There’s a right time for everything, and Overlook, the series that was being pushed to HBO Max based on the hotel used in The Shining kind of had its window in which it should have appeared. The story is sound enough, as giving a detailed look at the place that hosted a tale that was nothing short of disturbing would have been interesting to a lot of people. But there was a timeframe in which it might have worked best, and for whatever reason things didn’t work out, and as of now it should be left alone given that it feels out of place and out of time to really make an impact. I could be wrong, it could be that this story might still have enough to it that people would find it interesting. But out of all the stories either inspired by or pulled straight from the mind of Stephen King, Overlook feels like one of those that needed to happen quickly to take advantage of the interest that Dr. Sleep had aroused in a lot of moviegoers.
Right now it feels as though the loop on the whole story of The Shining has been closed since in the cinematic universe the hotel has burned down, Danny Torrance finally faced the demons that he’d carried with him for so long, and Abra had inherited at least one of them. If there was a story to be told it would be best to go with Abra and find out if the True Knot were the only villains that existed within the world that fed on those with the same abilities that she and Danny had. Right now the Overlook series, which should feel like an interesting, historical ghost story of the past, feels more like a moldy idea that is akin to someone saying “Oh, and we have this too”, meaning it’s more like a moldy candy in the bottom of your mother’s purse than the bright and brand new idea that one was hoping to see.
It does sound like a fun idea to explore the hallways of the Overlook before it was turned to ash when it was supposedly a place for the rich and famous to visit and practice their own brand of debauchery. Learning more about some of the guests would have been nice, and if ends up still happening one can easily guess that plenty of people will be willing to sit down and let the story unfold. But if it does actually make its way to Netflix, Overlook still wouldn’t be in the clear since, among the many streaming sites, Netflix is the one that’s best known for canceling a series before it gets to expand into a second season, especially if starts to get too spendy. Other streaming sites such as HBO appear to be following this model in their own ways, which is unfortunate since it means that some truly great shows have been shut down when it makes little sense to do so. But unless one has the inside track on why streaming sites do the things they do, then it’s tough to say why such things happen. Overlook probably wouldn’t stand any better of a chance unless it happened to be a show that was great enough that it was popular, but not too popular since it might cancel itself without knowing it.
To be honest, it’s hard to say why some shows get canceled when they’re doing well and why others get to stick around, especially since some of those that get kept really aren’t that great. But if the Overlook show was going to be great it had its chance, and it’s better to think that it should likely stay where it is at the moment, suspended in limbo until someone can come along and do something with it. Timing is a big deal in show business sometimes, and it does feel that if Overlook was going to be a popular show then it should have already debuted on HBO Max where it might have been able to do something. But that’s not what happened obviously, which means that if the show were to be released now, there’s a good chance that a lot of people would respond with a less than enthusiastic ‘meh’.
There is still a chance for this show to be picked up and given the respect that it needs to really shine, no pun intended, but it’s bound to be a touch and go type of situation since trying to gauge the reactions of the people would be a difficult thing to do at this point given that there’s been at least some talk of the Overlook show, which has likely raised some expectations. If those expectations, which are still reasonable, weren’t met, then it’s likely that this show would need to just go away and stay gone.
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