Every show you need to watch on HBO Max
As the streaming service gathers steam, here are a few of our finest scribblings on HBO’s greatest hits
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HBO Max has been plying its wares for almost a month, giving the UK's newest streaming service plenty of time to remind people of the incredible amount of great TV it's produced since the dawn of the millennium. The prestige telly titan has spent more than three decades cranking out solid gold, from the early years of prison drama Oz to the mycelium zombie madness of The Last Of Us.
So, to prepare you for a binge or five on HBO Max, here’s a selection of our writings on some of the channel's greatest hits.
Curb Your Enthusiasm
We did a whistlestop tour of Larry David’s sweary comedy of errors in our regular Blagger’s Guide series. 'Curb was leaning effortlessly into the prevailing cultural winds, given that docu-style comedy actually became the defining genre of that decade,’ wrote Brian Donaldson. ‘So, David (unlikely style icon, unlikely sex symbol, unlikely Everyman, unlikely... everything) took a simple concept in which he would dial his own personality up a notch or four. Then he hired some comedy friends (Susie Essman, Jeff Garlin, Richard Lewis) and later a swathe of famous people either playing themselves (John McEnroe, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mel Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Michael J Fox) or portraying fictional creations (Vince Vaughn, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, Steve Coogan) and made a stupendously profane cult hit.’
Euphoria
On reflection, this generation’s teen drama of choice will be remembered as an incubator for Hollywood’s next batch of A-list talent. The travails of Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney and their perennially miserable chums were gaining pace when we last reviewed Euphoria. ‘Wordy and worthy, it occasionally flirts with getting tangled up in its own self-importance, but two blistering performances from the young prize-winner [Zendaya] and her more veteran sidekick [Colman Domingo] keep elevating the piece,’ we wrote, discussing the Euphoria specials that succeeded season one. ‘When they're not talking, they do so much with their faces, pain furrowed on brows, and worry etched in sorrowful eyes. The ending is a mere full stop to many more conversations they would most likely continue to have, with Labrinth's version of “Ava Maria”, both mournful and uplifting, accompanying their silent drive home.’
The Sopranos
Tony Sopranos' angsty mafioso saga has been the enduring success story of HBO, marking the beginning of a number of big swings that would pay off for the then-fledgling channel. We spoke with Michael Imperioli and Steven R Schirripa (Christopher and Bobby in the show) in 2021 for their reflections on the series’ dedicated fandom, with both crediting the show’s creator David Chase for his hands-on approach to showrunning. 'He was in the writers' room, he was involved in the casting; nothing got by him,’ said Schirripa. ‘David put a lot of people with similar backgrounds together and the writing was incredible, and here we are. The show really holds up 20 years after the first episode aired, and not a day goes by without someone stopping me to ask a question or call me Bobby.'
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The Last Of Us
Though it arguably didn’t stick the landing with season two, the first season of this father-and-sort-of-daughter zombie murdering odyssey set a high bar in videogame adaptations (a bar that is, admittedly, quite low). Our reviewer Murray Robertson awarded it five stars, writing: ‘Ellie, a girl who knows nothing but this dreadful reality, is sporadically enriched by snatches of wonder. And, while her naivety slowly hardens, Joel’s attitude to his charge very gradually softens. Their fractious relationship (which forms the story’s beating heart) is painstakingly drawn, and both actors are impeccable. The Last Of Us is a flawless adaptation and an exhilarating piece of television.’
Game Of Thrones
The damp squib finale has tainted the memory of Game Of Thrones, so much that it’s easy to forget some of its most ingenuously provocative moments. Eyes were squeezed out, incestuous threesomes were enjoyed with gay abandon, castrations were endured with stomach-crunching awkwardness, and on-screen weddings were ruined for all time. We spoke with Maisie Williams and Michelle Fairley (Arya and Catelyn in the show) as the show’s third season dropped.
‘That’s what George did so cleverly within the novels,’ explained Fairley, in reference to Thrones’ original author George RR Martin. ‘He creates extremely real people who audiences can care about. They have the same dilemmas that we all have, like worrying about their families or just surviving in this world. These characters experience grief, war and loss, just like real people. It resonates because of that, irrespective of the setting. It’s good drama. It’s wonderful drama.’
Succession
The Thick Of It: Billionaire Edition would be an apt alternative title for Succession, following a Murdoch-inspired family as they hobble from one crisis to the next in their globally successful media empire. When we reviewed the show's fourth season, expectations for the Brian Cox-led drama were at a fever pitch, and it didn’t disappoint.
‘Is there something to be made of this last-season Succession image of the Roys out on the balcony of a skyscraper?’ pondered Brian Donaldson in his four-star review. ‘Can it be deliberately doubling as a ship, with captain Logan (a peerless Brian Cox) steering them all towards a disaster of titanic proportions? This sadistic patriarch is also showing us an ostentatious watch, acknowledging that time is running out as the ever-convoluted plot to determine who should succeed him both thickens and threatens to spill over.’
The White Lotus
Another entry in the ‘isn’t it nice watching bad things happen to incredibly rich people?’ genre, The White Lotus is arguably HBO’s drama department at its most populous, layering on a miasma of soap opera fluff in a series of stunning locations.
Our review of its first season found a flawed but likeable show: ‘After a blistering opening two episodes during which the battle lines are firmly drawn between guests and their temporary keepers, it does rather get bogged down in repetition as petty bitterness and squalid behaviour go on a loop. This feeling is not helped by a recurring musical motif that sounds a little like cackling hyenas, scoffing at the ludicrously entitled attitudes of the guests. But also perhaps mocking the local workforce who allow themselves to be trampled underfoot by their colonial history and the ritualistic charades they play into for the customers' entertainment.’
How to sign up for HBO Max
That golden era continues with absurd comedy The Chair Company, high-intensity drama The Pitt and the Game Of Thrones spin-off A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms, while the upcoming Harry Potter reboot has been making headlines (sometimes even for the right reasons).
Here are the subscription options for HBO Max:
- Standard with ads: £5.99 per month
- Basic with ads: £4.99 per month
- Standard: £9.99 per month
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