In these times, where entertainment comes in all forms and at times feels on the verge (if not well past the point) of over-saturation, a once formidable company can suddenly find its fortunes turning.  In the below article, written by Kim Masters and appearing on The Hollywood Reporter, Ms. Masters notes that while HBO still possesses and releases Game of Thrones, one of the most popular shows on TV, the network is dealing with difficulties regarding other quite costly shows, one already released (but not doing all that well) and a few others experiencing pre-production/production woes:

HBO’s High-Class Problems: $100 Mil ‘Vinyl’ Disappoints, ‘Westworld’, David Fincher Woes

I linked up to the article, in particular, to point out the troubles with Jonathan Nolan’s Westworld.  Mr. Nolan is not only the brains behind the wonderful Person of Interest, but he’s also the brother (and at times script writer) of mega-director Christopher (The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Inception, etc.) Nolan.  This new series, based on one of my favorite Michael Crichton works, the 1973 film of the same name which was clearly reworked with dinosaurs for his later Jurassic Park books…

…had recently shut production after it was deemed some early episodes needed “tweaking”.  While the people behind the show were trying to put a positive spin on this hiatus in filming/production (“it gives us time to work out the kinks”!), to me it suggested what’s been filmed so far was probably not very good.  According to the article (I don’t mean to steal Ms. Masters’ thunder here) HBO brought in two more producers and two more writers to “help” Mr. Nolan get the project back on track.

Add to this the embarrassing episode involving the sexually explicit casting contract and one gets the feeling this show may be spinning out of control.

As a writer, I can understand the pressures of creating a large amount of material and, especially if you’re doing it for a large company like HBO, the expectations of delivering quality and quantity.

I’m still curious to see what Mr. Nolan and company do with their version of Westworld even as a part of me, based on the delays and, more importantly, their causes, wonders if the project might eventually turn out to be not all that good.

As with so many other things, we’ll see.