Braca ੯‧̀͡⬮

[Cassian andor @cassjeron]

Imagina não gostar de um personagem que tem um discurso desses

[major fartagaz @fartagaz]

lmfao sure whatever you say, now shut up and watch this edit of one of the greatest shows ever made

[EckhartsLadder @EckhartsLadder]

> I don't know who needs to hear this

bro no one trust me

[Braca ੯‧̀͡⬮ @Braca_5]

@1138Chew12431 @_bdazzler_ lol i got 2 and haven’t even watched the movies

[Adam Karpiak @Adam_Karpiak]

“we’ve decided to move forward with other candidates”

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

You're looking at 12 shows with an average IMDb rating of 8.89 out of 10. Five of them sit above 9.0. HBO built this run across 24 years, and the whole thing traces back to a single business decision made in 1972.

HBO launched on November 8, 1972. The audience was 365 people in a small Pennsylvania town paying $6 a month. The first broadcast was a hockey game. The entire company was built on one idea: you pay us directly, we show you movies and events with zero commercials.

That "zero commercials" part turned out to be the most important business decision in TV history. When a network runs on ad money, it has to keep advertisers happy. Advertisers want huge audiences, which means safe content, which means shows where nobody says anything too real. That's how network TV spent decades cranking out predictable cop dramas and family sitcoms where every storyline wraps up in 42 minutes.

HBO's money came from subscribers. They didn't care if a show made Coca-Cola uncomfortable. They cared whether it was good enough to keep you paying next month. So they handed writers and directors total creative control. The Sopranos put a mob boss in therapy for six seasons. The Wire spent five years inside Baltimore's drug trade where the cops are just as damaged as the dealers. Neither show survives a single pitch meeting at a network where Toyota needs to keep writing checks.

The Sopranos premiered in 1999. By 2004, it became the first cable show ever to win the Emmy for Best Drama. HBO has now pulled in over 1,500 Emmy nominations and more than 220 wins. In 2025, they broke their own all-time record with 142 nominations across 20 shows.

I think the spending gap is what really drives this home. HBO made House of the Dragon for about $20 million per episode. Amazon spent $58 million per episode on Rings of Power. Nearly triple the budget. HBO's show rates higher on IMDb. At some point the raw dollar amount stops mattering and the creative environment takes over. HBO figured that out before anyone else did.

By the early 2010s, HBO was pulling in $1.2 to $1.5 billion a year in profit. From 365 subscribers at $6 each to 132 million worldwide today.

Netflix sees the math clearly enough. In December 2025 they offered $72 billion to buy HBO's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount Skydance countered at $110.9 billion. A bidding war over a network that started with a hockey game broadcast to a few hundred living rooms in Pennsylvania.

Fifty-three years ago, HBO bet that people would pay for TV worth paying for. Every show in that image is what happens when the bet keeps winning.

[green goku @preinitiative]

You can no longer be slotted into the human category. Your behavior suggests a lower form of life that does not represent sapience.

[Neb | 🏳️‍🌈 @NebsGoodTakes]

this may sound extreme but I am fundamentally superior to those who watch this

[DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm]

The first trailer for ‘SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY’ has been released.

In theaters on July 31.

[Starlight 💫 (youtube.com/@x0starlight) @x0Starlight]

Invincible starts tomorrow. Dune 3 trailer today. Spiderman Brand New Day trailer tomorrow. Daredevil next week. Project Hail Mary on Thursday.

life is looking up

[DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm]

The first trailer for ‘DUNE: PART 3’ has been released.

In theaters on December 18.

[Max Toscano @maxtoscano1]

This is so performative. Even if you’re 300 pounds there are uses for a 20 pound weight

[Muthyam @MovieMuthyam]

Claude can never take my job
Cuz I have no job

[F♯A♯∞, fka ☕️ @coopercooperco]

ASoIaF occupies the same part of my brain as Star Wars where I think I’m totally checked out on it, engage with one (1) good version of it, and get extremely back on some bullshit looking at maps of Yi Ti.

[Seed Oil Disrespecter™️ @SeedOilDsrspctr]

Dudes can literally just watch this on repeat

[Dalton Pruitt @daltonleepruitt]

This new Game of Thrones show got me researching the history of Westeros and after combing through a few wikis it hit me that it might be more productive and valuable to do this with stuff that actually happened in real life.

[Sawyer (CEO of Lightning McQueen 🚗) @sawyeurism]

Star Wars doesn't need to do anything to get me to see Mando and Grogu. I am a lifelong Star Wars fan; I will always be the target audience.

But it has been 6 years since we have had Star Wars on the big screen. That should feel like a big deal. With this marketing, it doesn't.

[westerosies @westerosies]

Everything about this scene is perfect, but hearing the Game of Thrones theme close the episode was the cherry on top. #AKOTSK