Comments on: HBO Cancels Michael Mann & David Milch’s ‘Luck’ After Another Horse Dies On Set

By: Mw

Mw — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:49:14 +0000

Very sad about cancellation of Luck. Of course safety is major priority, and anything in need of changing should be changed, but as those of us who work with horses know, sometimes accidents happen and there are other parts of the horse industry with even more controversial and pressing safety concerns. I felt this was a series with amazing potential; complex, gritty and intriguing. I liked the obvious references to true events in the world of horse racing and found the characters believable and even multi-layered, changig even as the series progressed, adding new dimensions just when you thought you had a character neatly pegged. The effect of the horses on the humans was an emerging theme that held much promise,as well. I've heard criticisms that the series didn't portray the best aspects of horse racing, and that it was biased to the negative. I think it's unfair to expect one series to carry the image of an entire industry as part of its mission. There could have been more high end examples of the best of the best–Team Zenyatta for example- but who knows where Luck would have gone had its winning streak lasted? How ironic if Luck was cancelled due to bad Luck! I'll miss it…..

By: DeeDee

DeeDee — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:49:14 +0000

Sorry to hear of the cancellation….understand the welfare of the horses is a propriety. On the other hand, I'm not sure why the viewership is so low…this was turning into a wonderful show and could have been the next "Sopranos" for HBO. People seem to want to watch mediocre reality shows…creativity has almost disappeared completely on television and in the movies.

By: Leah

Leah — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:49:14 +0000

Uhm Tristan those horses died in vain. Nobody ate them. Derp!

By: BSBBC

BSBBC — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:49:14 +0000

HBO-suits are just a bunch of hypocrites. Two of the horses died while they were filming season one, HBO greenlit the second season anyway. After they started airing episodes, they realized that the show is an expensive flop. After PETA got involved, it was a flop with a lot of bad publicity.
Now that the third horse died, HBO got an excuse to cancel the show and make it look like they are the good guys. They didn't care about the deaths when they still thought that the show was a potential hit.

By: StephenM

StephenM — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:49:14 +0000

I think this is kind of ridiculous. Is it really impossible to film this without killing horses? I don't think so. The way they put it here, they have extremely high standards of safety but unfortunately accidents just happen. Though I suppose these are probably really valuable horses if they have to do races, it just seems really dumb to say, "We're going to cancel this because we had a couple accidents on set. Even though nobody got hurt, we did lose a couple horses, so we can't make any more." Unless you genuinely can't make more episodes without killing animals, why not tighten safety procedures and keep on, hoping for no more accidents? DOesn't make sense to me.

By: jingmei

jingmei — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:49:14 +0000

Sad for the icon stars to make profits, meanwhile shows respect to animals, that's it.

By: tristan eldritch

tristan eldritch — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:49:14 +0000

Okay, I'm a big fan of the show, so probably rationalizing very heavily here, but does anyone who eats meat have any right to be upset about the accidental deaths of three horses over a two year period? I mean, eating meat is clearly a choice and by no means a necessity, and if you eat meat you are tacitly giving your approval to, and participating in the deliberate slaughter of millions and millions of animals annually. So, I dunno, seems like crocodile tears to me crying over a couple of accidental deaths just because horses are more poetic looking than cows or something.

By: Nik Grape

Nik Grape — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:49:14 +0000

Yea, this was pretty shocking and unpleasant news. Part of me is angry that a show with such a stellar cast and crew will only have one season to its name, while other laughably bad HBO shows like True Blood get to be renewed. The other part of me, does that nodding/shaking gesture with the head because if animals were in danger and three horses already died, there's no telling if more would have died had production continued. It's the ugly life of the biz and some things have to be sacrificed I guess. Shame, really.

By: James

James — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:49:14 +0000

From THR:

"But pointing to the ratings is, in fact, pointless. They donât matter. Most of the people quick to chide the lack of viewers for the show donât like it anyway. If ratings really mattered, HBO wouldnât have renewed it for a second season. In HBOâs world, Luck was setting up rather nicely. It had a ton of critical acclaim and the latter episodes of the season were bringing together a complicated storyline. Most important, viewers were getting more familiar and comfortable with a subculture â horse racing â that many knew nothing about when the series launched.

Given that cable series often see a spike in ratings during the second season â after those who didnât watch find it on DVD or rentals â HBO had every reason to believe it could build on the Luck track record."