HBO could kind of do that because they were THE premium channel and how a significant chunk of the US market actually watched movies.
Even by GOT? E’RYBODY was showing titties. Hell, I want to say AMC even was getting to push the envelope a bit? And Starz were outright hanging dong more often than not at that point (I will die on the hill that Spartacus was better written, better acted, and respected the audience more). And it was similarly around the time people were on to their bullshit (see SNL’s “It’s not Porn, it’s HBO” skit).
And with Netflix and Amazon both spinning up their own studios? It isn’t a surprise HBO reached the point that its branding was taken off the streaming service.
They’ve lost their niche in recent years, it’s true. Another casualty of “progress” just like episodic TV. Nowadays every showrunner thinks they can tell us “don’t worry, it gets good in an hour or two of screen time”, and as long as it’s captured the spotlight by the season finale, they’ve still got a job. Time wasters!
HBO could kind of do that because they were THE premium channel and how a significant chunk of the US market actually watched movies.
Even by GOT? E’RYBODY was showing titties. Hell, I want to say AMC even was getting to push the envelope a bit? And Starz were outright hanging dong more often than not at that point (I will die on the hill that Spartacus was better written, better acted, and respected the audience more). And it was similarly around the time people were on to their bullshit (see SNL’s “It’s not Porn, it’s HBO” skit).
And with Netflix and Amazon both spinning up their own studios? It isn’t a surprise HBO reached the point that its branding was taken off the streaming service.
They’ve lost their niche in recent years, it’s true. Another casualty of “progress” just like episodic TV. Nowadays every showrunner thinks they can tell us “don’t worry, it gets good in an hour or two of screen time”, and as long as it’s captured the spotlight by the season finale, they’ve still got a job. Time wasters!