Posted on 12/28/2011 8:18:40 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Hating Christians and vilifying them in public, how cutting edge. What next, Republicans are dumb jokes?
Happy New Year
Does he?
I would really like to know his ratings. He's on late Friday night (traditionally the worst TV ratings night) and they don't repeat his show over & over like some of their other series.
There are no advertisers on HBO, so the only money HBO would make on him is by people signing up for HBO just for his show. I don't see that happening with Maher, he's not exactly John Stewart or Steven Colbert.
I would guess HBO keeps him on despite losing money because they are a bunch of Libs
Why would anyone who would be offended by this watch HBO in the first place?
The channel is all soft, and not-so-soft, porn and leftist drivel.
I have a hard time remembering all the liberal comedians, so I use visualization techniques. Maher is easy. He’s really close to Mayer, so I think about Oscar Mayer and remember Maher. Yep, every time I think about weanies, I always remember Bill Maher.
Can’t believe there are any committed Christians who aren’t already boycotting HBO for a thousand other offenses...maybe Gator or Bronco fans are calling for this.
What’s an hbo??
His ratings hover at around a million viewers, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less.
At HBO profit is defined by programming that gets people to sign up for or keep their service, stuff like “Game of Thrones.” The type of shows that also have an afterlife on DVD. Neither applies to Maher and his ratings.
The show is a money-losing vanity project that showcases the political views of HBO executives.
Don’t fool yourself. HBO has a large and profitable sales presence in collected seasons, merchandise, etc. Why anyone would by Real Time t-shirts, or seasons on DVD is beyond me, but they do, and that’s just the reality of the situation.
wait this scumbag doesn’t believe in God, so how can joke about satan?
once again the a$$holel shows the hypocracy of liberalism.
Agree on “Boardwalk Empire”. First show my wife and I have watched together since “The Sopranos”. Just catching up on “Game of Thrones” and the jury’s still out on this, though it’s getting better after a slow start.
As far as the the snarky pseudo-comedian on HBO is concerned, I advocate taking the same approach that Tim Tebow appears to have taken, that of completely ignoring him.
Watch what you are saying about Ann Coulterrs BEST FRIEND!!!! One of them is aa FRAUD....it must be Ann.
That's the best approach for many situations. Unfortunately way too many people feel as though they need to be right, so they can't let things go. I see it all the time from people of all political stripes. It's a character defect to be sure.
As for Boardwalk Empire, it's great. I never could get into the Sopranos, but this one is working for me.
Game of Thrones tops my list though. I could write a wall of text of nothing but adoration for the show. It's picked up for at least one more season, so I'm hoping that it goes the distance and covers all of the books.
Ann, Ann, Ann . . . how could you be so (1) gullible, (2) stupid, (3) foolish, (4) all of the above?
BHO I KNO
What is HBO?
I don't think the show loses that much money. The fact is that panel shows like that are dirt cheap to produce. The guests don't get paid anything beyond expenses, or maybe an AFTRA minimum if they're members. It's a single, built set that they roll out on the stage for the shoot then stick back in the warehouse until next week. Hire a couple of camera people for a few hours, a floor director and some other crew and you're done. He probably has a writing staff of a half dozen or so. Compared to something like Game of Thrones or Boardwalk Empire, this is a bargain way to fill a few hours (with the repeats) in the schedule.
You can certainly argue that it doesn’t lose “that much money,” compared to more expensive shows. But any loss means the show is unprofitable. So why is it still on?
You suggest repeats fill time slots. But the repeats do much, much worse than the underperforming first-runs. It doesn’t help to fill time with programming nobody watches. It’s like filling valuable shelf space at Wal-Mart with stuff no one wants to buy — you just don’t do it and make money.
There are twelve producers credited for the current season. Half of them are writer/producers. There are additional staff writers. It’s a Writers Guild show, so the salaries must meet WGA minimums.
Factor in Maher’s salary and production costs — all union, because it’s shot at CBS. The show is at least $500,000 per episode to produce. Maybe not much by today’s TV standards, but there’s still no return. It doesn’t get ratings. It doesn’t sell well on DVD.
“Game of Thrones” is expensive — but it is and is going to continue making a boatload of money, both in new subscribers and in DVD sets. On the flip side, don’t be fooled by “Boardwalk Empire’s” renewal — the ratings stink. HBO is trying to stay with it and turn it into a hit. But if things don’t pick up this season, buh-bye.
The only explanation for “Real Time’s” repeated renewal is it serves an agenda other than profit — because it’s not profitable — for HBO.
HBO's rationale is a little more opaque than other, commercial-based networks. But they make a lot of money, and they are seeing that the success of their network is based on original programming. Bill Maher does about 1.2 million viewers. Thats a little less than half of what Boardwalk Empire averaged. But you guess that Maher's show costs a half million dollars while Boardwalk cost $5 million an episode. Half the viewers at one-tenth the cost? Not a bad deal. Plus Maher's show has gotten a pile of Emmy nominations, bringing prestige to the network and enhancing their marketing. And when HBO is one of the most lucrative entities on cable, earning upwards of $3.5 billion a year, it's hard to argue that they're making a big mistake keeping one low-cost show on the schedule.
Not everything is a conspiracy.
The Wire?
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