"...2021’s Ultimate Slip ’N Slide was cancelled after the crew all came down with a highly infectious variant of explosive diarrhoea that can be spread through tainted water." Wait, why didn't we get an article on just that?
The great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace
51–60 of 88 posts
Re: The great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace
#52Another reason not mentioned for cancelling those shows: no one watched them? Not that I'm representative, but there was only one in there that I watch: Severance.
Perhaps. But the article mentions shows that were made, ready to go, then canceled.
And others might not have had much audience, but once they're available and streaming, how much overhead is there to just leave them there?
Re: The great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace
#53´ based on a legendary piece of intellectual property. ´ I’d have said ´ book´ instead, but IP and the associated business idea seems to be the new normal for culture. I find it a bit sad.
"Content" is uninteresting unless it can be monetised. I mean, why would anyone write a blog post or piece of software, much less a book or a song if there were no money attached?
philanthropy:
Re: The great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace
#54´ based on a legendary piece of intellectual property. ´ I’d have said ´ book´ instead, but IP and the associated business idea seems to be the new normal for culture. I find it a bit sad.
What do you mean by “new”?
Superman and Batman have been around for almost 80+ years. Pokémon is approaching 30 years.
Hollywood movies made in the 1920s were remade in the 1930s which were remade in the 1940s which were remade in the 1950s and so on.
People have also been writing articles that mention this “new” normal for decades. But when does it stop being “new” lol?
How were those new-ish Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings shows marketed? (I didn’t watch them.)
Re: The great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace
#55Another thing to mourn is that these shows will a) quickly disappear from streaming services and b) never get a hard copy (e.g. dvd) release
>>b) never get a hard copy (e.g. dvd) releasemaybe not one considered legal.
Re: The great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace
#56Whatare the implications of these tax write-offs in terms of piracy? If a company decides it'll never air a show again, what claim of ownership do they still have to prevent pirates from spreading the show for them? I'm sure the studios still be considered the copyright owners, but I don't think there's any ethical reason why they could possibly sue you for releasing something thst they cannot ever release themselves…
They can still make money later and will just pay taxes. Just because they value it at $0 doesn’t mean it has no potential future value. It just means when they claim they value they won’t have any costs to deduct. So future profit margins are higher.
Well, yes and no. If they reasonably believe they can make future revenue from it, it would be dishonest (and illegal) to value it at $0. I have no doubt that they are playing funny accounting games, but they have to play within the rules set by the IRS.
Re: The great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace
#57How much of this tax reduction is based on convoluted Hollywood accounting? If the tax on the value of the show is higher than the streaming revenues, doesn’t that imply that the valuation is bogus? Can someone explain how the numbers add up here?
I think you can monkey around with “Hollywood accounting” for profit sharing purposes as those are all civil offenses with private citizens suing, etc. But I suspect that studios play it straight with taxes as the IRS doesn’t mess around, it’s criminal investigations, officers are liable, and there’s whistleblower laws where the snitch gets 15-30% of what the IRS recoups [0]. So I bet the only way we find the true co…
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Re: The great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace
#58In their list of examples of historical cancellations-before-airing, they missed one of the most baffling. "Heil Honey I'm Home!" was a 1990 British sitcom, stylistically parodying 1970s US sitcoms (over-the-top canned laughter, applause whenever characters enter the room, etc), about Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun as a suburban couple, along with their Jewish neighbours. Somehow, eight episodes of this were made (though…
Ade Edmondson's character in Bottom was named Eddie Hitler and no-one batted an eye
Oh, sure, this _can_ work (particularly as a throwaway joke, as in Bottom - "Any relation?" "Yes!"). However, in the case of the above show, it... didn't. The pilot's available on Youtube, or at least used to be. It is Not Good.
Hitler in sitcoms is a bit like brain surgery. When done carefully, judiciously, sparingly, by highly skilled professionals, it can work well, but the haphazard amateur approach is quite undesirable.
Re: The great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace
#59´ based on a legendary piece of intellectual property. ´ I’d have said ´ book´ instead, but IP and the associated business idea seems to be the new normal for culture. I find it a bit sad.
"Content" is uninteresting unless it can be monetised. I mean, why would anyone write a blog post or piece of software, much less a book or a song if there were no money attached?
I've written many blog posts, pieces of software, and songs, that have all made exactly $0.
Re: The great cancellation: why megabucks TV shows are vanishing without a trace
#60Whatare the implications of these tax write-offs in terms of piracy? If a company decides it'll never air a show again, what claim of ownership do they still have to prevent pirates from spreading the show for them? I'm sure the studios still be considered the copyright owners, but I don't think there's any ethical reason why they could possibly sue you for releasing something thst they cannot ever release themselves…
So, I've never actually been able to determine what kind of tax deduction[0] or credit would apply to a TV show that loses money. There's rules for how you account for copyrights and patents in tax law, and what kind of business losses you can and can't claim as a deduction or credit. My uneducated guess is that there is no specific law that requires you to mothball a show that's been counted as a loss, but the strea…
> [1] A 'writ of outlawry' is an old legal instrument that allowed courts to withdraw the protection of the law to criminals it could not bring to justice. Murdering them would be legally equivalent to killing a wild (non-endangered) animal. As you might imagine from a legal concept that is effectively The Purge IRL, it is not used anymore.
Damn, you had me excited for a second.
So there’s no chance I can get one of these from a small claims or administrative law judge? Like maybe even just a little one?
How do these writs interact with other wildlife laws in California? Do I have to check if the individual is a native Californian (thus considered native wildlife) or will the judge do that for me? Does that mean I can capture them in a safari if I build the double layered fence enclosures and get them certified for exotic animals?