Cupertino’s costly decision to cancel an Apple TV+ series starring Richard Gere due to the show’s darker tone is the latest bit of evidence that Apple wants only family-friendly fare for its upcoming streaming video service.
A diet of uplifting, positive messages is certainly laudable. But that sort of high-minded approach could pose a major challenge for Apple. Should fans be worried?
Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Tim Cook made the call to cancel a semi-autobiographical drama about Dr. Dre. Called Vital Signs, the show included scenes with “characters doing lines of cocaine, an extended orgy in a mansion, and drawn guns.”
That probably shouldn’t be too surprising if you’re making a show about Dr. Dre. But while “extended orgy” scenes might seem off-limits, Apple’s objection to TV staples like “drawn guns” raised serious questions.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ll soon see if Apple TV+ is “Expensive NBC” or something more. We’re hoping for the latter while dreading the former.
Regardless, people will vote with their dollars and if Apple decides they need to recalibrate, they will, as they’ve done many times in the past.
or they could go back to making awesome laptops again……just a thought…..
Maybe even the Mac Pro too.
Thanks for the less than awesome economy you created, Dudspan
“Apple’s canceling of Richard Gere Apple TV+ series might be bad omen. ” or not. Some people will complain about a what Apple is doing and other about what Apple is not doing.
As long as you could get Apple objectionable content from other providers on AppleTV, then I don’t see it as noteworthy at all.
Unlike the App Store…
Although the snipet describing the show seems like sensationalism to grab attention, who’s definition of “uplifting” will guide the programming?
The Amish channel. Brought to you by Apple. I mean really Apple. You should know that sex and violence are really what people watch. Not Puritan bullshit.
Not all the top series on Netflix have sex and violence. Stranger Things is very popular. Some creepy violence of a sort, but no sex, unless you count a couple of 13 year old kids making out. There’s a lot of space for excellent television between “sex and violence” and “Puritan bullshit.”
With the feckless Tim Cook at the helm, you can be certain that Apple will muddle into whatever market they enter.
A more timid coward is hard to imagine.
Juicy Smoolay?
A series about a pair of mentally ill brothers going on a shooting spree is incredibly tone-deaf at this moment in time.
Thank you. Apple’s objection wasn’t to guns or violence per se, but to a sympathetic portrayal of domestic terrorists on a shooting spree. Most of the other posters seem to have ignored that. Other studios have recently cancelled projects for the same reason.
Actually, I’m very excited about this and it is very Apple to do so.
Let me explain. There are plenty of networks that already does dark TV well, plenty of perversion, plenty of violence.
Apple only enters a market when they think that they can actually contribute something meaningfully new and different. Doing dark stuff, trashy TV, when all networks do so, is not something meaningfully new. Apple is not a copycat.
So…. the premise in this article seems to be: If you can’t smut and violence it up, the service is not worthy?…
Sorry, but if you want that go get HBO or Stars and be done with it.
I am happy Cook is putting – apparently – some form or moral compass on the upcoming network, something tens of millions of parents like me would applaud and subscribe to.
no question the violence drugs and smut on television turns off many people. Even series with great promise turn quickly into pathetic formulaic garbage in short order. Game of Thrones to me will always be a prime example of brilliant production bringing forth fame and fortune, which got quickly to the producers heads, at which point any attempts at plot or character development or meaning fell apart. I’d watch a well written series like Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth a dozen times again before reviewing an old GOT episode.
that said, who trusts Tim Cook or his successors to be the arbiters of good taste? what does Apple plan to be, the SJW network? a Boring Disney? Hallmark for alphabet soup non-straight people?
I liked it a lot better when Apple made user friendly hardware and software that enabled users to create their own DVDs and stuff. in the future, people may look at Tim Cook and correctly identify him as the guy who steered Apple into becoming a fat unfocused corporation with many unrelated divisions making mostly unremarkable stuff. it will pat itself on the back for being so innovative for many years before any one realizes the cabinets at GE … er, Apple … are bare.
Ultimately, it matters not whether the show contains (or lacks) sex and violence. What matters is that the content is good and entertaining. You don’t need sex and violence for that; OTOH, having sex and violence does not mean the show won’t be entertaining.
Of course, Apple may have canceled the show because it wasn’t very good to begin with and the “darker tone” part simply pushed it over the ledge.
While I am somewhat skeptical of Apple’s ability to be successful in this market, I would not underestimate their decision to go clean. Remember how people ridiculed Tim Cook, specifically, for standing up for privacy? Where are those critics, now?
Apple has a better moral compass than most companies. That’s not just a slogan or marketing hype. It’s part of their culture to have the integrity to do the right thing, even though its not popular.
Apple will do poorly in this space, I expect. Apple execs are not of the appropriate mindset to aalow for compelling prograing which people want to watch. I’m confident they’ll have some decent programming but not enough to make money in this space. To limited in what they’ll approve. Just my thoughts but…….. We’ll soon find out.
MDN -Once again this app sucks didn’t take you long to utterly destroy it.
Tim Cook is far from perfect but he was hand picked by Steve Jobs, and not just for his supply chain prowess. He has shown excellent leadership and judgement in maintaining good relations with the Trump Administration and has shepherded Apple through hurricanes of fake news and challenges, to a dominant position among all the companies of the world. I like that he doesn’t want to turn Apple TV+ into another pit of degeneracy like HBO and Netflix. Apple has a brand to maintain and catering to the lowest common denominator, knuckle-dragging, sex, violence and profanity addicted viewer is a losing proposition. Though I don’t agree with him politically, he’d be a far more compelling candidate for president than any member of the rogue’s gallery the Democrats have trotted out. At least he’s a self-avowed capitalist with some measure of respect for decency.
DOA. iCal’d