Luck Runs Out for HBO

Unlike Terra Nova, some shows are cancelled for issues beyond story quality.  In the case of HBO's new show Luck, a horse-racing drama, the planned second season has been cancelled because of unfortunate accidents involving horses.  Three horses have died since HBO starting the series, including one last week.  HBO issued the following notice about the shut down of Luck:

It is with heartbreak that executive producers David Milch and Michael Mann together with HBO have decided to cease all future production on the series 'Luck'.

Safety is always of paramount concern.  We maintained the highest safety standards throughout production, higher in fact than any protocols existing in horse-racing anywhere with many fewer incidents than occur in racing or than befall horses normally in barns at night or pastures.  While we maintained the highest safety standards possible, accidents unfortunately happen and it is impossible to guarantee they won't in the future.  Accordingly, we have reached this difficult decision.

We are immensely proud of this series, the writing, the acting, the filmmaking, the celebration of the culture of horses, and everyone involved in its creation."

Michael Mann and David Milch said, "The two of us loved this series, loved the cast, crew and writers.  This has been a tremendous collaboration and one that we plan to continue in the future."

Luck was getting mixed reviews before this latest accident.  Emily Nussbaum in the New Yorker put it this way:

...the show has a musky, appealing sensuality to it, a stink of leather and aged Scotch. Starting with the pilot, filmed at the Santa Anita racetrack and directed by Michael Mann, the show’s camera noses into everything, lapping up the dirty allure of the stables, the twitchy degenerates filling the bleachers, the champions gloating for the cameras, and particularly the races themselves, sequences in which the camera gets so close that it might as well be a horse itself. When it comes to story, unfortunately, “Luck” is a drag. Like David Simon’s “Treme,” “Luck” has lofty, loving aims: it yearns to celebrate an exotic subculture, one whose argot can feel as impenetrable as Klingon.

It did not help that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been on the sidelines (or should we say in the stands) criticizing the program from the start.  Maybe HBO needed more digital horses, as was the case with Spielberg's War Horse. 

At least HBO has one full season for its library and maybe David Milch can get back to some better ideas.  Milch himself is a horse-owner and occasionally bets on horses, so he knows that tomorrow is another day with another set of odds.  With Luck and John from Cincinnati behind him, maybe he can work on something more interesting (and successful) such as Deadwood.