot isn't really a big thing on this show anyway. I'm just fucking bummed there won't be more episodes.

[creationist]

let's not beat a dead horse

[pissydan]

the icing, no mistake, this.

[badhat]

i dont really have any confidence that a movie wrapup to deadwood or JfC would have been worthwhile.

admittedly they were both a couple of the biggest tv blueballs endings ever, but his pacing and storytelling was so deliberate and so much of the charm of the show was a result of that, that it just doesnt feel like either of those, or Luck, would translate to a traditional 5 act story arc.

[dr. badvibes]

sucks, but you shouldn't be able to kill an unlimited amount of horses for your art

it kind of feels pointless to talk plot at this point, but i find myself wondering during episodes if i've missed the endgame portion of Ace's plan, or if it's something they've deliberately held back for future revelation. like they talk about a lot of the pieces he wants to fall in place, but are we supposed to know what the ultimate upshot is? if we are someone should tell me

[dan]

would you guys be willing to personally put down a horse if it meant that this would get a second season?

[dan]

and I don't mean that as a hypothetical ,its an actual facebook campaign that I'm about to start

I think if 50,000 fans each kill a horse HBO is gonna have to take notice

[Gourmetbe]

this really left a bad taste in my mouth, like the time i ate dog food!

[Feech La Manna]

Man, Nolte killed it in this last one. And I loved "free gratis" popping up. Gonna miss this show.

[jewels]

sucks, but you shouldn't be able to kill an unlimited amount of horses for your art

now we can only gamble and kill horses at the same time.