Misplaced Pages

#596403

86-407: Each episode consists of a series of topical comedic dialogues and sparring between the co-hosts, plus occasional interviews with notable guests. Gibson and Safi then each present a topical issue concerning gender rights and LGBTQ+ rights. At the end of the show, they read iTunes reviews from their listeners and offer various music, TV, or movie recommendations. Gibson and Safi met while performing at

172-465: A first-look production deal . Saturday Night Live has been known for seeking top talent from UCB's pool of students. TV shows like The Chris Gethard Show created by Chris Gethard ; and Broad City created by Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer started out as UCB experiments. HBO Max Max , formerly (and in some regions still) known as HBO Max , is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It

258-667: A nutritional supplement company. WBD officially unveiled Max on April 12: the new service would first launch in the United States on May 23, and in other regions throughout 2023 and 2024. While the new service maintains similar price points to HBO Max, support for 4K resolution video and Dolby Atmos became exclusive to the new "Ultimate" tier, and the ad-free plan was also reduced from four concurrent streams to two. In addition to all Warner Bros. Pictures releases from 2023 onward, WBD plans to have more library films and television series available on Max in 4K. Perrette explained that

344-556: A 130-seat theater, a bar, and a lounge. The space was expected to open in early 2024. In 2005, the Los Angeles branch of the theater opened at 5919 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood, offering up improv, sketch and stand-up comedy shows nightly with a 120-seat capacity. Soon after, Comedy Bang! Bang! (formerly Comedy Death-Ray), a Los Angeles alternative comedy show moved from its former home at

430-500: A 150-seat theater at 307 West 26th Street in NYC in the former Maverick Theater. The new venue had several advantages over the previous theater on 22nd Street, such as double capacity, a more professional tech booth, larger green room with a greater separation from the stage area, two dressing rooms, storage rooms, twice the number of bathrooms, and a "chill out room". In July 2005, the UCB opened at

516-611: A TV movie called Escape From It's a Wonderful Life and appeared weekly on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in the 90s. In the way of film, in 2002 they created and starred in the film Martin & Orloff , and made another movie in 2007 titled Wild Girls Gone . Neither film was particularly successful or well received. The group has participated in web series including the ongoing series UCB Comedy Originals , created in 2008, which occasionally shows sketches, and I Hate Being Single , created in 2012. In 2016, Universal Cable Productions announced signing Upright Citizens Brigade to

602-508: A celebrity guest. In March 2023, Safi launched his third ongoing podcast, "No Autographs, Please!" with friend and comedian Arden Myrin . They describe the podcast as a "hybrid improv comedy and chat show." Gibson is a writer, director, comedian, and television personality and is a vocal advocate for the rights of women and an ardent supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. Gibson has hosted segments on Current TV 's Infomania which comically addressed

688-428: A combined total of 69.4 million paying subscribers globally on June 30, 2021, including 43.5 million HBO Max subscribers in the U.S., 3.5 million HBO-only U.S. subscribers (primarily commercial customers like hotels), and 20.5 million subscribers to either HBO Max or HBO by itself in other countries. By the end of 2021, HBO and HBO Max had a combined total of 73.8 million paying global subscribers. At

774-552: A deal to amend the pre-existing contract HBO had with 20th Century Studios to allow Disney+ or Hulu and HBO Max to share the streaming rights to half of 20th Century Studios' and Searchlight Pictures ' 2022 theatrical slate in the United States during the pay-one window, with Ron's Gone Wrong being the first film under the deal, becoming available on both Disney+ and HBO Max on December 15, 2021. Disney will still have full streaming rights to any 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures films produced for Disney+ or Hulu, while

860-496: A grocery store and talk about the history of the store as well as their experience shopping there. They review everything from the music playing in the store to quality of the carts. The first season of Groceries is available on any podcast platform, but season 2 is currently only available on Stitcher Premium. A third season premiered in 2022. Seasons one and three are available on the show's Patreon. In August 2021, Attitudes! began releasing Patreon-exclusive bonus episodes under

946-525: A month after the season finale airs on television (streaming rights to existing series remains with Netflix under an existing deal). Although the All American spin-off, All American: Homecoming , which premiered on the CW in 2022, was placed on Netflix with its parent show. On July 9, 2019, HBO Max acquired the U.S. streaming rights to Friends in a $ 425 million deal, and on September 17, 2019, acquired

SECTION 10

#1732884229597

1032-515: A new introduction by Turner Classic Movies host Jacqueline Stewart discussing the film's treatments of the American Civil War , the Reconstruction era , and American slavery of African people . On June 27, 2020, it was revealed that DC Universe original Harley Quinn would stream its first two seasons on HBO Max. On June 29, 2020, HBO Max secured the exclusive streaming rights of

1118-521: A pilot. On October 2, 2024, WBD renewed its contract with professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), which adds digital rights for Max in the United States. As part of the agreement, Max will hold the rights to simulcast AEW's weekly programs beginning in January 2025. Later in the year, AEW pay-per-view events will become available for purchase and streaming on Max; while PPVs will continue to be sold through other platforms, they will have

1204-478: A reboot of The Boondocks produced by Sony Pictures Animation ) for both network sections were also announced for HBO Max, and the service beat out competitors to acquire exclusive domestic streaming rights to South Park and its next three seasons for $ 500 million–with first-run episodes being added 24 hours after their premiere on Comedy Central . Fellow Otter Media company Rooster Teeth also contributes content, with season two of Gen:Lock to be

1290-460: A recurring role on 9-1-1 as "Josh Russo". In November 2020, Safi was cast in a recurring role on the third season of the Netflix psychological thriller series You . In November 2019, Safi and co-host " Ronna Glickman ", as played by Jessica Chaffin , premiered a new podcast called Ask Ronna . Safi and Chaffin's show focuses on requests for advice and questions from listeners, and often feature

1376-555: A result, Greenblatt and Reilly both left the company. WarnerMedia Entertainment was dissolved, with programming operations combined with Warner Bros. in a new Studios and Networks group under that studio's CEO Ann Sarnoff. Bloys was given complete programming oversight of HBO and HBO Max, as well as Reilly's other previous responsibilities, reporting to Sarnoff. Forssell became the head of a new HBO Max operating business unit, reporting directly to Kilar. On April 23, 2021, Adult Swim and HBO Max's adult animation development teams merged under

1462-417: A row (2012,2013). On January 17, 2017, the first television episode of Throwing Shade aired on TV Land . The show reflected their podcast in which Gibson and Safi tackled political and social issues concerting women's rights and the LGBTQ+ community. The show lasted one season with 10 episodes before being cancelled. On June 28, 2017, The Maximum Fun Network announced that Throwing Shade would be leaving

1548-497: A six-month period, with their shares falling 19% as a result. In May 2024, WBD announced a partnership with Disney to offer a bundle of Max with its competitors Disney+ and Hulu in the United States, It was launched on July 25, 2024, at a price of $ 16.99 per-month for ad-supported, and $ 29.99 per-month for ad-free. Existing HBO Max subscribers were grandfathered under their current plan features for least six months, following that period all legacy ad free customers were moved to

1634-553: A subsidiary of Sony , purchased Crunchyroll from AT&T for $ 1.175 billion, with the intent to create a combined service that caters to anime entertainment. On January 1, 2022, HBO Max removed the Crunchyroll hub, instead redirecting subscribers to a "global animation" page that combines selected anime with other international animated films. Since then, the service has slowly started to remove anime from Crunchyroll's line up. On November 22, 2021, Disney and WarnerMedia reached

1720-464: A television series adaptation of Harry Potter planned to premiere in the 2025–26 season and run for ten years, and It: Welcome to Derry —a prequel series to Andy Muschietti 's film adaptation of It . It also announced the animated series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai and Tiny Toons Looniversity , with the former premiering alongside the rebrand on May 23, 2023. In June 2023, Max picked up

1806-582: A timed exclusive for HBO Max. All eight films in the Harry Potter series were available to stream on the service on launch day, despite earlier reports indicating that the films, although produced by Warner Bros., would not be available due to a prior broadcast rights agreement with NBCUniversal . It was later announced that the films would be removed on August 25 and made available on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock . However, it officially brought them back on September 1, 2021, after an adjustment in

SECTION 20

#1732884229597

1892-474: Is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Games , which is itself a division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The platform offers content from the libraries of Warner Bros. , Discovery , HBO , CNN , Cartoon Network , Adult Swim , Animal Planet , TBS , TNT , Eurosport , and their related brands. Max first launched (as HBO Max) in the United States on May 27, 2020. The service also carries first-run original programming under

1978-636: Is also the writer / co-creator of That's Gay , a television segment focused on gay issues that aired on Current TV , an Emmy Award winning staff writer for the Ellen DeGeneres Show, and was a staff writer on Fashion Police with Joan Rivers and FunnyOrDie .com. Safi has appeared on the Upright Citizens Brigade stage for many years and has had numerous appearances on television shows including The Big Bang Theory , Modern Family , Superstore , and Adam Ruins Everything , and has

2064-400: Is an American improvisational and sketch comedy training center and theatre, originally founded by UCB troupe members Matt Besser , Amy Poehler , Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh . The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre Training Center teaches long form improv, sketch, writing, parts of directing, and various other comedy skills. The training center's philosophy of improv is based largely on

2150-527: Is considered by some to be the group's first theatre. The shows and classes at Solo Arts were so popular that the UCB were able to open their own theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre , at 161 W. 22nd Street in Chelsea on February 4, 1999. This was a 75-seat auditorium that used to be the Harmony Burlesque Theater, an all-nude lap-dancing club—essentially a storefront. The original theatre

2236-702: Is released weekly, eschewing the " binge " format made popular by Netflix . Kevin Reilly stated this was to ensure that originals would remain in the spotlight for extended periods, by letting said shows "breathe" as opposed to "fading quickly after a binge and burn". He also noted that the weekly schedule helped to drive the success of past HBO shows like Succession and Chernobyl which they co-produced with Sky UK , and became hits precisely due to their staying power. A slate of 31 original series were planned for its first year, with plans to expand to 50 for its next year, but production timelines may have been interrupted by

2322-565: The COVID-19 pandemic . Max also has podcasts about the films and TV series on the service. It also produces original podcasts exclusively for the service, with Batman: The Audio Adventures being the first. New Warner Bros. -produced television series that have premiered on The CW since the 2019–20 season beginning with Batwoman , Nancy Drew and Katy Keene (which was cancelled in July 2020) will have their past seasons placed on Max about

2408-581: The New Variety produced and hosted by Richard O'Donnell at the Chicago Improv comedy club, 504 N. Wells. In 1996, prior to opening their own theatre, the Upright Citizens Brigade relocated to New York performing their signature improv show, ASSSSCAT, first at KGB Bar , and then later at Solo Arts. Solo Arts was the first semi-permanent home to the Upright Citizens Brigade's Harold Teams and

2494-628: The New York City neighborhoods of Hell's Kitchen and the East Village , and on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles . Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , this location and the New York training center were closed on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, leaving no NYC locations of UCB, with no confirmed plans for revival. However, on June 29, 2023, UCB announced its return to New York at 242 E. 14th Street, which will house

2580-498: The Oprah Winfrey Network series David Makes Man . On September 18, 2020, it was announced that all DC Universe content would be migrating to HBO Max, including original shows like Titans and Young Justice , which will have their newest seasons air exclusively on the service. In addition, both Doom Patrol and Harley Quinn have been renewed for third seasons exclusively for the service. On October 28, 2020, it

2666-584: The TV Everywhere streaming platform for HBO pay television subscribers. In the United States, HBO Now subscribers and HBO pay television subscribers were migrated to HBO Max at no additional charge, subject to availability and device support. HBO Max also supplanted the streaming component of DC Entertainment 's DC Universe service, with its original series being migrated to HBO Max as Max Originals. The HBO Max service began to expand into international markets in 2021. According to AT&T , HBO and HBO Max had

Attitudes! - Misplaced Pages Continue

2752-686: The Tamarind Theatre in Los Angeles at 5919 Franklin Avenue (between Tamarind & North Bronson Avenue). In September 2011, UCB opened a second theater on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, at 153 E 3rd St. This theater featured 124 seats, two lobbies, and a full bar known as the "Hot Chicks Room" in reference to an episode of the Upright Citizens Brigade TV show. Often referred to as "the Beast" (a portmanteau shortening of "UCB East"),

2838-659: The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles, and continued to work together as writers and hosts on InfoMania , on the Current TV network. They released the first episode of Throwing Shade on November 9, 2011. On March 5, 2012, it was announced that Throwing Shade was joining the Maximum Fun podcast network. Throwing Shade has earned the People's Choice Podcast Award for Best GLBT Podcast two years in

2924-469: The " Max Originals " banner, programming from the HBO pay television service, and content acquired via either third-party library deals (such as those with film studios for pay television rights) or co-production agreements (including, among others, those with BBC Studios and Sesame Workshop ). When the service was first launched as HBO Max, it succeeded both HBO Now , a previous HBO SVOD service; and HBO Go ,

3010-505: The "Totally Tudes!" banner, starting with Safi's monthly recaps of Dateline NBC episodes. In November 2021, Gibson launched Dolls , a Patreon-exclusive "Totally Tudes!" limited series. The thirty-ninth and final episode of Dolls was released May 18, 2023. The podcast was produced by Jesse Thorn's podcast and radio production network, Maximum Fun . Funding for Maximum Fun, Inc. is raised through underwriting and corporate sponsorship, as well as individual membership donations. The show

3096-679: The Caribbean outside of Brazil. In February 2022, Sony Pictures and WarnerMedia announced that they will extend their agreement to carry films from its subsidiary companies in its Central and Eastern Europe pay television window rights window along with the library of television series produced by its sister company Sony Pictures Television Studios , the deal will also include the rights to its releases beginning in 2022 for broadcasting on its channels and will be streaming it on HBO Max throughout Central and Eastern Europe. The service also features many hubs for animated programming, drawing largely from

3182-450: The Disney deal with WarnerMedia for streaming 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures films on HBO Max ended in 2022, with Disney+ and Hulu assuming the full pay-one rights to those films in the future. On February 15, 2022, it was announced that first-run episodes of South Park would move to Paramount+ beginning with season 27 in 2024, and the series library would move from HBO Max to

3268-536: The End of This Story . On March 8, 2022, WarnerMedia and Sesame Workshop announced they will plan new shows for Cartoon Network for the new original series run and a second run acquisition rights HBO Max, including Charlotte's Web , and Bea's Block as well as the animation special Sesame Street: The Nutcracker . In addition, new episodes to start of the 53rd season of Sesame Street and spin-offs will be available to stream on HBO Max in selecting Asian territories while holding

3354-494: The HBO and Warner Bros. logos, including a center-dotted "a" resembling the center-dotted "O" from the HBO logo, and the "m" and "x" letters containing curves based on Warner Bros.' long-time shield logo. The service also changed its corporate color from purple to blue, in homage to Warner Bros.' historical use of blue-colored logos. The rebrand was promoted with the tagline "The one to watch". Pato Spagnoletto, chief marketing officer of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming, identified

3440-512: The HBO branding had been dropped from the service's name so that it could be associated with its original programming as a flagship brand on Max, rather than having to be associated with the entirety of its library—which included children's and family programming at odds with HBO having traditionally been associated with premium and adult-oriented programming. The Max logo was designed by the British agency DixonBaxi, and incorporates elements of both

3526-531: The M Bar to join the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, appearing on Tuesday nights. An expansion in Los Angeles started in 2014. In 2014, UCB announced the opening of UCB Theatre Sunset located at 5419 Sunset Boulevard for November 1. The venue played home to Upright Citizens Brigade's training center, an 85-seat theatre, cafe/performance space called Inner Sanctum, video production offices, and even retail stores on street level. This location

Attitudes! - Misplaced Pages Continue

3612-614: The Poet in Chicago. Their first show was called Virtual Reality . The group followed with shows titled UCBTV , Conference on the Future of Happiness , Thunderball , Bucket of Truth , Big Dirty Hands , The Real Real World , and Punch Your Friend in the Face . In 1993, the Upright Citizens Brigade (Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Amy Poehler, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, and Horatio Sanz) were regular guests on stage at

3698-423: The U.S. streaming rights to The Big Bang Theory , as part of a deal that also extends TBS's off-network rights to the series through 2028. Outside of Warner Bros. Discovery, the service also offers titles from The Criterion Collection , and has a long-term partnership with BBC Studios (which HBO had previously partnered with to create His Dark Materials ). Over 700 episodes of BBC content were available on

3784-525: The United States via Cartoon Network and HBO Max later in the year, with a slate of 50 series by 2023. In June 2021, HBO Max ordered a pilot from John Wells and Animal Kingdom writer Matt Kester for Ke Nui Road, an action drama following a team of lifeguards in the North Shore of O'ahu , Hawaii . HBO Max would not go forward with the series, and it would instead be given a series order by Fox as Rescue: HI-Surf . In August 2021, Funimation ,

3870-509: The ad free tier (existing ad supported were moved to the ad lite tier). HBO Max was formed under WarnerMedia's Entertainment division, then headed by Robert Greenblatt . Kevin Reilly , president of WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks, which includes most of the company's ad-supported entertainment channels such as TBS , TNT , and TruTV , was also given the role of as chief content officer of HBO Max with responsibility for HBO Max-exclusive original programming and library content. Andy Forssell

3956-601: The agreement. On May 29, 2020, HBO Max acquired the exclusive streaming rights to The Big Bang Theory spin-off Young Sheldon . On June 9, 2020, Gone with the Wind was temporarily removed from HBO Max's library amid the George Floyd protests , following an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times by 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley . On June 25, the film returned in its original form with, as suggested by Ridley,

4042-427: The campaign as the largest marketing spend in company history. WBD's stock fell by nearly six percent after Max's announcement. Within the first 3 months of Max's rebrand, WBD lost 1.8 million subscribers across their streaming platforms, but attributed it to an overlap of subscribers of Max and Discovery+, as well as expected churn. In November 2023, it was reported that WBD lost 2.5 million subscribers over

4128-514: The company planned to pursue an eventual merger of HBO Max with its own streaming service Discovery+ . Wiedenfels stated that this process would most likely begin with a bundle of the two services as a short-term option, with a long-term goal to eventually merge the services into one platform. During an earnings call in August 2022, WBD head of Global Streaming and Interactive JB Perrette revealed that Discovery+ and HBO Max would merge "next Summer", with

4214-628: The company ultimately chose to retain Discovery+. As part of the decision, WBD migrated some Discovery+ shows to Max whilst also leaving them on Discovery+. WBD went on to replace HBO Max with a newly rebranded service, shortening the service's name to "Max", which launched in the United States on May 23, 2023, in Latin America on February 27, 2024, and in Europe on May 21, 2024, introducing a redesigned user interface, and adding more Discovery content. The rebrand

4300-458: The deal covers over 2,000 hours of library programming, some of which being shows that had been pulled from HBO Max. During its third-quarter earnings report in November 2022, WBD stated that the merged service was now targeting a "Spring 2023" launch in the U.S., ahead of the original schedule. Perrette also stated of a potential price increase for HBO Max's ad-free tier in 2023, explaining that it

4386-550: The end of Q1 2022, HBO and HBO Max had 76.8 million global subscribers. Since the April 2022 merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery, Max is one of the combined company's two flagship streaming services, the other being Discovery+ (which primarily focuses on factual and reality programming from the Discovery brands). WBD initially announced plans for HBO Max and Discovery+ to merge in 2023, but

SECTION 50

#1732884229597

4472-462: The front of the Max brand. Select episodes from all fifty seasons of Sesame Street (dating back to 1969) are available to stream on the service for the first time ever. Additionally, future seasons of Sesame Street will stream exclusively on Max, alongside Esme & Roy , and several new spin-offs starting with The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo , Sesame Street: Mecha Builders , and The Monster at

4558-458: The hosts discussed the strong contenders for that year's awards ceremony, and subsequent episodes discussed the actual winners (and losers) of the major awards. The show returned in 2020 to discuss that year's Academy Awards ceremony with guests Kate Aurthur , Editor-at-large, Variety and Adam B. Vary , Senior Entertainment Writer, Variety . Features of the episode included determining which celebrities were snubbed and special performances of

4644-962: The leadership of Suzanna Makkos. On August 15, 2022, HBO was reorganized by Warner Bros. Discovery, resulting in layoffs within HBO Max's non-scripted originals, live-action family originals, international originals, and casting units (HBO itself never had an in-house casting department). Makkos also began reporting to HBO's head of comedy Amy Gravitt. Max features first-run and library content from HBO and other Warner Bros. film and television studios and brands. The service also includes films available through HBO's existing pay television rights that are sourced from Warner Bros. Pictures only. As with HBO's other streaming platforms, HBO Go and HBO Now (but as opposed to its platforms on Apple TV Channels and Amazon Video Channels ), Max does not include feeds of HBO's linear cable channels, nor any content from Cinemax . Though Cinemax shares its film content with

4730-575: The libraries of Warner Bros. Animation (including the Looney Tunes franchise and Hanna-Barbera productions, such as Scooby-Doo , Tom and Jerry and Tex Avery 's cartoons as well) and Cartoon Network , along with Adult Swim . Original animated series (including the Adventure Time epilogue specials Adventure Time: Distant Lands , Jellystone! , Looney Tunes Cartoons , continuations of Infinity Train , and Summer Camp Island , and

4816-484: The linear HBO channel, and therefore the majority of films in the combined library will be on both services in different windows, these films will not necessarily be available on both Max and Cinemax at the same time. First and third-party content providers for Max. Asterisk (*) denotes third parties while cross (†) denotes former providers. Original content produced will be under the banner Max Originals , including series, films, and specials . Original episodic content

4902-478: The network. They subsequently joined the Earwolf Network . On October 15, 2020, it was announced Throwing Shade was renamed Attitudes! In July 2021, Attitudes! left Earwolf with Episode 502. Gibson and Safi launched the show on Patreon later that month. Safi is a writer, actor, director, and television personality primarily known for his role in the popular podcast and television show on TV Land . He

4988-468: The next day, WBD CEO David Zaslav stated that the company would cut children's programming and emphasize theatrical films over direct-to-streaming releases. Later that month, more programs were pulled from the streaming service, including animated and unscripted series such as The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo , Final Space , Summer Camp Island , Infinity Train , Close Enough , and nearly 200 episodes of Sesame Street , among others, which

5074-482: The platform worldwide. It was reported that France and Spain had been largely excluded from these cuts, due to French regulations requiring streaming services to produce domestic content, and Spanish-language content appealing to a wide range of markets served by HBO Max. With the cancellation of Gordita Chronicles later that month, it was reported that the service was also abandoning development of live-action children's and family programming. On August 3, 2022, it

5160-466: The product offering". One day before the scheduled announcement, The New York Times confirmed that the service would be called "Max", and that it would retain HBO Max's existing pricing and be available in multiple price tiers for six months (on December 5 its legacy ad-free tier will be removed with former users in this tier downgrading to the ad-free tier after this date). WBD acquired the max.com domain name earlier that year from Max International,

5246-482: The second run acquisition rights to replace PBS, more than a new first run for Cartoon Network. Max has acquired the streaming rights to several Comedy Central series, including South Park , Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens , South Side , and The Other Two ; with the latter two becoming Max Original series. In November 2021, HBO Max acquired the rights to Globo 's telenovelas and series for Latin America and

SECTION 60

#1732884229597

5332-456: The service at launch, including the first 11 seasons of the 2005 Doctor Who revival, as well as future seasons twelve through fourteen, and a variety of other shows including The Honourable Woman , Luther , Top Gear , and the original British version of The Office . Additionally, future shows by BBC Studios will be co-produced with Max. HBO also extended their existing partnership with Sesame Workshop , while moving said content to

5418-400: The service called for three tiers with a late 2019 launch. Randall L. Stephenson , chairman and CEO of WarnerMedia's parent, AT&T indicated in mid-May 2019 that it would use the HBO brand and would tie into cable operators as HBO cable subscribers would have access to the streaming service. A beta was expected in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a full launch in the first quarter of 2020 at

5504-531: The service in the United States in 2025. On August 4, 2022, it was announced that selected Magnolia Network programs would become available on HBO Max in September 2022. Discovery+ will remain the main streaming home of its programming. On October 7, 2022, HBO Max announced Harley Quinn : A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special , which premiered on February 23, 2023. With the announced rebrand of HBO Max as Max, WBD announced several new projects, including

5590-437: The service would be known as HBO Max and that it would launch in spring 2020, while Reese Witherspoon 's Hello Sunshine and Greg Berlanti were signed to production deals for the service. (The "Max" moniker is shared with HBO's sister linear pay television service Cinemax , which has alternately identified by its suffix name since the mid-1980s and used it prominently in its branding from 2008 to 2011.) On October 29, 2019, it

5676-572: The streaming service starting in 2020. On April 20, 2020, WarnerMedia announced HBO Max's launch date as May 27. Later that year on October 23, it was announced that WarnerMedia decided to consolidate the Warner Max label into the Warner Bros. Pictures Group after its chairman, Toby Emmerich , and his development and production team led by Courtenay Valenti of Warner Bros. Pictures, Richard Brener of New Line and Walter Hamada (who oversees DC-based films),

5762-586: The teachings of Del Close , with a strong emphasis on the "game" of the scene. In 2013, they co-authored a manual titled The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual . The primary improvisational form is " The Harold ", and the theater in all its incarnations has had a group of "Harold Teams", house teams that perform regularly. The original group, Matt Besser , Matt Walsh , Ian Roberts , and Amy Poehler have had two TV shows— Upright Citizens Brigade and The UCB Show —and their show ASSSSCAT has been televised twice. In addition to this they had

5848-423: The theater was initially opened in hopes of showcasing more stand-up comedy. This venue ran smaller-scale shows for $ 10 or less. The UCB East permanently closed on February 9, 2019. In its stead, the group once (but no longer) offered three nights of programming per week in the nearby SubCulture theatre on Bleecker Street. At the start of 2017, ticket prices increased (the first in ten years). In October 2017, it

5934-582: The time. Otter Media was transferred in May 2019 to WarnerMedia Entertainment from Warner Bros. to take over the streaming service as Brad Bentley, executive vice president and general manager of direct-to-consumer development, exited the post after six months. Andy Forssell transferred from being the chief operating officer of Otter to replace Bentley as executive vice president and general manager while still reporting to Otter CEO Tony Goncalves, who would lead development. On July 9, 2019, WarnerMedia announced that

6020-438: The unified service launching first in the United States, and rolled out to other markets beginning in late-2023. When announcing the merged service, Zaslav did not immediately indicate whether it would continue to carry the HBO brand. He stated that HBO was one of the "great crown jewels of the company" and would "always be the beacon and the ultimate brand that stands for the best of television quality". In early-December 2022, it

6106-545: The way women are treated in media around the world. As an actress, she has had appearances on Kroll Show , Key and Peele , and Parks and Recreation , and has various other acting credits stretching back to 2006. She was a regular contributor to Huff Post , from 2012 to 2017, and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series in 2016, 2018 and 2019 for her work on Funny or Die's " Gay of Thrones ". In 2018, her comedic book Feminasty

6192-518: The year's Best Song nominations. On August 25, 2019, Safi and Gibson premiered an episode on the Earwolf Podcast Network called Groceries . It is the expansion of an existing segment from the original podcast, in which the hosts discuss all things related to their experiences inside of grocery stores. Every episode, ("Bag Lady") Erin Gibson and ("If you're shoppin', I'm-") Bryan Safi each pick

6278-504: Was "an opportunity, particularly in this environment". A price hike for the ad-free tier in the U.S. was later announced on January 12, 2023, which saw the price raised by $ 1 to $ 15.99 a month (the yearly plan would be unaffected by this move), effective immediately for new subscribers, while current subscribers would see the price hike starting on February 11, 2023. On March 14, 2022, after Discovery shareholders approved its merger with WarnerMedia, Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels stated that

6364-608: Was also applied to Netherlands, Poland, France, Monaco and several other regions in 2024. In Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, the rebrand will be applied in 2025, and in Belgium and the Netherlands the name "HBO Max" was retained with a new Max logo. On October 10, 2018, WarnerMedia announced that it would launch an over-the-top streaming service in late 2019, featuring content from its entertainment brands. The original plan for

6450-536: Was announced that HBO Max would officially launch in May 2020. On January 8, 2020, AT&T announced that Audience , a channel exclusive to subscribers of AT&T-owned television providers such as DirecTV with some original programming, would be sunset on May 22, eventually transitioning to a barker channel for HBO Max. Warner Bros. and HBO Max announced the Warner Max film label on February 5, 2020, which would produce eight to ten mid-budget movies per year for

6536-405: Was announced that the 1990s series Tiny Toon Adventures would be rebooted for Cartoon Network and HBO Max as Tiny Toons Looniversity , featuring older versions of the characters. Steven Spielberg is expected to return as executive producer. The show was given a two-season order. In February 2021, it was announced that WarnerMedia's international preschool brand Cartoonito would launch in

6622-821: Was announced that the UCB Chelsea location would close. The last show in Chelsea was Wednesday, November 28, 2017. The next UCB space, from November 30, 2017, was at 555 42nd Street in Hell's Kitchen, the former home to the Pearl Theatre Company. The Upright Citizens Brigade has performed in the Comedy Tent at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic , UCB had locations in

6708-538: Was closed on November 18, 2002, after a building inspector ordered the theater to be shut down due to fire code violations. In the months that followed, the theater found a temporary home at the Access Theater on lower Broadway, then moved to the Chelsea Playhouse for a short time before finding a permanent space. On April 1, 2003, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre moved to its second official space in Chelsea,

6794-802: Was formerly produced by the Earwolf network. As of August 2021 they run independently through Patreon . Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade ( UCB ) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago 's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler , Matthew Walsh , Matt Besser , Ian Roberts , Adam McKay , Rick Roman, Horatio Sanz and Drew Franklin. Other early members included Neil Flynn , Armando Diaz, Ali Farahnakian and Rich Fulcher . In 2013, Besser, Roberts and Walsh wrote The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual . The Upright Citizens Brigade began performing improv and sketch comedy at Kill

6880-441: Was met with heavy backlash from fans, critics, actors, and creators alike. On August 24, 2022, the HBO Max original films House Party (which was pulled from its slate just 17 days before its release) and Evil Dead Rise were both shifted to theatrical releases. WBD later reached licensing deals with the free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) services The Roku Channel and Tubi (owned by Fox Corporation ) in 2023;

6966-511: Was named the service's executive vice president and general manager while still reporting to Otter Media CEO Tony Goncalves, who leads development. Casey Bloys, programming president of HBO, retained oversight of the core HBO service but was not initially involved with Max-exclusive programming. On August 7, 2020, WarnerMedia announced a significant restructuring under new president Jason Kilar , which he described as "leaning into this great moment of change" towards direct-to-consumer services. As

7052-454: Was published. In October 2020, it was announced the Gibson would serve as showrunner on the Tiny Toons reboot at HBO Max , titled Tiny Toons Looniversity . In early 2019, Earwolf released a spinoff miniseries podcast, called Throwing Shoscar , hosted by Bryan Safi and "Ronna Glickman" (played by Jessica Chaffin ) which focused on the 2019 Academy Awards season. In the miniseries,

7138-505: Was put to manage the company's entire film output, both theatrical and streaming releases. In July 2022, as a part of a cost-cutting and strategic move following the merger of Discovery, Inc. with WarnerMedia to form Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), it was reported that HBO Max had ceased new original series development in Central Europe , Nordic Europe , the Netherlands, and Turkey, as well as removed selected international series from

7224-428: Was reported by CNBC via inside sources that multiple names were being considered—including simply "Max". In February 2023, Zaslav revealed during an earnings call that WBD would officially announce the service on April 12. He also announced that WBD would continue operating Discovery+ in conjunction with the service rather than shut it down, stating that it was profitable, and that its subscribers were "very happy with

7310-538: Was reported that multiple Max Original films and HBO series had been quietly removed from the service without prior notice as part of cuts to direct-to-streaming films. The service then wrote off films and series that had underperformed. It was also thought that avoiding payment for residuals played a part. This followed news that had broken the previous day that then-upcoming Max Original films Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt had been both abruptly cancelled, despite being nearly complete. During an earnings call

7396-578: Was sold in December 2020, leaving the Franklin theater as the only space owned by UCB. In March 2022, former owner and CEO of The Onion, Mike McAvoy, and co-founder of Mosaic talent management, Jimmy Miller, acquired UCB and its lone remaining theater with the backing of venture capitalist, Elysian Park. They reopened the UCB comedy theater and Los Angeles training centers in September 2022. The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre or just UCB)

#596403