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scuczu OP t1_iu4jn7l wrote

Chris Licht, the chairman of CNN, said on Friday that the network would stop buying documentary films and original TV series as part of its cost-cutting efforts.

"This was a very difficult decision to make," he wrote in an email to employees.

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GeneralOrchid t1_iu4jy2t wrote

wtf CNN documentaries were pretty good

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Goddamnjets- t1_iu4njli wrote

It seems like sailing the high seas for me really paid off for this one. With the exception of American Dynasty: The Kennedy’s, I have the entire CNN Original Documentary series catalogue to watch. Thank goodness.

I couldn’t care less about CNN in regards to news programming, but their documentary/Original series department was honestly really special, and created a ton of good content that taught a lot. I’m glad I won’t be missing on much to add to my collection, but it also sucks that this department is getting gutted.

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Goofalo t1_iu4ppzn wrote

Wait, does Stanley Tucci ever find Italy?

Don’t leave me hanging.

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Alarmiste t1_iu4qqqo wrote

Would be nice is they’d put all the Anthony Bourdain stuff on hbomax.

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robsul82 t1_iu4s4q2 wrote

Guess I'm never gonna see that Eisenhower/Stevenson episode of "Race for the White House"

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ocdewitt t1_iu4t66v wrote

When you have the Tucci, you don’t need anything else

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Goddamnjets- t1_iu4ttrc wrote

Well given how awful streaming has become in general when it comes to even distributing content that’s already been made, it’s nice to know I will always be able to watch all the CNN documentaries for free, instead of either paying anything for Discovery+ or whatever bullshit they’re gonna try and package their CNN content onto, or just not seeing the content at all because Zaslav, Licht, or whichever rich dipshit is in charge for CNN would probably rather want a quick tax write-off by getting rid of the content all together.

It was good that I pirated this stuff before it becomes very hard to find.

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bubbib2 t1_iu4tz3m wrote

i'm still not over the Decades series being ripped off HBO Max, put on CNN+, only for CNN+ to die off and the Decades series NOT going back to HBO Max. where are they??????????

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lord_pizzabird t1_iu4ug0j wrote

An interesting move, given that CNN has actually had some success with original series and films. Talking about Bourdain and their retrospective shows narrated by Tom Hanks, it seemed for a while like this was the only draw the network even had remaining.

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Goddamnjets- t1_iu4uizy wrote

1968 - The Year That Changed America is also fantastic, same with Parts Unknown, Race for the White House, American Dynasty, Tricky Dick… It really sucks that the documentary department is pretty much coming to an end

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RooLoL t1_iu4uz4f wrote

Yeah seriously. Other comments in this very thread that are saying the same thing but they are removing or reducing what was best about CNN.. All fantastic series/documentaries and I have always looked forward to their new releases. Shame really.

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Goddamnjets- t1_iu4vcyz wrote

That’s fair. I will admit I just don’t trust Zaslav and Licht after the shit that’s already been done by them with gutting content purely for tax write offs. As much as I love the CNN documentaries, they’re also pretty niche, and barely crack any ratings on cable or streaming. There’s definitely a reason why the content hasn’t been reuploaded to HBO Max in well over a year now. I could definitely see them gutting the content all together if the write-off will cost less than putting the content back up.

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mannyman34 t1_iu4wevd wrote

Why wouldn't they throw this kind of content on CNN+?

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Ficolum t1_iu4xc46 wrote

I love Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. I would hate to see it canceled.

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Fiesust t1_iu4xplb wrote

Dumb....the Stanley Tucci series is phenomenal.

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SweatyNomad t1_iu4zy29 wrote

Not disagreeing, but think some or most of those high end shows would have found a home somewhere.. a bunch of the shows quoted aired on other channels globally, like Stanley Tucci on the BBC . Not a big jump to assume they'd become the lead broadcast partner.

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hienz4 t1_iu52p7q wrote

That's too bad... those docu-series like the History of Comedy and History of the Sitcom were really good. I hope HBOMax continues those types of shows but I know not too hold my breath with Zaslav there

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dja119 t1_iu563n2 wrote

Discover is going to destroy everything Turner/Warner Media with their cost cutting.

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SeanOuttaCompton t1_iu5cki4 wrote

This is what happens when you attempt to launch your own streaming service and it hemorrhages so much money it doesn’t even last a month

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maddalena-1888 t1_iu5cr75 wrote

Only Tucci enjoyed it. The rest of us had to just look at the food.

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SeanOuttaCompton t1_iu5d95g wrote

Some people just really like injecting their own hobbies into a conversation.

“Hey Dave, did you see Black Adam?”

“Yeah I was able to find a 4K torrent and after verifying that the file was secure I downloaded it and played it in my home theater I’ve spent roughy 10 thousand dollars on”

“Oh that’s… fun I guess. ….hey Cindy did you see black Adam?”

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agen_kolar t1_iu5g63w wrote

Why does this feel like a natural decision based on CNN moving more to the right when it comes to news?

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reb678 t1_iu5hsxl wrote

Am I the only one that wants News, and not Entertainment, from my News Station?

I don't want chit chat, I want facts.

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Lt_Frank_Drebin t1_iu5r4xj wrote

This decision can be traced right back to David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Brothers who also own CNN. He's at the helm of a giant media conglomerate that's just bought another and needs to cut costs and make money, which he's been doing a tonne of. Some of his other items he's killed so far:

  • CNN+
  • Batgirl
  • HBOMAX
  • Raised by Wolves.

If it isn't going to make a lot of money quickly, or can be produced very cheaply, it's going to be gone.

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NotRatedPG t1_iu5sovw wrote

That is too bad. The only good thing about CNN is the documentaries!

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chairmanrob t1_iu5zpvq wrote

Boomer demographic is dying out. Makes sense to cut it now. No one with a lead-free brain watches that garbage.

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donvito716 t1_iu60nr4 wrote

Well, they had to cancel the only thing that was watchable on the channel. Gotta keep brand consistency.

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jnemesh t1_iu637cy wrote

Why not? They have been cutting back on actual journalism for years now. I get most of my news from foreign sources these days...I don't care for all of the overly partisan (on either side) "analysis"...just give me the facts about what's going on, please.

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[deleted] t1_iu68f4k wrote

I don’t watch CNN anymore, but when I did I was always annoyed when they played these shitty VH1-style documentaries instead of having news coverage.

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Dream_A_LittleBigger t1_iu6fz54 wrote

Good.

Just give me some dry ass news 24/7.

That’s all anyone wants.

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jblanch3 t1_iu6h2ea wrote

That's a real shame. I don't turn to CNN for my news, but their originals are actually really good.

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Nigredo78 t1_iu6hdgl wrote

CNN has what now?

sorry.. had?

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Fryceratops t1_iu6i58l wrote

That is a good thing for a news network

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Liampom t1_iu6jxwc wrote

Literally, CNN should just be 23 hours of Stanley Tucci and 1 hour of Jake Tapper’s show.

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downonthesecond t1_iu6qolh wrote

Weird, I keep hearing CNN is a news station, not an entertainment channel like FOX News.

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donsanedrin t1_iu6via6 wrote

[Stanley Tucci after hearing the news]: "....eh, I'm still visiting Italy next month."

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chiarde t1_iu716du wrote

Honestly they can cut back on Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper and that would be fine with me. I don’t like it when my news people over share their lives or blur the lines between reporting and editorializing. Liberal here too.

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pittypaterson t1_iu7342j wrote

Give the people what they really want…Chris Cuomo.

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kedelbro t1_iu73egf wrote

That’s what makes it interesting though. These shows WILL be made no matter what. Zac Effron got a second season of a travel show, for crying out loud (and I actually enjoy it for what it is!)… so why is CNN choosing to allow these shows to go elsewhere?

Do they really think enough of the cable news market share is up for grabs that to make that shift worthwhile?

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kedelbro t1_iu74zd5 wrote

So they will make their own docuseries. Interesting.

Will likely be a tough growth period unless they can lure someone away from ZeroPointZero

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HarryCallahan19 t1_iu75sew wrote

The ONLY thing CNN has going for it is Stanley Tucci……

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don51181 t1_iu77bwf wrote

I don't know why they didn't replicate the Bourdain show. It was interesting to see the different foods of the world.

They could save money on there regular news since it is the same stories all day with a different anchor each hour.

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ChrisCinema t1_iu78gxn wrote

This is such as an asinine decision. CNN's original documentary series and films were actually worth watching.

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AndyOsterbauer t1_iu79sn0 wrote

You and me both. They’re so damn good. I check constantly to see if they pop up anywhere and nothing. It was great when they were on Netflix and then HBO Max. Bring them back!

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theproducer1980 t1_iu7bzkx wrote

David Zasloff at it again, fucking up everything that is good.

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Disastrous_Drive_764 t1_iu7cs48 wrote

Well that’s a shame. Literally the only thing I watch on CNN is Stanley Tucci’s show. It’s a fun escape.

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af_echad t1_iu7hno7 wrote

Yea like people can say all sorts of things about CNN and especially its recent moves. I'm not here to be some ultimate defender of CNN.

But if this means that I can tune in on a Sunday night for 15 minutes to get caught up on the day's news instead of having it be a documentary, I'm down for it. It's been frustrating me for a while that these stations pretend that just because Sunday nights aren't big ratings nights (I assume?) that nothing newsworthy occurs then. Or that there aren't people who keep non traditional hours who want that time for news.

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reb678 t1_iu7k6vw wrote

This is what HeadLine News was supposed to be all about. A 20-30 minute rotation of the news that you could tune into and catch up on. Then HLN started doing all those strange murder reality shows after 8am. Screw that. I want my news back people.

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thislife_choseme t1_iu7ogmg wrote

The Stanley tucci series is such a self indulgent piece of trash show.

Great you’re Italian and get to go to Michelin star restaurants on someone less dime, which is probably a tax write off, it’s a dumb premise for a show and is just like celebrity worship billionaire porn. 🤮

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supercoffee1025 t1_iu9c2fp wrote

With WB in so much debt the opinion shows are WAAY cheaper to produce than hard news and get clickbait ratings that’s why the networks lean into it so much.

Having a couple guys sit around a studio in DC for a few hours is so much cheaper than hiring a journalist to fly out to Ukraine and spend a few days gathering proper news with all the travel and security costs for a few mins of content.

It’s a bleak view but that’s sorta how these channels are thinking.

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cohrt t1_iu9eb27 wrote

cnn had original series?

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MrPotatoButt t1_iuaa1g6 wrote

I'm way more annoyed at MSNBC running Dateline reruns on the weekend. Also, CNN kept running those documentaries on a loop, in order to cut down operational costs of a slow news weekend.

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MrPotatoButt t1_iuaaj45 wrote

Its the new owner's company. They probably won't gut WarnerMedia much; its like throwing away its value. What will probably kill WarnerMedia is the economy. We saw an explosion in scripted content for the past decade because the cost of borrowing money was cheap. All that money is drying up in interest rates. WM, as all streaming companies, will have to be pickier about what they produce, and less scattershot media production.

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MrPotatoButt t1_iuaaye8 wrote

Coop's the closest thing to a newscaster that has any ratings on CNN. He's probably not going anywhere, unless CNN wan't to go with cheap, anonymous news hosts.

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MrPotatoButt t1_iuac32n wrote

No, I think this is being driven by the drying up of "easy" money. You need a lot of money to produce a TV show. Cheap lending allowed streaming media companies to generate content on a whim. But they won't have that money available anymore, and all media companies are going to have to alter their project investment strategies.

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bunga_bunga_bunga t1_iuamoox wrote

This is incorrect. As in that's what the article says but the source is incorrect. They are actually axing originals altogether. Existing content will be available/licensed but there will be no new content. Period. It is not moving in house.

The Discovery folks are really bringing Warner media down to their level of quality. Or this is some trojan horse shit a la Stephen Elop.

I'm not really sure advertisers are still looking to reach boomers still buying cable or middle america that wants to watch Chip and Joanna convert a trailer into mcshiplapfarmhouse or emmy award winning Dr. Pimple Popper. So I'm leaning towards the stripping for parts theory.

Either ways, WBD is way overvalued given the trajectory. Yes even with the 50% drop since last year.

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CheezStik t1_iuamzh3 wrote

Their decades series was excellent but another underrated doc series was their Race for the White House. Bummed if we don’t get more of those

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dja119 t1_iubafpl wrote

I do a lot of work for Warner in Atlanta as a freelancer. It's pretty grim there understandably with the layoffs. Rank and file aren't very optimistic thus far, especially on the animation side.

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Darmok47 t1_iubzjir wrote

I remember when Parts Unknown started and Bourdain left The Travel Channel to to go to CNN, he mentioned that the CNN leadership at the time was investing in original series because there's only so much news happening at any given time, and only so much people will watch.

I guess new management disagrees.

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