Maybe delayed to 2017.
HBO announced this premieres in September; with the finale on December 20.
This show has been going through some problems. They had to pause production in order for the final scripts to be written. Then, when Game of Thrones premiered last month, not a trailer or glimpse of it was seen, which raised eyebrows. If you’ve got a big budget sci-fi-themed show with a stellar cast, and you don’t promote it prior to your huge fantasy drama, you’ve got to wonder what’s going on.
HBO chief Mike Lombardo suddenly announced he was stepping down last week, and there’s been some turmoil in HBO’s drama department. Vinyl is so far a huge disappointment considering how much HBO spent on it. The Leftovers actually turned into riveting television, but it has a tiny audience and is done after this year. Newsroom also never made it past season 3. Luck didn’t make it much past the starting gate due to the horse deaths.
HBO has 2 years to find something that sticks, then Game of Thrones is done. They don’t need a GOT-sized hit (and, frankly, trying to chase another Game of Thrones is a mistake), but they do need something that generates its own buzz.
They definitely need to rethink some things over there. HBO is notorious for slowly developing projects, and a lot of the stuff that they end up turning down is stuff other networks scoop up (Mad Men, the upcoming American Gods series, Preacher, etc).
They can’t do Netflix and dump a lot of money into original programming and churn out dozens of shows, though. HBO has the pockets to play that game, but what they don’t have is air time. Remember, a large chunk of their audience is in it for the Hollywood movies. They demand primetime slots, too. HBO basically only has 1 night of drama/comedy programming, and that’s Sunday. Hopefully, Westworld sticks.
I’m really looking forward to Westwood, more so than any HBO offering since GoT was about to launch. I don’t think the concept has the longevity for 80 hours, but it’s a cool idea that actually seems timely now, and offers the opportunity for some interesting sci-fi concepts/themes, violence, sex. HBO is still the gold standard, despite some missteps.
HBO is finally gonna tease Westworld prior to this Sunday’s Game of Thrones megathrowdown.
Latest trailer. The Man in Black finally gets some screen time.
That looks damn good. I like the focus on the single world and the elevation of a created protagonist. Hopkins’s acting in the trailer is top notch, particularly that closing line.
Hopes have been raised.
Might get me to subscribe to HBO for a couple months again.
I’m all over this like stink on a chimpanzee.
Just what I was thinking.
Reminder: season one starts this Sunday.
— Alan
Thanks for the reminder.
Indeed!
Here we go
That was amazing. I love the changes from the original.
I haven’t seen the original (although I’ll have to add it to the watch list at some point now). I was a little worried how much they leaned on the time loop aspect of everything, thinking it would get boring episode after episode. It seems like that’ll become less of a thing though, but all of the little mysteries they’ve hinted at (and the little preview thing after the episode showing what’s coming) has me excited to see more.
As a big fan of the original and a game designer (the original is probably one of the reasons I’m a game designer, come to think of it,) I really like that in this version the Man In Black is one of the guests.
That was soooo good.
And it’s crazy how good it looked. In the era of Peak TV, there are too many shows to watch, even if you do nothing but watch TV 24/7. It almost feels like HBO dropping the gauntlet to its competitors. “We do this ridiculously expensive show called Game of Thrones you may have heard of. Well, we’ll raise you a Westworld.”
holy shit. that was DARK right from the beginning. i thought they’d insinuate that shit in slowly but…
Damn, and I was almost ready to cancel my NowTV subscription.
Wow, that was quite excellent. Loved the orchestral version of Paint It Black during the shootout. And a saloon version of Soundgarden… :)