Posted in: Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: HBO, hbo max, sation eleven, warner bros discovery

Station Eleven: Patrick Somerville Shares Honest, Sobering Message

With a little less than three weeks left before 2022 gives way to 2023, it appears Warner Bros. Discovery isn't feeling too much in the holiday spirit. On Monday, a wave of show cancellations hit the headlines. HBO's Minx was killed just as it was finishing production on its second season, while HBO Max Original Love Life was written off before any word of a new season. Later that day, we learned that HBO's Joss Whedon-created The Nevers was canned before it could wrap up its first season. But as bad as that news is, what makes it worse is that shows are also being pulled from HBO Max… including the award-winning Westworld, as we also learned on Monday. Think about that. Remember the days when HBO couldn't stop bragging about Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy's sci-fi drama/thriller? But that's the current state of affairs, where even a show that's less than 48 hours away from premiering its new season can be pulled (as was the case with TBS' Chad). So when we read what Station Eleven series creator & showrunner Patrick Somerville (Netflix's Maniac) had to say about securing physical copies of the adaptation of Emily St. John Mandel's post-apocalyptic bestseller, we couldn't help vibing that this might be one of the best examples yet of just how messed up things have become as multimedia companies continue their multi-billion-dollar streaming war.

Here's a look at the question that Somerville received via Twitter regarding fans being able to get their hands on physical copies of the series in case Warner Bros. Discovery decides to make Station Eleven disappear. Somerville's response proves both frustrating and yet, not surprising (though shocking in a"bigger picture" context). Seriously, the creators find out third-party that DVDs of their show exist… and they have to purchase their own copies on Amazon? Somerville then shifts to a very sobering reality. We're now living in a time when a show can have waves of love & support from critics & fans, strong, solid viewing numbers, a committed multi-season gameplan, and a green light for a new season and still get shelved for reasons that have nothing directly to do with the show whatsoever.

"I know this has come up a lot for fans of the show, and I apologize for not speaking to it. I haven't because I myself have been catching up to the process and trying to understand. But here's what I know:

About six weeks ago, a legitimate DVD version of the show did, in fact, become available from Viacom/Paramount, but it wasn't something the creators or producers were informed of and def not something we had oversight over. Still, I was glad to see it existed.

There were some "deleted scenes" on there that needed a bit more curation, and Paramount helped us out and removed some things we didn't want out there. So that was all.

Along the way, we learned they were putting the DVD out "on demand", which essentially meant the DVDs would be made as people ordered them. So the product DOES exist, but I think the delays are a function of this (kinda disappointing) method of rolling them out.

It's funny because all of the makers of the show were caught off guard by it appearing. I ordered 4 copies for myself off Amazon.

I wish we'd had a chance to make a cool physical version with commentaries and supplemental material, but on the other hand, I'm glad there's some kind of path. TV world is very weird right now.

In conclusion, though— feel free to watch it on HBO Max! The only way to really ensure shows remain available is that they generate too much interest (and completion) for anyone to justify removing them.

And even then…

If you take anything from this thread, take this— even the people who make shows have no fuckin' idea what's gonna happen tomorrow, just like the execs who passionately fought for them for years have no idea if they'll be employed tomorrow. That runs all the way up to the CEOs.

All you can do is make 'em and move on and hope they don't go away while you're in the middle of the process."

But as you can see from the follow-up tweet above, Somerville already has a plan ready to go in case Station Eleven ends up in Warner Bros. Discovery's "Financial Witness Protection Program," never to be heard or seen from ever again. It's like Burning Man but with lots and lots of couches.

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