HBO-based comedian John Oliver took a shot at parent company Warner Bros. Discovery on Last Week Tonight, poking fun at the recent spate of content removals that have taken HBO Max from a powerhouse in the streaming landscape to a laughingstock in Hollywood. The company, which has removed a number of HBO Max originals for no explicable reason, recently admitted that they shelved a nearly-completed Batgirl movie as part of a tax scheme. As a result, it feels likely that any seemingly-inexplicable move the company makes, is probably aimed at getting some kind of tax rebate, through a loophole tied to the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery. Word is, that loophole ends at the end of August 2022.
The gag came as part of a longer bit in which Oliver discussed Sarah Palin’s current run for the U.S. House of Representatives. In spite of (or maybe because of) her name recognition in and outside of Alaska, voter turnout in the primary election last week suggested there’s a chance Palin (and thus the Republican Party) might lose the seat, and Oliver noted Palin’s reputation for putting herself and her brand ahead of anything else.
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“One conservative publisher in Alaska even said, ‘Sarah knows how to work a crowd, but it’s Sarah, Inc.,’ which honestly sounds like the title of a sitcom starring Kat Dennings that’s already quietly disappeared from HBO Max. HBO Max: It’s not TV — it’s a series of tax writeoffs to appease Wall Street.”
You can see the joke below.
The company removed a number of HBO Max Originals like American Pickle and Infinity Train, not just from the streaming service but also from YouTube, where some of the TV shows had free episodes posted. They also removed over 200 episodes of Sesame Street, which were there as part of Sesame Workshop’s broader overall deal with HBO. While the Sesame Street episodes are still available to stream on PBS’s website, their removal is likely a sign that WBD will not re-sign their Sesame deal, which could put the future of the long-running educational series at risk.
Infinity Train is available to buy from video on demand platforms like Amazon Prime, and its under-printed DVD releases have spiked in price since the removal, with sellers asking for hundreds of dollars on eBay. Customer service reps for Warner Bros. Discovery have been telling users that most of these removals are temporary, but have offered no clear plan for when the changes could be reversed.
