HBO to many has been the pinnacle of premier television programming. Over the years we’ve been given huge successes such as Entourage, Successions, Game of Thrones, Euphoria, and so much more. Growing up there was a mystique around HBO. It felt like it was the gate to adult entertainment. (Not that kind of adult entertainment ya horn dogs). But as I got older and as television has evolved and streaming has become basically the new medium, HBO has gone through some changes. Now to be fair I shouldn’t say HBO has gone through changes so much as Warner Bros. has gone through changes. HBO has been fairly consistent with maintaining its high standards of top quality programming. But what happens when drastic changes are implemented to the programming? HBO decided that they were going to make dramatic changes when it comes to the animated properties it was holding in its library as well as deciding the fates of many well received shows. According to an article by Liam Gaughan, In an effort to cut costs on what CEO David Zaslav feels are unsuitable for the HBO brand, shows, both live-action and animated, have been either canceled or removed completely. Shows like Westworld, Close Enough, The Nevers, Vinyl, Final Space, Infinity Train, and much more. Though some of these properties are available to be purchased for other streaming platforms to finish these series, many of these series are most likely doomed to be cast aside.
Now I understand needing to make changes if the product is broken, and the issue with a lot of these properties is the high cost of production. If you aren’t getting returns on your investment I can understand looking to move on from these properties while trying to create properties that succeed. With that said if you have a strong fan base behind them and creators that genuinely care for the projects, more often than not you’re almost always set for success. A lot of these shows that have been shelved had a solid following and were most often well received, exactly what you want in your programming. Now all of this can usually be overlooked if the shows that are replacing them are incredible, and HBO gave us what seems to be a masterpiece, and another that seems to be a disaster. That being HBO’s The Last of Us and Velma.
Both shows had very and I mean VERY little room for error when it comes to public opinion. Both properties come from beloved franchises with loyal fans that are not afraid to voice their opinions. But what feels like the key difference between The Last of Us and Velma came down to love for the original IP (intellectual property.) If you are using an already established IP with lore it is important to treat the property with love and respect while also giving it something new and fresh. Though this is a tall task one of these shows so far has stood up to the challenge, that is without question The Last of Us.
Before I go into these shows I’d like to say please watch both of these shows. Though I may have loved and hated these two shows it is only fair to at least give them a shot before crucifying or praising them. With that being said let’s go into the premier episode of The Last of Us.
Originally a Playstation 3 game, The Last of Us is looked at as a masterpiece in terms of storytelling, gameplay, and writing. Naughty Dog went above and beyond making what feels like a hopeless world truly beautiful. To say the show had big shoes to fill is an understatement. Thankfully within the opening dialogue of The Last of Us, you’re hooked. The eerie and chilling monologue given by actor John Hannah helps give the audience an ominous warning of things to come. What really makes this show stand above out is the character dynamics.
Enough can’t be said about the chemistry between Pedro Pascal and Nico Parker in their portrayals as Joel and Sarah Miller. Their father-daughter dynamic feels authentic and most importantly fun as they not just support one another, but aren’t afraid to call each other out. The family dynamic gets expanded when the audience is introduced to Joel’s brother Tommy. Gabriel Luna brings the charm of the character from the game to the screen effortlessly as Joel’s more lax but wise-cracking brother. The difference that I felt helped the show from the game as we are given more attention to Sarah and what she was doing before everything falls apart. The audience gets to see how she goes out of her way not to just surprise her dad but then to spend time with their elderly neighbors. Thus giving more of the character we can connect with, which makes what happens next much much more impactful. As nightfall hits and it becomes evidently clear that something catastrophic is happening, Joel, Sarah, and Tommy try to escape to somewhere safe.
During the car ride, we see Sarah just trying to understand what exactly is happening only to get no real answers. Not that Joel and Tommy are hiding anything, but because they themselves have no idea of the danger they’re all in. The tension builds as the camera is placed in the back seat, making the audience feels like it’s participating in the conversation. To me, this was when you feel like you’ve just been picked up for this journey. You are the last member of this group and are lost with no real answers or solutions to the horrors that are about to ensue. The tension reaches a boiling point as they are trapped in a town and have to try and escape on foot. The feeling of hopelessness rears its ugly head yet again to remind you that this story does not have a happy ending. I’m going to stop here so as to not go into spoilers, but just know that’s all within the first 30 minutes of this hour-and-a-half premier. There’s a reason this show had the second highest premier only behind House of The Dragon. If the first episode is any indication, this show has the potential to be the show of the year already.
Now that we’ve talked about what seems to be HBO’s golden egg this year, why don’t we turn to what seems to be their rotten egg, Velma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSm_Y3yS7bA
Now to be fair, this show was unfairly judged before the show even dropped an episode. A lot and I mean A LOT of people had issues with the changes made to the character’s designs. Some fans were not keen on race swapping most of the main cast, which feels like an excuse for s***ty fans to hate on something for no reason. Velma herself was also in the spotlight with the announcement of the character coming out as a lesbian. While most fans saw this as a positive for her, others used it as a way to attack the show, which is never acceptable. Velma had a tall task ahead of them, but with what seemed like solid casting in actors like Constance Wu voicing Daphne, Glenn Howerton voicing Fred, Sam Richardson as Norville (AKA Shaggy), and Mindy Kaling voicing the glasses wearing mystery solver. With a talented cast, an adult focus plot, and a compelling mystery, this show seemed to have the recipe for a tasteful show. But unlike how The Last of Us got us hooked in the opening sequence, Velma had me pausing the episode from the unhealthy overdoes of cringe that was forced down my throat.
Never in my life have I felt the urge to turn something off almost immediately after starting it as I did for Velma. The opening joke is a forced and long-winded meta joke focused on horror/teen dramas and nudity. The writing only gets tougher to sit through as we see the dynamic between Velma and the other core characters. Norville (Shaggy) is as unrecognizable as it gets. A pathetic, lusterless “pick me boy” desperately trying to gain Velma’s affection. Calling him a simp would be the understatement of the year. Which is disappointing because Sam Richardson is a very talented comedic actor, who isn’t given any chance to be funny outside of being so unpleasantly pathetic. This also leads to one of Velma’s main character flaws as Velma is, for lack of a better term, just unlikeable. Not sarcastic and clever, just rude which does a disservice to the lead of the show. This continues for most of the opening episode as she is really just rude to everyone. The writers made the cardinal sin in making the lead character the most unlikeable character in the show as of this moment. The jokes are incredibly drawn out to the point where you’re left just shaking your head in disbelief these were the jokes that beat out the others. Velma feels like someone had a vendetta against the Scooby Doo IP and tried to tarnish the name just for the sake of doing it, which is another issue with the show.
This show is so unrecognizable from the IP that it feels like no one cares. It feels like the only way they could get this show to get made was if they used the IP for backing, which does a disservice to all the parties involved. If this was a show based on a new IP or even if it was just focused on a different set of characters in the same universe, you could have given fans something fresh while also preserving the source material. Instead, it feels like they just wanted to get as much attention as they could to get people to watch, which they have because people are now “hate watching” it. Hate watching is a term used for people to watch something just to hate on it. A lot of the time it isn’t truly deserved, but when you have the lowest audience score on IMBD and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 55% plus an audience score of just 6%, it’s clear the show is just bad. With all that you would think that would mean HBO would look at that and think,
“Guess we really fumbled that one huh?”
Well, you would be wrong. What HBO sees isn’t hate watchers, but watchers nonetheless. They see people watching it regardless if it’s for the right reason or not. And it seems they’re ready to do it all over again as there are reports much like the one below where a season 2 is almost all but confirmed.
Now with all of that said, the show has some bright spots, albeit few and far apart. Those would be the performances done by Glenn Howerton as the egotistical pretty boy Fred, and Constance Wu’s take on Daphne. Daphne’s character has come a long way from her classic “damsel in distress” role and has now been given somewhat of a bite, which is much needed for Daphne. Meanwhile, Howerton’s portrayal of Fred can best be described as “Diet Dennis Reynolds.” Though it isn’t nearly as toxic as Dennis, it is with Fred where most of the jokes land, though still at a rarity.
At the end of the day whether love or hate either of these shows, remember that it is only fair to give them an actual chance. I have always believed the “3 Episode Rule” is the best way to truly gauge if a show is worth investing your time in. Though these shows might have had completely different first impressions, who’s to say they both won’t turn out to exceed people’s expectations? One thing is for certain, neither of these shows are going anywhere anytime soon.
