Why David Zaslav Was Wrong to Get Rid of HBO’s Name in HBO Max
Max has been renamed HBO Max: Why the streamer behind 'The Pitt,' 'Hacks,' and 'And Just Like That' is changing its identity
The name Max has, not a moment too soon, gotten the axe.
A little more than two years after lopping “HBO” off of the streamer’s name to create the breezily-named Max streamer, Warner Bros. Discovery has decided to reverse course. Max — the unloved mononymous identity, too cool or too anxious to acknowledge its origins — is HBO Max once more.
The Max era may be recalled as among the follies of WBD CEO David Zaslav, whose golden touch when he ran the Discovery networks has seemed to fall away after their 2022 merger with Warner; the name change came about in May 2023. Removing the ultimate blue-chip television name — the three letters widely seen as synonymous with a luxurious sort of quality — from the Max branding was a deeply strange choice. It was the kind of decision one makes in order to prove one has the capability to take risks, whether or not those risks make much sense.
Popular on VarietyPublic criticisms have come from outside WBD and within. “I would have never guessed HBO would have gone away,” Netflix chief Ted Sarandos told Variety earlier this year about his competitor’s self-inflicted error. “They put all that effort into one thing that they can tell the consumer — it should be HBO.” And in her 2024 Emmy acceptance speech, Jean Smart (whose previous two Emmys for “Hacks” had happened when the show was the biggest zeitgeist hit on HBO Max) thanked executives Casey Bloys and Sarah Aubrey before pretending to forget the name of the streamer. “Max — no, HBO. I’m sorry. Just what we needed, another network,” she said to camera, dripping with disdain as the audience laughed.
Well, was she wrong? As a show on HBO Max, “Hacks” signals that — even though it is not airing on linear television — it is part of a heritage of accomplished comedies that includes “Sex and the City,” “Veep,” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” As a show on Max, it’s… a show on Max.
Yes, the streamer has always carried far more than just HBO content; its name for two years subliminally called attention to the fact that its offerings were maximally broad, from HGTV offerings to Jake and Logan Paul. (And it addressed concerns on the HBO side that placing “The White Lotus” and “The Sopranos” next to Discovery content might dilute the cable brand’s prestige.) But the network that brought us “Taxicab Confessions” has the capacity to operate as a sort of big tent, and consumers can understand or figure out that much of the best stuff airs on TV on Sunday nights. That distinction is eroding, too, with Max-now-HBO Max original “The Pitt” generating more positive buzz than any WBD series so far this year; it would seem to be an example of how the HBO approach of commitment to quality and incrementally building buzz through weekly drops can work for streaming, if the show’s first season had aired on an HBO-branded platform. “HBO,” a brand built over decades, elevates and gives an identity to everything on the streamer. “Max” just leaves it nowhere.
That’s also because the name “Max” always seemed to promise a sort of identity or personality that never arrived. It’s spunky and fun — it’s the kid from “Where the Wild Things Are,” charting a new course! But that’s not really what the streamer is: It’s a place to watch a bunch of theatrical movies at home and to catch acclaimed, buzzy dramas, as well as a catch-all for less high-toned stuff that helps keep on-the-fence subscribers from churning out. In other words, it’s HBO. Remixed and reinterpreted for the streaming age, sure, but… HBO.
And the Zaslav regime ditching the label always felt a bit like a denial of that fundamental aspect of what HBO Max was. Coming from the world of Discovery — and bringing with him, to the WBD screener, shows like “Property Brothers” and “90 Day Fiance” — Zaslav, in deleting HBO branding from the service, seemed to be forcing the streamer away from its core competency in order to make a point. That said point seemed to be “We do things a little differently now” without making an affirmative case for how or why may account for the reversal after two years, and may suggest that HBO continuing to put out buzzy and well-loved programming under a chief who’s in denial about the brand’s value deserves points for difficulty.
The dithering around the streamer’s name calls to mind a scene from the fourth season of “Girls,” a show that’s undergoing a bit of a streaming renaissance right now as fans rediscover, or discover for the first time, a show that captured the public imagination Sunday night after Sunday night. As Hannah Horvath prepares to move to Iowa and find a whole new identity (a decision she regrets and very promptly reverses), her boyfriend toasts her. “To Hannah,” Adam says. “Taking the next step in a series of random steps.” It’s a great scene. You can stream it on HBO Max.
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