OK, this a wager I will be happy to make.

Those HBO c**ksuckers killed Deadwood on a cost versus ratings basis, and that show was much, much better (and far more acclaimed) than Luck (which I liked but had no illusions about).

Luck is gone, and no other network is going to revive it. Who the hell would want that heat for those ratings?

exactly. they wouldn't have cancelled had the show been doing well.

Touché.

I can't blame a network for canceling a show that isn't making it money, but I can blame them for using the death of a horse that wasn't even on set as the excuse. What are the odds it comes up during the Kentucky Derby broadcast? Le sigh.

;)

Nevertheless, it's another black eye for horseracing. Like we need another one.

I disagree, I really believe that the only people watching (the real reason for the cancellation) were horse players anyway.

:tro:

It's a shame. PETA is useless, it's appalling they have input into anything concerning the well-being of animals, and American Humane Society has turned into an offshoot of ex-PETA people.

from slate on the topic:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/...d_horses_.html


What’s less clear is why Luck’s horses are garnering this response. What makes the suffering of animals in the service of making television so much worse than the suffering of animals in the service of making steak or scrambled eggs? As TIME television critic James Poniewozik writes, “I eat too many hamburgers to pass judgment on Luck,” adding, “I can’t take the moral high ground—again, too many burgers—but logical or not, there’s just something more discomfiting about knowing that horses died so we can watch them in the comfort of our living rooms.”


and further down:


While I am obviously glad that the American Humane Association protects animals on set (they provide the “no animals were harmed” certification), the first thing to pass through my head after hearing news of Luck’s cancellation was the Onion headline “Many Animals Harmed In Catering of Film.” Yes, we make a distinction between animals that suffer for our nourishment and animals that suffer for our entertainment. But when we can get plenty of nutrition without making animals suffer, the justification for that distinction seems unclear.




i think he made some very good points. but i guess it's like dolphin-safe tuna. nobody cares about the tuna!

might as well cancel horse racing in general. I mean, horses can die in horse racing.

also, let's cancel rodeo's and hunter / jumper shows. and 3 day eventing for sure.

:tro:

And don't forget carriage driving, and drag hunts. Look at all the gaited horses who have been injured in the past few years, too.

I think it could have continued without the racing scenes and done well.

No, I think there are plenty of people who never watched the show, but think horse racing is bad and therefore this is proof that they are right.

It doesn't matter then. If they thought the sport is bad or crooked, there's nothing that could have been produced that would make them believe other.

So honestly, who cares what they think?

the end
 

I enjoyed Luck and got some friends to watch it and look forward to it.

Now I feel like I gave out a losing selection at the track to my buddies. I know there will be more winners to come but I am not sure my friends, being new to the game, understand.

No more Sigur Ros? :mad:

Now that "Luck" in cancelled, does it mean I have to take Mon Gateau off my watch list?

Seriously though, you have to feel for all the people that lost jobs because of this. I'm not talking about the actors etc., I'm talking about the literally hundreds of names that go by during the credits at the end of the show, and others who got work because of the show. Tough times to lose a job...

i agree. you would think with the special effects of today they could figure something out. there is no problem making godzilla destroy new york or spiderman jumping from skyscrapers but horses running in circles is just too hard for them.

very dissappointed.

I was going to get HBO just to see Luck (would have to catch up with On Demand), but now - forget it. Might buy DVDs if they ever release them.

You guys cited Deadwood, which I understand was good. My show was Rome. Loved it. Two seasons and then canceled. I dropped HBO shortly thereafter.

Poor guy …he can't catch a break… I feel his pain… not only do they slaughter delphi for the insurance money but now they ruin the only derby chances he'll ever have…. he's probably sitting in front of the stable now saying "they killed the show.'

We all know why they really cancelled the show- bad ratings. But we haven't heard much about the first two breakdowns. The last one occurred when they were walking the horse back to the stall, as reported. But we never heard the details of the first two. In the first episode there was a catastrophic breakdown in the very first race, I believe(it didn't take the show long to show that part of horse racing) Was this the horse that had to be euthanized? Did something go wrong with a stunt they were doing?

They should be able to perform these stunts safely. A horse can fall and get back up safely. Heck, back in the day in these steeplechase races, the WINNER of the race typically fell three or four times.

the other two fatalities were discussed earlier in the thread. go to page 6.

Well, at least there's still Game of Thrones.

Apologies if this has been posted before- this TV Guide article mentions that Stronach may have wanted to stop allowing the show to have Santa Anita as its location:

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Luck-HBO...n-1044949.aspx

212-512-1000

I have called HBO at the above number and expressed my extreme dissapointment at their broken promise not to renew Luck. http://www.theatlantic.com/entertain...s-luck/254539/
" The cancellation of the series... is a devastating blow to horse racing."

Hope you'll make it through these dark days. LOL

We here at DT should create a spinoff of Luck and call it...

Phuck.

:tro:

good one:tro:

:zz:

The Finger Lakes opener can't get here fast enough - all will be right with the world

These numbers indicate ratings were indeed good. The combined viewings are the most meaningful because fans can watch the episodes when they want to. I am an On Demand viewer.

"The complex drama proved a challenge for viewers, and "Luck" fell far short of an HBO hit such as "The Sopranos," drawing as few as 500,000 for a weekly debut showing. But the combined figure that included DVR viewings was 4.8 million per episode, exceeding that of other HBO shows including "Treme," "Enlightened" and "Bored to Death.""

http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/arti..._real_for_hbo/

That's interesting. I was one of the DVR'ing viewers, as my husband is still watching that once good, but now exceedingly boring hour known as The Walking Dead and it runs the same time as Luck.

I guess, though, that Enlightened and Bored to Death are probably a lot cheaper to produce. I don't know about Treme, but rumors are it's done after its contracted 4th season.

no the breakdown in the first episode was produced by a computer.. it was not real life.

the first two deaths were terrible accidents that occur daily in the horse world unfortunately.

Just out of curiosity, are the horses being used (including the ones who broke down) all very cheap claimers?

Nah, they probably use grade 1 winners for stuff like this.

They looked slower than Arabians in the footage last night.

Thanks Hoss. :rolleyes:

What I wanted to know was, maybe some of these horses were on vet's lists or just truly the bottom of the bottom. Would it be above some trainers to volunteer a horse that they knew was being kept together by glue? Knowing the horse could never win a race and was stuck in the barn because he/she would never get claimed. So offer it up to HBO and if something should happen, having HBO write a check.

It's a fairly big Hollywood production. I would imagine they weren't just taking castoffs. I'm sure they vetted (for lack of a better term) the horses they were going to use.

Out of curiosity, I went to the AHA website and looked at its list of regulations for equine performers and it's very extensive. Most equines in film and TV are supplied by companies specializing in that (there's a really cool documentary extra about the horses and stunt riders in the Lord of the Rings movies, by the way), but I don't know if, with such a large number of TB or TB-look-alikes, they got all of them via that route, or if they worked with individual owners. Anyway, some of the regulations include, no horse younger than 4, no medication, no tranquilizers, no whipping. So, unless the AHA vets are complete idiots, I find it hard to believe they'd okay injured claimers for racing sequences. Not to mention, the horses probably wouldn't be good-looking enough for the camera.

I think it was just unfortunate accidents.