HBO Max purges a ton of animation from its service

[Jman]

Meanwhile tonight’s AEW is sponsored by the GOT prequel House of the Dragon.

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2022 by Jman

[PokeNirvash]

[MasqueradeOverture]

 

[Seight]

8 hours ago, Jman said:

Meanwhile tonight’s AEW is sponsored by the GOT prequel House of the Dragon.

Me: "Okay, maybe there wasn't really anything for me to wor-"

*the match everyone was certain would be the main event of All Out in 2 1/2 weeks is the main event of next week's Dynamite instead*

Me: 

[Jman]

I fully expect it to be a smoz to build for All Out.  AEW isn't afraid of time limit draws.

In any event, it's fully anticipated all of these are tax write offs to strengthen the Q3 financial outlook.  So, no Six Flags ride for you in Tax Write-Off hell Infinity Train!

[Jman]

When cancellation isn’t enough, purge any and all evidence of the show’s existence.

[EmpressAngel]

[matrixman124]

[Blatch]

All of this talk about Infinity Train is doing a better job of making me want to watch the show than anything that happened during its original run, save for maybe when people thought [adult swim] Jr. was gonna be a thing and this show would be its first original. Remember that? Anyway, it helps that I'm big on media preservation: rip your Blu-ray discs (even if you can't play them), back up your FLACs, and stash all your ripped video games on a different computer somewhere in the house. Too bad I don't have a media server where I can have instant access to all of it at any given time, but I prefer physical media anyway.

[CaptainStarwind]

On 8/19/2022 at 11:01 PM, Blatch said:

All of this talk about Infinity Train is doing a better job of making me want to watch the show than anything that happened during its original run, save for maybe when people thought [adult swim] Jr. was gonna be a thing and this show would be its first original. Remember that? Anyway, it helps that I'm big on media preservation: rip your Blu-ray discs (even if you can't play them), back up your FLACs, and stash all your ripped video games on a different computer somewhere in the house. Too bad I don't have a media server where I can have instant access to all of it at any given time, but I prefer physical media anyway.

Don't forget having a duplicate if you can afford it.  I've been burned too many times when my drive dies and I lose everything on it...

Time to start archiving these shows I guess!

[OwlChemist81]

Cartoon Network needs some sort of vault. Even if you had to go to Atlanta to witness them, these shows need to exist in some sort of museum exhibit.

CN is having the worst 30th birthday ever!

I watched the first 2 Books on CN but have yet to see Books 3 and 4 of Infinity Train, and now I guess I never will. 😭

Edited August 23, 2022 by OwlChemist81

[CaptainStarwind]

1 hour ago, OwlChemist81 said:

Cartoon Network needs some sort of vault. Even if you had to go to Atlanta to witness them, these shows need to exist in some sort of museum exhibit.

CN is having the worst 30th birthday ever!

I watched the first 2 Books on CN but have yet to see Books 3 and 4 of Infinity Train, and now I guess I never will. 😭

They could care less about losing these shows if they aren't making money for them.  It's a sad fact, but it's reality.

[PokeNirvash]

>casually forgetting iTunes exists

The shortsightedness and tunnel-vision of this community never ceases to amaze me.

[katt_goddess]

Since this could be relevant and I'm not going to either bump the old thread or port it in here when this thread works, re-posting this link - 

https://chng.it/2JgN7Svmmx

It's a link to a Change.Org petition to save the Venture Bros. It was originally started when the series was unceremoniously cancelled despite being on an active contract. Then the 'movie' was announced to tie-up all the loose ends [ personal theory - something had to be done otherwise there would have been a massive breach of contract going on ] so the petition sort of limbo'd itself. Now with all the purging going on which includes pitching stuff that was almost completed or even completed but not yet released, there's a possibility that the Venture Bros project could get punted so the petition is active again.

Click or don't. I think clicking auto-signs you [ I don't want anyone to click something they don't feel like supporting after all whereas I've clicked the shit out of it ] but at least y'all know what's going on with that. -.-; 

[CaptainStarwind]

1 hour ago, katt_goddess said:

Since this could be relevant and I'm not going to either bump the old thread or port it in here when this thread works, re-posting this link - 

https://chng.it/2JgN7Svmmx

It's a link to a Change.Org petition to save the Venture Bros. It was originally started when the series was unceremoniously cancelled despite being on an active contract. Then the 'movie' was announced to tie-up all the loose ends [ personal theory - something had to be done otherwise there would have been a massive breach of contract going on ] so the petition sort of limbo'd itself. Now with all the purging going on which includes pitching stuff that was almost completed or even completed but not yet released, there's a possibility that the Venture Bros project could get punted so the petition is active again.

Click or don't. I think clicking auto-signs you [ I don't want anyone to click something they don't feel like supporting after all whereas I've clicked the shit out of it ] but at least y'all know what's going on with that. -.-; 

Isn't that movie just about finished, though?  I think it's due out by the end of the year.  I feel it's different to cancel a series before it finishes (especially if later season are still early/not in production), but they sunk so much money into this movie at this point that they would be fools not to release it in some way.

[katt_goddess]

45 minutes ago, CaptainStarwind said:

Isn't that movie just about finished, though?  I think it's due out by the end of the year.  I feel it's different to cancel a series before it finishes (especially if later season are still early/not in production), but they sunk so much money into this movie at this point that they would be fools not to release it in some way.

You are talking about the same group that punted a completed Batgirl movie for the tax write-off rather than release it in any form at even the hint of a loss.

I have no idea how far things have gotten with the movie. All I can say for certain so far is that no one from the series is currently listed as a guest at Dragon Con this year. Doc was still recovering from back surgery in 2019 but promised via phone call that he'd totally be there in 2020...then 2020 happened. He couldn't make it last year because the current potential levels of covid were too high for him to safely scoot about the Con. It wouldn't the first time any of them just showed up and wandered around to see if anyone noticed them [ Jackson did that the second year I was there - just showed up and snuck up behind cosplayers ] but when not even Dana Snyder is on the lists, something is going on. 

[rpgamer]

12 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

I watched the first 2 Books on CN but have yet to see Books 3 and 4 of Infinity Train, and now I guess I never will. 😭

Wait, there was four whole seasons of that? Dang, I super missed out. Enjoyed the first... I guess probably the first two on CN? Seemed a shame how it just disappeared from everywhere and was only available on this service... was one of the reasons I was considering swapping Hulu out for it...

That said, everything else on the list of removed stuff sounds pretty forgettable... but that might just be because I'd never heard of any of it to begin with. Edit: Oh, wait, no, Summer Camp Island... I think I remember that one being kinda nice, too. Everything else... I mean, I'm certainly not gonna be mourning the loss of Uncle Grandpa...

Anyway, relevant:

 

Edited August 24, 2022 by rpgamer

[Sketch]

8 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

>casually forgetting iTunes exists

The shortsightedness and tunnel-vision of this community never ceases to amaze me.

Does iTunes still limit the number of devices you can register a video to?

At any rate I bought Close Enough, Infinity Train, O.K. K.O. and Final Space on Amazon Prime Video because it's the easiest platform to watch the shows with a friend remotely IMO. I've had Megas XLR on iTunes for years but if that limit is still in place then I don't think I can download it to my current computer. But at this point I have no qualms with pirating any of these shows or other ones that CN or Warner (in its various forms) wrote off or buried.

Hearing that the new management has even decided to shop around a major Batman animated series with Matt Reaves and J. J. Abrams involved is beyond the pale. How can they look at that project and go "nah HBO Max doesn't need highly anticipated animated content like that, let's see if anyone else is willing to pay for it"? I suppose they expect someone will be willing to pay bank for the rights to air or stream it and if it screws over CN and even HBO Max, it doesn't matter to the management.

If they're cancelling projects left and right and shopping around others it doesn't bode well for any of DeMarco's projects even if they're relatively cheap to co-produce. Unless they cost a mere fraction of what that Batman series costs (and I suppose that is possible if The Caped Crusader has a high budget for an animated series) then I have a hard time believing the management would consider them more worth producing for CN and HBO Max than a gat dam Batman series with two Hollywood executives and Bruce Timm attached. But on the other hand they probably couldn't make a bunch of money selling the airing/streaming rights to Ninja Kamui and FLCL sequels like they surely can from selling a Batman series. Toonami's affordability continues to be the most sensible reason for keeping it around.

Seems to me that the current management is going to approach WB's library in a manner that is the exact opposite of the AT&T overlords. They wanted everything of value on HBO Max to drive up subscriptions while Discovery seems intent on leveraging the WB library in theaters and on other platforms, selling their wares to the highest bidder. The problem of course is they're also seemingly cutting off the content pipeline for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim and at least before even if CN and AS felt like they played second fiddle, at least they still got the content but now it looks like they won't even get sloppy seconds.

Edited August 24, 2022 by Sketch

[Seight]

19 hours ago, Sketch said:

Seems to me that the current management is going to approach WB's library in a manner that is the exact opposite of the AT&T overlords. They wanted everything of value on HBO Max to drive up subscriptions while Discovery seems intent on leveraging the WB library in theaters and on other platforms, selling their wares to the highest bidder. The problem of course is they're also seemingly cutting off the content pipeline for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim and at least before even if CN and AS felt like they played second fiddle, at least they still got the content but now it looks like they won't even get sloppy seconds.

I've asked myself multiple times the past couple of months "So what the fuck ARE they planning to air on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim if they're murdering all the cartoon shows?"

[EmpressAngel]

 

[rpgamer]

1 hour ago, Seight said:

I've asked myself multiple times the past couple of months "So what the fuck ARE they planning to air on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim if they're murdering all the cartoon shows?"

I've lived through one live-action CN era... I can probably do it again...

Those were dark days.

[Jman]

There are some vague rumors Cartoon Network itself might be shut down when all is said and done, but that’s probably a bridge too far.

That being said, Warner is running out of money.

 

 

 

[StarPanda]

Uncle Grandpa now there’s a show I forgot existed 

[Sketch]

WBD owns CN, Boomerang and Discovery Family. If anything Boom and DF should kick the bucket long before CN does but I'm sure they're all doing quite badly as all kids networks have been.

Though I don't think it's going to help and it probably wont last long, CN is celebrating it's 30th anniversary with a weekday line-up change that include Adventure Time and Regular Show in the 6pm hour and a 7pm hour that's a rotation of old CN shows. I think I'll watch CN live on purpose for the first time in a long while.

[OwlChemist81]

10 hours ago, Jman said:

There are some vague rumors Cartoon Network itself might be shut down when all is said and done, but that’s probably a bridge too far.

That being said, Warner is running out of money.

 

 

 

I suppose it's possible if WBD does end up axing CN, [as] COULD live on, on Saturday nights on TBS or TNT. Start with comedy premieres at 9 PM or 10 PM, run through a few more classic reruns and American Dad or Rick & Morty at 11:30, and then Toonami would take over at Midnight.

Edited August 25, 2022 by OwlChemist81

[Blatch]

On 8/24/2022 at 1:39 AM, rpgamer said:

Anyway, relevant:

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Really, at this point I'm just concerened the Uzumaki series might get shitcanned rather than any of the other originals. But also, it's promising that they're shopping around that Batman series rather than writing it off and consigning it to the dustbin of lost media history. Seems like all that trolling on social media is working. So maybe these co-pros could survive if WBD decides they don't want 'em anymore. It could be as simple as shipping them off to Crunchyroll, or maybe HIDIVE given the Sentai partnership (and AMC's wallet, which is probably big).

I'll think about buying Infinity Train and the like on iTunes, but... I don't know. That platform never sat well with me due to applying DRM to their video content. And I'm definitely not going to bother with Amazon. So at least for now, I've dusted off my MySpleen account and am finally going to use it properly. Back when I made it, I had no idea how torrent clients worked, which left me with a horrible ratio. 😵

[EmpressAngel]

I know literally nothing about TV production., but I'd assume that being a co-production with a studio outside WB's bubble complicates things for them. It could very well be the case that breaking the contract and paying off their partner would cost significantly more than whatever tax writeoff they'd get for shitcanning it.

[CaptainStarwind]

9 hours ago, Blatch said:

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Really, at this point I'm just concerened the Uzumaki series might get shitcanned rather than any of the other originals. But also, it's promising that they're shopping around that Batman series rather than writing it off and consigning it to the dustbin of lost media history. Seems like all that trolling on social media is working. So maybe these co-pros could survive if WBD decides they don't want 'em anymore. It could be as simple as shipping them off to Crunchyroll, or maybe HIDIVE given the Sentai partnership (and AMC's wallet, which is probably big).

I'll think about buying Infinity Train and the like on iTunes, but... I don't know. That platform never sat well with me due to applying DRM to their video content. And I'm definitely not going to bother with Amazon. So at least for now, I've dusted off my MySpleen account and am finally going to use it properly. Back when I made it, I had no idea how torrent clients worked, which left me with a horrible ratio. 😵

Trust me, if MySpleen cared about ratio I'd have been kicked off years ago, though I have been working to better my ratio recently.

I was never particularly fond of iTunes video DRM either.  There used to be a way to strip DRM from iTunes movies you bought if you were on a certain version of iTunes or lower, but as far as I know that's no longer an effective way.

[PokeNirvash]

8 hours ago, EmpressAngel said:

I know literally nothing about TV production., but I'd assume that being a co-production with a studio outside WB's bubble complicates things for them. It could very well be the case that breaking the contract and paying off their partner would cost significantly more than whatever tax writeoff they'd get for shitcanning it.

Not to mention said co-production is international (assuming we're still talking about Uzumaki). Even if WBD writes it off, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if the terms of its production contract made its rights revert to whoever holds the license in Japan instead of our government, as is the case with purely American written-off productions. Meaning Demarco can just abuse the loophole like he did with IGPX and reverse Uzumaki's write-off, allowing it to air without issue.

I apologize for bringing this up again, but it just bothers me that I'm the only one who seems to recall how this sort of thing works with Williams Street original anime.

[Jman]

If Warner wrote off Uzumaki Crunchyroll would take it as an exclusive and there would be even less of the current 0% chance of Crunchyroll ever working with them.

But given Zaslav's slash and burn policies in the name of "middle America", I could easily see him viewing these weird Chinese cartoons as an unnecessary expense.

[EmpressAngel]

13 hours ago, PokeNirvash said:

Not to mention said co-production is international (assuming we're still talking about Uzumaki). Even if WBD writes it off, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if the terms of its production contract made its rights revert to whoever holds the license in Japan instead of our government, as is the case with purely American written-off productions. Meaning Demarco can just abuse the loophole like he did with IGPX and reverse Uzumaki's write-off, allowing it to air without issue.

That's true. I'm sure circling back around for the rights is an option on the table. I'd actually be pretty surprised if Toonami didn't have right of first refusal with Uzumaki.

11 hours ago, Jman said:

If Warner wrote off Uzumaki Crunchyroll would take it as an exclusive and there would be even less of the current 0% chance of Crunchyroll ever working with them.

Why would Uzumaki default to CR? I've literally never seen them mentioned being involved with it, just Toonami and the Japanese studio. Unless I missed them being co-prouducers on it too, there'd be no reason for it to go to them.

Edited August 26, 2022 by EmpressAngel

[Blatch]

48 minutes ago, EmpressAngel said:

Why would Uzumaki default to CR? I've literally never seen them mentioned being involved with it, just Toonami and the Japanese studio. Unless I missed them being co-prouducers on it too, there'd be no reason for it to go to them.

Probably just because they're the biggest name in the American anime business.