The Franchise has come to an end. HBO announced this weekend that it has chosen to cancel the satirical series following its eight-episode first season, which aired its final installment near the end of November. The comedy from creator Jon Brown and executive producers Armando Iannucci and Sam Mendes lampooned the real-life practices of Hollywood’s modern superhero moviemaking complex by charting the struggles of multiple crew members throughout the making of the latest entry in a sprawling, unwieldy comic book-inspired cinematic universe.
“We’re so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the tremendously talented team behind The Franchise, especially Sam Mendes, Jon Brown, Armando Iannucci, and this hilarious ensemble of actors,” HBO said in a statement shared with Variety. “While we won’t be moving forward with another season, we look forward to collaborating with all of them in the future.”
Like Veep, The Thick of It, and many of the TV shows made with Iannucci’s involvement, The Franchise is a full-fledged ensemble comedy. Its central cast includes Himesh Patel, Aya Cash, Jessica Hynes, Billy Magnussen, Lolly Adefope, Richard E. Grant, and Daniel Brühl, and its first season features one-off appearances from guest stars like Katherine Waterston and Nick Kroll.
When it premiered in early October, The Franchise received largely positive, if somewhat muted, reviews. Its cancellation today means that the series won’t get the chance to smooth over some of its rougher edges. Fans of The Franchise will, therefore, have to live with never getting to see the resolution of its season 1 finale, which ends with Patel’s overworked first assistant director Daniel receiving an ominous promotion offer from his demeaning studio boss (Goldstein). The series’ cancellation marks one of the first major renewal decisions of 2025.
The Franchise‘s first and only season is streaming now on Max.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.