HBO Cancelling A Bunch Of Shows And Customers Aren’t Happy
Following the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery, HBO has canceled Gossip Girl, South Side, and Pennyworth.
The merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery has been a marriage made in hell for HBO Max subscribers. HBO has canceled content left and right since the merger. Now, the streamer is sending even more shows to the slaughterhouse with the recent cancellations of Gossip Girl, Pennyworth, and South Side – and fans are not shy about expressing their anger with these decisions.
Fans of Gossip Girl must feel especially jerked around. First, HBO revived the series, and now, a scant two seasons later, they’ve canceled it again. Ditto for the lesser-known Comedy Central castoff South Side. HBO Max rescued the show for a second season only to cancel it after the fourth. Poor Pennyworth, a show about Alfred, Batman‘s loyal manservant, may have gotten it the worst.
The series was rebranded for its third season from Pennyworth to the objectively worse Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler. Not only did HBO saddle the series with such a clunky moniker, but then they canceled it after one season under its new name. Poor Batman’s butler … he still made out better than Batman’s parents, though.
Even more DC content has been 86ed. HBO canceled both Titans and Doom Patrol after four seasons and on the same day, no less. It’s understandable since James Gunn is trying to reset the flailing DC cinematic/streaming universe but no less painful for hardcore fans of the two series.
The only bright side to a Doom Patrol cancelation is that it leaves Brendan Fraser free to pursue a different role in the DC universe (or their marvelous competition). That goes for all the other actors on the show as well. I can’t be the only one who thinks Danielle Guerrero would make an awesome Zatanna now that HBO canceled the series.
This recent round of cancellations follows several controversial moves by Warner Bros. Discovery involving the HBO streaming service. The canceled Batgirl movie was set to be an HBO Max exclusive before it was shelved. A Scoob! sequel titled Scoob!: Holiday Haunt was also buried as a result of the merger.
On top of everything, mostly all of the series that HBO has canceled since joining Discovery are all the ones the streamer has simply removed. Westworld, an HBO exclusive, was pulled from HBO Max along with FBOY Island and the first season of Joss Whedon’s The Nevers. In addition to its live-action content, the streamer has gotten rid of a slew of animated programming.
The list of cartoons unceremoniously dumped by HBO Max includes Infinity Train, Close Enough, Aquaman: King of Atlantis, and OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, among several others. The streamer’s mass cancelations are beginning to feel like another HBO property, Game of Thrones. Don’t get attached to any shows on HBO Max because as soon as you do, they’ll be canceled!
Warner Bros. Discovery has claimed from the beginning that all these drastic measures are for one purpose: to save money. The shows HBO has shelved or canceled were sacrificed in an effort to cut how much the company is spending and recoup some of its losses through tax write-offs.
Ultimately, all the cancelations and straight-up disappearances of popular shows may end up hurting Warner Bros Discovery rather than helping them. If customers can’t peek at their phones without seeing that HBO has canceled yet another series, they may just drop the HBO Max streaming service altogether.
