Latest / Presented by Speaking Human / #195: Return of the (HBO) Max

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#195: Return of the (HBO) Max · Presented by Speaking Human

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Speaking Human Today. On Speaking Human, we cue the dramatic
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: music and rewind the tape as Warner Brothers brings HBO
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: back into the Max Mix was the name change of
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Bold move or a branding blunder. Speaking Human.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Welcome to Speaking Human, where we simplify the world of
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: marketing for humans. I'm Shad calmly and with me is
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: my co host Patrick Jebber.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Welcome, Shad.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Welcome friend, Sir Patrick, Me and you. We have you know,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: a few things in common. One of probably the most
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: important thing we have in common. We are both children
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: of HBO.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Hm hm, Yes, that is true. We've talked about it
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: on the cast before. We both grew up in a
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: world before HBO, which not a lot of people can
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: say that's true, but.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: You know, we were kids who were touched by HBO,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: so it kind of made us cooler than a lot
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: of other people and gave us this unspoken bond where
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: we have things embedded in our brains, like the HBO
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: feature presentation hmmm, you know intro that they would play
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: before the movies that triggers something in us, like a
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Pavlovian response where other people would be like, I don't
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: know what that is for us, that's automatically like, ah,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: there it is.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we all have them, right, the thing you remember
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: as a child, it just made an impact in your
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: life for some reason. It's like this was just television really.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, we didn't realize it was making an impact,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: but you saw it so many times that now looking back,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: you go, ah, you know this familiar feeling and it's
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: a it's generally positive.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, oh yeah, definitely. So for us, you know, I
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: don't know how many what percent of the American population
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: grew up with a little bit of HBO in their lives.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: We have, you know, we're connected. So if you're listening
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: and you're one of us, welcome. But let me take
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: you back Patrick and ask you some trivia questions about
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: HBO's early days of original programming. How do you feel
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: about that? Do you feel good about that?
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: My track record on trivia lately has been failure after failure.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I get one right every maybe ten, So we'll see.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean I feel like I remember
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: things from that time period, but then again, you know,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: out of context, will I maybe not?
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean this is a mixed bag. I got
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: a few for you, so we'll see what happens. But
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: you know, you never know. You just got to lower
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the bar on your expectations from trivia. I think a
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: little bit.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, gonna win Jeopardy, but you know I have fun
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: doing it, right, I mean that's the idea.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe you'll get on to Jeopardy. All right, So
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: a true Daily Devil here for your first question. HBO's
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: first ever series was Inside the NFL. This is a
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: sports show that launched in nineteen seventy seven. I think
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: it's still going. I'm not sure, maybe in some iteration.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: But the network also launched this football set sitcom in
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: the nineteen eighties. Do you know what it is? Comedy
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: set in the world of football? Nineteen eighties?
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Can you give me a hint on that one. It's
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: on the tip of my tongue, I think, yeah, I.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Can give you a few hints. So the title is,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: you know, it's a football term. Starting this show, we
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: had oj Simpson was on it for a while. We'd
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: ogre from Revenge of the Nerds. If you remember that guy.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I literally remember this show. But I in
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: my head, like, I don't just escaping you, it's excaping me.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: It's like right on the tip of my tongue.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Ran from nineteen eighty four to nineteen ninety one. It
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: also started Delta Burke for a while, which I didn't
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: remember who was designing women.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember all those people. Like, that's so crazy
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: to think, because I it's it's something that people I
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: don't think talk about today. But yeah, I can't. I
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: can't remember the name of it escapes me.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Well, it'll all come flooding back to you a minute.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: The name of it is.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: First in ten, okay, Yeah, yeah, first and ten Okay, Yeah, I.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Think they show some like you know, you know it
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: was HBO. They because they would swear and they'd have
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: like some locker room nudity or something like that.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was an early That was an early show.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Like yeah, I don't even know, like today you wouldn't
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: show kids of our age something like that, probably, but
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: because it it was so new and times were different
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: back then, we were watching stuff that you know, was
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: probably should have been rated r.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. That was one of the joys of having HBO
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: in your household. You're getting to see a lot of
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: things you probably shouldn't see. Yeah, all right, next question though,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: the Hitchhiker came before it. You might remember that show
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: on HBO. What other horror anthology series did HBO air
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: in the eighties and nineties.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Creep Show?
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Not Creep Show. But you're on the right track. The
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: best hint I could give you is, oh, Tales from
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: the Crypt. There you go. Yeah, I know that's what
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: you're thinking of. Yeah, but similar it was. It was
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: like three different tales of you know, horror.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah it was. It was a little bit scary. It
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: was a little bit scary for you when you're a kid.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all right. Though not HBO's first prison show. That
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: would be Maximum Security in nineteen eighty four. Produced by
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: Ron Howard. This nineteen ninety seven show kicked off HBO's
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: move into quality hour long dramas.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: I'm sure I will know the name, but I think
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: ninety seven, you know, out of your timeframe, mm hmmm hm.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: That was OZ.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember the name of that show, and I
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: remember it being popular, But that was I'd never watch
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: an episode of that because it was kind of after
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: my you know, you're out of the house or whatever.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: I remember an exciting time was I like moved into
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: a place after college and they had like free HBO
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: for like a year.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Or something like that, and I was like, yes, it's
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: the best. I'm back baby, wow, live in the high life.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Man. All Right, I got one more for you. Let's
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: see if you can finish strong here. Okay, can you
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: name one of the after midnight sex focused docuseries HBO
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: aired in the nineties and early two thousands. There were multiple,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: You just have to name one.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: I mean the one that I'm thinking about was the
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  Speaker 1: one where they had like people who had like sex
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: fetishes and stuff like that, and it was real sex.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Real sex. Yeah, we will accept. I also would have
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: taken taxicab confessions or cat house real sex. I think
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: had like you know, there was like real sex twenty five.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: So they did it like a new version every year.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: It wasn't really scripted, right, it was. It was very
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: like raw. It was like they were interviews and they
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: would interview people and then they would like show scenes
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: from their like real life.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: This was the good thing about like early HBO. They
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: were just trying things. They were not afraid to like
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: kind of throw things out there, and.
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  Speaker 1: They had the ability to do that. There weren't the
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: restrictions that regular cable had.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they didn't have the limitations that some of the
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: networks or even the cable networks did.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: M hm.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: So in case you didn't get it by now from
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: all the trivia we've gone through, we're talking about HBO today.
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  Speaker 1: HBO in the news lately a little bit, a little
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  Speaker 1: bit yep of.
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  Speaker 2: Their own making, mm hmm. But we thought it was
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: a good time to talk about them and some of
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: the big news.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Ah, yes, oh yes. HBO Home Box Office, what started
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: as a way to bring these uncut movies into your
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: home without commercials, eventually became the prestige TV powerhouse, right.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's kind of what we're talking about at
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the beginning there, with like the shows that nobody else
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: was doing. But we're also talking about shows like The Sopranos,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Game of Thrones succession, which are you know, fairly recent.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: But at its peak, HBO wasn't just a channel, it
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: was a cultural force. Then came the streaming era. First
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: there was HBO Go for subscribers and HBO Now for
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the chord cutters like us, you know, we were chord cutters,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: shan yep. Then came HBO Max, which combined HBO with
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: a wider Warner Brothers Catalog, Cinemax, and then they dropped
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: the HBO from HBO Max and just went with Max.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Why because apparently clarity is overrated, so everybody knows HBO anyway,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: Warner Brothers Discovery, which is the conglomerate that owns it,
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  Speaker 1: is putting HBO back in Max. So it's going to
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: be HBO Max again, not officially in the name, but
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: very much in the branding. So that raises the obvious question,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: which is is this a good idea good or bad move?
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Good or bad move. It's a good move, it's also
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: kind of a duh move, and I guess a better
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: late than never move. They obviously, it seems to me,
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  Speaker 2: didn't realize the value of what they had. You know,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: they undervalued the HBO brand where they're just like, ah,
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  Speaker 2: we can strike this out. We can just kind of
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  Speaker 2: tuck it away. We don't really need to put it front.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: And center, which is weird, right, Let's just say that
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: up front. That's weird that they didn't recognize that.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Super weird. And I would say maybe they're not good
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  Speaker 2: at business.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: Right, I mean yeah, and I mean we're not geniuses
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: over here, We're not claiming to be like, oh, we're
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: these gurus who know stuff that nobody else knows. I mean,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I think everyone probably said the same thing, like why
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: did they do that?
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's pretty straightforward. People are like HBO
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: is what people know. Keep HBO front and center, So
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: it seems pretty obvious. So I guess the fact that
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: now they kind of see the light a little bit
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: is a good thing, even though, you know, probably later
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: than it should be.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: I look at this though, and I'm like, the news
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: probably says more about what's going on with streaming than
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: it actually does. Maybe Warner Brothers, Discovery or even HBO.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: You know, I think a couple of years ago, they're like,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: we're gonna be Netflix, We're gonna be this streaming service.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: We're shoving all this stuff in here. It's kind of
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: been these past years like the gold rush streaming. You know,
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: everybody wants to be this thing. Everybody wants to be
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: the streamer and like pile on the subscribers. This seems
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: to me like Warner Brothers is backing away from that,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: or like maybe realizing this isn't where the gold is
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: and they're figuring out like HBO and the content itself
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: is probably where we're gonna find our gold. Rather than
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: being the platform that everybody comes to. We can like
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: have HBO the quality content. We can sell out the
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: content if we need to, or put it on other platforms,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: which they've done because it's been popping up on Netflix.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I think that's kind of more the realization here than
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: them actually being like, oh, HBO people people are into that.
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: Seems like they've kind of come back around one as
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: a brand and as a content creator because they seem
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: to be cranking that out more than they were a
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: year ago too.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: But I mean it has literally been two years. It's
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: not very long.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's a full reversal. They're just kind
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: of like going back to the exact thing that obviously
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: probably shouldn't have changed in the first place. Even looking
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: at you know, reading through their press release, looking at
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: some of the language and the way they talk about it,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: they kind of try to spin it a little bit.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: You know. This evolution has also been influenced by changing
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: consumer needs, has it, And the fact that no consumer
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: today is saying they want more content, but most consumers
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: are saying they want better content. That's I think a
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: little bit what I was talking about. They're more realizing, Okay,
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: it's not about just like piling discovery and everything in
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: there and making it max with other services, filling the
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: more basic needs with volume. WBD has clearly distinct wished
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: itself through its quality and distinct stories, and no brand
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: has done that better and more consistently over fifty plus
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: years than HBO.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: There's a longevity to it. There is equity equity in
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: that name, positive equity, not negative equity. There's positive equity
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: in that name. You don't just blow that off. I
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: guess you don't just blow it off is a statement
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: that is incorrect in this case because they just blew
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: it off originally, you know, But I mean you shouldn't
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: do it.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, which again seems like super obvious, but was not
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: obvious to them. Maybe after they lost eleven billion dollars
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: last year they're like, well, maybe we should uh think
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: about this HBO thing a little more. But I give
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: them a little credit for going back to something they changed.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: You know, it takes a little it takes a little
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: bit of stones to eat it publicly like that, to
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: just say all right, we were wrong, we shouldn't have
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: changed in the first place. Not many brands to do that.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: I think most would like tweak it in a slightly
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: different way, you know, Max plus HBO or try to
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: do something like that, to just steer it away from that.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: But they're just like, now we're going back. You know,
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: even that playful marketing where it's like how does it go?
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: It's like same app, new ish name.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it does, it does take. It does take some goal.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: It is also one of those things is completely avoidable,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like they could have avoided
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: this if they'd maybe done a focus group or asked us,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: we would have told them. We would have told them
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: it was a bad idea. So what do you think, like,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: in terms of all time brand reversals, does it crack
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: your top ten? If we were to make let's say Quickster.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: If you remember Netflix and Quickster, when Quickster was going
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: to be there with let's say that's number one, is
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: that number one?
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: I think it's probably a pretty clear number one. When
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: I think about brands being like, we're gonna do this
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: thing and then they're like, whoa, I guess we're not
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: gonna do this thing. I think Quickster takes the top
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: spot if you're thinking about that.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, they changed course on that quicker than the
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: name itself. Before they even finished saying the name, they
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: were like, uh, just kidding.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: They released it on the Internet and immediately regretted it.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: It was like waking up the next day after, you know,
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: a drunken night, and they're like, oh god, what have
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: we done?
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: The Internet still in its youth of trolling brands. But man,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: they did not take that lightly.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: So yeah, where does this one fall? Obviously it's not
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: QUICKSTERR level. It's a good brand about face, you know,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: it's a fun one. I mean, my first reaction when
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: you shared this with me was, you know, I was like,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: oh my god. No, they didn't do it. They didn't
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: go back.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: But here's the thing with this, they kind of did
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: it of their own volition.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: It wasn't one of those things where people were like rioting.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: It wasn't like a quick star where like the crowd
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: reaction was so bad it forced them into it. They
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: kind of chose the move, you know, it was like
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: new Coke. They didn't put it out there and then
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: people were like so angry with them they had to
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: change it. They did it because they tried something else
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: it wasn't quite working, or maybe they're like HBO people
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: kind of like that. I don't know why they did it,
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: but they made this choice on their own. So for
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: that reason, it doesn't rank as high as some of
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: these other things, but maybe like a number ten because
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: it still is pretty funny. What do you think?
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: I agree it's not quick star level because that was epic,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: you know, but it's up there. You know. It's like
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: they walked a room and said, let's make the name simpler,
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: which all branding people love to do. You know, let's
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: cut everything away that's not necessary. But you know, then
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: you realize you accidentally deleted the part that people really
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: care about.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: It is funny. You can imagine the meeting where they're
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: like on a board they have like HBO max and
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: they're like, we need we need to simplify and make
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: it easy. Which words should we cut? Yeah, they're like,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: it's got to be HBO.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, nobody knows what that is. It's
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: an acronym. Just do you think that that was a
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: room full of people who didn't grow up on HBO?
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: That's what I feel like.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: Maybe there probably was not one HBO kid in the room.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: There are probably a lot of Discovery kids.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because it seems that way. And we talked about
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: this in the show. When they changed the name, we
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: were kind of confused by it then if I remember correctly,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: and I still go back to this, like if if
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: you had any knowledge of HBO, maybe it's because we
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: grew up on it.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: No, that's not it. Because they had the Sopranos and
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Game of you know, all these shows later that are
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: very associated with the HBO brand that made it super strong,
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: you know, in these later years. So it's not just that.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: It's not just like the history or anything like that.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: It's built this like Prestige TV, this era that we're
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: in now, we were in I don't know where we
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: are exactly with TV, but I mean it kickstarted the
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: whole thing. So it's got a very strong reputation with
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: streaming and with streaming series. Yeah, well let's think about that.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Let's do a little mind thundering.
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I love mind thundering.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Potential future names for HBO Max because we know it's
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: going to change. We know this isn't gonna last forever, right.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're gonna play the branding hokey pokey if you will. So, yeah,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: I expect to see some different names in the future.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: So let's let's help them out. Let's throw throw around
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: some ideas here. What about if they want to keep
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: the same thing but switch it up a little bit.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Do you think they could go with HBO to the max?
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: Hmmm yeah, yeah, like Cradle to the Grave that movie?
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Remember that movie?
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah with Stephen Sigall and yeah Dmax DX okay
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: DX I think it was DMX. Yeah that sounds right.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I like that. I think you know, might
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: as well throw a two in there. What about HBO.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: Ish related to their tagline now or their whatever you
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: want to call.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: That, Yeah, yeah, Or they could totally go way off
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: the reservation and do WB plus but the B is silent,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: really confused people, Oh.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that would get them. They could do h.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: WBO Oh yeah, whoa bo.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: It's some sort of treatment there, you know. Yeah, so
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: like the w's in or the WB maybe is in
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: parentheses or something.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Oh god, yeah, that would that would be People would
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: be so confused. They'd be like, what is this that
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: we're watching? What about Max with HBO inside?
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: Is that the full name or or is that just
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: how it how it looks?
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: It would be Max with HBO inside and you could
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: do the little TM you know, kind of like intil inside, but.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like Max the one to watch for HBO,
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: but it's better. Yeah, it sounds like HBO is being
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: held prisoner though.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but it has like a little sound like didn't
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: you know isn't that the intel?
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah? What do you think of HBO beyond? There's one? Hmmm,
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: like pretty standard? Right, yeah, but here's another one. I
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: don't know if this is a Warner Brothers movie or
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: not HBO Beyond Thunderdome.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, no, I like that? Is that? Is that
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: a Warner Brothers movie?
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't think.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: I don't. It might not be Studio behind Mad Max
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Beyond Thunderdome Warner Brothers. It is Warner Brothers road Show
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Film Distributors road shows the animation at the beginning. So
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: I didn't think it was Warner Brothers. But yeah, good
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: call on that. So that could work HBO Beyond Thunderdome
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Thunderdome or just HBO Thunderdome.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Kill It. That'd be good.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: You could do stream the streaming formerly known as Max.
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: We always like the Prince treatment.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they have like just a symbol.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, an unpronounceable symbol.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah. People be like, oh, that's the streaming formally known
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: as Max or HBO Max or whatever.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: What if they want to take it up a notch? Right?
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: Want I show people how extreme they are? Hboverdrive?
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: Oh I like that, so the O here's here's.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Another better version that they would like better Maximum HB
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Overdrive Max.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: You got your HBO Can it have a Melio Estevez
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: as the I mean it has to and there has.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: To be trucks, some sort of trucks smashing into it.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the truck with the goblin face. They didn't have
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: like a like a green goblin.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah face on Maximum Overdrive? Is that a Warner Brothers move?
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I mean, is it?
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: I don't know, let's find out.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: If it is, they might as well just call it
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: quits now on HBO Max.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: Do you know De Laurentis production, Well, I'm sure they
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: could buy it.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: They could buy the rights that Warner Brothers got cash.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Oh this is saying. Maximum Overdrive was directed by Stephen King,
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: produced by Dina de Laurentis, distributed by Warner Brothers. Oh,
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: you know, internet don't know if it's true, but it
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: could happen. It could maximum HBO overdrive.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: As long as you get Emilio Estevez, you're golden. What
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: about HBO box off two point zero colon the reckoning.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: I thought you were going somewhere else.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Final reckoning, that'll be the end.
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I thought you were going with your favorite colon
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: electric boogaloo.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: I mean that's HBO two colon electric boogloo. I mean
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: you you can't go wrong if you've got two in
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the title. There's a lot of good I mean, there's
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: a lot of good ones. You have any other good ones?
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: They all have some potential.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: I I don't have any other great ones. I think
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: probably the best one would just be you know, HBO
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: would be a good one.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: I don't know, you're crazy, that's just crazy talkm right.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: But that's the beauty of it is that listen, the
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: sky's a limit. You just got to keep HBO in
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: the name. You gotta in some way. You notice all
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: of them except for WB plus, which the B is silent,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: that's the only one that didn't have HBO in the name.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So even if you add a bunch of crap
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: around it. At least it still has HBO. Right, it's
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: got to be the central piece of the puzzle. And
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: this goes for anybody, right, I think this goes for
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: anybody who's branding. I mean, you know, you don't get
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: rid of the thing that is the core of your business,
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: what everyone enjoys. Just don't get rid of that. Yeah,
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: And I think that's basically our takeaway from today. Don't
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: overlook what you got, you know, don't get so fixated
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: looking at the other side of the fence that you
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: miss the pile of gold that you're sitting on. As
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: the old slogan goes, it's not TV, it's HBO. So
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: why are you trying to just be TV?
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Oh? I love what you did there. You brought it back.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: You brought it back to some gold nuggets human wisdom
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: from HBO.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I can also sing. You know, they
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: used to use that Tina Turner song in some of
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: their marketing. I think it was Tina Turner. Y're simply
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: the best? Do you remember that?
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah? Brings back so many memories. It was a simpler time.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: It was like, you know, innocence and also a little
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: bit of that you know, like teenage. Oh, my parents
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: aren't home, I can watch Real Sex late at night.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: I learned some stuff that I should not be learning about,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: probably at my age, but that's okay.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna stay up. I'm gonna watch.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Predator, mm hmm, Commando, Predator, a lot of arnold movies.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Real Sex is gonna be on afterwards. It's gonna be
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: the best night of my life.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So, well, hopefully you enjoyed this, and I'm sure
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: everyone has. We've heard from listeners they were confused at
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: the very beginning when we posted that episode about them
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: eliminating HBO from the name. Now, you probably have some
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: feelings on this, and maybe you're with us, maybe you're not,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: maybe you didn't like HBO to begin with. We're sorry.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: We are HBO kids though. As Shad said, so yeah,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: feel free to send us your feedback. But that's it
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: for this episode of Speaking Human. You can find current
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: and past episodes of this glorious podcast on Speaking Human
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: dot com.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Great site. Go there all the time. We'll be back
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: in two weeks with another episode of Speaking Human. Catch
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: it in Humans, Speaking Human