Luck

The cable-watching public in the U.S. has sent a message to HBO which has restored some of my faith in the media-consuming American public. An HBO series entitled  Luck  has been dropped after one season. Tough luck, Luck. But its failure is due to more than bad luck. 

Luck is about horse racing, that perfect nexus between the filthy rich and organized crime. The show received bad publicity when it was revealed that horses were dying of injuries during the filming. Apparently some footage of the actual fatal injury of a horse was used. This enraged animal rights advocates. It simply churned my stomach, since the one episode I watched seemed to include a fatal equine leg injury. Aside from the gore, the show was simply derivative and boring.

Perhaps the demise of Luck sends a long-awaited message to media moguls that many Americans are looking for entertainment that is not based in criminality or the lives of the self-satisfied 1%. The last decade in media has exploited the fascination of the masses with wealth, fame and crime. Post-911 escapism? Perhaps. Whatever the reasons, this media overkill of adulation of those hardly deserving of it should not be sustainable during an economic period of ostentatious haves and befuddled have-nots.

I hope that media producers turn from luck to skill in developing work that speaks to its viewers from a position of progressive human values. Rehashing and reviving has been the mainstay of most media forms in the last ten years. I hope Luck's demise is an omen of a return to original works with something to say.