After third horse death, HBO cancels Michael Mann-produced Luck

After the third death of a horse used for the horse-track drama, HBO has cancelled the series Luck, which starred Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, Dennis Farina, Kevin Dunn, Kerry Condon, Jason Gedrick, and Michael Gambon. 

Here’s the official statement from HBO:

“It is with heartbreak that executive producers David Milch and Michael Mann together with HBO have decided to cease all future production on the series LUCK.
 
“Safety is always of paramount concern. We maintained the highest safety standards throughout production, higher in fact than any protocols existing in horseracing anywhere with many fewer incidents than occur in racing or than befall horses normally in barns at night or pastures. While we maintained the highest safety standards possible, accidents unfortunately happen, and it is impossible to guarantee they won’t in the future. Accordingly, we have reached this difficult decision.”

Produced by Michael Mann (HEAT) and David Milch (The Sopranos), the show focused on lives of owners, jockeys, trainers and gamblers who are all tied to the same horse track.

HBO is renowned for it’s original content, but isn’t without its hits and misses (although they have a lot more of the former).  This, unfortunately, seems like, well, bad “luck.”  I’m sure the producers thought about this possible scenario, but hadn’t planned on it actually being a showstopper. 

However, with animal rights groups like PETA watching them like a hawk, they had to know it was coming.  I had already taken it off of my DVR list and the show was vastly underperforming, even with a second season renewal, so maybe this is a blessing for all involved.  I can’t personally comment on the treatment of the horses on the show, but you can always count on PETA to do that for you, I suppose.  I’m sure they’d be happy if we had stop-motion or CGI animals used in all filmed projects. 

I’m going to start my own group called People for the Ethical Treatment of Humans (PETH) and together we can work together to get all Eddie Murphy productions shut down.  No human should be subjected to such cruelty.