Despite the fact that his parent company is in cost-cutting mode and clearly has no qualms putting TV shows and films out to pasture, John Oliver couldn’t resist taking a jab at Warner Bros. Discovery for shelving the Batgirl movie. During a longer segment on the monkeypox crisis, the Last Week Tonight host highlighted how the United States let 20 million monkeypox vaccines expire, which gave Oliver an opening to mock the Batgirl debacle and essentially ask WBD WTF is going on. Because it sure seems like they’re lighting the whole place on fire.
John Oliver calling out his parent company Warner Bros. Discovery for scrapping the BATGIRL movie. pic.twitter.com/GbkUGHikZt
— Jay (@Jay_3085) August 8, 2022
Via The Daily Beast:
“We let the vaccine sit unused on a shelf in our reserves like an expired Chobani or a $90 million movie on HBO Max,” said Oliver. “By the way, hi there, new business daddy! Seems like you’re doing a really great job. I do get the vague sense that you’re burning down my network for the insurance money, but I’m sure that will all pass.”
Oliver’s quip aside, Last Week Tonight is presumably safe despite the chaotic week at Warner Bros. Discovery. While new CEO David Zaslav has been making some sizable cuts at HBO Max, HBO proper has (so far) been safe from the wreckage. In fact, the company’s strategy going forward appears to be strengthening the HBO brand and ensure its prominence as a premium network channel. Next summer, the confusingly named HBO Max and Discovery+ will merge into some sort of super app that will serve as a secondary home for HBO series after they’ve aired.
As for how many shows or streaming movies will survive that transition is up in the air, but so far, the new WBD regime has shown no signs of axing HBO proper series even if their late night hosts fire off some jabs at the top brass.
(Via The Daily Beast)