HBO’s The Idol faces a premature end to its controversial first season, as confirmed by a new preview which teases the upcoming fifth episode as the season finale. HBO had initially planned for The Idol to be a six-episode series. Created by Euphoria-fame Sam Levinson, the show has been shrouded by controversy among fans and critics even before it premiered. Let’s look at all the factors behind HBO’s decision to end The Idol early with a rushed season finale.
Why is HBO ending The Idol early?
HBO’s decision to cut short The Idol’s first from six to five episodes has confused audiences. Apart from the variety of factors that may have possibly led to this choice, it seems like a five-episode season might have been the original plan.
In an interview with GQ, the show’s star and executive producer, The Weeknd, called it a ‘five-hour film.’ Given that each episode was an hour long, it makes sense that the show ended at five episodes, at least according to this quote.
who else can’t wait a week for the season finale of #TheIdol 😭@theweeknd
— TV (@TV) June 26, 2023
To clarify, the show originally had a six-episode listing when HBO first announced it in November 2021. However, six became five when The Idol went to Cannes for its premiere.
Decline in viewership numbers
TV shows have had a long-running history of cancellation, mainly due to low viewership numbers. Viewership was the go-to metric for a successful TV series even before streaming and online ratings became mainstream.
In comparison, at least 500K live cable tv viewers tuned into Euphoria S1 each week.
— jen (@thejendoctrine) June 26, 2023
And HBO’s The Idol also seems to have fallen short here. The show started with an impressive 913,000 people during its pilot episode premiere on June 4. However, the most recent Episode 4, garnered a mere 133,000 viewers.
HBO reported that the linear viewership fell from 232,000 for the premiere to just 135,000 for the episode in question. To put things in perspective, the same show creator’s Euphoria had around 500,000 viewers on a weekly average.
Poor ratings and excessive nudity
HBO’s The Idol has faced backlash from both fans and critics for its excessive nudity and unnecessary sex scenes. Rolling Stone magazine described the show as ‘sexual torture porn’.
https://youtu.be/xA2k0axVTUs
British GQ went on to call one particular twisted sexual encounter between Tedros (The Weeknd) and Jocelyn (Lily-Rose Depp) the worst in history and asked if anyone involved in this show has actually ever had sex.
The Idol has a 5.7/10 on IMDb and a 22% score on Rotten Tomatoes. This reflects how badly the explicit scenes have impacted the show’s overall reception.
Behind-the-scenes controversy
Apart from poor reviews and bad viewership, The Idol has been subject to controversy even before its release. According to industry insiders, the show has had a troubled creative process and problematic rewrites.
Reminder that Abel pushed to replace Amy Seimetz, the woman who had directed and completed 80% of the show because he felt it had "too much of a female perspective" and then proceeded to get lines like this for himself https://t.co/bLONKqCTt7
— ConsultingSithLord 🏳️🌈 (@juisharryera) June 12, 2023
The show’s cast and crew members voiced their concerns about how the director depicts disturbing sexual fantasies on screen. Furthermore, one of the show’s original directors, Amy Seimetz, quit in April when 80% of the production was done.
This creative overhaul led to budgetary issues, delays, reshoots and rewrites, which affected The Idol’s overall quality and the show’s early season finale.
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