Final word on the cancellation of "Luck"

[PaceAdvantage]

The cancellation of Luck was plain and utter BULLSHIT! They caved to left-wing PETA pressure, bottom line. Seeing the programming that has recently made its way to HBO, I'm not surprised by this one bit.

The people who say HBO really cancelled Luck because of poor ratings are off base. If HBO was so concerned with ratings, they wouldn't have automatically renewed Luck for season #2 after only one episode had aired of season #1. They would have waited to see how the ratings trended over subsequent episodes...that's IF they were worried about ratings.

This was one of the best racing productions ever made...movie or not...the actual racing scenes were for the most part done AMAZINGLY well. Some of the best "fictional" racing action I have EVER seen caught on film.

Watching this last episode, I literally got angry knowing this was it. How prophetic was Marcus' line near the beginning of Sunday night's finale when they were in their motel room getting ready for the day:

"Wanna know how I feel? Today's the day they take it all away from us."

And that's exactly what PETA did. They royally ****ED us out of one of the best racing productions to EVER evolve out of Hollywood. You will never again have this kind of star power associated with racing.

Dustin Hoffman. Oscar Winner (2).
Eric Roth. Oscar Winner (1).
Michael Mann. Oscar Nominated (4).
Nick Nolte. Oscar Nominated (3).
Joan Allen. Oscar Nominated (3).
David Milch. Emmy Winner (4).
Henry Bronchtein. Emmy Winner (2).

The last half of this first (and only) season was picking up momentum with each and every episode, story-wise. Those of you who bailed early on this show because it was "too hard to hear" or "too confusing to follow" really missed out on something special.

Plus, you made it easier for PETA to get its way, if indeed ratings were the major reason why HBO canned this show...but I refuse to believe that.

Thanks a lot to all you "fans" of racing out there who decided not to support this show as the season progressed.

Can't wait until you whine in some future thread about how racing never gets any "much needed" exposure.

And one last word about PETA. It has recently been reported that PETA KILLS 95 PERCENT OF THE ANIMALS IN ITS CARE.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/24/do...s-in-its-care/

PETA does not dispute this number. In fact, this was their response:

PETA told the Post that it does euthanize animals, but only because of “injury, illness, age, aggression, and other problems, because their guardians requested it, or because no good homes exist for them.”

Oh really now? How utterly hypocritical of you bastards.

[Let's Roll]

PA,
Thanks for laying it down the way you did. This really is a raw deal to the fans because this was a great show on many levels.

[HoofedInTheChest]

Well said PA (happy belated by the way), they are truly hypocrites and have been for a long time. They bring in over 35 million annually but only 1 million goes to the preservation of animals. I sometimes wonder what the real agenda is because it has nothing to do with animals, they call themselves non profit yet the salaries are outrageous among the staff. They slaughter more animals than the humane society, how f'n ethical is that? Than they have the balls to question the production of LUCK, i am amazed they found the time seeing that cremate more animals than the nazi's! Last year i came across a PETA demonstration downtown and as i walked by i asked if any of them were meat eaters? As expected it went silent.

It is really unfortunate LUCK got taken down, to be honest this was the best series i have seen since The Soprano's, they just don't seem to be putting out good programming for the most part. I am really gonna miss Escalante, loved his personality, "let me know whats what" along with Gus Demitriou, "greatest f*ckin country in the world".... not today it isn't.

I hope by some miracle someone picks up the show, it could truly be a great one, even for non racing fans.

[redshift1]

Plummeting ratings played a big part if the weekly audience was 10M it would still be on.

[PaceAdvantage]

I really would be interested in comparing the ratings of Luck with some other HBO shows of recent times during their first 9 episodes...then see who was cancelled and who wasn't...

HBO would never be so quick to pull the plug on a series with that kind of star power both in front and behind the camera.

People weren't cancelling their subscriptions to HBO because Luck was on...and most certainly people were adding HBO to their lineup to watch the series.

The case that ratings played the major role in the cancellation is a VERY weak one at best...

[HoofedInTheChest]

Look at the ratings of Seinfeld and The Soprano's in their first year, to name a couple off the top of my head..... then get back to me.

Here's a few more....
Cheers
The X Files
The Dick Van Dyck Show
Hill Street Blues
CSI (Las Vegas)
Family Guy
WKRP

[redshift1]

Ratings opened at 1M per episode and quickly dropped to 500k per, I know for sure they also measure the number of times someone time shifts each episode for later viewing and that number may have down as well.


Boardwalk Empire 3M average.

Game of Thrones 2.5M average.

Deadwood 1M when cancelled.

Rome 3M when cancelled.


.

[redshift1]

Originally Posted by HoofedInTheChest

Look at the ratings of Seinfeld and The Soprano's in their first year, to name a couple off the top of my head..... then get back to me.

Here's a few more....
Cheers
The X Files
The Dick Van Dyck Show
Hill Street Blues
CSI (Las Vegas)
Family Guy
WKRP

Soprano's opened to 3.5M and rose steadily thereafter do I need to research the rest as well? Luck was at half a million and in free-fall.

..

[bigmack]

It was clear from the start they were playing a numbers game with viewership.

I lost interest so don't care to look it up but the numbers you see redshift posting would make any HbO exective 'cave-in' the show with the slightest hint of animal exploitation.

I might have to break my rule of not posting lengthy posts and actually pen a review of the show sometime soon.

From my vantage it was a mess.

[judd]

id rather look at the leggs on danceing with the stars

[exactatom]

I wrote Jenny Rees an email about the subject which I will attach here as I do not know where else to put out my thoughts on the subject:


I was watching Luck last night and was thinking how the canceling of the show is a shame for the industry.

I was wondering, doesn't the state of Kentucky have a film commission? This may sound like a crazy idea, but could the local film commission put up a grant to have the show shot here? The storyline could be changed to incorporate Kentucky's beauty, horse farms, etc. Couldn't you fast forward the calendar and bring the storyline to a new season start with the following changes.

1. The Derby is approaching and both Nick Nolte's and Dustin Hoffman's horses are entered. You could incorporate Keeneland into the mix by having both horses go through the Blue Grass as a prep and show off the scenery at Keeneland.
2. A portion of the show could be transitioned away from the racetrack necessitating racetrack scenes involving horses to the farm in which Nolte originally worked. The race scenes could be used from the archives at Churchill and Keeneland through at least the first season as you could follow a trail through Blue Grass, Derby and Stephen Foster.
3. The character that plays Dustin Hoffman's love interest could be rewarded for her fund raising with a job with Old Friends.
4. The injured horse claimed by the Foray Stable man could be sent to be bred in Kentucky. The guys come to visit and decide to stay for the Summer. They also could buy a horse at the sales and you could incorporate that aspect into the show.
5. The slots issue could be raised here in Kentucky. Dustin Hoffman's character could be expanded and you could use the recent issues of a Senate President as plenty of fuel for a script which eventually sees slots get legalized and Hoffman acquiring ownership of a fictitious racetrack.

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by redshift1

Ratings opened at 1M per episode and quickly dropped to 500k per, I know for sure they also measure the number of times someone time shifts each episode for later viewing and that number may have down as well.


Boardwalk Empire 3M average.

Game of Thrones 2.5M average.

Deadwood 1M when cancelled.

Rome 3M when cancelled.


.

I posted this in the other thread, but I'll say it again. You are looking at the ratings too simplistically. This is HBO, not NBC. They make their money on subscriptions, not advertising. However, as far as ratings, what you aren't counting are the DVR viewers, or the viewers of the 20 replays of the show on each of the HBO channels, or the people who watch the show via On Demand. The total number was in the area of 4.5 million viewers per week. But again, that wasn't even the issue.

"Luck" was already renewed for a second season. The show had Oscar and Emmy winners all over it. The show had great reviews from critics. These things are what HBO wants because they're tired of AMC getting all the prestige and awards with "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" that they used to get with "The Sopranos" and "The Wire".

If it wasn't for the freak accident where the third horse died and the pressure from PETA, THE SHOW WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN CANCELLED. This is simply a fact---HBO was afraid the bad publicity would lead to people cancelling their subscriptions. That is how they make their money, through subscriptions. They bowed to PETA, and David Milch was extremely pissed off about it (read the DRF interview or various other interviews he's done, like this one).

http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-al...-premature-end

I thought it was a very good show that was sometimes slow moving but had a lot of potential to get even better. It's a real shame that it's gone.

[castaway01]

Originally Posted by redshift1

Soprano's opened to 3.5M and rose steadily thereafter do I need to research the rest as well? Luck was at half a million and in free-fall.

..

"The Sopranos" was a huge ratings success, but that is by far the exception to the rule among pay cable programming. Comparing any cable show to "The Sopranos" is going to make the other show look bad, so it's a ludicrious comparison because one show was a cultural phenomenon and the others weren't. HBO would love to get that again but no other show has brought that viewership and they weren't cancelled for it either.

[badcompany]

Originally Posted by castaway01

I posted this in the other thread, but I'll say it again. You are looking at the ratings too simplistically. This is HBO, not NBC. They make their money on subscriptions, not advertising.

You're right. You have to look at the ratings in the context of the talent on the show. This obviously was an abnormally expensive show for HBO to produce. So, bad ratings for a show like this is worse than for a show with a bunch of unknowns working for peanuts.

[blind squirrel]

I watched the show{mostly ON DEMAND}....Ratings for HBO? i subscribed
for LUCK,now i'll cancel..the last show was the best i'd seen..I guess Luck
was the ARAZI of TV Dramas..Oh what could have been!